Go Love the World Curated by Rev. Tera Klein
  • Welcome
  • Sermons
    • September 17, 2017: "Like A Mighty Wind"
    • August 20, 2017: "Faith From the Ground Up"
    • February 5, 2017: "The Next Scary Thing: The Call"
    • January 15, 2017: "Integrity of the Spirit"
    • November 20, 2016: "Joining Role and Soul"
    • November 13, 2016: "Post Election - Our Work at Hand"
    • October 9, 2016: "We Begin Again in Love"
    • October 2, 2016: "Blessing of the Animals"
    • September 11, 2016: "Gift of Community"
    • June 12, 2016: "Sabbath Economics"
    • June 5, 2016: "Interrupting Time"
    • May 29, 2016: "Wrestling with Grace"
    • March 15, 2016: "Grace-Filled Leadership"
    • May 8, 2016: "Flower Communion: In Each A Gift"
    • April 17, 2016: "Earth Day Sunday"
    • April 3, 2016: "Liberating Women, Liberating Earth"
    • March 27, 2016: "Easter Message"
    • March 20, 2016: "The Act of Remembering"
    • March 6, 2016: "May Nothing Evil Cross This Door"
    • February 21, 2016: "A Spirituality of Work"
    • Christmas Eve Prayer: "Angels in the Stars"
    • December 2014 "Winter Solstice Finding the Light Within"
    • December 2014 "Long Road Home"
    • November 2014 "Resistance: Surrender"
    • June 2014 "Freedom From or Freedom To?"
    • May 2014 "Half the Sky"
    • June 2013 "Staying Awake at the Wheel"
    • May 2013 "Growing into Beloved Community"
    • April 2013 "Heaven Is Here On Earth"
    • April 2013 "One Voice"
    • March 2013 "Called Back To Life"
    • March 2013 "From Locusts to Honeybees"
  • Finding Meaning
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"Water Communion: Gift of Community" 


Spirit of the water, calm me; Spirit of the water, refresh me ... " - ​Joyce A. Markle 

What stirred within you with such force, 
    that it compelled you 
        to enter into a Unitarian Universalist congregation 
            for the first time? 

Can you remember what was strong enough 
    to prod you out of your 
        usual Sunday morning brunch with friends, 
            canyon hikes with your dog, 
                sleeping in? 
                    
For some of you, it was a long time ago; 
    others of you only need remember back a few months, 
        or even to this morning. 


Who knows how you found us. 
    You may have read about us, 
        or been invited by a friend, 
            or walked by the building and felt intrigued. 

What did you hope you would find when 
    you walked through the doors? 
        A place to sing? 
            A place to heal? 
                A place to put your hands in the dirt? 
                    A place for your children? 
                        A place to think? 


We all come, 
    wanderers and worshipers, 
        looking for different things, 
            most of us hoping against hope 
                to find a group of people who will 
                    accept us for who we are, 
                        allow us to be of use, 
                            love us, 
                                let us love them back
                                 in return. 

When I worked as Denominational Staff, 
    I led workshops across the country. 
        In any group of Unitarian Universalists, 
            no matter their age or background, 
                when asked about the most important aspect
                    of congregational life, 
                        the number one answer given: 
                            The Community.

In some ways, 
    this longing for community is at odds with another 
        of our closely held values.  
            Our understanding that each of us in charge of 
                our personal spiritual development. 
                    Each of us unique in how we 
                        connect with the universal energy 
                            moving in, around, and 
                            among us, 
                                called by so many names.  
. 
We do not have a collective creed. 
    You won’t hear us recite a shared dogma. 
        No common prayer practice. 
            And a theological diversity
                as wide and as long as the Mississippi River. 

And yet, here we are. 
    Holding on to each other 
        as we move through the complex waters
            of the river of life.  
                  
​
I’ve heard it said, 
    over and over, 
        that you cannot be a Unitarian Universalist alone. 


When I first heard this, 
    twenty years ago, 
        I wasn’t 100% sure I agreed with it. 

Surely, I could live by our 7 principles; 
    I could read theology and study books on UU history and     governance; 
        I could experience the mystery of the unfolding universe
            in the only way that has ever made sense to me - 
                through nature. 
                    I didn’t need anyone else in order
                        to do those things 
                        regularly and well. 
                    
In many ways ... it was those types of solitary activities
    that made me feel so comfortable 
        with Unitarian Universalism when I found it. 
            I loved the questions, 
                the inquiry. 
                    I loved the identity we claimed: 
                        “free thinking mystics with hands,” 
                            as named by 
                            a colleague of mine. 
                                I didn’t feel I needed a whole lot of answers. 

I’d been involved with a faith community
    that taught answers galore - 
        answers that feel easily off the lips, 
            answers that proved to be empty 
                when I needed to lean on them most. 

So ... why did I need others to be a Unitarian Universalist? 
    I mean - I enjoyed the other people at my church. 
        But did I NEED them in order to be 
            a Unitarian Universalist? 

Turns out, I do. And we do.  
    And the hint to why we do lies in that fourth principle. 
        The very one that encouraged 
        my solitary walks by the creek, 
            my forays into feminist theology, 
                my private prodding of universal mysteries. 
            
This fourth principle says that we affirm and promote 
      a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. 

This is also known as our “keystone principle.” 
    Imagine our 7 principles as an arch over our river of     theologies- 
        One and seven (hands at bottom)
            Two and six (move hands up)
                Three and five (move hands up). 
                    Four in the middle, 
                        holding everything together. 

If we take it out, 
    the arch crumbles. 
        And all the other principles support this particular one - 
            it is held up by our trust in humanity, 
                our understanding of the universe as 
                    all intricately connected. 

Alone, walking in the woods, 
    contemplating my life, 
        I can be as free as I want to be
            in my quest for spiritual fulfillment
                and religious truths. 

But our keystone principle calls not only for a free search. 
    But for a responsible search. 
        
Alone, there’s nothing or no one for me to bump up against. 
    No one challenges my ideas. 
        No one asks for my truths to be in relationship 
            with anyone else’s truths. 
                Alone, I am not confronted by possible
                    harms and hurts done to others
                        by the limitations of my ideas. 

A responsible search for truth and meaning 
    is one held in loving embrace of community. 
        A community in which my understandings 
        are shaped and formed
            by the realities of your lived experience. 
                By your perceptions. 
                    By your ideas and beliefs. 
                        By your heart.


We hold each other accountable. 

One Unitarian Universalist recounted how 
    this fourth principle works in her own life: 


Whereas I recognize myself 
to be the primary authority of my life, 
I need my faith community to 
chasten, challenge, and comfort me - 
in short, 
to chalice me! (1)
 
May that be a gift you carry with you today. 
    The gift of a community 
        that “chalices” you 
            into more wholeness. 

1. 
Owen-Towle, Tom. Growing A Beloved Community, Twelve Hallmarks of A Healthy Congregation,  p. 18.

    
       


















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