Becoming SWUU
Preached 4/11/2021 at SouthWest UU in N. Royalton OH
By Rev. Meg Mathieson
[After singing "Comfort Me"]
That is a truly wonderful song, isn’t it? I came across this story by UU minister Kimberly Debus on her blog, she said:
Our scene unfolds as my then boyfriend, Carl, and I are driving in New England. Carl had had a busy few weeks, and while I navigated the rolling turns of the road, Carl viewed the beauty of the Green Mountains through his eyelids. In the quiet, I began humming some of my favorite spirituals: “Over My Head, I Hear Music in the Air” … “There Is More Love Somewhere.” Eventually I landed on this piece:
Comfort me, comfort me,
comfort me, oh my soul.
Now I got through the first two verses easily, but instead of singing the lyric “speak for me,” I began to sing “speak TO me”….
And God said, “I have been. I never stopped. You are the one who stopped.”
Blink.
Look over to Carl.
Sleeping soundly.
Radio isn’t on.
Phone hasn’t rung.
Blink.
And so I asked, “I haven’t heard you. How have you been speaking to me?”
God’s answer came immediately as the napping Carl let out a loud, forceful snore.
Which made me realize – though tears and light so strong that I had to pull over – that God always speaks, through the divinity in each of us. Through long conversations with trusted friends and colleagues… through poetry and music that makes us weep from their beauty… through books and ideas and sermons and films and television… through the little moments of grace we witness and are blessed with. All of them, messages from the Mystery, all of them hoping that we would recognize them in retrospect.
What a wonderful story!
Speak to me, oh my soul.
What would your soul say to you? Does your soul speak to you? Are you listening? What might your soul, your deepest self want to say to you?
This month we are focusing on the theme of “Becoming,” and in that vein, we might ask our deepest inner selves, what are we becoming? Who are we becoming as a people, here at SouthWest UU?
It is often said that the only constant in life is change, and it is said often because it is true, and yet always surprising! We need to be reminded again and again that life won’t slow down for us. Change is inevitable and it is our constant companion in life. When life is hard, we can be comforted, knowing that this too will pass. And then life is good? When we are comfortable? Even then, we are constantly challenged by change.
My father is an Orthodox priest, and he often told me that much of the work of a minister is about helping folks cope with grief. And he taught me that grief is simply unwanted change. Loss is about a change that we do not want, a change that is painful. This week, we lost our dear longtime member and friend David Slawson. My experience of David was of a sweet, gentle, deeply intelligent and reflective soul.
My experience of David was of someone who, at the end of a long life, was not afraid of change.
How many of us have experienced grief this year? How many of us have experienced loss? Can we look to the example of the wisest folks in our midst and embrace change?
Richard Rohr said, “If change and growth are not programmed into your spirituality, if there are not serious warnings about the binding nature of fear and fanaticism, your religion will always end up worshiping the status quo and protecting your present ego position and personal advantage.”
There is a part of me, a proud-to-be-a-liberal part of me that hears that quote and thinks huh! Some religions out there worship the status quo! Catholics! Baptists! Not us!
But we do need to look at ourselves and ask, are there places that we expect others to conform to our way of being? Are there ways that we are stuck in a rut because it’s the way it has always been done?
I don’t have a gripe in mind. I just think that we really need to be looking at these questions in order to live up to what we claim to be: a living faith.
Our siblings in the UCC denomination like to say that “God is still speaking.” This is a statement about openness to change. A UU version of that might simply be “We don’t know who is speaking, but we are trying to do our best at listening.”
Listen and reflect.
Who are we becoming as a people? Are we becoming a smaller church because of the loved ones that we have lost? Or are we becoming a place with open, welcoming arms to all? Are we becoming more and more a loving community of folks who do not have to believe alike to love alike? Are we becoming a group that Martin Luther King Jr would recognize as the Beloved Community?
From a lovely little book called “Earth Bound” by UU Brian Nelson:
Discussions about the 8th Principle will be held most Friday nights beginning this week at 7 pm. You are invited! Adding an 8th principle is about embracing change and movement. It is about listening to that voice that is still speaking. The deep voice within yourself that wants to extend compassion to all of creation.
A. Helwa, an Islamic writer has spoken of change by marrying the Taoist tradition with Islam, saying:
“When we surrender to God we change the flow of intention and energy behind our actions. We do not act from fear of loss or poverty, but from a place of trust in God. The concept of surrender is beautifully described in Taoism as Wei Wu Wei, meaning "Do without doing." When we surrender to God, we are like a grain of sand surrendering to become the mountain, or like a drop of rain surrendering to become the entire ocean.”
Becoming, becoming who we are as a community is about the surrender at the heart of Islam and it is about the Wu Wei of Taoism. This is the expansive, all-embracing beauty of our faith.
When this service ends, we will do something a little different for coffee hour. We are going to break into smaller breakout rooms, and you will find yourself either in a room with myself or Ellen, our board president, or Dodi, our board vice-president. And Ellen, Dodi and I will be facilitating conversations about our future. Specifically, we will focus on ideas, expectations, and plans about how and when we might begin to gather again in person. What would that look like? How could that happen in such a way as to be unquestionably safe for all and utterly inclusive? These conversations are a huge part of who we are becoming as a people.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr had a dream, and we as a congregation also have a dream. We have many, many dreams, and they all contain some of the same ingredients: compassion, warmth, strength, resilience, plurality, expansive love, and radical welcome. What is SWUU’s dream? And how do we go about realizing it?
May we genuinely enjoy embracing change as we forge ahead as a people of a living, changing, sometimes grieving tradition. We grieve the losses we have suffered and at the same time, we rejoice in the resilience that we have acquired from those losses.
Let’s recall one of our wonderful SWUU traditions: in person we like to hold hands at the end of the service. In our hearts and minds, let us all take the hands of those around us now as we anticipate the day that we can do so again in person. Let us, in joyful anticipation of the changes ahead of us, sing together our final hymn, the Fire of Commitment.
Preached 4/11/2021 at SouthWest UU in N. Royalton OH
By Rev. Meg Mathieson
[After singing "Comfort Me"]
That is a truly wonderful song, isn’t it? I came across this story by UU minister Kimberly Debus on her blog, she said:
Our scene unfolds as my then boyfriend, Carl, and I are driving in New England. Carl had had a busy few weeks, and while I navigated the rolling turns of the road, Carl viewed the beauty of the Green Mountains through his eyelids. In the quiet, I began humming some of my favorite spirituals: “Over My Head, I Hear Music in the Air” … “There Is More Love Somewhere.” Eventually I landed on this piece:
Comfort me, comfort me,
comfort me, oh my soul.
Now I got through the first two verses easily, but instead of singing the lyric “speak for me,” I began to sing “speak TO me”….
And God said, “I have been. I never stopped. You are the one who stopped.”
Blink.
Look over to Carl.
Sleeping soundly.
Radio isn’t on.
Phone hasn’t rung.
Blink.
And so I asked, “I haven’t heard you. How have you been speaking to me?”
God’s answer came immediately as the napping Carl let out a loud, forceful snore.
Which made me realize – though tears and light so strong that I had to pull over – that God always speaks, through the divinity in each of us. Through long conversations with trusted friends and colleagues… through poetry and music that makes us weep from their beauty… through books and ideas and sermons and films and television… through the little moments of grace we witness and are blessed with. All of them, messages from the Mystery, all of them hoping that we would recognize them in retrospect.
What a wonderful story!
Speak to me, oh my soul.
What would your soul say to you? Does your soul speak to you? Are you listening? What might your soul, your deepest self want to say to you?
This month we are focusing on the theme of “Becoming,” and in that vein, we might ask our deepest inner selves, what are we becoming? Who are we becoming as a people, here at SouthWest UU?
It is often said that the only constant in life is change, and it is said often because it is true, and yet always surprising! We need to be reminded again and again that life won’t slow down for us. Change is inevitable and it is our constant companion in life. When life is hard, we can be comforted, knowing that this too will pass. And then life is good? When we are comfortable? Even then, we are constantly challenged by change.
My father is an Orthodox priest, and he often told me that much of the work of a minister is about helping folks cope with grief. And he taught me that grief is simply unwanted change. Loss is about a change that we do not want, a change that is painful. This week, we lost our dear longtime member and friend David Slawson. My experience of David was of a sweet, gentle, deeply intelligent and reflective soul.
My experience of David was of someone who, at the end of a long life, was not afraid of change.
How many of us have experienced grief this year? How many of us have experienced loss? Can we look to the example of the wisest folks in our midst and embrace change?
Richard Rohr said, “If change and growth are not programmed into your spirituality, if there are not serious warnings about the binding nature of fear and fanaticism, your religion will always end up worshiping the status quo and protecting your present ego position and personal advantage.”
There is a part of me, a proud-to-be-a-liberal part of me that hears that quote and thinks huh! Some religions out there worship the status quo! Catholics! Baptists! Not us!
But we do need to look at ourselves and ask, are there places that we expect others to conform to our way of being? Are there ways that we are stuck in a rut because it’s the way it has always been done?
I don’t have a gripe in mind. I just think that we really need to be looking at these questions in order to live up to what we claim to be: a living faith.
Our siblings in the UCC denomination like to say that “God is still speaking.” This is a statement about openness to change. A UU version of that might simply be “We don’t know who is speaking, but we are trying to do our best at listening.”
Listen and reflect.
Who are we becoming as a people? Are we becoming a smaller church because of the loved ones that we have lost? Or are we becoming a place with open, welcoming arms to all? Are we becoming more and more a loving community of folks who do not have to believe alike to love alike? Are we becoming a group that Martin Luther King Jr would recognize as the Beloved Community?
From a lovely little book called “Earth Bound” by UU Brian Nelson:
Discussions about the 8th Principle will be held most Friday nights beginning this week at 7 pm. You are invited! Adding an 8th principle is about embracing change and movement. It is about listening to that voice that is still speaking. The deep voice within yourself that wants to extend compassion to all of creation.
A. Helwa, an Islamic writer has spoken of change by marrying the Taoist tradition with Islam, saying:
“When we surrender to God we change the flow of intention and energy behind our actions. We do not act from fear of loss or poverty, but from a place of trust in God. The concept of surrender is beautifully described in Taoism as Wei Wu Wei, meaning "Do without doing." When we surrender to God, we are like a grain of sand surrendering to become the mountain, or like a drop of rain surrendering to become the entire ocean.”
Becoming, becoming who we are as a community is about the surrender at the heart of Islam and it is about the Wu Wei of Taoism. This is the expansive, all-embracing beauty of our faith.
When this service ends, we will do something a little different for coffee hour. We are going to break into smaller breakout rooms, and you will find yourself either in a room with myself or Ellen, our board president, or Dodi, our board vice-president. And Ellen, Dodi and I will be facilitating conversations about our future. Specifically, we will focus on ideas, expectations, and plans about how and when we might begin to gather again in person. What would that look like? How could that happen in such a way as to be unquestionably safe for all and utterly inclusive? These conversations are a huge part of who we are becoming as a people.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr had a dream, and we as a congregation also have a dream. We have many, many dreams, and they all contain some of the same ingredients: compassion, warmth, strength, resilience, plurality, expansive love, and radical welcome. What is SWUU’s dream? And how do we go about realizing it?
May we genuinely enjoy embracing change as we forge ahead as a people of a living, changing, sometimes grieving tradition. We grieve the losses we have suffered and at the same time, we rejoice in the resilience that we have acquired from those losses.
Let’s recall one of our wonderful SWUU traditions: in person we like to hold hands at the end of the service. In our hearts and minds, let us all take the hands of those around us now as we anticipate the day that we can do so again in person. Let us, in joyful anticipation of the changes ahead of us, sing together our final hymn, the Fire of Commitment.