A Sermon in Fragments

We put together a "contemporary" service with no real sermon.  Instead, I wrote five fragments for several voices which were interspersed with music and the other fixed parts of the service.  There was no printed order of service, and the words to songs were displayed on a screen at the front of the church.  The music was an integral part of the message, but here are the words:

How We Grow, five fragments, for April 14, 2013 

  

1.  We grow as we come into closer communion with the infinite. 

But how can we do that? 

We are everyday people, not sages and seers.

We are not serious. 

Or does something serious come pursuing us anyway?

But maybe we should stop running away from it,

you know, do something… but what? 

We work, we go to school, we hang out with our friends, we play games and sports,

we eat, we sleep,

how is there space in the day for closer communion with the infinite?

  

2. Some people say “Don’t just do something, sit there!” 

Sit, and don’t move. 

Breathe, breathe in, breathe out, walk very very slowly, and don’t talk. 

Allow the thoughts to drift away…  we could try it…  but it sounds antisocial. 

Just for a little while, they say, a little break to practice that connection, the one that’s already there but we are not aware of it. 

Say, Ommm….   (Ommm…..) and sit,

feeling the air of the breath enter the body, cool, leave the body, warm…  [long pause] …  (sound bell) 

Practice, then take it with you into the day,

returning to the breath whenever things get challenging.

3.  Study.  Argue.  Be skeptical, question. 

This is the tradition of the Unitarians,

doubt everything, and use the scientific method… 

when everything is carefully examined,

documented in detail,

 when all hypotheses are tested,

something happens, and the truth within it all reveals itself. 

Thoroughness, proceeding step by step,

that is how to track down the mystery.

Ask a scientist about her work, and watch her eyes.

She knows more than she can possibly say.

Details, results carefully established, reveal something beyond words.

  

4. Sitting and studying, those things may work for some, but truly the way is love.

Love for another person,

deep commitment to relationship,

constant adoration given and received. 

Adoration of divine persons,

of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, Krishna, Radha, the Buddha –

pray without ceasing,

pray with gratitude, joy, devotion –

make your life a prayer to the one you love,

 and the One that is All Being is revealed to you.

Rumi wrote:

The way of love is not

a subtle argument.

The door there is devastation.

Birds make great sky-circles

of their freedom.

How do they learn it?

They fall, and falling,

they’re given wings.

Let us say, Love is the falling,

Meaning is the wings.

Do we dare?

  

5.  Well, love or not, it’s a way to grow

 if you to do what’s in front of you…

Maybe it’s a kind of devotion,

but for a plain person,

someone who has to make a living,

just doing what’s there to be done is a way all its own. 

There are children to raise,

meals to be cooked,

music to be made,

and just doing it is as good a way as any. 

Krishna said,

“Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world;

 by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life. 

Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind.”

Become one with your work and the One will be revealed.

Benediction 

Be, do, pay attention,

let go of outcomes,

just sit there,

just attend to the data,

just allow your heart to be filled with love,

just do your work,

and see what comes of it.