What's Next? 

Always in motion the future is. We're all hoping that better days are ahead. 

The sermon I will be preaching today 

  will be the most political sermon 

    I have ever preached. 

I will be taking sides, 

  but the side I will take 

    need not be controversial. 

I am siding in favor of domestic peace and tranquility 

  and against sedition and insurrection 

    by terrorist attacks.  

I want to begin with a quote from Casey Stengel 

  that I used in my first sermon 

    of this New Year of 2021 on January 3: 

"Never make predictions, 

   especially about the future." 

When I prepared 

  the title and blurb for today's sermon, 

    I had no intention 

      of making any kind of prediction, 

        even by implication. 

If I had intended an implied prediction, 

  my title and blurb would still 

    have made a lot of sense. 

Just to remind us all of the title of today's sermon, 

  it was, simply, "What's Next?" 

Just as a reminder, too, the blurb said, 

"Always in motion the future is. 

  We're all hoping that better days are ahead." 

As we think about the future and its movement, 

  we remember that our choices 

    of thoughts, words, and actions of today

      will have a long term effect 

        on the flow and the direction of the future 

          and the possibilities it will present. 

We all have a number 

  of important decisions and choices

    in the next few weeks and months. 

Our decisions and choices will have 

  a profound effect on the direction of our future. 

We have more power regarding our shared future 

  than we know. 

This is one reason that Yoda was able to say, 

  in typical Yoda fashion, 

    "Always in motion is the future, 

      and many possible futures there are..." 

As individuals, we have relatively little power 

  to affect the possible futures, 

    but as communities, working collectively, 

      our power to shape the future is tremendous. 

Failing to consider 

  the way we are affecting the future every day 

    can lead us to all kinds of surprises, 

      some of them good, some of them not so good. 

Much to the surprise 

  and even amazement of many of us, 

    the U.S. capitol was attacked and breached 

      by domestic terrorists 

        on January 6 of this year of 2021. 

Many people made important choices 

  based on their own beliefs and commitments 

    that led them to have some part in the attack, 

      either defending or trying to destroy 

        the laws and traditions that maintain democracy 

          in the U.S.A. 

I was surprised by my own reaction to the event: 

  more than anything else, 

    I felt overwhelming sadness. 

The attack on the capitol 

  was not in itself a complete surprise, 

    but its extent and degree of success were a shock. 

The meaning of the attack will be the subject 

  of study, historical analysis, 

    and the development of plans 

      to protect our nation's sacred places 

        for many years to come. 

As Yoda said, "Many possible futures there are." 

January 6 was Epiphany of 2021,  

  and Epiphany can serve us all as an awakening. 

Optimism and realism will tell us that 

  awakening is our optimistic hope; 

    reality is continuing divisions. 

Our divisions have now led 

  to threats of domestic terrorism 

    that are a greater threat 

      to our well being as a nation 

        than international threats and dangers. 

In any case, 

  as our meditation from Arundhati Roy told us, 

    our present situation is a portal. 

The pandemic has brought us to a portal, 

  and so has the insurrection at the U.S. capitol. 

A new administration will be inaugurated this week, 

  but it alone is not the path through the portal. 

Our response to the insurrection,  

  to the pandemic, 

    and to the deep divisions in our society 

      will build our path through the portal. 

It is a path we will all have to walk together. 

It will be absolutely necessary that we come 

  to a minimal level of agreement 

    about truth and facts. 

There is too much false information 

  being disguised as facts. 

Part of the danger of false information 

  is that all of us 

    are playing dangerous games. 

The best paradigm I have encountered 

  to understand our games 

    is a way of understanding QAnon. 

If you don't know much 

  about that conspiracy theory, 

    consider yourself lucky. 

In brief, it is a bizarre set of false assumptions 

  claiming that leaders of the U.S. Democratic Party 

    are human traffickers and pedophiles. 

True QAnon believers consider Donald J. Trump 

  a kind of hero and messiah 

    who will deliver the nation and world 

      from all that evil. 

The analysis that I consider a useful paradigm 

  sees the entire QAnon community 

    as some sort of role playing game. 

QAnon is only the most extreme example. 

There have long been conspiracy theories 

  promulgating falsehoods 

    and leading all kinds of people astray. 

Too many of us are playing roles 

  in our own fantasies 

    about our times and our future. 

Role playing games define their own reality 

  and have their own rules. 

They are dangerous when people become confused 

  and unable to distinguish between 

    their favorite game and reality. 

This can be happening on the Left and on the Right. 

Again, the QAnon conspiracy theory  

  believes that Donald J. Trump 

    is a kind of messiah who will save the U.S.A. 

No national leader can redeem the nation 

  or the planet. 

None of us can look anywhere other 

  than our own hearts, minds, and spirits

    to find our way to hope and well being. 

As Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi said, 

  "If we could change ourselves, 

    the tendencies in the world would also change." 

That magnificent quote 

  is often shortened and simplified 

    to be the similar quote, 

      "Be the change you want to see in the world." 

That will mean that all of us will have to give up 

  some cherished illusions. 

First and foremost we will have to recognize 

  that our opponents are not all alike. 

Secondly and importantly 

  we will have to hold in our hearts 

    the reality that our opponents 

      are not all evil people. 

Thirdly, there are many reasons 

  why people might disagree, 

    and sometimes there are really good reasons. 

If we can recognize those realities, 

  we may actually get back to honest disagreements 

    that lead to debates and not fights

      and that may lead to better conclusions 

        than any in-group could ever have developed 

          on its own. 

I feel a need to list and expand those realities: 

  1. Our opponents are not all alike, 

        and neither are we. 

  2. Our opponents are not all evil, 

        and neither are we. 

  3. Our opponents may have good reasons 

        to disagree with us, and we may have 

          good reasons to disagree with them. 

In the light of the situation we are in 

  and our need to arrive safely together 

    at the portal that will take us to a better day, 

      it will be a great idea to return 

        to two optimistic sermons given recently...

Connie Johnson on December 13 

  spoke to us about Kindness, 

    and Rachelle Strawther on November 29 

      spoke to us about 

        starting a Dialogue in Just Six Words: 

          how Curiosity and Empathy 

            can Cross the Great Divide. 

Both of those sermons have brought me 

  a lot of hope as well as a sense 

    that better times may really be coming for us all, 

      despite some of the signs that may seem to point 

        in the other direction. 

One final optimistic thought: 

Remember Georgia! 

Even if we only think of the record voter turnout 

  for the most recent two elections in Georgia, 

    November 3, 2020 and January 5, 2021, 

      Georgia gives all of us good reasons 

        for renewed hope. 

I'll repeat one of my often stated positions: 

  I believe that in a democracy, 

    the more people who vote, 

      the better the outcome will be. 

Participation leads to a sense of ownership 

  and the hope that one's needs can 

    and possibly will be 

      addressed by one's government. 

We can all seek to share such a sense of ownership 

  so that it will bring us to and through the portal 

    of a better day for ourselves 

      and for all of our sisters and brothers,  

        including those with whom we disagree. 

So much for my most political sermon ever! 

I have arrived where I want to be, 

  in hope for us all, 

    regardless of opinion and point of view. 

So much for my predictions about the future: 

  I do believe that we will arrive at a much better day. 

May it be soon. 

Amen. 

So let it be. 

Blessed be.