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Little Deeds
A Sermon Given
by Rev. Douglas Taylor
on December 8, 2002
at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
Bethesda, Maryland
Things are not going well in the world these days. Have you read the
paper lately? There is all sorts of talk about wars and provincialism,
rampant disease and suffering, wonton destruction of the earth’s
resources, rich people continuing to get richer and poor people
continuing to get poorer, racial discrimination and other forms of
discrimination still looming large in our culture, several countries
frantically trying to create weapons of mass destruction because killing
people a few at a time is no longer efficient these days. I’m trying to
not get too carried away in my description because it is easy to feel
like I am exaggerating and stretching the situation for rhetorical
purposes. But there is a significant AIDS problem in Africa, India, and
China and we hear about drug companies protecting their patents on the
expensive drugs that could save these suffering people. The United
States is dealing with a volatile situation in Iraq and our government
seems to want it to escalate. Meantime we are still working a campaign
in Afghanistan, while trying to sooth relations between their neighbors
India and Pakistan; but we are not trying very hard to sooth relations
between Israel and Palestine. Then there are all the volatile places
around the globe where the U.S. is not actively involved like the
Phillippines, Venezuela, and Indonesia just to name a few. And closer to
home, there was a report published recently listing the top 25 most
dangerous U.S. cities showing St. Louis, MO at the top! St. Louis (!?!)
beat out Detroit this year. Certainly Washington D.C. and Baltimore made
that list in case you were wondering. Things are not well in the world
these days.
This is supposed to be the season of light, hope, and joy. The end of
both Hanukkah and Ramadan came only a few days apart from each other
this year. We in America make Hanukkah into a bigger holiday than it
really is on the Jewish calendar, but it is still a time for
celebration. Eid al-Fitr, the last day of Ramadan, is certainly one of
the most festive days in the Muslim year. And then we have Advent, the
Christian time of preparation for Christmas, going on now as well. With
all this holiday time in these religions you’d think we would be seeing
a lot more peace and reconciliation, or at least more celebration. Not
so! This is a very sad time for many religious people. Things are not
going well in the world these days.
And that’s just the big, global stuff. Each person carries a great
deal of trouble and woe in this life. Every soul you meet has his or her
own secret struggle. Some among us are survivors of some abuse or
another. Some among us are dealing with relationship problems. Some
among us are suffering from physical or mental difficulties. Some among
us are caught in the American debt-trap of middle-class expectations...
just to name a few of the possibilities. And here we sit, each with our
own secret struggle while the world around us demands our attention.
There are people who immerse themselves in the troubles of the world
around them to avoid dealing with their own troubles. There are others
who are so caught up in their own problems they can’t look up long
enough the see the sorrowful situation of the world around them. Most of
us try to live with an eye toward both.
And we are pulled each by our own needs for wholeness and each by our
own conscience which lead us to reach out to heal a hurting world. It is
not easy to resolve the tension between these two competing drives of
growing your soul and saving the world. And I’m not sure I am going to
be of much help on that count today. Religion, at its best, calls its
adherents to be better people individually, and also to think of and
have compassion for other people. There is a bit of a tension built into
it whereby we are pulled each by our own needs for wholeness, and each
by our own conscience which lead us to reach out to heal a hurting
world. Religion serves to enhance that tension more often than resolve
it.
Even our way of faith, which is seen by some in the broader culture
to be a little loose as far as what it requires of its adherents, even
we have that tension. Perhaps even more so than others, but I can’t
attest to that. We could look at our history or our current practices
for this tension. Another place to look is our Principles. For any of
you who are visiting or new (or maybe you’ve been here for awhile and
haven’t looked at our principles recently,) let me tell you a little
about them. First, lets all look at them. Grab a hymnal and flip it open
to the front. There’s a cover page or two, table of contents, a preface,
and then there they are before the first hymn. Are you with me? It
starts, "We the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist
Association covenant to affirm and promote:" and then there are seven
things listed. Other denominations have creeds or statements of faith,
or eight-fold paths or five pillars; we have seven principles. One
important aspect of them is that they are not a creed, or a faith
statement people need to agree to before joining one of our churches.
The importance of that point will be clear in a moment.
First, let me show you this tension between growing your own soul and
saving the world, starting in the third principle which is "acceptance
of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our
congregations." This principle is about our reaching for individual
wholeness, our striving for a spiritual core in our individual lives. It
acknowledges that this is best done in community, a detail we would do
well not to neglect; but the focus is acceptance and spiritual growth.
"Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our
congregations." Then there is our sixth principle about "the goal of
world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all." Or our second
one which speaks of "justice, equity, and compassion in human
relations." These principles emphasize our commitment to justice for
others, our responsibility as religious people to reach out to heal a
hurting world. The call to justice is strong in our principles. As a
whole the seven principles lead us to a faithful life; individually,
they highlight different aspects of that path.
I remember a conversation I had with Maury Merkin, one of our
members, in which he raised the question, "What would it be like if we
actually did those things we say we are about in our principles?" If we
actually lived our daily lives by these principles, the world would be a
different place. The seven principles, however, are rather quixotic and,
well, impractical. To actually live out all of them all the time may be
not only impractical, but impossible. How many times does the
interdependent web of all existence play into your decision making
process? Decisions as small as paper or plastic at the grocery store
check-out, and as big as what car you drive. How many people’s inherent
worth did you neglect to affirm this past week? Are you counting your
family, your boss, the other drivers on the road, (even the idiots)?
Maybe you can count yourself as pretty good on one or two of these
principles, but all seven? All the time? Why, I’ll bet I flubbed on a
few of them in just the past five minutes. These seven principles are
quite demanding. Fortunately, these principles are ideals to strive for
rather than practical qualities we are all supposed to have mastered
before we’ve even joined one of our churches!
But the thought still remains: if we were able to actually live out
these principles in our daily lives, holding that tension between
growing our souls and saving the world, we would be amazing and great
people. Thankfully, we are not called on to be amazing and great people.
We don’t need to be great, (Have you read any of the biographies of
great people? They live hard lives. Being great is no picnic!) We don’t
need to be great, we don’t need to do it all; we need only do enough.
Rebecca Parker, the dean of our Starr King Unitarian Universalist
Seminary in California, has said, "Our first task is to be faithful and
then to be effective."
That is, at least as far as I have experienced it, the best way to
hold that tension I’ve been talking about. Hold faithful to the best in
yourself and what you can become and let that lead you to the ways in
which you can reach out to heal our hurting world. It won’t work to look
around and see all the hate and suffering and turmoil in the world and
make yourself a list each morning of what Justice you’ll work on that
day. It won’t work well at all to start with trying to save the world,
you’ll burn out quickly. Start with being faithful and then let your
deeds of goodness follow after. Frederick Buechner has a memorable quote
about vocation, or about a life lived well. He said, "vocation is the
place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep need meet." If you
start from a faithful center, you are more likely to be effective
longer.
The author of the book "Pay it Forward," in our reading this morning
said, "It doesn’t even have to be a big thing. It might just seem like a
big thing. Depending on who you do it for." Little deeds are enough.
Last week when I was reading the Dear Abby column, one of the letters
jumped out at me:
Dear Abby: I was 8 years old and it was the last day of school. I
was living in a less-than-caring foster home and worried about the 50
cents I owed my school for several lost books. Unless I paid for the
books, I would not get my fourth-grade report card.
When I heard that news, I left school crying and running, and
didn’t see the tall man until I ran straight into his legs. He asked
me what was the matter, and I told him. He took out two quarters, and
in a kind voice said, "Things will be all right now." I paid the
school, got my report card, and shortly thereafter, my mother was able
to take me back to live with her. The year was 1942 and that 50 cents
was a lot of money.
Abby, to this day, every act of generosity I perform – every dime I
give to a cause – is in honor of that man. I don’t remember his face.
I only recall his brown shoes, which I saw when I ran into him. His
kindness to a crying child made all the difference in my life.
-(From Washington Post, Style section. December 2, 2002)
I remember a time, about half way through my seminary training, when
a check for $600.00 arrived unexpected. It was from a Catholic church in
Rochester I had never heard of, but it showed up just in time. They have
a program, I learned from the letter which accompanied the check, in
which every year they give this money to a deserving person. It’s not a
loan except that someday in the future, they ask that the recipient find
a way to repay the deed by helping someone else in financial need.
It doesn’t need to be big stuff, you don’t need to move to India and
open an AIDS clinic. Just search your own heart and be open to where you
hear yourself called to help. You may not change the world, but then
again maybe you will. How many of you stayed up and watched "It’s a
Wonderful Life" again last night. If you missed it, don’t worry it will
probably be on a couple more times this season. My kids saw it for the
first time last night. George Bailey’s life touched the lives of so many
others in the little town in so many little ways, but it added up to a
lot in the end. The moral is that each of us can do our little deeds to
make the lives of others better.
This doesn’t resolve the tension between growing your soul and saving
the world. It enhances it and puts it in a different perspective. Things
are not going well in the world these days. There is much that demands
our attention. There is so much need and so much work to be done. But
don’t be overwhelmed by it. You don’t have to do it all; you need only
do enough. You have a little light within you, but it is enough to guide
you and perhaps to shine some light on another person’s path as well.
Now, go out there and save the world.
Office@CedarLane.org
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