Sunday Sermons - "Love is everything - Nothing else is real."

Luke 21:5-19 New International Version (NIV)

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”

7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”

8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

10 Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.

I call this the "shit happens" story. Things are pretty messed up on the path of the ego. Jesus calls a spade a spade and tells His listeners that the world of the ego is an ugly place.

Then, He as much as says, "So what?" It's not a big deal. These people and events are not responsible for your unhappiness. You have to decide what's important to you, the path of the ego, or the path of the Spirit which is, of course, the path of Love.

If you stick with Love, you're going to be fine no matter what kind of nonsense is boiling around you.

Jesus tells His listeners that many people will come claiming to speak for Him, and teach His lessons, but don't be deceived by them. If they are not loving they are false.

We Unitarian Universalists believe in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We know that our salvation does not lie in the ways of the world. People make many idols and worship them thinking their idols will make them happy. In spite of the promises of these idols, disappointment, even death, will occur.

So listen to your inner teacher. Listen to the whisper of Universal love in your heart and simply ask yourself, "What would Love have me do?" Everything else will pass away but Love lasts forever. Jesus promises us, "Stand firm, and you will win Life."

Sunday Sermon - Jesus sees the inherent worth and dignity in very person.

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

New International Version (NIV)

Have you noticed that Jesus is a Universalist? He includes everyone in his ministry even people who are stigmatized and despised by their society. Jesus acts in such a way that He demonstrates His recognition and acknowledgement of the inherent worth and dignity of every person, the first principle of the Unitarian Universalist covenant.

Jesus not only sees Zacchaeus up in the tree, He calls him down to him and then invites himself to stay with him at his house.

Is this presumptuous on Jesus' part? Zacchaeus seems overjoyed for some reason. When is the last time that the Spirit of the Lord has spoken to you? God is speaking to us all the time, but we don't hear Him. God whispers and we don't hear if we don't tune in on the same frequency. It seems that Zacchaeus was tuned in and there was a connection as Jesus passed under the tree.

Zacchaeus not only responds to Jesus' invitation but he joins the ministry and decides that he will share what he has with others. Zacchaeus implements the Unitarian Univeralist second principle of affirming and promoting justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

How do you suppose the evening went between Zacchaeus and Jesus when they went back to Zacchaeus' house? I would guess they shared a meal and conversation and together, Jesus and Zacchaeus would have engaged in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning enacting the fourth principle of Unitarian Univeralism.

What is delightful about this story is not only that Zacchaeus expressed an intention to share his wealth and rectify any injustice he might have done, but that he and Jesus had a meeting of the minds and engaged in an acceptance of one another which involved an encouragement to spiritual growth which is the third principle of Unitarian Univeralism.

The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus is a simple story but one by which we have been blessed for almost 2.000 years.

As a Roman Catholic Unitarian Universalist I enjoy integrating the stories of the ministry of Jesus as told in the New Testament with our Unitarian Universalist's covenantal principles.

Join us every week at UU A Way Of Life for our Sunday Sermons. If you are so inclined share them with others.

Sunday Sermon - path of the ego or path of the spirit?

As a Roman Catholic Unitarian Universalist I find it hard to find sermons and teachings which combine my two faith traditions. So I have decided to make up my own. I hope you will join me on Sundays for what I have tagged "Sunday Sermon."

Today's gospel is from Luke 18: 9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Today's parable makes me laugh. The pharisee thinks that by following the rules on the path of the ego he will remember his holiness. The tax collector already knows that the path of the ego is nonsense and so he isn't buying into the ingratiating baloney of the pharisee.

Unitarian Universalists know that rules don't get you home. Following rules to appease and aggrandise the ego is not the path of love but the path of righteousness.

Francis David said that we need not think alike to love alike. Creeds and rituals and obedience to rules is not necessarily the way to remember one's holiness and thereby to sanctify the world. The way to remember one's holiness is to look within, not without, and to engage in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning which ultimately will bring you to love. The tax collector knows this while the pharisee does not so Jesus tells us that the tax collector, in spite of following the way of the ego, will be left behind while the tax collector is more likely to find contentment and peace.

"Exalted" seems to be the wrong word here, because it implies the uplifting of the ego which is not what Jesus is saying. It is not exaltation we are looking for but getting ourselves on the right track, getting our shit together. The pharisee doesn't have his shit together while the tax collector, knowing what is what, does. This knowing "what is what" is not exaltation but wisdom. I think what Jesus is getting at is that the tax collector is wise while the pharisee while he thinks is is doing what is expected and what is right, is a lost soul. In A Course in Miracles, it asks us "Would you rather be right or be happy?" The pharisee would rather be right while the tax collector just wants to be happy. Most Unitarian Univeralists have chosen the way of the tax collector.

Sermon rating form

Sermon rating form

Rate the sermon on a scale of 0 - 10 with 10 meaning that the element is present 100% and 0 meaning element non existent.


Articulateness – coherenceDoes the sermon make sense? Can you state the main points the preacher was trying to make?

Rating = _________

Relevance
Can you apply the main points of the sermon to your personal life, your relationships with others, and to the world?

Rating = _________

Spiritually nourishing, inspiring, motivating
After the sermon did you feel an increase in energy as compared to no change or a decrease in energy?

Rating = ________

Challenging
After the sermon do you feel encouraged to grow, to become more than you are, to invest effort in making the world a better place?

Rating = ________

Total rating score =________

8 or less = very poor
8 – 20 = needs lots of improvement
20 – 30 = acceptable and needs tweaking
30 or above = excellent

What are the criteria for a good sermon? Here are four.

God, I have sat through some boring sermons. I don't know if it's me or the preaching really is insipid, dry, and incoherent.

I sit there and wonder to myself, "What is the point? Why is the preacher telling us this? What am I supposed to do with this information? How does this message apply to my life, to our life, to the world? Why don't I feel spiritually nutured? Why am I annoyed, angry, struggling to pay attention?"

And then I wonder if this church is for me. Maybe I should seek out another group, another church, where the weekly messages are more relevant, more inspiring, more informative, more challenging.

So, I have been thinking a lot over the last year or so about what makes a good sermon. I went on the web and looked for articles that address this question and didn't find anything that seems really satisfying to me,so I thought I would write some of my own ideas.

First and foremost a good sermon has to be articulate and coherent. I can't tell you how many times I am listening to a sermon and 7 minutes into it I wonder what in hell the preacher is talking about. I ask myself, "What is the preacher's point?" and for the life of me I can't figure it out. There is something wrong with such a sermon. A good sermon should be making 2 or 3 good points - no more and no less. If at the end of 20 minutes, 75% of the congregation can't say what the main points of the sermon are, the sermon failed.

Secondly, a good sermon has to be relevant to the audience. I can't tell you how often I felt that the sermon was a form of intellectual masturbation. In Unitarian Universalism there is the tradition of the free pulpit, but this doesn't mean that sermons are a sole exercise for the amusement and edification of the preacher. They should be relevant to the congregation. They should resonate with the congregation. There should be a rapport and a connection with the congregation. You can measure this by the congregation's attention and nonverbal reactions. I look around at my fellow congregants and they look either dead or like Mona Lisa with a wan smile and I wonder to myself what they are making out of the what the preacher is saying. A good sermon should provide a message of utility that the congregant can apply to his/her life, to his/her family life, work life, community life, national life. Platitudes and cliches can be familiar, amusing, and recognizable, but I often don't find them terribly applicable in any way that I haven't discovered before. So, I wonder if the preacher is being lazy, hasn't thought too hard about how the message being delivered connects with the congregation and is relevant to their lives. I often feel annoyed and frustrated when I hear myself, saying to myself as I am listening to the message, "Yeah, so what!?" or "OK, that's nice, what am I supposed to do with that?" If at the end of the sermon, 75% of the congregation can't say how the message is relevant to their lives and their relationships with others, the sermon has failed.

Third, a good sermon should be spiritually nourishing, inspiring, motivating so that I can become a better person, and want to make my relationships more righteous and satisfying, and I am encouraged to make the world a better place. We have learned in psychology that intellecutal insight itself doesn't lead to change. Intellectual insight can be satisfying to a certain extent, but it can also be dry and lack any heart. A good sermon is full of heart and love. If there is no heart and no love it is, as St. Paul said in Corinthians 13: "...just a resounding gong, or a clanging cymbal." People go to church to be spiritually fed, to have their spirit and their souls nourished. As Emerson said in his Divinity School Address, if the preaching is dry, is dead, there is no life and without life, things die. If at the end of the sermon, 75% of the congregation does not have an increase in energy rather than a decrease, or the same that existed at the start of the service, the sermon has failed.

Fourth, a good sermon is not safe but challenging. It pushes the congregants a bit out of their comfort zone. People should come away from a good sermon reved up, with their energy boosted, with a new determination to become a better person, to live a better life, to love others and the world with a renewed determination and increased effort. A good sermon is not satisfied with the status quo, is not afraid to go against the grain a bit, to enlarge the congregations view and comfort with the existing world as they know it. Growth requires challenge, it requires that a person and/or a group desire to be and become a little more than they are now. To play it safe, to protect the status quo, to validate existing norms which are unjust, dysfunctional, ineffective, discriminatory, or allows people to simply tolerate injustice, ugliness, oppression, and inequality does a disservice to the congregation even if it does promote job security for the preacher and a certain comfort level for the congregation that employs the preacher. If at the end of the sermon, 75% of the congregation don't feel challenged to change their lives and their world in some positive way, the sermon has failed.

Sitting through church services where sermons are incoherent, irrelevant, dry and boring, and unchallenging is not only a waste of time and effort, but damaging to the soul of the church for without vision and leadership the people will fail, the church will die. For churches without liturgy, without a sacred book, the cornerstone is good preaching. Without good preaching the church is in peril of survival. What are the criteria you use to determine whether a sermon is good or not? Leave us comments, please.

For a video with comments click here.

Harry and his sermons

Harry told me while we were drinking coffee on the sidewalk cafe in front of the coffee shop how he quit going to church and started writing sermons for himself.

"I find myself much more informative, inspiring, and entertaining than most of the preachers I've listened to. So I said to myself, 'The heck with this. I'll just write my own,'" said Harry.

And he did. He showed me some of them, and while, at first, I thought the guy was nuts, I really like them. They were great. It seemed a shame that nobody else got to hear them or read them and so I said to Harry one day, "Do you ever give these?"

"I gave some to you," Harry replied.

"No, I mean, do you ever preach them or give a speech, you know, say them out loud?"

"Naw, nobody wants to hear them."

"I think they would if they knew how good they are."

"Listen," he said, "I learned this a long time ago. It's not what you have to say that matters, it's who you are. Like they say, 'It's not what you know that counts, it's who you know.' Little different but same idea, plus I don't want to get killed."

"What are you talking about," I said.

"Oh, if you say anything really important like Jesus, or King, or Gandhi, or Malcom X, or Bobby Kennedy, it can get you killed. Most preachers know that, and they're scared, that's why they never preach anything really important, because people don't want to really hear the truth. It is too threatening, and people will kill the messenger quick as can be. Better to keep things under your hat, take a low profile. The only reason I gave them to you to read is because I trust you, but I wouldn't preach them. No sir. I want to live awhile longer. Maybe when I'm ready to go, I will go public. Jesus, you know waited until the end of His life, because he knew they would kill him. Martin Luther King saw it coming too, predicted it in fact."

"You have some important things to share, and I can see why you choose to keep them secret."

"There is a lot of secret knowledge around, if you have the eyes to see, and the ears to hear, and the mind to understand, but most people don't want to see, hear, or understand, so it flies under the radar," Harry said.

"You shouldn't believe everything you think, and think everything you believe," I said.

"Did you hear about the shoe factory that burned down last week?" said Harry.

"No, I didn't," I said falling for his line.

"Two hundred soles were lost, " Harry said.

"Harry, Harry, Harry, always the joker," I said.

"Ya either laugh or cry," said Harry. "I've got to go. I've got to write my sermon for Sunday."

Sunday sermon - We all get to heaven sooner or later

I know, I know, I know, most of us weren’t taught this. We were taught that the God of the faith only loves certain people and hates others. I have always questioned what kind of God this is.

Having been raised Roman Catholic I was taught contradictory things: that only Catholics would go to heaven, and that if people were of good will and loved God they would go to heaven even if they hadn’t heard of Jesus and Jesus’ God. In other words, people of good conscience, regardless of their dogmatic beliefs could go to heaven, too. It was comforting, because my father was not Catholic as well as a lot of my friends as well as the millions and millions of people in China.

As a late teen I “lost my faith”. I had too many unanswered questions. Osho says:

“Doubt makes one mature. You remain childish unless doubt has penetrated your soul. Unless the fire of doubt starts burning in you, you remain immature: you don’t know what life is. You start knowing life only by doubting, by being skeptical, by raising questions.”

Children give up their belief in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy, but many adults do not give up their belief in some god of their imagination which is often fueled by clergy who have a vested interest in manipulating people into believing in the god whom they described citing all kinds of authority.

Jesus says that unless you become as child again you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. What is Jesus talking about? He is saying that you have to go through your doubts, arguments, reasonings, childish superstitions, until one comes back to the original face of God which is within not without. A person matures and becomes an old man, an old woman, more matured, experienced, sometimes bruised but joyful and at peace none the less because the mature person realizes that there is nothing to fear, and simply is full of love for oneself, others, and the world.

Osho says, “Truth is not something outside to be discovered, it is something within to be realized.”

Osho says we have to give up our childish superstitions and allow ourselves to doubt. If we think we know Who or What God is we have fooled ourselves. Osha says:

“Buddha says once you understand that you are lost and you have to find your own way and there is no help coming, you become responsible. Prayer is irresponsible. To pray is just to avoid responsibility, to pray is too lazy. To pray is just escape. Buddha says effort is needed. It is an insult to pray. So in the Buddhist approach nothing like prayer exists, only meditation. You can meditate, you cannot pray.”

Can you just sit with your doubts? Watch them swirl and dance in your mind’s eye. They won't kill you. Once you realize this you will find something much deeper - peace. It is there beyond all the bull shit, all the nonsense which in the end doesn’t amount to anything anyway.

We all have the ability to get to heaven. We just have to clear away the clutter, give up our crazy beliefs, and become aware that Love is not only real, but is our essence, who we are, part of God’s being. One of favorite bumper stickers reads “Life, we’re all in it together and nobody gets out alive.”