While going through my old files, I found a sermon I had written and given in 2021 for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango. I admit that I’ve been fighting ennui and depression for the past few months, so re-reading this definitely served me as a reminder of the good work I must still continue to perform. I hope it inspires others as well.
Meditation:
One of my favorite quotes is from the Serenity prayer, or Peace Prayer. It’s often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi who was born to a wealthy family and had dreams of being a knight. However, after he was captured in battle and became severely ill, he had visions of Jesus and converted his life to helping the poor and sick, preaching peace and love, while living humbly and simply on the Earth for the benefit of all. He’s considered the patron saint of animals and ecology. Whether he was the original author or not, I’d like you to consider how these words could shape your own life. The prayer goes like this- “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, hope; where there is darkness, light, and where there is sadness, joy.”
Homily:
Good morning. Can we all please take a deep breath? In, and out. Thank you. What I’m going to talk about today is hard, hard to say, hard to hear, hard to accept. It’s definitely hard to do with joy which is the almost impossible task I gave myself. Very little about our current crisis is fun and easy, but I’m going to try my best to inspire.
After Reverend Sickafoose’s sermon last week on the sacred fool, I felt oddly at ease to perform as I felt called, which may be in a bit of an unorthodox way, but I’m kind of an unorthodox girl so it seems apropos. For the past few years, as I’ve been writing a love story with climate change as the underlying message, I’ve also been dancing as a passion, and a therapy and as a cure for what scares me, which unfortunately, is a lot. During the pandemic, I’ve grown strong and flexible, readying myself for the necessary work of these coming years, so if I bust a move or shake off some melancholy, I hope you’ll understand.
The message today is ‘Responding to the Call’. I’d considered titling this a Confession, as we’re in church and I’m going to be sharing some personal stuff, however, the story I want to share is less about me and more about the power of hope and love. I want to talk about what it means to feel Called; called to change, to face our fears and to embody our higher selves. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling the urge to do a lot more, so much more with my life, and I suspect many of you may be feeling a similar tug; it may even feel like a tug, kind of uncomfortable, unfamiliar, or unsettling.
In the bible, Paul the Apostle described a Calling as a summons from God to practice particular spiritual gifts, such as teaching, preaching, or prophecy.
So, here’s my first confession. I have experienced a Calling; a deep-in-the-marrow, bring-me-to-my-knees, life-changing, undeniable, overwhelming urge to act, to grow, and be better. I’ve even felt called to teach, preach and prophecy. In truth, this Calling has sometimes felt like it’s pulling me apart, but I’ve come to regard this feeling as growing pains. Like the world itself, my life, our lives are moving into different ways of being, stretching and remaking us, regardless of whether or not we like it.
What matters is how we respond to this Call, this change, this growth, this new reality.
Today is Palm Sunday. All over the world, this day is being celebrated in different ways by a variety of denominations, cultures and congregations, and for people without a Christian faith, today may be focused on other things, like baseball. But, the significance of Palm Sunday I think is relevant to this sense of feeling called and taking action.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all wrote about what happened today over two thousand years ago. Their stories say Jesus first brought a dead man, named Lazarus, back to life, performing an impossible task, much like reversing global warming, then he stood outside the city of Jerusalem, gazing down, and cried. Actually, the shortest passage in the bible is this two word sentence, “Jesus wept”. He then rode into the city on a donkey, a symbol of peace and humility; not a horse like a conquering king, but an ass and its colt. His followers welcomed him with happy shouts of “Hosanna!”, expressing their adoration and praise, as they laid palm fronds and garments on the path before him.
Jesus had become well-known for preaching peace and love, such as his commandment to love one’s neighbors and one’s enemies because each is a child of God. In the UU philosophy, this is similar to the principle of believing everyone is worthy of dignity and respect. We are all created so blessedly different, each of us is a gift. People had heard Jesus’ lesson that the Kingdom of Heaven was within everyone, rich and poor, sinner and saint, and these teachings along with the stories of his good deeds had touched a multitude of people who were there that day to receive him, and who were ready for a revolution in their minds, hearts and spirits. Some may have believed Jesus was going to bring a revolution to the status quo overnight, but, it didn’t happen as they may have envisioned. Four days after this welcoming into Jerusalem, Jesus was arrested, then crucified.
Now, in regards to my Calling, like many of you, I’ve been aware of our environmental issues for a long while, but honestly, I hadn’t been super-duper up-to-date. I’d adapted my life to a lower carbon footprint, having left Chicago to ‘live lighter on the land’. Greener, more organic, more sustainable, which also meant more work and less convenience but I got healthier, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I was walking the walk and talking the talk, however there was a lot I’d been avoiding, much I didn’t know, like, precisely what scientists were predicting for the future, which suddenly seemed like a really egregious error on my part.
As I studied the climate crisis, from the denier perspective to detailed reports to the UN, which by the way, there is a brand new one from the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which I suggest each and every one of you check out. Have a glass of wine handy and your tissues, or a reusable handkerchief and some calming tea, because the news is ugly, and it’s pretty overwhelming, soul-crushing, to be honest.
One thing repeatedly stood out when I was researching, which was that climate scientists are freaking out. I read many of them feel like failures, for having been unable to get their message into the mainstream that the time to act is Now. Actually, the time to act was yesterday, but we can’t do much about that.
What we’re witnessing isn’t just a climate change, but a destabilization, unprecedented in the history of the planet. Yes, changes have occurred over time, but never, ever at this speed.
Faced with this knowledge, questions repeated in my brain like a skipping record such as “What am I here for?”, “Why have I been given the life I’ve been given?” and “If not now, when?!?!?” If I don’t get better now, when? If I don’t learn more now, when? If I don’t try to make a difference now, then when?! Like Mary Oliver, I asked “What am I going to do with this one wild and precious life?” Because, no matter what happens in the future, I want to be able to look my children in the eyes and tell them their Mama did her best.
After this realization, the Calling, this summons from God to teach, preach and prophecy came into my body on a cellular level, on a quantum level, into my molecules, intellectually, spiritually, even metaphysically. It undid me, remade me, stretched and tugged at everything I had previously thought or had seen for my life.
And, I committed, like a crazy person, like a holy fool. I said ‘yes’, agreeing to a higher power, to God, to my own conscience to be a part of the solutions. As the poet, David Whyte, wrote, I made a ‘soul promise’, the kind which it would kill you to break.
It came to me that in order to help more people, to be effective, the most control I had was over myself. First, I was going to have to do better, I was going to have to heal my traumas, reduce my bad habits, improve my way of being in the world before I could successfully lead others. I felt a strong urge to add my voice to the collective cries around me, and the idea for my book came like a lightning-bolt-to-the-head.
I’ll be honest, it scared the daylights out of me. Being a messenger, even of the truth, is often a thankless job, and it’s kind of terrifying in today’s day and age of incessant criticism.
Jesus preached love, joy and acceptance…and he was tortured and silenced.
I worried about repercussions if I stood up and suggested that to save the world, we’re going to have to radically change. I didn’t want to be the person who tells others that what we’ve done so far has not solved our climate crisis because, I regret to inform you if you don’t know already, currently, global warming is considered unstoppable and other tipping points are being crossed. Things are speeding up, and the world of the future is not great. We are being told that the “window of opportunity’’ is closing. We are at a crossroads, but we can still turn things around; it just has to happen soon. For decades, we’ve been told to change, and now, the latest advice is that we’re going to have to change quickly, on a massive scale.
It’s like we’re on the Titanic and the ice berg is dead ahead, and all I want to do is grab the wheel and turn it as hard and as fast as I can, all the while screaming at each and every one of you to grab on and add your weight, your influence and power, and your intention for the best outcome.
I am an optimist at heart, a Pollyanna as the Boomer generation would say, and I’m a parent, a healer, and a smarty-pants. I don’t have the benefit of giving up. I believed solutions HAD to exist, and they do! And because I had no intention to sit back and do nothing, I studied everything I could and, most importantly, I prayed.
The answers which came to me varied from the horrific to the divine. I had to tell my bad thoughts to take a hike, and boy there were many. Mama is mad, but instead of turning into a vengeful Warrior Princess, I leaned into every solution which was loving and peaceful, all while the world got progressively weirder and angrier. Luckily, I learned humans are essentially good, we care and we deal with adversity when we have to. This is good news.
In my naprapathic practice, I was always trying to treat cause, and not just symptoms. Some patients had issues from accidents, unavoidable injuries, but most problems stemmed from the little things they did each and every day, the repetitive habitual actions we consciously and unconsciously take part in. I taught people that what we do, the decisions we make, it all matters, everything matters. The way we use our bodies, or don’t, the foods we do or do not consume, how we think, or how we avoid thinking, all have impacts on our present and future state. There’s a bit of Kabballah wisdom which states that everything we do effects the future, and it’s true. For twenty years, I educated my patients that they were only where they were based on decisions, events and actions from yesterday, and that we can change our futures by the choices and things we do with today. That is where our power lies. The simple equation I used to tell them was that we needed to increase the good choices, decrease the bad, and repeat. That is how you create a better version of yourself.
No one gets into a car or an airplane and says, “Okay, now where are we going?” Instead, we have an idea of where we want to go, then we plan and strategize how to get there. Yoko Ono has again, fifty years after John Lennon’s death, put up billboards which implore us to “Imagine Peace”. I suspect she’s also feeling Called. And, it’s great advice. What does the world look like in order for us to be successful? To turn things around? How do we get there? What does it look like?
Now, I don’t know what went through Jesus’s mind as he faced that city’s walls and thought about what would come. I know I’ve cried more tears in the past few years than I can count. And, I was tempted to turn my back. But, one of the answers which came was that I needed to have more Faith than Fear; and as I have faced my fears, my resolve and vision of a healthier, recovered planet gets more and more clear. The strength I require gets increased by the day.
It is my message to you is that there is room for healing and improvement at every level, for every individual, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, even sexually. Yes, we are each broken and imperfect in some ways, yet the Kingdom of Heaven is within us all. We are each responsible for our own actions. Maximize your strengths, minimize your weaknesses. We each have the opportunity to overcome our sins and work towards being saints. We each have the power to make a difference.
I am beyond grateful for all who are currently working on these problems, who are sacrificing conveniences and possibly a higher standard of living for a life of simpler, healthier and more just options. I ask those who are in a position to make huge differences, like the CEO’s and boards of global corporations, to do so now, while we still have time to act, before the wheels of our demise eclipse our good intentions.
If you feel Called, I ask you to implement your thoughts, each day giving your best to the world, shining and showing the way for others. What the wealthy can do will look different from the poor; what men and women can do will vary; what urban, suburban and rural people will do will be different.
Jesus may or may not have known what trials were coming, but he continued with faith over fear, choosing to share the message of hope, peace and love, no matter what. I wonder how many tears he’d shed, knowing people are still angry and scared and unkind to one another, so it seems fitting to again share his final message, the single greatest commandment to love one another.
Let us renew our commitment to each other. Please love our conservative neighbors as well as our liberal ones. Love the pragmatists and the dreamers, the meek and flamboyant, the strong and the weak, male, female and all our fellow earthbound companions. Send your love out towards those who are similar to you and to those who are radically different. Let us give thanks and gratitude to each and every one for making this life amazing. I can’t wait to see what goodness you bring to our coming days.
Sing. Dance. Laugh. Do what makes you happy, as long as it does not harm another. Teach what you know to others, share your grandparents’ hard-earned wisdom, learn about future technology, join in solidarity with the youth, commit to being a part of the solutions, even when it’s hard. Today, call out ‘Hosanna!’ with joy, that there is still breath in our bodies to do good work, and that we have received the message, loud and clear, that now is a time for blessed action.
As Marilyn plays, I invite each of you to feel each note, each vibration and harmony, allowing it to enter your body and move you. We may not be doing a lot of singing right now, but no one can stop us from the joy of dancing. Because, if not now, when?
Blessed be and amen.
Benediction:
Please open your grey hymnal to the responsive benediction #570.
Prayer for the Earth:
Spirit of love
That flows against our flesh
Sets it trembling
Moves across it as across grass
Erasing every boundary that we accept
And swings the doors of our lives wide-
This is a prayer I sing:
Save our perishing earth!
Spirit that hears each one of us,
Hears all that is-
Listens, listens, hears us out-
Inspire us now!
Our own pulse beats in every
Stranger’s throat, and also there
Within the flowered ground
Beneath our feet,
And- teach us to listen!-
We can hear it in water, in wood,
And even in stone.
We are the earth of this earth, and we
Are bone of its bone.
This is a prayer I sing, for we
Have forgotten this and so the
Earth is perishing.
–Barbara Deming
Thank you. Go now in peace.
Portia D. Sykes 