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Freedom and Responsibility
Responsibility enables freedom.
Order of Service - Script
for Sunday: September 25, 2022
NIUU, Jeanie Donaldson, Pastor Fred
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Prelude: “The Lone Wild Bird” by Jeanie Donaldson
Welcome and Announcements:
We, too, were once seeking home
Good Morning. Welcome to our Unitarian Universalist congregation. I’m Fred Toerne; I serve as minister of this journeying community. We welcome all of you to our service, especially those of you who are searching for a spiritual home. Many of us were also once seeking for something larger than ourselves to which we could belong: a sense of rootedness to hold us as we create meaning together. We do that well here—though not perfectly. In this congregation, we strive not for perfection but for authenticity and connection.
Whether it's your first time in worship with us or your hundredth time, we hope that you’ll find here questions that stretch you, people to befriend you, and liberal religious values that challenge you to join us in loving boldly, living justly, and welcoming radically.
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Welcome to North Idaho Unitarian Universalists where we accept, we support, we transform: Ourselves, Our Community. Our world.
Lighting the Chalice:
Words By Cynthia Landrum:
Mindful that
With great power comes great responsibility,
We light this chalice in the hopes that
In brightest day, in blackest night,
Our faith will
Flame on!
Opening Words:
The Right to Choose
To begin, to start, to create, to undertake,
To grow, to promise, to increase, to generate.
All these are our birthright.
As we are created, so may we create.
The ability and the choice to create is sacred.
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To withdraw that chance from any person without their permission
Would be a violent act, the cutting off of life itself.
And yet, as precious is the right to simply not.
To end, to terminate, to stop, to discontinue,
To rest, to hibernate, to impede, to prevent.
These, too, are our birthright.
For without consent, our ability to create
becomes not a blessing, but a burden and an imposition.
Without space for a “no,” there can be no trustworthy “yes.”
Today, we come to this holy place and time,
Ready to invoke the divine, to make space for the sacred,
To create community together once again.
This too is a choice,
you cannot, you may not,
be coerced into relationship with the holy or with one another.
I invite you, I ask you to join us.
I respect it if you will not, today, or ever.
More sacred than any other individual need, is Choice,
The right to know oneself.
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The right to know what you are ready for, what you need,
to stretch when you can,
to pause when you will,
to know your body, your mind, your spirit better than anyone else.
And ultimately,
to be trusted with the responsibility of your own living.
To be trusted in this way is freedom.
Hymn: America the Beautiful
1 O beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain;
for purple mountain majesties
above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
and crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.
2 O beautiful for heroes proved
in liberating strife,
who more than self their country loved,
and mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
till all success be nobleness,
and every gain divine.
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3 O beautiful for patriot dream
that sees beyond the years
thine alabaster cities gleam,
undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self-control,
thy liberty in law.
Covenant:
Love is the spirit of this church, and service its law
This is our great covenant:
To dwell together in peace,
To seek truth in love,
And to help one another.
Greeting each other (Those present in person can leave our seats for this, if we wish.)
Joys and Concerns (with lighting of candles of caring)
Story:
The Animal School
Devorah Greenstein
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Many years ago, the animals in the Great Forest decided that they wanted to start a school for all their children. Until that time, it had been the responsibility of parents to teach their children the skills they needed to know, but the animals in the Great Forest wanted their children to learn from professional teachers. So they organized a school and hired staff.
The teachers met and decided to provide a standardized educational curriculum to their animal students. So they adopted an activity curriculum consisting of swimming, running, flying, and climbing. All the animals took all the subjects — because it was very important to them that no child be left behind. To ensure that students were progressing satisfactorily, standardized achievement tests were administered to all students.
Here's what happened. The ducks were excellent in swimming. In fact, the ducks were better than their teacher. But some of the ducks made only passing grades in flying and all of them were very poor in running. Since they were slow in running, they had to stay after school for remedial running practice, and they had to drop swimming in order to practice running during their swimming class time. This was kept up until all the ducks' webbed feet were very sore. And the ducks were so tired, that soon they were only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so nobody worried about that — except the ducks.
In running, the rabbits started at the top of the class, but they did very poorly in swimming. Also, the rabbits insisted on hopping around, and the teachers were concerned about their hyperactivity — so they made the rabbits walk everywhere instead of allowing them to run or hop. And the rabbits had to come in early every day for special swimming class. Many of the younger rabbits developed severe fur problems because they were having to spend so much time in the swimming pool.
The squirrels were excellent in climbing and running. In fact, the squirrels were the best students at climbing the standardized tree. But they wanted to fly by first climbing the tree, then spreading their paws, and gliding to the ground. (That's the way squirrels fly.) But in flying class their teacher made them start on the ground instead of at the treetop, and the squirrels were not mastering the course material. So every day, the squirrels had therapy — a flying therapist took the squirrels into the gym and made them do front-paw exercises to strengthen their
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muscles so they could learn to fly the right way. The squirrels' paws hurt so much from this overexertion that some of them only got a C in climbing. Some of the squirrels failed climbing altogether.
The eagles were definitely problem children — in climbing class, the eagles beat all the others to the top of the tree, but they insisted on using their own way to get there and were quite stubborn about it. The eagles said that clearly it was the goal that mattered, and that it was quite right for eagles to get to the treetop by flying. The school psychologist diagnosed them as having oppositional-defiant disorder. (That's a real diagnosis that some children are given in school.) A strict behavior modification plan was developed for the eagles.
We can end this story in two ways. Sad to say, in some schools, we still make squirrel children try to learn to fly by flapping their paws, and punish eagles for being defiant about their right to be themselves.
But happy to say, in some schools we enjoy all children for themselves. Each squirrel is a perfectly wonderful squirrel. Each rabbit is a lovely rabbit whether or not they choose to hop, or skip, or roll, or walk. Each eagle is allowed to be an eagle; and we encourage each duck to swim and swim and swim and not worry about learning to run. And the moral of the story is:
When we try to make everybody the same, nobody is happy. People can get hurt and their very best gifts can go to waste.
Like all animals and our children, human animals included, allowing us the freedom to be ourselves is the most responsible choice any of us can make.
Meditation:
At Some Time
We all take part in this ancient play.
At some time.
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There is no other way.
At some time…
Thieves, guilty of poor choices
caught red-handed in our human reality.
One points at the other and says, “You: save me.”
The other bows his head. “I accept responsibility.
The mistakes I’ve made are real.”
At some time….
Believers, excited to have found the answer.
We follow those who lead the way.
Bold and courageous we leave behind the familiar
until one day unwilling to live through the anxiety of a new truth
we slip back to our old familiar ways.
At some time….
Bystanders, as the most frequent of our days are spent.
Watching others change and make change,
busily focused on our needs, caring for family, jobs and friends.
Curious to know what the fuss is all about. Watching and waiting to find out.
Oblivious to all that is underfoot. Heads down, deadlines to meet, responsibilities weighing upon us.
At Some Time…
Broken Hearted.
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Weeping as truth is struck down by those in power as if to say
– don’t you dare –
keep trying.
Who are you to weep?
Weeping at the loss...
powerless
broken open
by a love
that never leaves us the same.
At Some Time…
We all play every part
in this ancient play.
At some time.
Sermon:
“Thy Liberty in Law” - These four words conclude one of my favorite patriotic hymns, the one we sang today.
I love the song because it exemplifies our theme for today.
The closing words of the hymn say,
“Confirm thy soul in self-control,
thy liberty in law.”
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Those words carry a powerful message about the relationship between responsibility and freedom:
Our liberty depends on law.
For this reason as much as any other, we speak and hear so much about the rule of law in the U.S.
We are not ruled by people, courts, office holders, or police forces.
Everyone is ruled by the law, and no one is exempt.
No one is either above or beneath the law.
As it protects the weak from mistreatment, domination, or exploitation by the strong, law protects liberty.
So again I want to say it: Our liberty depends on law.
Liberty means freedom, and law means responsibility.
We enable liberty in our lives as individual citizens when we act responsibly.
Only as we are willing to accept responsibility for our own thoughts, words, and actions are we able truly to be free.
When we act responsibly, we are able to make choices.
Those choices can be many or few.
Through all of our lives, there is change in the nature and number of our choices.
As very young children, we are generally unable to make many choices because there are so many things that we cannot understand.
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So there are many things for which we cannot accept responsibility as children.
It is up to us as responsible adults to choose wisely for ourselves.
After all, at its heart freedom is the ability to make our own choices without too much restraint.
Likewise, at its heart responsibility is the ability to respond to the needs around us.
You see, the word responsibility itself contains the concepts of ability and responding, hence, response - ability
There is a choice at the heart of responsibility.
The choice involves our relationship with the human needs and circumstances surrounding us.
We may sometimes think it’s harmless to ignore the circumstances and needs around us, but doing so will sharply limit our choices.
For example, simply looking both ways before walking across a street is a way of responding to our own circumstances.
If we fail to look both ways when crossing a street, the consequences can be dire.
When we are driving a vehicle, if we notice the presence of vulnerable people and other living things around us, we respond to their needs, and we take into account the circumstances around us.
Failure to walk or drive responsibly, even simply by failing to pay attention, is likely to limit our freedom.
There can be different ways for the limitation to work.
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It can work by direct consequences, by legal consequences, or by changes in personal preferences.
If our irresponsibility causes harm to other beings, human or otherwise, our personal possibilities may change, even quite suddenly.
For example, if we harm someone, human or animal, as a result of an accident by failing to pay attention, we may harm ourselves, we may disable our vehicle, or we may simply be too upset to continue driving.
People who care about the one who was harmed may also be harmed, sometimes deeply.
If there is harm to another vehicle and its passengers, there may be serious consequences to ourselves or others.
Among those consequences, at the very least, will probably be that our freedom will be limited.
And so we come to the clearest description of the relationship between responsibility and freedom:
If we act responsibly, if we respond to those around us, we will enhance our freedom.
If we do not act responsibly, if we fail to respond to our surroundings, we will limit our own freedom, sometimes severely.
So the most basic of our choices involves responsibility as it results in freedom.
Our responsible choices involve many more areas in our lives than just driving and coping with traffic, but our walking and driving are simple and common examples.
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We can choose to enhance our ability to respond to the world around us, or we can ignore that vital ability.
This basic choice affects all our other choices profoundly.
Responding well brings us more and more choices.
Responding poorly or not at all shuts down many of our choices.
This is why I said in the blurb for today’s service, “Responsibility enables freedom.”
It is also the reason I love the words from the hymn, “Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law.”
We humans like to believe that we are the best and smartest of all living things.
We are not necessarily either one.
The cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and the like), who had the good sense to return to the sea, may be the most intelligent.
We are also not the worst. Whether we have the most good sense remains to be seen.
Only two species will foul their own nest, and both are primates:
We human beings are one of those species, and the other is also one of the great apes.
My purpose is not to disparage us as a human family in any way; I simply want to point out the importance of transcending those aspects of our nature that tend to cause harm.
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For us modern humans, fouling our own nest could be taken to mean the damage we are doing to the environment around us.
There are many consequences of such damage, and the most obvious of those consequences may well be seen in climate change.
As we are seeing more and more evidence, how we are causing our climate to become less and less hospitable to our lives, our freedom to make the choices we would like to make is diminishing in turn.
In other words, our irresponsible behavior toward the natural world around us may be leading us to some of the worst consequences of all:
Our survival as a species is being threatened and the same is happening to many other species, too.
As we are thinking about our relationship with the world of nature, I feel that it is important to remember:
The Autumnal Equinox took place last Thursday.
The Equinoxes and Solstices are important transitions from one season to another.
Recognizing and remembering these transitions can be a helpful way to call our attention to our responsibility (!) toward the natural environment in which we live.
Sometimes just remembering that we are a part of nature rather than rulers over it or victims of it can help us be better stewards of our world.
Care of the Earth and healing of the world (tikkun olam) are two of our most important responsibilities in enhancing freedom for all living things.
The simplest and most important way for us to transcend our worst impulses is to take responsibility for our actions.
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Doing so enhances our freedom, now and for our world, in generations to come.
Amen
So let it be
Blessed be
Congregational Response
Offering Information
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to our Charity of the Month, NIUU pledges and regular church offerings can be mailed to NIUU at:
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Extinguishing the Chalice :
Daring Vision
We extinguish this chalice flame,
daring to carry forward the vision of this free faith,
that freedom, reason and justice
will one day prevail in this nation and across the earth.
Closing words:
Remembering our spiritual, courageous ancestors who forsook oppression with security to gain freedom with opportunity,
may we go forth to master ourselves by accepting duty with responsibility,
by showing balance in our judgments and by having breadth of vision in our deliberations.
May we be exemplars of that spirit, moving forward with conviction and commitment,
with unity and without uniformity, with brotherhood and sisterhood to serve the truth that sets us free. Amen.
posted by pastorfred at 3:35 PM
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