Theologically, most of us as UU's assert that heaven and hell are not places but states of mind that we experience here on this earth. We talk about believing in "life before death." But how many of us miss it? Often, it is not the external busyness of life that has me waiting to live, but the busyness of my mind. It is so easy to get caught up in remembering times in the past when I took a risk and failed, or work out the most detailed scenarios of all the things that go could go wrong in the future.

The Buddhists refer to this aspect of our being as our "monkey mind," and scientists would identify the part of our brain that does this as our neo-mammalian brain. We can be very thankful that our ancestors millions of years ago developed it - it is exactly what helped them to make sense out of patterns and make choices between options. But that doesn't means it is always easy to live with it now.

We even do this as a religious community. I've heard it said that we can't make the difference of a "real" religious community until we're bigger than we are, or that we need to all agree on some more things before we get started making communities of justice. I hear all the time that people want their church to grow, but not to look different than it is right now. We can easily spend much of our time as a people worrying about what a newer future would look like with us as a vital voice in our society, but if we wait for that to happen on its own, we will have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

We spend so much of our lives waiting to live, so much of our lives worrying about the past or the future. But as we know, we have such a brief time to live the life that wants to live in us.

Originally delivered by Aaron White on August 10, 2008

The text for this sermon can be viewed online at
http://austinuu.org/sermon/

© Aaron White 2008

21:42

It is not unusual for me to find in life that what causes religious reflection for me often comes from very unexpected sources. And this time, the main catalyst came from the television comedy, Scrubs. In one scene, the main character, J.D., is daydreaming about a visit to a friend's church. I don't remember too much about the scene, except that in ending the worship service, the very charismatic minister turns to the gathered congregation and says, "I love you, and there's nothing you can do about it."

In our modern expression of Unitarian Universalism, I often hear us talk about some things as if they were inevitable - unavoidable. We talk about the inevitability of truth or sometimes the fact of an ever growing complexity and diversity in life. We speak of inevitable knowledge and understanding that comes with experience. But what I don't often hear described as unavoidable, what I don't often hear is talk of this type of irresistible love, one that would say, "I love you, and there's nothing you can do about it."

However, running through the core of our tradition, deep within the DNA of our religious heritage, is the understanding that a profound, mature love has the power to break so many barriers. In 1568, the first (and only) Unitarian king in history, John Sigismund of Transylvania, enacted the first recorded law of religious toleration in a nation's history. While this law included all varieties of the Christian religion only, it was a radical move at the time. He was counseled by his Unitarian court minister, Francis David, who is famously quoted as saying, "We need not think alike to love alike." But what is it that we love?

...Our misplaced love can make gods out of money or power, can have us chasing after status or esteem; our highest loyalty and love can easily be paid to the shabby deities of a flag or tribe. Like Emerson and so many before him, he knew that as humans, we will worship something, but that our ultimate love should be directed toward the most ultimate things possible. What/whom is it that we love?

Originally delivered by Aaron White on August 17, 2008

The text for this sermon can be viewed online at
http://austinuu.org/sermons/

© Aaron White 2008

20:08