The Balance of Light and Dark 

An Equinox reminds us of the importance of balance. There is light and dark in all things and in all of us. To ignore one's own shadow is dangerous. 

We are approaching a change of Season. 

Summer is ending, 

  and Fall is about to begin. 

To be precise, 

  the transition will happen at 6:30 a.m. 

    this Tuesday morning. 

The light of day and the dark of night 

  will soon arrive at a perfect balance. 

It sometimes takes a day or two 

  for all things to come together 

    and for the balance to be clearly visible, 

      but we have been watching 

        the gradual decrease in the hours of daylight 

          and the gradual increase 

            in the hours of nighttime. 

I for one am fascinated 

  by these changes of the seasons. 

It reminds us all of our place in the Universe 

  and in the world of nature. 

The passage of time is clearly visible 

  with the apparently slow changes of the seasons. 

Something else deep inside us 

  is being manifested by these changes. 

Day and night are in balance, 

  and the light and dark in ourselves 

    are also in balance, 

      whether we like it or not. 

In this case, light and dark 

  are not synonyms for good and evil. 

It's more like illumination and shadow. 

Life requires both. 

Keeping those two realities in balance 

  is a life skill, 

    and it is something we are here to learn, 

      I believe. 

If we hide from the light, 

  something is wrong. 

If we pretend that there is no shadow within us, 

  something is equally wrong. 

To hide from the light may simply mean 

  that we are too sensitive. 

I've been experiencing some light sensitivity 

  in recent weeks. 

It feels like a metaphor 

  of the things I'm talking about. 

If we pretend that there is no shadow inside us, 

  we may be feeling ashamed 

    of something natural about ourselves. 

Both the light and the shadow are vital 

  if we are to live full, balanced lives. 

The world of nature is rich in reminders 

  about the best and most healthy way for us to live. 

One giant reminder 

  about a healthy way for us to live 

    is all the smoke that has surrounded us 

      over most of the last week. 

We cannot continue to do just as we please, 

  releasing unsustainable amounts 

    of greenhouse gases 

      if we are to have any hope 

        of living healthy lives. 

The holy days of Earth based spirituality 

  like the Equinoxes and the Solstices 

    are also reminders of our relationship 

      with the rest of the cosmos,

        and our celebration of them 

          is an important part of our spiritual lives. 

As we are thinking of our spiritual lives 

  and our relationship 

    with the rest of the natural world 

      of which we are a part, 

        please remember that 

          when I speak of spirituality 

            I'm speaking of our breathing in and out 

              more than anything else. 

Breathing in and out is especially important 

  for us all to be thinking about in these days 

    of fire and smoke in our part of the world. 

Breathing in and out is important to consider 

  also because of the coronavirus that is causing 

    a world-wide pandemic of COVID-19. 

With smoke and plague, 

  we simply cannot take breathing in and out, 

    our human spirituality, 

      for granted. 

As we think of spirituality, 

  light and shadow are words we use 

    in metaphorical ways. 

Light represents understanding, like enlightenment. 

Shadow represents things that are hidden from view, 

  like mysteries. 

Light and shadow involve something 

  much more than the metaphors 

    in our interesting times 

Light and shadow are words 

  that we can use to describe 

    what we have been seeing 

      outside our windows 

        over the recent days. 

Light has been subdued in the shadows of smoke. 

This has been more visible reality than metaphor. 

It's part of the warning 

  that I've been speaking about lately. 

I hope and believe that it is not too late, 

  but nature is giving us more and more, 

    clearer and clearer, warnings 

      of what is to come, 

        if we don't make some serious changes 

          in the ways we are living 

            and relating to the world around us. 

The simplest way to express 

  the reality in which we find ourselves 

    is to remember that the natural world 

      will use its amazing - even miraculous - resilience 

        to recover from damages that we may cause. 

But we may not fare nearly so well. 

Like the laws of physics, 

  the laws of nature are not debatable. 

We cannot break those laws. 

We can only break ourselves upon them. 

Light and shadow take on 

  a much more urgent meaning 

    under such circumstances. 

In our ordinary lives every day, 

  the meaning is just as important 

    even if it isn't quite so urgent. 

The importance of keeping 

  the light and shadow in balance

    can be seen as a deeply personal issue 

      as well as a matter of public policy. 

The personal side is important, too. 

The personal side impacts all our relationships. 

Trying to pretend that there is no shadow, only light, 

  can lead us to consider ourselves much better 

    and much more important than we really are. 

To recognize the shadow within ourselves 

  can lead us to be humble in our self understanding. 

We all have elements of darkness 

  deep within ourselves, 

    and that is not a bad thing at all. 

To use the language of Star Wars, 

  there is a light side of the Force, 

    and a dark side, too. 

The two have to be kept in balance. 

Without the balance, 

  the power of darkness 

    can seem to be overwhelming. 

In fact, 

  sometimes the power of darkness 

    can seem to be far greater 

      than the power of light, 

        but in fact it is not more powerful. 

The words from the first chapter 

  of the Gospel of John come to my mind, 

    "The light shines out in the darkness, 

        and the darkness did not take it down." 

             (my own translation) 

It may not always have been seen this way, 

  but these words seem to me to show the balance 

    of light and shadow. 

Without the darkness, 

  the light does not shine out nearly so brightly. 

Without the light, 

  the darkness and all the beauty in it 

    cannot be seen. 

If you have looked at the face of the moon, 

  even through a small telescope, 

    you can understand exactly what I mean. 

There are mountains and valleys 

  on the surface of the moon, 

    and looking at those mountains and valleys 

      can give us the feeling 

        of looking at another world. 

Yet looking at the brightness of a full moon, 

  we cannot see them well. 

As the moon waxes and wanes, 

  shadows form and cause the mountains and valleys 

    to stand out in sharp relief. 

To see the surface features of the moon 

  the best place to look 

    is along the boundary of light and shadow. 

It's a wonderful metaphor 

  to understand the interplay of light and shadow 

    in our own lives every day. 

In order to understand where we are 

  and what we are doing, 

    it is best to look at the boundary 

      of light and shadow. 

The face we show to the world 

  is an important part of us, 

    but it is only a part. 

Our inner life, where and how we see ourselves 

  is at least equally important. 

Much of our inner life is hidden from everyone, 

  at times even from ourselves, 

    so darkness is a good description 

      for the deepest parts. 

That is not a value judgment. 

It is neither good nor bad. 

Sometimes the best parts of ourselves 

  are hidden from us. 

So we can understand ourselves best 

  by looking at the boundary regions, 

    where our inner life, our personal thoughts, 

      encounter the face we show to others. 

This is not to ask us to reveal 

  what we find best to keep hidden. 

It's simply a call to awareness. 

If we want to understand ourselves better, 

  we can contemplate the interaction 

    of our self understanding 

      with our actions and words 

        in the world outside ourselves. 

Keeping the balance 

  between our own inner and the outer worlds 

    is like nature's balancing of light and shadow 

      of day and night, summer and winter. 

We can learn about ourselves 

  as we contemplate the natural world around us 

    because we are a part of that world. 

With the approach of the Equinox, 

  we are reminded of the balance 

    within us and around us. 

We need the light and we need the shadows 

  in order to understand and perceive ourselves 

    as we really are. 

Amen. 

Let it be. 

So mote it be. 

Blessed be! 

 Water Communion 

Memory, Communion, and Community 

We remember together and so we share Communion and build the Beloved Community. 

Every human being  is in Communion with water 

  all the time. 

Our bodies are made mostly of water. 

As you may know already, 

  I'm a fan of science fiction, as was our dear Beth. 

In one of the shows 

  of Star Trek the Next Generation, 

    a terraforming crew on a desert planet 

      is falling behind schedule. 

Their problem was a life form based on silicon 

  instead of the carbon that we are based on.

The terraformers  were unable to recognize 

  the silicon based life form as a living species. 

Somehow as the story proceeded, 

  the silicon based life form developed the ability 

    to communicate with the humans. 

Their first words to the humans were, 

  "Ugly. Giant. Bags. Of mostly water." 

That wasn't very complimentary, 

  but it was true, as far as it goes. 

We are made mostly of water, 

  and the water is held in a flexible container, 

    also known as skin. 

So we are bags of mostly water. 

I guess we would be ugly 

  to a life form based on crystals of silicon. 

Recent studies have shown 

  that silicon based life forms 

    may not actually be possible 

      in our universe, 

But the science fiction story still gives us a paradigm 

  for understanding ourselves 

    as a carbon based life form 

      whose bodies are composed of mostly water. 

My concept is to highlight our intimate relationship 

  with the water 

    that forms most of the surface of our planet. 

Hence I say, again, 

  that all of us are in full Communion with water 

    all the time. 

MOST of the time 

  our full Communion with water is a good thing. 

Like many of our most important relationships, 

  especially with the world of nature, 

    we cannot take that positive quality for granted. 

As we saw near the end of last month, 

  our relationship with water can turn suddenly 

    catastrophically harmful, 

      as with a hurricane or two. 

I'm one of those who believe 

  that nature is giving us all a warning. 

We are in fact a part of nature, 

  and so we are as truly subject to Her laws 

    as any living thing. 

We have tried to live as a dominant species 

  for far too long. 

We absolutely cannot continue to do so. 

If we try, we will not harm nature Herself. 

We will certainly harm ourselves, 

  and we could destroy ourselves. 

The Book of Revelation 

  and other collections of Apocalyptic Literature 

    contain fearsome descriptions 

      of what could happen 

        if we continue down the wrong path. 

I've often said, 

  "Don't worry about the Book of Revelation 

    unless you start to understand it!" 

Well, I'm sorry to say, 2020 appears to be a year 

  in which all too many people, 

    especially the most vulnerable people, 

      are starting to understand 

        what the word Apocalypse 

          And the book of Revelation really mean. 

Still and all, 

  it's not too late. 

We can still get out of the way 

  of many of the dangers that are all around us. 

We can still repair our relationship 

  with the natural world. 

We can recognize our Communion with nature, 

  including, and today especially, 

    our Communion with Water. 

Our worship service, based on Water Communion 

  is thus deeply rooted 

    in our relationship with nature, 

      and so much of human spirituality

        is likewise deeply rooted in the natural world. 

In fact, our UU spirituality in general has deep roots 

  in the natural world. 

Our whole service today 

  is based on Earth-Centered spirituality. 

Indeed, Earth-Centered spirituality 

  is one of the most important forms 

    of UU spirituality, 

      listed among the 6 sources 

        of our unbounded spirituality, the 

          Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions 

            which celebrate the sacred circle of life 

              and instruct us to live in harmony 

                with the rhythms of nature. 

Two of the great mentors and spiritual leaders 

  of Unitarian Universalism in the U.S., 

    Thoreau and Emerson, 

      were both steeped in the spirituality of nature, 

        each in his own way. 

Thoreau was perhaps best known 

  for his relationship with Walden Pond, 

    a body of water that was formative 

      in his own development 

        of a kind of Water Communion. 

Emerson wrote a book entitled Nature 

  in which may be found the wonderful quote, 

    "The happiest person is one 

      who learns from nature the lesson of worship." 

Today we are again learning from nature 

  the lesson of worship 

    as we share in a particularly UU rite, 

      the Water Communion. 

Most of us find 

  deeply personal spiritual recharging 

    in the world of nature. 

Bodies of water are often sources 

  of the unique kind of spiritual recharging 

    that are just what we need when we need it. 

That's why we love to going to a beach 

  or walking alongside a lake 

    or sitting quitely beside a pond or a stream. 

I love the sound of rushing water 

  like rapids or waterfalls 

    as they sing to my soul. 

It's no surprise, therefore, 

  that we share in our Water Communion 

    as we share a little of the water 

      that has meant so much to us 

        in the last year. 

In this way we remember 

  Meaningful events from the last year 

    And we deepen our Communication 

      And our communication with each other. 

In this strange year of 2020, 

  with so much in a kind of suspension, 

    maybe we can focus 

      on our relationship with water

        as something to help us restore 

          a feeling of being connected 

            to the world of nature

              and to each other. 

As we deepen our sense of Communion 

  With nature and with each other 

    We can begin to reconcile with each other 

      Despite the differences between us. 

I have many of my own holy places, 

  and most of them are closely related to water. 

One of those closest to me and to my home 

  is a catchment pond 

    for excessive rain water 

      where lots of lovely cattails grow. 

Because of the pandemic, 

  I don't often get to walk around or sit beside 

    some of my favorite sources of water communion, 

      so I'm especially grateful for the cattails 

        and their pond. 

The water I'm bringing today is from them, 

  even though at this time of year, 

    it's more mud than water. 

As UU's we remember our communion with water 

  not only today with our water communion. 

The water we drink, 

  wash with or wash in, 

    the water that brings us renewal

      of body, soul, and spirit

        can remind us of our communion with water 

          and with each other. 

Water can also remind us 

  of the importance of social justice. 

Fresh, clean, health-giving, life-giving water 

  can be extremely hard to come by 

    for many people on our small planet. 

This situation is not likely to get better 

  in the near future

    as climate change continues. 

I subscribe to the theory 

  that water will be the oil of the future, 

    that is, the scarce resource 

      over which people all over our small planet 

        will struggle. 

It will be come to be the sign 

  of our willingness to care for each other 

    or not. 

As such, 

  water will not only illustrate, 

    it will also embody 

      our communion with each other. 

The question we must all ask 

  as we are in communion with water, 

    "Will we be in communion with each other?" 

I deeply hope, and I invoke that hope 

  that our collective answer 

    will be a resounding, "Yes!" 

Amen 

Ameen 

Omeyn 

So mote it be