Sermon

INTRODUCTION: The title for the sermon today is, “Breast Cancer Awareness: What Can We Do?” This is a time for me to be frank and you earnest. How many of you have allowed yourself to think for a teeny, tiny moment: What can Wayne possibly know about that topic? (Now this isn’t time for confession, so you don’t need to raise your hand, if you did think that.)

However, I want to address that issue right at the start, and tell you not to worry: I went to Barnes & Noble this week. I even bought and read a book that claims to have the solution to almost every illness and you don’t even need a physician. Since you probably didn’t know about such books, let me share with you my Barnes & Noble experience:

I hunted and found the “Health” section. It was truly revealing. There were titles like you wouldn’t believe. One of the first to catch my eye was a volume entitled, The Cure: heal your body, save your life. I wasn’t really that impressed until I read that it "has been featured in major national media." It didn't say whether that was because it was so good, so bad, or that they bought ads in "major national media." There was another one entitled Healthy at 100. I decided I was far too young for that and I’ll check it out in a few decades.

Of course there were some that simply cried out for a decent title. I mean who would ever read a book entitled, The Magnesium Factor. Maybe it would attract chemists, but I don't even know what continent the nation of Magnesia's on!

Another one fairly leaped off the page, except that I'm the wrong gender: Gluten-free girl. Is gluten a disease? Plus it was sexist in calling women “girls.”

There was also, Eat, drink and be gorgeous. Two out of three I could go for – “eat” and “drink,” – but I don't think I could ever pass the physical for "gorgeous."

I did though like some of the titles: Your body believes every word you say. I believe that. Another was, Live long enough to live for ever. I liked that too. Although if George Bush is president much longer and we add invading Iran and Cuba to his legacy of Iraq, $100 a-barrel-oil, and a real estate market in the tank, I’m not sure we’ll get the chance regardless of having read the book.

All of the above – and I mentioned only a smidgeon of the titles –occupied five shelves before I even reached the alternative medicine section. It was rich beyond belief. For example, Stop aging, start living. I like that, but I would kind of like to do both – live and get older. There was one on Sexy cancer tips. Somehow mixing sex and cancer don’t seem very sexy.

More seriously, what really bothered me and I think would you as well, is that as you scan the titles, the implication is that if you have cancer or some other equally serious disease, you could be well if you would only buy this very latest best-seller, implement its recommendations, and while you’re at it, enjoy a cafe latte at Starbucks. I mean what other kind of response could we make to the title, Never be sick again: Healing by design. Or Patient: heal thyself – l50 cures they don't want you to know about. And we do know how scurrilous “they” are.

So what do we do, when we face issues such as breast cancer, either ourselves or friends or family? What can we do?

As we can imagine, there is an enormous amount written on the subject, and not just in the current books at Barnes & Noble. So if you were going to summarize the field, what would you say? If you looked at all the literature, restated it, thought it through, and imagined how it applied to you, what would you say?

In my research, I came across a document from a young man whose 29-year-old wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. In response and support of her, he went on a voracious and extensive reading program. He then encapsulated all he had read into these four statements, which I want to share in amended form this morning. They apply to all of us, but especially in response to breast cancer awareness.[2]

Enthusiasm means “we are actually excited about the prospect of continuing to live” – however long that may be. That is not the same as saying that we don’t want to die.

So how do we fill ourselves with enthusiasm? It starts with faith, but faith in what? Louise Hay answers, “Faith in life.” Faith is believing that we live in a “Yes” Universe. That the whole thrust of the Universe is towards life, from the Big Bang to the miracle of the beginning of life on this planet, to the unbelievable process by which we came to be.

Can we even remotely imagine that we are the result of our parents having sex, and that each of us spent our first 9+ months or so in our mother’s belly. After that incredible journey, how could anyone say that the Universe does not say “Yes” to life!

But shortly after birth, along the way of life, you and I – and our larger society – got things mixed up. We didn’t eat right, sleep right, exercise, or think right. As a result, what the Universe intended for us as human beings – to be “fully alive” – was seriously skewed.

What faith does is to say to each of us, that we are children of the Universe. We come from stardust. We were there when the Universe was born and the galaxies and solar systems came into existence. We were present when evolution on this planet began and the ascent of life started its trek to this good day. We and every other species were born with faith…which is that innate self-confidence in the created order from which we came.

So even though we’re spinning at incredible speeds on Earth’s axis, as we orbit around the sun even faster, and are hurtling out into an expanding Universe even more fast, we don’t ever worry about gravity – falling off the planet – or the speeds that earth is approaching. Innately, we sense that the Earth works in the Universal scheme of things, and we are its beneficiaries.

That’s a gift we’ve been given, which should mean that we have a right to be enthusiastic about our prospects for living! The Universe has said “Yes” to us! We belong. We are children of starbursts, and stars and moons and planets. What a wonderful world this is.

So let me recap the first point: Enthusiasm is good for you, whether you’re healthy, sick, or fighting cancer. Genuine enthusiasm is a byproduct of the faith with which we all were born. Faith at its core is a belief in life. Life is a gift of the Universe. And the Universe says “yes” to you and “yes” to you and “yes” to all of us. We belong. Box it, wrap it up, tie it with a ribbon, and take it home.

Criticism and negativity are destructive. They give birth to despair. And despair is deadly. It corrodes our very soul.

But that does not mean we have to be Pollyanna about our situation. “One of the popular misreadings of the healing literature is that we should be like Pollyanna.” I still remember seeing a Pollyanna cartoon that showed her being run over by a car. The caption underneath read, “At least it was a Cadillac.” That’s Pollyanna – trying to be happy all the time, smiling all the time, and thinking only happy thoughts. Trying to do that will not make us live any longer than the sad Sams and Susans.

It’s okay to be afraid. There’s a huge difference between being afraid and in despair. Unfortunately, many people with life-threatening illnesses are afraid to admit to being afraid, for fear of criticism or that it will retard their progress.

Being afraid is not despair. Despair is that pervasive sense of hopelessness, that there is no sense in trying to survive, or to pay attention to what life you have left. Despair tells our body's defense systems to start shutting down. It can literally be deadly.

The reason we need a support group or a loyal set of friends looking after us is that we need someone who can spot our despair before it becomes entrenched, and who can help us come out of it.

“Doing it all” addresses the many suggestions that others have for us in such times as these. The wonderful thing is that the suggestions may come out of care and concern. But sometimes, because we can’t do them all, we feel guilty about it and think it’s a failure on our part to take our friends seriously. But don't think it for a moment: We cannot do it all!

The reality is that there is no end to the things we could be trying. For example: “Acupuncture, visualization, meditation, homeopathy, Chinese medicine, Vedic medicine, Reiki, shamanic healing, dream work, color therapy, aroma therapy, and dozens, maybe hundreds of diets….” We could easily spend every waking hour in some form of treatment.”

More important for us is to accept the healing power of what we are doing – not only in our body, but in our mind and spirit. It’s important to believe that whatever treatment we are going through is how the Universe is treating us – seeing the Universe that birthed us as a healing source.

So what do we do with the recommendations that dear friends have made? If you’re up to it and want to, then by all means do it. But if not, don’t feel guilty.

And for those of us who feel compelled to offer suggestions, find something positive to say about the treatment our friends are going through.

4. If you’re facing a serious disease, in addition to whatever standard therapy you’re undergoing, play at least one hunch.

There really is a clinically proven “placebo effect.” Sometimes, as many as 25% of people get well for the wrong reasons. There are also studies which show that people who believe they are taking unusually strong medicine have more of a tendency to get well than those who think their treatment’s routine. The placebo effect may be at work.

So if we are in Barnes & Noble and a title leaps out at us, go for it. That hunch, that irrational something inside, may be telling us that the placebo effect is ready to work for us. “If we find ourselves believing in something – for whatever reason – take advantage of that belief.” It can only help us.

Or put another way, how do we connect to a Universe so vast and so awesome, or as religion puts it, how do we connect to God? Better yet, how do we regain a sense of reconnection, since we really have never lost our place in the scheme of things?

Wisdom suggests that we find a portal, a doorway, an entrance that takes the immensity of space, other worlds and universes, then places it into the planet-sized dimensions of Earth. And when we do that, we may discover openings for life that we didn’t realize even existed.

n We may find that there are gorgeous pieces of music whose sounds can waft us away into the midst of the ethereal. Last night late, I was walking through the various rooms turning off lights and fixtures, when I realized there was a beautiful piece of classical music playing. All the lights were out except for one in the bedroom. I sat down in the semi-darkness and listened as the chords and strains of some of the world’s most beautiful music filled my space. I connected with the Universe.

n It may be the mixing of color, light and design into something bold and invasive.

n It may be a book…a fleeting moment…a scene from the panorama of Nature which stuns us with its beauty.

n Or it may be something deeper and more personal…the touch of one for whom we care…the knowing smile…the mutual hug…the awareness that in the strange and wonderful world of which we are a part, there is another person who feels we’re special and unique.

But we can also connect through the ancient pathways of faith: sacred spaces, sacred scripture, sacred people, sacred rites and practices, sacred music.

I’ve realized in later life that if I choose to concentrate and focus, I still can bring an unusual intensity to Christian prayer. Deep, committed meditation can be a powerful force to open doors to the inner spaces of the moment.

The point is: Once we’ve found one of those doorways…a portal…we have to step through. And when we do, we feel that sense of “being-in-place”…an awareness of being connected to the universal, here where we are.

[1] A sermon on October 28, 2007, Breast Cancer Awareness Sunday at the All Faiths Unitarian Congregation, meeting at the Crestwell School, 1904 Park Meadows, Ft. Myers, FL, by the Rev. Dr. Wayne Robinson, minister.

[2] “Spiritual Healing,” by Doug Muder, given at the chapel service of Andover Newton Divinity School, after his wife’s diagnosis with breast cancer in 1996. Unattributed quotes come from his article.