Hopey Changey

The one reliable constant in all our lives is change.
To continue a theme, the unknown quality of change is the best place to look for hope.


North Idaho Unitarian Universalists

May 28, 2017


Sarah Palin has brought many changes to our language.

The title of the sermon is from one of them:
  "How's that hopey changey thing workin' for ya?"

I'm hoping we can make use of that expression as we think together about hope and change in all our lives.

Another major change Sarah Palin has brought to us and to our language is the word salad.

Many people have used word salads,
   but the campaign of 2008 was my first exposure to the term, as far as I recall.

The point of a word salad is (may be) to obscure rather than to communicate.

Now the purpose of words and language is normally to share thoughts.

One of the miracles of language is the ability to share thoughts across time and place,
  sometimes bringing us together with people who lived long ago and far away.

If language is being used to obscure or hide reality,
     it is being misused in the extreme;
              indeed, it is being used as the exact opposite of its purpose.

Alternative facts serve a similar function.

If we cannot agree on a reality that we share,
    then we become more and more isolated.

There is so much uncertainty in our world today
    that we neeed each other more than ever.

If we become more isolated, our hope for survival diminishes greatly.

If we share our lives more deeply, our hope for survival is enhanced in meaningful ways.

We could even say that our hope for meaning in the midst of survival is enhanced
     as we share our lives in community.

Think with me about what community really is.

When we share our lives in a kind of common unity,
   we are here for each other under all kinds of conditions.

Being here for each other is an important part of what a congregation is:

We are a group of people who gather together to help each other meet common goals.

A spiritual community is a congregation of people who gather to look for meaning in our lives.

This gathering today, right now,
   is a spiritual community with the common goal of helping each other in a variety of ways.

We can show that we care by reaching out to meet needs that some of us cannot meet alone.

A willingness to listen, the speaking of a word of caring, and the offer of a helping hand with some difficult task
    can be a powerful reminder that none of us is alone.

Of course, there is a kind of aloneness that is not lonely.

We all need time to be calm and quiet,
     to reflect on who we are and where we are,
           and so we can meditate and think together about things that are important.

A companionable silence can be just as valuable as sharing meaningful words.

I have observed this congregation doing all of these things.

We speak together.

We can be in silence together.

We reach out in loving care where there are known needs.

It is at this point that we see the importance of actual communication.

Some human needs are so obvious that we cannot hide them.

Others have to be spoken.

Speaking our own truth in love is a powerful tool in the creation of a beloved and loving community.

It is something our spiritual community can decide together that we will continue to do
     in the uncertain times that are before us.

If we openly talk about the things that are going on in our lives and in our hearts and minds,
        we can help each other with them.

Just knowing that someone else knows and cares can be a great help.

Changes are coming.

Some of those will be large and some will be small.

Some of the changes are desirable, some are not so.

We can cope with the changes together
     as we stand or sit or walk together through our times.

We find hope together.

We find meaning together.

Thus we are truly a spiritual community,
   even if our personal spirituality is very different in every case.

The truth is that all of us have widely varying spiritual approaches,
      even within a given faith tradition.

Individual faith communities can be good resources in the lives of their members
    or they can be as dysfunctional as any family can be.

In that sense a faith community greatly resembles a family.

The key to functioning well together is often simply honest communication with each other.

We can avoid sharing word salads in which our own personal truth is more hidden than understood!

We can use our language to speak our own truth
     without trying to deceive or wound each other.

If we do so, we will find that ours is a community of hope and love.

Building up each other's hope is a way we can move forward in our uncertain times.

It is happening everywhere in our world, whether we see it or not.

Unity and community are not inevitable.

Forces of separation and disunity seem to gain the upper hand at times
   at any and all levels in our lives.

We can counter those forces
     with expressions of love and caring
         as we reach beyond ourselves to meet the needs of others.

Forgiveness and a willingness to open our hearts to each other and our deeply felt needs
   will be absolutely necessary if we are to survive as nations, communities and individuals.

Tragic events can bring us together or drive us apart.

Think of the horrendous attack in Manchester, England this past week:

Cab drivers turned off their meters and helped people get around through the emergency.

People living near the city center offered rides, a cup of tea (of course) and chargers for cell phones
   as well as a place to stay for those who could not get home.

A message written in chalk beside the spontaneous memorial for the victims tells the truth:
"We will stand together - no fear - one love!"

Yet demagogues have used the tragedy as an opportunity to sow division and deepen hatred between groups of people.

The approach we take in the circumstances of our lives
   will lead us to greater community or deeper isolation.

I know for sure what the direction of this spiritual community will be.

I know what the North Idaho UU's will do because I have seen you do it time and again as needed.

We will move forward in love for each other and for the world around us.

We will not become more isolated.

We will work together, lifting each other up.

Our example is needed in our time and place.

We are not the only community seeking to do these things.

At the same time, our example is unique.

Unitarian Universalism is both wide and deep.

Very often spiritual communities whose noncorporeal (spiritual) resources run deep are also very narrow,
   or those who are broad and open too often tend to be somewhat shallow.

We draw on every spiritual tradition that seeks to build the beloved community.

I have found no other spiritual home in my life
    that provides me with a more complete experience of every kind of spiritual tradition that has enriched me.

That is why I am so much at home within the UU faith and life.

My own experiences of Unitarian Universalist spiritual life have been thoroughly open
          and yet they have carried me deeply into my own heart and mind
                to feed me what I have needed just when I have needed it.

I am counting on that spiritual nourishment now
       fully as much as at any time in my life,
                    maybe more so.

My word to you is also my word to myself:

Keep being who you are. Keep doing what you do.

Fear no change. Never give up hope.

If you hear only one thing I say today, please hear this:

Fear no change. Never give up hope.

Obviously these are words I have to speak also to myself.

Beth and I will both need to hear them from you as well.

They will be a mantra upon which we must meditate, all of us.

When we speak them to each other,
     we will provide encouragement as we need it.

As our spiritual community, NIUU, moves through a time of transition,
    our ability to communicate and help each other will bring us through to a new day.

We will learn to say that the hopey changey thing is working well for us indeed.

Our ability to adapt to change helps determine our place in the process of evolving.

This is true of individuals as we evolve spiritually, that is, emotionally and mentally.

It is true of communities as we grow and change to meet the needs around us.

It is even true of species in the natural order of things.

As we adapt to changing environments, we find our niche.

It is a good paradigm
    to enable us not only to survive
         but to thrive in changing environments.

As we stand together,
     we can resist the word salads we are offered that would not provide nourishment.

We can bear witness that the hopey changey experience of life is a very good thing indeed
    because we can adapt to changing circumstances
        and care for each other in appropriate ways as we need each other.

Change may be scary sometimes,
  especially when we have to change in ways that we do not want.

And yet...

We are able to stand together
  and meet the challenges of a new time in a familiar place.

We care for one another.

We listen to each other.

Many things are uncertain,
  but our beloved community continues to be something we can count on.

As J.R.R. Tolkien wrote,
The world is indeed full of peril, and and in it there are many dark places.
But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now migled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.

Amen Ameen Omeyn So mote it be.

Blessed be!