First Parish Unitarian UniversalistLife Here, Life Now—A Participatory Sermon
Sermon by the Reverend Diane Teichert
First Parish Unitarian Universalist - Canton, MA
October 14, 2001
I should have been smart like my colleague at First Parish in Wayland. Instead of struggling to come up with sermon topics for the month of October in time for the newsletter deadline, he wrote "For now, with the future so uncertain, it is impossible to predict what up-coming sermons will need to be about. As decisions are made, they will be posted on our website and included in our phone message."
My announced sermon title for today was "Life Elsewhere?," an exploration of the religious meaning of recent scientific discoveries suggesting that there may well have been, or still be, living things in locations other than the Earth. It would be a very nice sermon, but it hardly seems relevant today, except to suggest the fantasy of a possible escape.Who wants to join me in going to wherever "elsewhere" is, in search of a more peaceful, more just, more hopeful life than the one we lead right here, right now?!!
With all-too fresh images of planes flying into tall buildings still in our mind's eye, with all the stories each of us has heard about people (even people we knew and love) who perished that day (or might have if but for some per-chance reason), with all the candlelight vigils and all the patriotic flags flying, and with all the media coverage--of hungry and thirsty refugees in squalid camps at the Afghan border, of the American bombs bursting beginning last Sunday, of multiple locations of anthrax poisoning --with all this sadness and fear and anger.I can't help but wonder if those living things elsewhere, wherever they are, have messed things up as badly as we human beings on Earth?
Now the news story that prompted that other sermon, the one I'm not giving today, was about a Martian meteorite picked up on the Antarctic ice cap that was found to contain organic compounds of a type sometimes associated with biological activity, along with microscopic impressions that may be fossils of bacteria-like organisms. (Globe, 11 August 1996, p.D3)
If conscious, intelligent life forms were known to be out there somewhere, because we had communicated with them, the universe would seem newly smaller. Wow! We humans would be connected with living things far more distant than I ever imagined were in that "inter-dependent web of all existence of which we are a part." And, the "part we are" would feel much smaller than it does now, if we knew there were sentient beings elsewhere than here.
However, given my new-found (since September 11th) fears of what my fellow human beings on Earth may do, the idea that there may be some other, possibly very different, kind of beings out there somewhere is not very comforting! We're having trouble enough sharing the Earth's resources. We're having trouble enough living with the various people on Earth. We're not ready, by any means, to share the Earth's resources with living things on some planet of some other star in some other galaxy. Thank God, if there is a God, that no extra-terrestial voices have been heard as yet.
On the day the story about life on Mars broke, I heard on National Public Radio an earthly, familiar voice begin to answer a reporter's question. The question referred to Copernicus and how his discovery that the Earth wasn't the center of everything sent the Church--at that time the Roman Catholic church-- into a theological tailspin. The reported asked, "So, does this discovery that there was possibly life on Mars have any impact on Christianity and its teaching?"
The respondent was Krister Stendahl, Bishop of Stockholm and professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School where I had been a student. He has a very distinctive voice and I recognized it on the radio immediately. First of all, he speaks English with a Swedish accent, but, too, it is a calm and measured voice, with a certain lilt. And I think he is a very wise man.
So, I listened up when I heard his voice. What did Krister Stendahl have to say about life on Mars? The conversation with the reporter likely was much longer, but what I still recall from it, years later, was his simple statement, "Well, if it is true, then it will be clear that God is much larger than our notion of God and we will then have to change our notion."
While Krister Stendahl is enlarging his notion of God and I am stretching my "inter-connected web of all existence," the Boston Globe's science writer Chet Raymo was bringing this all down to Earth, so to speak. Writing under the headline "It's a Small World After All" from a remote village in Ireland where people talked excitedly about the meteorites and bacteria, he said,
"It would be a mistake to think of this potential breakthrough as an American triumph. It is a human achievement, celebrated worldwide. Perhaps the biggest story is the reaction itself. The question of life on Mars touches upon some of our most ancient and firmly held convictions about our specialness in the universe.
"At this moment, Catholics and Protestants in the British corner of this island are toeing off against each other in another episode of sectarian hatred. In Bosnia, Chechnya, Burundi and elsewhere on this tiny planet [that was back in 1996], humans are killing each other over differences so slight as to be almost imperceptible to outsiders.
"If there is a lesson to be learned from the lively universal reaction to the teasing inclusions in the Martian meteorite, it is that we are one people on a cosmic island too small for squabbles."
Yet, squabble we do. On September 11th, those squabbles erupted on American soil in a way they never had before. Some of our most cherished convictions about American specialness and power in the world have been challenged, and many of us are quite shaken. Shaken by our own rage or the rage of loved ones we thought we knew. Shaken by our daily fears when a loved one isn't home on time or when a police siren wails. Shaken by worry about income insecurity. Shaken because the vulnerability of the world around us-that was already there but is now very visible-mirrors the vulnerability we feel inside ourselves due to depression or anxiety. We are a shaken people.
Just as a discovery of life elsewhere would not be an American but a human achievement, so too are the attacks on September 11th are not American tragedies. They are human tragedies, mourned worldwide. Not only mourned worldwide, but also experienced worldwide. In many countries, people have been living for years with the insecurity, fear, anger and doubt that many Americans now feel. Now, we know what it is like. We, too, must learn to live with it.
The obvious question is "but, how?" More importantly, we need to ask ourselves, who we want to become in these times? What kind of life do we want to have while living with the reality of our situation? Do we just want to get by, or can we grow into stronger, more centered, more loving and energetic people?
I would like to offer some observations from my own experience on how we may cope with the ongoing impact of the attacks on September 11th, the fear of further terrorist acts, and the issues that arise because our country has retaliated militarily in what is described as a "protracted" and new form of "war." Then I invite you to share aloud something you've done that has helped you cope in these trying times.
One observation is that whatever we did for our spiritual, emotional, and mental health before September 11th, we likely need to do something more now. I say this with sincere humility, because it is a challenge for me as well.
For those of you who have sought out a place of worship or a religious community for the first time in the past month after months or years of not doing so, you very likely need to make yourself at home here (or somewhere) by coming back again and again. The rhythms of worship and the spirit of community will only become meaningful for you, and helpful to you, over time.
For those of you who come regularly and experience worship here as a weekly time of pause and renewal, you very likely need ways to nurture your spirit on a daily basis also. This can be in the form of prayer when you give voice to your deepest hopes, fears, joys, sorrows whether you direct such expressions nowhere in particular or to God, to your inner light or to the soul of the universe. Or, it can be when you lose yourself in silent meditation, in awe over the beauty of the natural world, or in the stimulation of rigorous exercise. Or, it can be an intentional time of closeness with family or friends that encircles you with the love in your life. Or, it can be several or all of the above. In these trying times especially, most of us need daily opportunities for pause and renewal, however we do it.
For those of you who are already engaged in a daily practice that nurtures you, you likely will find yourself opening up to a new depth or a new dimension -- going deeper into the experience; or adding exercise if you've been meditating or adding meditation if you've been exercising; gardening as usual but with a greater appreciation for the beauty around you; or finding ways to bring the peace and energy you find in your spiritual practice into doing the work of love and justice the world so needs at this time.
In my experience, and in all I have read in the words of the sages and seekers, such spiritual intentions are difficult to sustain. You may find yourself, as I do, needing to repeatedly re-commit yourself to ways that nurture your spirit. Don't judge yourself too harshly if you relapse. Even in monastic communities where the structure of the communal routine is designed to be supportive of a regular prayer-life, people struggle to keep their spiritual commitments. How much more difficult for those of us who also maintain households, juggle the schedules of multiple people, care for little ones or older ones, go to work or look for work, and are accosted by myriads of messages telling us that what is important is what we buy not who we are becoming. It doesn't take much time, really; it primarily takes intentionality.
My other observations are in regard to our obligation as citizens of a democracy to keep ourselves informed. First of all, we can make choices from among the available news sources. We can regulate our exposure to violence. We can seek sources of information that encourage reason and reflection, not rage and fear. We can seek out informed credible sources and avoid those that attract consumers and advertisers by "hyping" the news.
If commercial TV is getting to you, try CNN in small doses only or public television for news shows and documentaries. It's OK-it's even good-to shut the TV off entirely! Try radio if you are overwhelmed or numbed by the images on television, and public radio if the news bites on commercial radio are too superficial. If you are feeling anxious or overloaded with other people's views and don't even know what your own are anymore, turn off all radio and TV talk shows. Read the newspaper instead and publications that provide alternative views, and take a view minutes at the end to ask yourself, "what did I learn? What do I think of what I read? What are my own views? How shall I communicate my views to my elected representatives?"
But, secondly, this freedom to choose our news sources is only as good as the range of choices from which to choose and the freedom of the press that they enjoy. Earlier this week, the Bush administration dared tell the networks not to air the statements of Osama bin Laden. As citizens of a democracy we depend on a free press, one that does not edit at anyone's behest, including that of our government. In these times especially, we must guard that freedom and, indeed, all the freedoms of a democratic society.
Krister Stendahl said that a discovery of life on Mars would cause him to enlarge his notion of God. Have the events of September 11th and since changed wherever, however you find love and hope and peace? What might you have experienced during recent weeks that someone else would benefit from hearing about?
What have you done that has helped you listen to your heart, give voice to what's inside you, cope with the fears and anger? What has sustained you through these days and weeks? If you have been feeling rage, have you found any constructive release through serving others or speaking out or doing some good physical work around the yard? If you'd been feeling depressed, how have you tapped into, expressed, and moved on from the feelings underneath the depression? If you've been feeling hope and joy, how has it come to you?
I'll circulate with the microphone for the next few minutes so that you might share your experiences with each other.
These are big questions, and there are many of them. We will begin to share our experiences here, but I hope they will continue in the Sermon Circle or in conversations over coffee or in the car on the way home or via phone or email with each other. I am glad to make time for these kinds of conversations with you, too.
The coming weeks and months will likely continue to be very wearing; it will be important for me and for all of us to pay attention to our spiritual needs for solace, fellowship, and inspiration; to eat, rest and exercise well; and to be patient with ourselves and others.
Amen.