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Westminster Unitarian Church
We celebrate the inherent worth and dignity of every person

Taming

Taming
October 15, 2006
Rev. Barbara Fast

OPENING WORDS: from The Little Prince, by St. Exubery

SO....Come..  if you have come here to establish ties
 If you are unhappy seeking friendship which cannot be bought
 If you seek to play safely
 If you seek to be responsible,
 To tame those wild fearful angry needy places deep within
 If you seek to understand,
Take time now-  This is the time of your life
Come come whoever you are...
who ever you are, come in,
come in love, Come and sing....
                --Barbara Fast

Sermon: Taming


Poem given to minister at hospital bedside of long term member of congregation-


Covenants in the ancient world were a means to introduce a measure of trust, predictability , standability,  into social and political life between people who were not kin.

In the ancient secular world there were treaties and covenants. They had preambles, public readings, witnesses, and penalties, rewards blessings and curses. Of course curses come first. Here were some misfortunes which would come from wrath of the gods... destruction, sterility, misery, poverty, plague, famine. Blessings were divine protection: continuity of line, health, prosperity and peace.

Human beings are "promise making and promise breaking, promise renewing" creatures. Rev. John Buehrens.

A covenant is  'promise making' that recognizes and reminds us that we are responsible for each other. It is an acknowledgement that we are Interdependent. We need one  another.

The idea of covenants extended to Human beingís relationship tp God. In the Hebrew Scriptures there are 286 references to covenant. (If we kept them better there might be fewer.) The ancients wrestled with their relationship to creation as well as each other.

The idea of Covenant gave human beings, if not confidence and trust, at least a margin of faith in the awesome reality of existence.  

Human beings and biblical authors knew from experience, that sometimes good things happen to good people, for good reason or for good luck - and sometimes bad things happen to good people for no good reason.

The myth of Noah, the Flood and the Rainbow is probably the best known to you.  From Genesis: 9 vs. 11-17.

11: And I will establish my covenant with you;Ö neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12: And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature Ö 13: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. Ö
15: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; ..
16: And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17: And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Covenant is used 6 times. When something matters in the bible it is repeated.  

So much was out of their control: the miracle of the rising sun, the mystery of the cosmos and stars. The cycles, the seasons, life and death. The awesome and fearsome nature of nature, uncertainty of reality.

We used to think we were different from them- those primitive peoples.
We used to think, here at least, somewhat arrogantly, that we were independent, in control.  Pre 9-11. Pre Nuclear bombs. Pre- drug resistant bacteria. Pre- AIDS.

Not to mention spinach.  

Since we have taken the fearsome power of the gods and nature into our human, all too human hands, and let that kind of power proliferate in the world, we are feeling the insecurity of our interdependence.

Covenants matter in an interdependent world.

You cannot play with each other unless we know and consent to agree and abide by some basic rules. Rules tame us.  Make us more standable.

As religions evolved, freely covenanted groups of pilgrims created congregations. A covenant is neither a creed nor a contract. It is a solemn promise.

Such as this ìgreat covenantî written by James Villa Blake for the Unitarian  Congregation of Evanston, Ill. in 1894.  We have been reading it since the year began. I have been saying out loud it every Sunday for 18 years. I appreciate your consenting to say it with me.

I thought I would unpack it with you a bit. It is always surprising to me in its elegant simplicity & wisdom.  It might even be worth your remembering.  

"To dwell together in peace, seek the truth in love and help one another."

First:  we promise each other that we will ìdwell together in peace.î   
We do not promise each other that we will dwell together in irritation, annoyance, fatigue, frustration, intimidation, resentment or under threat.

Dwell means (1) to remain for a time. And some of us do visit and remain for a time even and even then there are promises you are asked to make to be here.

Dwell also means to live as a resident. Some of us commit to live here, to take up residency, to make it our home. It is the place where we vote ( like you did for me) and pledge. ( shhh- that is for next Sunday)

Together derives from two words, to gather. Come come whoever you are, and whoever you are or have been, now, now you come in peace.

We gather here...in peace.

Peace is several sermons unto itself. It is worth a lifetime of practice and reflection.
Peace is defined in numerous ways including: agree, tranquility, security, harmony.
Or this way- on a magnet:  
"Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart. "

We promise to Dwell together IN peace-  In is a preposition..."in" .
"At" peace, that is a goal, a result, "in" peace is different.
"In" indicates inclusion, location, position within limits.

It creates a boundaries so that when we come together, it is in the context of peace, trust, tranquility, safety.

The in word positions us, limits, us, tames us, reminds us that there are limits to our behavior if we are to dwell together in peace.   Hey- I am a UU- I can believe anything I want? Oh can you? I donít think so. And we certainly cannot behave any way we like.

So what is so great about that? What about our individual freedoms?

Rev. Rebecca Parker says that covenantal relationships "serve as an antidote to our radical individualism. They are an antidote to our American cultural, religious and economic radical individualism."

The truth is that we cannot believe anything we want, we cannot behave any way we choose, however our impulses direct. This covenant helps us to tame our own out of boundary demons...This covenant helps us to face and take responsibility for ourselves.

For each other's sake and safety.

Look at our world . Look at our world...
See how difficult it is for human beings to live out those four words...
Dwell together in peace.

What is so great, which is to say important, about dwelling together in peace is that everything flows from it! All the freedoms to believe, explore, to risk, to choose, to challenge, to reveal, grow, and live come from that position within peace and safety. When we dwell together in peace it is so much easier to seek the truth in love.  

We do not promise that we will seek the truth in rage, envy, fear, hate or cynicism. Although we may seek the truth as a result of outrage, pain and sorrow because we love.

What is great about our covenant it that we can practice disagreeing in love. You are free here to disagree. In fact we rely on you seeking your truth, and speaking your truth - but as long as you dwell here among us, we rely on each otherís capacity disagree in love.  We are far more standable when we disagree in love.
 
We make this promise, to seek truth in love, in part Unitarian Universalism is not a fear based religion.  Fear based theologies are abusive theologies. They abuse and deny the best of human beings can be. They squash spirits and creativity. They divide and are exclusive. They separate those chosen and those not chosen, the saved and unsaved, the elect and those condemned. Now my fear is that many of these religions will create a world in their own image. A world closer to hell than heaven...

More importantly to me, fear does not help me see truth, or the truthful way. Only love does that.

The true creative force that embraces all, is always be available
 like the sun that shines,  even when it is hidden from my eyes behind the clouds... the clouds of our daily troubles, our despairs, our challenges our failures, our depression, our illnesses, our culture, our experience, our suffering  tells us to fear the other, to doubt our own blessedness that is not the truth for Universalists.
.
No matter how many times we have broken our vows, our promises, no matter how many times we have been broken. Godís covenant with us is not broken- look at the rainbow in the sky.

Which brings me to the last part of this ìgreatî covenant. ìto help one anotherî . Which is all about interdependence.

I know- we start out dependent, and work so hard to be independent that the idea that are interdependent is ñ aweful. We have struggled so long to be independent.   

Then add to it this observation by UU Minister Rev. William Murray, wrote "Religious liberals are for the most part highly individualistic. We think for ourselves and we tend to try to rely on ourselves and we ask as little from others as possible. We are self reliant."

"We are self reliant. These characteristics are among our better virtues, but they sometimes isolate us from others and hinder us from entering into genuine community." (Bill Murray, A Faith for all Seasons)

Perhaps we are just so afraid of our interdependencies. Religious community helps us deal with the truth of our interdependency.

Interdependency can be an invitation to receiving and gratitude.. a revelation of what it means to be truly strong...

One of the primary functions of clergy is the ministry of healing.  We minister to each other when we are in real community. Care giving is not the exclusive preserve of the ordained.  "It is the responsibility and privilege of all who area in a position to minister."

"Helping one another" is about our interdependency and applies to all of us.

Look at the Rainbow and Godís covenant with Noah, the world and all living beings. Godís covenant includes all human beings. We bring that cosmic rainbow into our hearts here at Westminster. Whether shawl ministry, caring circle, childrenís RE or the Welcoming Congregation.

The rainbow of names of our children upon the wall and our rainbow banner that reminds us of our covenant to welcome, support and affirm & celebrate lesbian gay, bi sexual and transgendered members and friends  of this congregation and in the community.

Our Interdependence makes us strong sand brings with it our responsibility to create a place of grace and safety for all in our congregational embrace.

Membership in a democratic community, whether a congregation such as ours, or a country such as our, carries with it obligations.

How we live in this new world, as members of the Westminster Unitarian Church and as citizens of the world, is for me the singular challenge of our lives, our religion and our nation.

A minister once said to me ñ ìI do not like the idea of being tamed.î Let me tell you, ministry is all about interdependence.

'What does that mean? Tame?'
'It is an act too often neglected.' said the fox... 'It means to establish ties.'
'To establish ties?"

'Just that,' said the fox...'To me you are nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand others...on my part I have no need of you and you have no need of me ... but if you tame me... then we shall need one another...Please tame me,' he said.

"Oh, I want to very much.' said the little prince. "But I have friends to discover and a great many things to understand......"

"One only understands the things that one tames"

We come here, into community, I believe, to tame ourselves.
To tame our angers and our fears. So we can establish ties, and can play together...understand ourselves, our lives,  leave our unhappiness behindÖ

We play together, spiritually speaking, when we explore, dwell, seek, help, celebrate with one another. And as we do we risk and realize the freedom of interdependence.

Truth is that I am not alone up here.  All that has gone before I climbed up here- in my life- my life here with you and before you- is here with me.
And you are here with me. And that is why we will enter into a covenant when we observe the rite of installation on Nov 5th.

I cannot minister without you.
One only understands the things that one tames.  
My words are hollow without relationship.

There is nothing tame about being tamed.
It is vulnerable making. It requires commitment.
We are responsible for what we have tamed.
Loving is risky.  We will cry.
There is no way out of that. If we love, we will cry.
 
Interdependence calls us to courage, clarity. It is not easy. It is not easy for a country or a person, at any age.  Because Oh, the helplessness!

The interdependence of our lives- so much is not in our control.
That makes us human. That is humbling.  Covenants make living in this creation standable.

SO ...what is so great about ìour great covenant..î As James Villa Blake puts it?   I hope our covenant will help us endure:

That is THE invitation of congregational life:  Over time and because of needs of relationship we just might become more standable.
We are taming each other, you and I. We are establishing ties. Observing rites.  So that we might come to understand each other.

In the end our greatness, the greatness of our covenant is that we not only are called to carry the flame,  we are the flame. You are the flame.  There is a flame of divinity, within you which our shared life invites us to grow into greater and greater life and light.  

When that powerful and transforming revelation comes upon us...

When we realize that we are divine...by that I mean that we are precious, unique, each one of us, and we need each other.

When we truly love creation, because it is apart of us and we it, then building heaven here on earth for everyone becomes more important than our selfishness, our greed, our fear, our comfort and our security and our reputation, and what other people think of us...

Then we build heaven here on earth out of overflowing gratitude for the countless gifts, for the rising sun, for the air, for the love, for the gift of life
the great miraculous gift... of our life...

We can go out and carry that flame within us... where ever we go.

Covenant is about experiencing down in our bones, in our souls, in our center... that universal love that is never lost to us, never has and never will break covenant with us...no matter what ...even when we face death...

You know- it is just us. While we still dwell upon this earth, it is up to us to keep the promises we make.  We are here today and we are the ones.  The ones responsible for keeping this great covenant alive today and every day alive in this world.

Our covenant is finally, ultimately, hugely, greatly about keeping faith...
We have a part in writing the unfolding narrative of human history The history of WUC.... It may not be a work of biblical proportions...

And then when the hour of departure draws near- and I hope that hour is a long time off -  my hope is that we can say this to each other:


May we do each other good.

Blessed Be and Amen.


© Copyright 2006 Barbara Fast, Material may be used with appropriate attribution.

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