Intention and Hope
Preached 1/2/2022 at SouthWest UU in N. Royalton OH
By Rev. Meg Mathieson
Abraham Maslow, that great thinker and teacher about humanity, said “In any given moment we have two options, to step forward in growth or to step back into safety.”
The beginning of a new year, when we honor the fire of intention and step boldly into growth can be a time of leaving behind safety. And when we do it together, when we step forward into this new year together, it can be a little less scary. Here, take my hand, I’m with you. We can do this.
But it is scary. And being brave isn’t the same thing as being unafraid. Some of us are feeling more scared than others, some of us are more vulnerable than others. Some of us have strong immune systems and have had our vaccinations, while others of us are not quite sure about our immune systems. Many of us are watching various forms of COVID make its way into our lives, into our families.
Being brave isn’t the same thing as being unafraid. Being brave means that we are afraid, but we walk forward anyway. You can’t be brave if you’re not scared. It’s not brave of me to stand here and give a sermon because I like doing it. But it might be brave for you.
So we light these candles and we stick together as the beloved community that we are, that we intend to be during the tough times and the scary times because we are brave, not in spite of our fear but because of it.
Maslow’s words - we can step forward into growth or step back into safety. What does that mean for us now? Well a simplified idea might be that stepping forward is to return to normal life, to refuse to be afraid of COVID, to plow ever onward. There are voices telling us to be tough. But refusing to be afraid is not the same thing as being brave.
In fact, refusing to feel your feelings is unhealthy and stupid.
I’m scared. I’m sad.
And I’m brave. And I’m resilient. We will do this together.
So this time of year we look forward and we make resolutions, or we set intentions, and there is a difference between the two, between resolutions and intentions. Resolutions tend to make me feel bad. They’re things I generally already feel kind of bad about, like ways I’m not living up… I resolve to lose weight or exercise more or call my mother more.
Intentions are more empowering. Intentions are about health and about living into the present.
Resolutions can be about the past, I feel bad that I didn’t exercise much last year. They can be about the future - I will exercise more this year.
Intentions are about the present. I will be healthy now, in this moment. Does that include exercise? Well, not at this exact moment because I’m preaching.
I set an intention to be healthy this year. As healthy as I can be.
Intention. The second step on Buddhists’ eightfold path is Right Intention. The Buddha taught that there are three kinds of right intention:
Jumping to the other two, they feel more doable. We will come back to renunciation. But the other two, the intention of goodwill and the intention of harmlessness, are those I feel I can do.
So I will hold for this year, for this moment in this fresh new year, the intention of goodwill toward others and the intention of harmlessness. These remind me of our principles. The intention of goodwill rather than ill will resonates with our second Unitarian Universalist principle of “justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.”
The intention of harmlessness brings to mind the environment and those smaller and less powerful than us. It brings to mind the seventh principle of respect for the interdependent web of existence.”
I can set my intention to be a healthy person, inside and out, and to be that in this moment, not in the future, but exercising the intentions of goodwill and harmlessness.
But about that renunciation piece. About that part about letting go of attachment to outcomes. Wow that’s a hard one, right? Can we do that? Can we do that together? Because this is where the fear comes in. This is where it gets scary, and we can only be brave if it is scary. Resilience doesn’t happen unless there is trauma to bounce back from.
Can we, together as a sacred, holy community of people who are committed to goodwill and harmlessness, can we let go of attachment to outcomes?
Can I say, maybe COVID will get better, maybe it will get worse. All I can do it live in the here and now and do my best.
Can I say, things might not go back to normal, or they might not go back to normal any time soon, and that will just have to be okay?
Can I swallow the bitter pill? Or at least live with the bitter pill sitting there, just being there? The New Year is a time of bitter cold, overcast and dark. We have a lot of winter still ahead of us. We can’t do it alone.
We can only do this together. All of our candles burning bright can light the dark times.
Rev. Rebekkah Parker says There is a Love Holding Us.
This could refer to God, or it could refer to us.
Just us, in the dark, with our little candles. We are the love that is holding us.
There is a love holding me / us.
There is a love holding all that I / we love.
There is a love holding all.
I / We rest in this love.
When you are tired, when you feel that you cannot hold your candle up any longer, when it is too heavy, when you can’t seem to locate your intention in your soul, when you are stuck in the past or worry about the future and you can’t seem to find your way home to the present, take my hand. Take our hands. We are holding you. Our lights can rekindle your light. You are not alone. You are never alone.
When, I say when because it will happen. It will happen to all of us at some point, despair will come for us, and our lights will grow dim. You cannot do it all, you cannot hold that burden alone forever.
When you cannot let go of your attachment to the outcome that you feel that you absolutely need, we are here. I am here. We, all of these burning candles and lights, are here for you.
What is your intention for the new year? Is it goodwill? Harmlessness? Letting go of attachments? Recognizing that you cannot control anyone but yourself and that this world will do what it wants?
What is your intention?
Lao Tsu said “At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are, and you know what you want.”
As we sing our final hymn, “The Fire of Commitment,” this is a tough one to sing and there aren’t a lot of people here, and I will do my best and I’m not a great singer, but I chose this difficult hymn because it is about that - about the fire, the commitment. Our commitment to one another is a fire that will never fully go out. When your light is dim, that’s okay, because others will carry you through. Others are bright.
Preached 1/2/2022 at SouthWest UU in N. Royalton OH
By Rev. Meg Mathieson
Abraham Maslow, that great thinker and teacher about humanity, said “In any given moment we have two options, to step forward in growth or to step back into safety.”
The beginning of a new year, when we honor the fire of intention and step boldly into growth can be a time of leaving behind safety. And when we do it together, when we step forward into this new year together, it can be a little less scary. Here, take my hand, I’m with you. We can do this.
But it is scary. And being brave isn’t the same thing as being unafraid. Some of us are feeling more scared than others, some of us are more vulnerable than others. Some of us have strong immune systems and have had our vaccinations, while others of us are not quite sure about our immune systems. Many of us are watching various forms of COVID make its way into our lives, into our families.
Being brave isn’t the same thing as being unafraid. Being brave means that we are afraid, but we walk forward anyway. You can’t be brave if you’re not scared. It’s not brave of me to stand here and give a sermon because I like doing it. But it might be brave for you.
So we light these candles and we stick together as the beloved community that we are, that we intend to be during the tough times and the scary times because we are brave, not in spite of our fear but because of it.
Maslow’s words - we can step forward into growth or step back into safety. What does that mean for us now? Well a simplified idea might be that stepping forward is to return to normal life, to refuse to be afraid of COVID, to plow ever onward. There are voices telling us to be tough. But refusing to be afraid is not the same thing as being brave.
In fact, refusing to feel your feelings is unhealthy and stupid.
I’m scared. I’m sad.
And I’m brave. And I’m resilient. We will do this together.
So this time of year we look forward and we make resolutions, or we set intentions, and there is a difference between the two, between resolutions and intentions. Resolutions tend to make me feel bad. They’re things I generally already feel kind of bad about, like ways I’m not living up… I resolve to lose weight or exercise more or call my mother more.
Intentions are more empowering. Intentions are about health and about living into the present.
Resolutions can be about the past, I feel bad that I didn’t exercise much last year. They can be about the future - I will exercise more this year.
Intentions are about the present. I will be healthy now, in this moment. Does that include exercise? Well, not at this exact moment because I’m preaching.
I set an intention to be healthy this year. As healthy as I can be.
Intention. The second step on Buddhists’ eightfold path is Right Intention. The Buddha taught that there are three kinds of right intention:
- The intention of renunciation, which counters the intention of desire.
- The intention of good will, which counters the intention of ill will.
- The intention of harmlessness, which counters the intention of harmfulness.
Jumping to the other two, they feel more doable. We will come back to renunciation. But the other two, the intention of goodwill and the intention of harmlessness, are those I feel I can do.
So I will hold for this year, for this moment in this fresh new year, the intention of goodwill toward others and the intention of harmlessness. These remind me of our principles. The intention of goodwill rather than ill will resonates with our second Unitarian Universalist principle of “justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.”
The intention of harmlessness brings to mind the environment and those smaller and less powerful than us. It brings to mind the seventh principle of respect for the interdependent web of existence.”
I can set my intention to be a healthy person, inside and out, and to be that in this moment, not in the future, but exercising the intentions of goodwill and harmlessness.
But about that renunciation piece. About that part about letting go of attachment to outcomes. Wow that’s a hard one, right? Can we do that? Can we do that together? Because this is where the fear comes in. This is where it gets scary, and we can only be brave if it is scary. Resilience doesn’t happen unless there is trauma to bounce back from.
Can we, together as a sacred, holy community of people who are committed to goodwill and harmlessness, can we let go of attachment to outcomes?
Can I say, maybe COVID will get better, maybe it will get worse. All I can do it live in the here and now and do my best.
Can I say, things might not go back to normal, or they might not go back to normal any time soon, and that will just have to be okay?
Can I swallow the bitter pill? Or at least live with the bitter pill sitting there, just being there? The New Year is a time of bitter cold, overcast and dark. We have a lot of winter still ahead of us. We can’t do it alone.
We can only do this together. All of our candles burning bright can light the dark times.
Rev. Rebekkah Parker says There is a Love Holding Us.
This could refer to God, or it could refer to us.
Just us, in the dark, with our little candles. We are the love that is holding us.
There is a love holding me / us.
There is a love holding all that I / we love.
There is a love holding all.
I / We rest in this love.
When you are tired, when you feel that you cannot hold your candle up any longer, when it is too heavy, when you can’t seem to locate your intention in your soul, when you are stuck in the past or worry about the future and you can’t seem to find your way home to the present, take my hand. Take our hands. We are holding you. Our lights can rekindle your light. You are not alone. You are never alone.
When, I say when because it will happen. It will happen to all of us at some point, despair will come for us, and our lights will grow dim. You cannot do it all, you cannot hold that burden alone forever.
When you cannot let go of your attachment to the outcome that you feel that you absolutely need, we are here. I am here. We, all of these burning candles and lights, are here for you.
What is your intention for the new year? Is it goodwill? Harmlessness? Letting go of attachments? Recognizing that you cannot control anyone but yourself and that this world will do what it wants?
What is your intention?
Lao Tsu said “At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are, and you know what you want.”
As we sing our final hymn, “The Fire of Commitment,” this is a tough one to sing and there aren’t a lot of people here, and I will do my best and I’m not a great singer, but I chose this difficult hymn because it is about that - about the fire, the commitment. Our commitment to one another is a fire that will never fully go out. When your light is dim, that’s okay, because others will carry you through. Others are bright.