ome Build A Land
Sermon given at the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
September 9, 2018
by The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
“Who else is doing this?”, I wondered… momentarily questioning my compulsion as I went from window to window in the wee hours of the morning… trying to catch a better glimpse of the moon hiding between a black silhouette of leafy branches stretching out far and wide from trees in my yard. By conventional standards, I “should” have been in bed. It was nearly 2am. Instead, I waited until the object of my curiosity slowly crossed into a clearing between the trees. At that moment I paused. Gazing awestruck through a pair of binoculars at the waning crescent of soft, golden hue… my thoughts turned to different lands…. possibilities, really… both historic and hoped for… and to questions of life’s meaning and our place, as human beings, in this mysterious and strange universe. One by one these thoughts emerged until their lunar stimulus again slipped from my sight and shortly thereafter, from my mind as I drifted asleep.
I awoke the next morning to what is commonly referred to as “the real world.” That mangled ball of absurdities we read, hear about and experience in the news, and deal with at work, home, and at school… in person and online. You know…the stuff that is literally killing us and the earth in one way or another. Zero-sum politics. Obsession with profits and productivity over people and planet. Free time sacrificed on the altar of scheduled…over scheduled… activity. The constant drive to thwart feelings of perpetual inadequacy by ensuring we or our kids don’t miss out on whatever or whoever we’re comparing ours lives to online. A pervasive sense of bewilderment and betrayal among youth as adults can’t seem to get their act together to address violence, equal opportunity, bullying and affordability in education. Not to mention all the familiar isms and phobias, both personal and systematic which threaten and destroy lives from the inside out.
Now, I used air quotes in referring to this “real world” not because it isn’t real or doesn’t effect all of us deeply…it is and it does. The issue is that we tend to equate real with inevitable…as if it were the only option available to us. But in fact, it is not. There are alternatives…different lands about which we can not only dream…but build…or live..into being.
Just the other day, I heard an interview on the radio about a woman who grew up in a small village in Pakistan. Her name is Khalida Brohi.
In the world Khalida grew up in, woman and girls are essentially promised to a man without consent through a tradition of arranged and exchange marriages.
They are also subject to so-called honor killings if they dishonor their family in any number of ways. Khalida’s father refused to accept the inevitability of such a world for his daughter and instead of promising her in marriage before she was even born as had been demanded of him, he refused and instead sent her to school. Today Khalida is an activist for women’s rights and author of the book, I Should Have Honor: A Memoir of Hope and Pride in Pakistan.
During the interview it was also revealed that from an early age Khalida’s father dreamt of lands beyond the boundaries of the world he knew and which so many of his fellow villagers took as real, that is, inevitable. Whether nights gazing at the moon inspired his dreams, I do not know, but it is not hard to imagine that he too must have wondered from time to time, “Who else is doing this?” Who else is pursuing, dreaming, and hoping to build…a new land…a land in which we may cease living, in the words of Wendell Berry’s, as rats and roaches under that laws of supply and demand and instead, live as human beings under the laws of justice and mercy?
We wonder, “Who else is doing this?” because it is hard to build such lands alone. Indeed, alone, we may begin to wonder if it is us and not the world people around us take for granted that is screwed up…(Note: I said screwed up…not evil, as some might say.) We may even seek out professionals or self-help books and programs hoping they will teach us how to adapt to the world.
But as author, therapist and former monk, Thomas Moore writes, “Who wants to adapt to a world that is crazy?”
Indeed, as people of faith, we are not called to adapt to the world.
We are called to imagine and live a new land into being. A land which interacts and exists within the larger world, but is very much an alternative to the ways of the world.
But how?
Back in June I received an email from friends at Mercy By The Sea, a retreat center at the Connecticut shore which I shared on BUUC’s (Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church) Facebook page. It contained a reflection entitled, “Who Is My Teacher?” which included the following story about the Libyan resistance to Italian fascism in the first quarter of the 20th C.
“After thousands of their countrymen were imprisoned by the Italians, the Libyans were able to capture two Italian soldiers. Many of the Libyans wanted to execute the Italian prisoners in retaliation. Omar Mukhtar (the leader) refused, stating this was not the way of Muslims. The folks who had argued for killing the prisoners objected, ‘But the Italians killed our prisoners.’ Omar Mukhtar softly responded, ‘They are not our teachers’.”
As the story illustrates, in order to begin to imagine and live an alternative way into being, it is important to know who our teachers are.
Unitarian Universalists have historically recognized several teachers. These include one’s conscience, clergy, the congregation, our principles and purposes and what we refer to as our “sources”, which include:
Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
Words and deeds of prophetic people which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
Additional teachers include our congregation’s mission and covenant.
It is to these, our teachers, that we turn and engage in dialogue with… through worship, religious education, personal and corporate ritual and spiritual practices…in board and committee meetings, through our ministries and indeed our living in the larger world.…including moments late at night spent gazing at the moon. Through the give and take of that ongoing dialogue… we are moved, inspired and able to imagine… and build… a land… an alternative to the ways of the world, together.
A land in which…
Each person can be themselves. Where individuality, our uniqueness as a person, is recognized and celebrated.
The discovery and embrace of one’s individuality is inexorably linked to what Thomas Moore calls, “care of the soul.” Care that is neither encouraged or valued in much of the wider world today.
Together we can build a land dedicated to care of the soul.
A land in which…
We look first, with gratitude, at what we have and can share rather than what we lack and can’t spare.
Each day we face an unceasing barrage of messages and advertising telling us we need more…more medications (especially if you watch the evening news), more gadgets, more clothing and shoes, more information, more everything. Being constantly told how much more we need, we can start to feel like we don’t have anything, which is often taken to mean we are nothing.
Together we can build a land where grateful awareness of our abundance can empower us to discern and address true needs and help us resist equating self-worth with net worth.
A land in which…
We take care of our own and our own is everyone. In other words, people outside the walls of this church and tradition matter too.
We see what tribalism is doing to our nation and world. I know many of us feel a sickness in our hearts when we witness or even succumb to it ourselves.
Together we can build a land where phrases like, “love your enemies”, “namaste”, “coexist” and the “inherent worth and dignity of every person” are more than sentimental slogans or statements printed on bumper stickers.
A land in which…
Right relations between peoples, human beings, other animals and our planet are engaged and supported in good faith.
The present day concern for civility extends far beyond the shameful, familiar examples in politics to the entertainment industry, college campuses and even family dinners. But its not just other people or groups of people who are being dissed, as we say…Human initiated changes in the availability or climatological conditions of animal habitats imperil animal and plant life, threatening forced migration and/or extinction. And if you’re one of the many people who have commented or complained, as I have, about the heat and humidity of summer 2018, a year on track to rank as the forth hottest on record, let it serve as a reminder…the earth is telling us something… “Stop. You’re hurting me.”
And we can stop. We can stop hurting other people, other life and our planet. Together we can build a land committed to the practice of right relations.
A land which we today, in this home that love made… and has kept, recommit ourselves to building on this homecoming Sunday, that an alternative way of living and being in the world, might continue on with and for us, our children and our children’s children.
And so, to everyone here today in body or spirit and yet to come…be you troubled, hurt or afraid…Who come with hope..anticipation, pride or joy…Who have come to seek, probe, explore and learn…Who have found a home here… found family here…Whoever you are, whatever you are, where ever your are on your journey, in the words of my esteemed colleague Richard Gilbert, set to music by Jason Shelton and sung by our choir this morning…”We bid you welcome” and invite you to come… build a land with us.
Amen and Blessed Be
Sermon given at the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
September 9, 2018
by The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
“Who else is doing this?”, I wondered… momentarily questioning my compulsion as I went from window to window in the wee hours of the morning… trying to catch a better glimpse of the moon hiding between a black silhouette of leafy branches stretching out far and wide from trees in my yard. By conventional standards, I “should” have been in bed. It was nearly 2am. Instead, I waited until the object of my curiosity slowly crossed into a clearing between the trees. At that moment I paused. Gazing awestruck through a pair of binoculars at the waning crescent of soft, golden hue… my thoughts turned to different lands…. possibilities, really… both historic and hoped for… and to questions of life’s meaning and our place, as human beings, in this mysterious and strange universe. One by one these thoughts emerged until their lunar stimulus again slipped from my sight and shortly thereafter, from my mind as I drifted asleep.
I awoke the next morning to what is commonly referred to as “the real world.” That mangled ball of absurdities we read, hear about and experience in the news, and deal with at work, home, and at school… in person and online. You know…the stuff that is literally killing us and the earth in one way or another. Zero-sum politics. Obsession with profits and productivity over people and planet. Free time sacrificed on the altar of scheduled…over scheduled… activity. The constant drive to thwart feelings of perpetual inadequacy by ensuring we or our kids don’t miss out on whatever or whoever we’re comparing ours lives to online. A pervasive sense of bewilderment and betrayal among youth as adults can’t seem to get their act together to address violence, equal opportunity, bullying and affordability in education. Not to mention all the familiar isms and phobias, both personal and systematic which threaten and destroy lives from the inside out.
Now, I used air quotes in referring to this “real world” not because it isn’t real or doesn’t effect all of us deeply…it is and it does. The issue is that we tend to equate real with inevitable…as if it were the only option available to us. But in fact, it is not. There are alternatives…different lands about which we can not only dream…but build…or live..into being.
Just the other day, I heard an interview on the radio about a woman who grew up in a small village in Pakistan. Her name is Khalida Brohi.
In the world Khalida grew up in, woman and girls are essentially promised to a man without consent through a tradition of arranged and exchange marriages.
They are also subject to so-called honor killings if they dishonor their family in any number of ways. Khalida’s father refused to accept the inevitability of such a world for his daughter and instead of promising her in marriage before she was even born as had been demanded of him, he refused and instead sent her to school. Today Khalida is an activist for women’s rights and author of the book, I Should Have Honor: A Memoir of Hope and Pride in Pakistan.
During the interview it was also revealed that from an early age Khalida’s father dreamt of lands beyond the boundaries of the world he knew and which so many of his fellow villagers took as real, that is, inevitable. Whether nights gazing at the moon inspired his dreams, I do not know, but it is not hard to imagine that he too must have wondered from time to time, “Who else is doing this?” Who else is pursuing, dreaming, and hoping to build…a new land…a land in which we may cease living, in the words of Wendell Berry’s, as rats and roaches under that laws of supply and demand and instead, live as human beings under the laws of justice and mercy?
We wonder, “Who else is doing this?” because it is hard to build such lands alone. Indeed, alone, we may begin to wonder if it is us and not the world people around us take for granted that is screwed up…(Note: I said screwed up…not evil, as some might say.) We may even seek out professionals or self-help books and programs hoping they will teach us how to adapt to the world.
But as author, therapist and former monk, Thomas Moore writes, “Who wants to adapt to a world that is crazy?”
Indeed, as people of faith, we are not called to adapt to the world.
We are called to imagine and live a new land into being. A land which interacts and exists within the larger world, but is very much an alternative to the ways of the world.
But how?
Back in June I received an email from friends at Mercy By The Sea, a retreat center at the Connecticut shore which I shared on BUUC’s (Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church) Facebook page. It contained a reflection entitled, “Who Is My Teacher?” which included the following story about the Libyan resistance to Italian fascism in the first quarter of the 20th C.
“After thousands of their countrymen were imprisoned by the Italians, the Libyans were able to capture two Italian soldiers. Many of the Libyans wanted to execute the Italian prisoners in retaliation. Omar Mukhtar (the leader) refused, stating this was not the way of Muslims. The folks who had argued for killing the prisoners objected, ‘But the Italians killed our prisoners.’ Omar Mukhtar softly responded, ‘They are not our teachers’.”
As the story illustrates, in order to begin to imagine and live an alternative way into being, it is important to know who our teachers are.
Unitarian Universalists have historically recognized several teachers. These include one’s conscience, clergy, the congregation, our principles and purposes and what we refer to as our “sources”, which include:
Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
Words and deeds of prophetic people which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
Additional teachers include our congregation’s mission and covenant.
It is to these, our teachers, that we turn and engage in dialogue with… through worship, religious education, personal and corporate ritual and spiritual practices…in board and committee meetings, through our ministries and indeed our living in the larger world.…including moments late at night spent gazing at the moon. Through the give and take of that ongoing dialogue… we are moved, inspired and able to imagine… and build… a land… an alternative to the ways of the world, together.
A land in which…
Each person can be themselves. Where individuality, our uniqueness as a person, is recognized and celebrated.
The discovery and embrace of one’s individuality is inexorably linked to what Thomas Moore calls, “care of the soul.” Care that is neither encouraged or valued in much of the wider world today.
Together we can build a land dedicated to care of the soul.
A land in which…
We look first, with gratitude, at what we have and can share rather than what we lack and can’t spare.
Each day we face an unceasing barrage of messages and advertising telling us we need more…more medications (especially if you watch the evening news), more gadgets, more clothing and shoes, more information, more everything. Being constantly told how much more we need, we can start to feel like we don’t have anything, which is often taken to mean we are nothing.
Together we can build a land where grateful awareness of our abundance can empower us to discern and address true needs and help us resist equating self-worth with net worth.
A land in which…
We take care of our own and our own is everyone. In other words, people outside the walls of this church and tradition matter too.
We see what tribalism is doing to our nation and world. I know many of us feel a sickness in our hearts when we witness or even succumb to it ourselves.
Together we can build a land where phrases like, “love your enemies”, “namaste”, “coexist” and the “inherent worth and dignity of every person” are more than sentimental slogans or statements printed on bumper stickers.
A land in which…
Right relations between peoples, human beings, other animals and our planet are engaged and supported in good faith.
The present day concern for civility extends far beyond the shameful, familiar examples in politics to the entertainment industry, college campuses and even family dinners. But its not just other people or groups of people who are being dissed, as we say…Human initiated changes in the availability or climatological conditions of animal habitats imperil animal and plant life, threatening forced migration and/or extinction. And if you’re one of the many people who have commented or complained, as I have, about the heat and humidity of summer 2018, a year on track to rank as the forth hottest on record, let it serve as a reminder…the earth is telling us something… “Stop. You’re hurting me.”
And we can stop. We can stop hurting other people, other life and our planet. Together we can build a land committed to the practice of right relations.
A land which we today, in this home that love made… and has kept, recommit ourselves to building on this homecoming Sunday, that an alternative way of living and being in the world, might continue on with and for us, our children and our children’s children.
And so, to everyone here today in body or spirit and yet to come…be you troubled, hurt or afraid…Who come with hope..anticipation, pride or joy…Who have come to seek, probe, explore and learn…Who have found a home here… found family here…Whoever you are, whatever you are, where ever your are on your journey, in the words of my esteemed colleague Richard Gilbert, set to music by Jason Shelton and sung by our choir this morning…”We bid you welcome” and invite you to come… build a land with us.
Amen and Blessed Be