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Hymns:
Opening, O Life that Maketh all Things New, #12.
Closing, As Tranquil Streams, #145
Reading: I Call that Church Free, #591
 hat
is sacred? What is not? What is secular? What is not? What is a church?
What is not? Questions. Some of the answers to THESE questions may tell
us who WE are, and who we are not.
Have you ever noticed that it is scary to ask some questions? Those that
seem laden with controversy certainly. Those to which some people
strenuously object. And those that carry certain truths that we don’t
want to look at. The truth is always scary. Except when you are
committed to it. What kind of place is committed to the truth?
Questions.
Well, let’s look at some answers, or at least some objective description
of our terms, from the dictionary, so we can compare our terms rightly.
In our posed question, are we sacred or secular, let’s start with
sacred.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the term sacred means
something that is considered holy and deserving of respect, that is
connected to religion, and entitled to reverence. The Encyclopedia
Brittanica describes sacred as the power, being, or realm understood by
religious persons to be at the core of existence and to have a
transformative effect on their lives and destinies.
Secular is defined as relating to worldly or temporal concerns, not
overtly or specifically religious. Secular movements direct us away from
otherworldliness to life on earth.
And finally, a church is defined as a place for public worship, a body
or organization of religious believers.
What are we? Where do we fit?
Let me try to put some of this in my own words. To me, as the definition
says, being a church has to do with worship. In our case, worship of
what is sacred, i.e. holy and deserving of our respect. There is
certainly much in the secular world that is deserving of our respect as
well, but we don’t tend to worship it, we study it and work to take
action to bring some change or relief. Like housing for the poor or
homelessness.
How we see the difference between sacred and secular also depends in
large measure on the filter each of us put on every morning. When I
place my mostly sunny filter on, I see what is sacred all around me.
When I put on my crap brown filter, everything is a problem wanting to
be solved…a dry spiritual wasteland. For me, seeing the problems and
responding in a habitual way is easy. It is, I suspect, easier for most
of us to respond from habit. Seeing the sacred context of life in which
to hold those problems is much harder. It requires discipline and
practice. It is through spiritual practice that I can begin to
experience “problems” as something sent to me to help me grow, help me
to evolve as a human being in this life, for the benefit of this world,
and of the next. Not a curse sent to punish me.
So part of how I cast sacred and secular is, how each prepares me to
experience and hold the world here and now. And how each addresses my
ultimate concerns, life and death.
Generally the secular in life is easy to approach. It represents the
mainstream culture, the main way we see and respond to life. What seems
“normal.” We gather in groups throughout our daily lives in ways that
give great pleasure in the secular world. We go to football games and
cheer or boo together with thousands. We walk down the street and chat
with our neighbors. We join clubs of all kinds for many positive, and
some negative, reasons. To make a difference, like Rotary or Lions
Clubs. To gather and drink, tell war stories, and enjoy the company of
like minded souls as VFW members might do. To practice racism, like the
KKK. To build healthy boys and girls like the Scouts. Or we just gather
in social groups to talk, tell stories, and form social connections. And
so on. What holds them all on common ground is the desire to connect
with others and give pleasure, and/or meaning to life.
The sacred/spiritual does all that as well, but steps into another
realm. The realm, as we said, of worship. Of making meaning of life at a
deeper level. At the level of who am I, where do I come from, where am I
headed, what happens to me when I die, do I have a soul, does God exist,
how did the universe come to be, where do we earthlings fit in the
cosmos, why do I feel so empty, how do I practice love, and compassion,
what do I truly see when I look you in the eye???? Questions about the
nature of life itself.
In this church, we have many elements of both, of course. We UU’s came
to be as two separate heresies from Christianity. Our early movement did
not pull away from Christianity however. Rather our forebears came to
America in order to have the right to practice their own Christian
religious practice as they chose. Unitarians believing in one God,
Universalists believing in universal salvation of a loving God. Over
time we did become first, less Christian, and finally not Christian,
then more secular. More centered in humanism. Though the swing
nationally has swung back toward spirituality, secular humanism remains
a strong and honored movement in our churches.
Why do I bring all this to you now, on this particular day? Well, I have
an agenda. I want to prepare you for this afternoon’s town hall meeting
about our future through this sermon. I want to engage you, to challenge
you to think about what kind of a church we are, and what you want the
future of us to look like. For me it boils down to this.
If we at CUUC have a sacred mission, a sacred way of living our lives as
a community, we have a great gift to offer the world in general and the
SW Denver Metro area in particular. We have a way to live a life of
meaning, what all of us seek. For it is out of the inner reality of
holding the world as sacred that we act positively, lovingly, and
productively in the world. Not just because it makes us feel good, but
because it enables us to relate to the totality of life, to the larger
context that holds us meaningfully together. And to make a difference in
that world. That sacred context, that sacred filter if you will, is
worth expanding into the world for as many as possible to experience it.
And the method of delivery is love, care, kindness, respect, and
compassion. The core values of a life of meaning. Ours originated with
our Puritan ancestors who joined together in covenanted, loving
community. And practiced those values.
Those are not the core values of the secular world, of the secular
context of life. The secular values of the wider culture are usually
more about personal gain, about ME. They do not hold love, kindness, and
compassion at the center. They hold more narcissistic values centered on
personal safety, the accumulation of things, the holding and exercise of
power, and the desire for our truth to be the truth. These ways are far
easier to practice than the core values lived in a life of sacred
context……as we all know.
I am not interested in being a part of, or working to expand, a secular
organization. There are so many already and though they are limited in
their scope they work to provide relief and fun and good works. They are
rightly valuable to many.
If we, this church, truly see ourselves as a sacred group, living our
lives in love, compassion, and care, having made a covenant to live
lovingly with each other, and to expand that love, that way of living
into the world…..if we are truly wishing to share this life with others
as articulated in the principles of Unitarian Universalism, then we will
not fail to grow and grow and prosper. If we see ourselves as a group
operating as an extension of the secular world, then growth and
expansion may not be a part of our future. We then do not have the
healing gift of love, kindness, and compassion to offer the world. Still
worthwhile, but not sacred.
Is there a litmus test, a way to tell who we truly are? Well, one is in
the heart of each person in the sanctuary. Another is to look around and
see how we act with each other, and in the world. Do we transcend, or
honestly work to transcend, the usual secular world ways of being with
each other, which usually include dysfunctional dynamics. Are we direct
and honest in caring, respectful ways with each other? Do we bring
concerns directly, kindly to another? How often do we go to the shadow
side of ourselves and talk behind another’s back, or criticize and
backbite? Or to put it in the light, how often do we practice the
compassion of looking deeply at another that pains us and say, if I more
deeply knew who they were, what concerns and fears they have, I would
understand their actions. I need to be patient.
How seriously do we take the long history of humans on earth and their
desire to make sacred meaning of life? Do we minimize, criticize, and
demean when we disagree with another person or world view, or do we open
our minds and hearts and work to learn, even if we disagree.
This afternoon,
we will gather to begin a process of deciding who we are and are meant
to be as a congregation. It can be an exciting, fulfilling process. For
it to be successful, I believe that we must hold ourselves in the sacred
context of life. Not perfectly, but with a genuine desire to live there,
and to best offer the world what we have. We also must speak and act
from a position of love and respect. We must see the sacred in each
others eyes, hear the sacred in each others words. From that place we
may all flourish.
As the Lakota
people say, mitakuye oyasin … we indeed are all relatives. All bound
together in a mutual journey on this particular spot of mother earth.
All bound together in this church. This Unitarian Universalist church
where we practice the putting on of our sacred filter each time we enter
the door. Where we worship together.
May we clearly
see the vision of a sacred future together, and knit it together in
great and abiding love.
AMEN
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