Sermon

INTRODUCTION: For the three major religions of the Western World – Islam, Judaism, and Christianity – there are three dates on the calendar that deal specifically with self-improvement through self-denial. For Islam, it’s the 40 days of Ramadan:

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and is also the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating or drinking anything from sunrise to sunset, nor do they indulge in anything that is in excess or ill-natured. That regimen extends for 29 to 30 days. During Ramadan, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and seek to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds, as well as give to charity.

It is a time for serious introspection, a time to consider the sins of the previous year and to repent before the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. It’s a unique time for worship, prayer, and good deeds. It is common to seek reconciliation with people wronged during the course of the past year.

Lent is the 40-day period preceding Easter (excluding Sundays), which is typically defined as a time of prayer and spiritual commitment to prepare Christians to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter. It includes some expression of self-denial…something one is “giving up for Lent.” The 40 days of Lent begin with Ash Wednesday, which is the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday. The name Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshippers' heads or foreheads as a sign of humility. Many churches also save palm branches from the previous year's Palm Sunday, which they burn into ash and use for the Ash Wednesday ritual (some of you may have seen on television last year, Vice-President Joe Biden’s dot of ashes on his head).

So the three “people of the book” – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – all have a very solemn time annually for self-reflection, repentance, and starting over.

As Unitarians, our practice is quite the opposite. It is to… (“Excuse me a minute; I seem to have lost my place. Let me start over.) “As Unitarians, our practice is quite the opposite. It is to….” Strange, I seem to have misplaced what my notes state about what Unitarians do for an annual period of self-reflection, repentance, and starting over.

Actually, as you know by now, we don’t have any such practice designed solely as a time to refocus, deal with mistakes and misdeeds, and get a fresh start spiritually.

That may be because we don’t make mistakes and commit misdeeds; hence, we have no need of repentance. We may not need an intentional time when we refocus our lives and get a fresh start spiritually. But I suspect that that’s not really the reason at all.

So why is it that Unitarians have no special time each year to start over, to get it right, to get our lives in sync?

Before addressing that question, I want to turn to a contemporary Buddhist perspective. Please listen as I share this relatively recent restatement of Buddhism:

n A craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security.

n Buddhism underscores the importance of looking at our spiritual life and keeping it in balance with our personal, relational and professional life.

n Buddhism says that there are times we need to regain our balance and be centered so that we can save the things in our lives that are most important to us.

Now as you may have guessed, those words were extracted almost verbatim from the mea culpa of Tiger Woods at his specially called media conference, this past Friday on most major television networks at 11 a.m. EST. He also disclosed for the first time that his mother reared him to practice Buddhism, and that he did just fine as long as he adhered to that practice. But when he veered away, the tragedy and chaos now surrounding him ensued. The purpose of the media conference was publicly to confess, own up to his failure, and to ask for forgiveness.

So let’s see now: Catholics do repentance during Lent, Jews do during the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah, and Muslims do during Ramadan…even Buddhists do in public, on television, in front of God and everyone else. But Unitarians…I still can’t seem to find that reference.

I say all of the above to pose this question: Is it possible in our zeal to reject the mythic notion of cosmic salvation through Jesus – i.e., that “Jesus saves,” or that we are worthless sinners doomed to hell unless we seek salvation through his name – that we also rejected something very basic…something very healthy…something very important to a life lived to the fullest? In the rush to claim a life of authenticity, openness and honesty, did we miss out on the pervasive principle built into the very DNA of the Universe: Namely, life gives us second chances, even 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th , 6^th and 7^th times to admit we messed up. In fact, it’s healthy emotionally, relationally, and personally to get a load off…a load of old mistakes and failures…at least once a year. Listen again to what Tiger said, now that you know that it’s Tiger saying it:

n Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security.

n It underscores the importance of looking at our spiritual life and keeping it in balance with our personal, relational and professional life.

n It says that there are times we need to regain our balance and be centered so that we can save the things that are most important to us.

A craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security.

That relates of course to the four spiritual truths of Buddhism: When we feel insecure in life about anything, but especially the important things, we try to find ways to be secure. Something we can hold on to, when things go bad. But, according to the Buddha, it is those very attachments that make life difficult. It’s our attachments to money, fame, possessions, or whatever. And when those things begin to slip from our lives, we become more insecure than ever.

Our society functions at its most destructive level when it violates that principle. “I want it and I want it now” is the rule in instant gratification. But the penalties and the wrecked lives left in the wake of our rush to have it all now can be devastating.

…the importance of looking at our spiritual life, which can help us keep life in balance with our personal, relational and professional life.

When do we take time, “to take time?” Time to reflect…time to wonder…time to be in the now, the present, the moment. To say, “Stop the world…I want to get off.” To breathe deeply…to be aware of how precious this limited life is…when do we give our inner and outer lives time to be in sync? When do we link together both what we say and do?

…that there are times we need to regain our balance and be centered so that we can save the things that are most important to us.

Years ago, I went through one of the most difficult times in my life. At one particular moment early on, I was upstairs in the townhouse I had moved into. I remember looking out the window that first Sunday night feeling as if I had lost everything that was important to me: work, family, home, money – you name it and I didn’t have it. As I looked out the window, something grabbed my attention. It was a punctuation point on the miserable state of my affairs: the Dempsey Dumpster. Which is where I felt my life was: in the dump, the Dempsey Dumpster dump.

I knew I had to regain my balance. I had to find my center, so that I could save the things that were truly important.

Later that evening I sat down at the computer and listed the top ten things that were important to me…things I felt I had lost. And I then determined what I would do in the coming week to address each one. That week and every succeeding week, I updated, until there was gradually this sense that took over me, that life had not passed me by. I was addressing the things that were truly important. I felt I had regained my balance. I was working from my center.

Personally, despite all the crude humor surrounding what happened with Tiger Woods and his many infidelities, I think he has demonstrated enormous maturity in what has to be an incredibly painful period. I wish the best for him and his family.

So how can we appropriate a Lenten feeling for our lives? How do we make the best of life – not resignation, but the best?

Look at the veins on the back of your hand for a moment. Inside those veins, blood is being transported throughout your body; more specifically, the iron in the blood is transporting the oxygen and carbon dioxide. Where did we get iron? From the stars. We do not have an atom in our bodies that isn't the product of some dead star. We came from stardust, the swirling stuff of exploding gas and dust that was flung into interstellar space as some dying star's core collapsed. In other words, we are made of the ashes of dead stars. What's more, our ashes extend in time as well as in space. Ash Wednesday is another way of talking about Creation Day…the Big Bang…and the start of life in the Universe. And it also includes the end as well. As the Book of Common Prayer puts it, “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.” That’s our start, and it’s our transition and return.

Like the steering wheel on a car, that which we call “mind,” has the capacity to make decisions, to go different directions, and to take us into dimensions that we’ve never tried before.

It may for example tell us we need to slow down, to take time for reflection, to read and reflect. I’ve learned through the years I don’t function well when I don’t have at least an hour alone every day. I’ve also learned that I don’t do well when I don’t have a day alone every week. And I’ve also learned that I need at least a week every year alone. Because it’s in times alone that we can tap into and recalibrate those things guiding us and directing our lives. We can guide and turn the steering wheel of our body and spirit.

As I’ve said before, our species is unique in being able to change. We can turn our lives around. We can look at our past and determine what it is that we don’t want to repeat. And then set about doing with our lives what we choose to do in the future. We choose how we will spend our lives.

The reality is as every alcoholic will testify, there is something very redeeming about repentance, forgiveness and restitution. Whether Unitarians would benefit from a special time of the year such as Lent, when we not only repent but give something up, I’m not sure, but I bet we would. I’m confident that all of our lives have been enriched immeasurably by those who’ve given us a second chance, or another opportunity to make good. So maybe a Unitarian Lent is not only about repentance, but also about forgiveness…forgiveness of those who need another chance.

Garrison Keillor wrote in one of his books, “I'm not sure I'm in favor of repentance. Sinners are the ones who get the work done. A strong sense of personal guilt is what makes people willing to serve on committees.”

[1] Presented Feb. 21, 2010 at the All Faiths Unitarian Congregation, located at 2756 McGregor Boulevard, Ft. Myers, FL, temporarily meeting at the Crestwell School, 1910 Park Meadow, with the Rev. Dr. Wayne Robinson, minister.