911 

The numbers 911 represent both saving life and destruction in many human hearts. Does that remind us of anyone? Shiva, the third person of the Hindu Holy Trinity, comes to mind. 

 Order of Service - Script 

for Sunday: 

September 11, 2022

NIUU, Jeanie Donaldson, Sue Hansen-Barber,  Pastor Fred 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jeanie Donaldson - Prelude - Chopin’s Prelude in C-Minor 

Fred - Welcome and Announcements: 

Come into this circle of love and compassion,

Come into this community where we can dream and

Believe in those dreams—

Welcome to North Idaho Unitarian Universalists where we accept, we support, we transform:  Ourselves, Our Community. Our world.   

Sue - Lighting the Chalice: 

The Beauty of the Whole 

Meg Barnhouse

We gather to worship, our hearts alive with hope that here we will be truly seen, that here we will be welcomed into the garden of this community, where the simple and the elegant, the fluted and frilled, the shy and the dramatic complement one another and are treasured. May we know that here, each contributes in their way to the beauty of the whole. Come, let us worship together, all genders, sexualities, politics, clappers and non-clappers, progressive or conservative, may we root ourselves in the values of this faith: compassion and courage, love, service, and peace. 

Fred - Opening Words: ­­­

The Way 

Kenneth L. Patton 

I must live my own way,

Refusing all that binds.

I must know my own mind

Among all other minds.

I must do my own deeds,

And in whatever lands.

I will know my own hands

Among all other hands.

I must forsake the crowds,

And walk with lonely fools,

To seek for my own face

In bleak, deserted pools.

I must leave worn old roads,

To walk on hillside grass,

To follow my own feet

Out in the wilderness.

Sue - Hymn #189: Light of Ages and of Nations - words by Samuel Longfellow 

Light of ages and of nations, every race and every time 

Has received thine inspirations, glimpses of thy truth sub;lime. 

Always spirits in rapt vision passed the heavenly veil within, 

Always hearts bowed in contrition found salvation from their sin. 

Reason’s noble aspiration truth in growing clearness saw; 

Conscience spoke its condemnation, or proclaimed eternal law. 

While thine inward revelations told thy saints their prayers were heard, 

Prophets to the guilty nations spoke thine everlasting word. 

Lo, that word abideth ever; revelation is not sealed; 

Answering now to our endeavor, truth and right are still revealed. 

That which came to ancient sages, Greek, Barbarian, Roman, Jew, 

Written in the soul’s deep pages, shines today, forever new. 

Fred - 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. 

Sue - Greeting each other  (Those present in person can leave our seats for this, if we wish.) 

Fred - Joys and Concerns (with lighting of candles of caring) 

Fred - Story: 

The story is told from the beginning of the world in the Ramayana, one of the Hindu scriptures. A fire was upon earth, and the Goddess Ganga descended to the earth to quench the fire. Yet there was terrible danger from a flood as the Goddess came down bringing water.There was so much water crashing into the earth at once that the earth was about to be crushed. The Goddess Ganga agreed to allow Shiva to receive her waters through the locks of his hair. He let the waters flow down to the Himalayas and from there to form a sacred River. Its waters are pure and holy to this day, even in the midst of suffering from pollution and danger from drought. We know this sacred River by the name of the Goddess, Ganga, in English, Ganges. 

There are rivers all over the world upon which we depend for our well being,  the Nile in Egypt, Danube in Europe, Volga flowing through Russia and Central Asian countries, Mississippi in America, the Amazon in South America,  or the Columbia in the Pacific Northwest. In their own ways, these rivers are all sacred to human beings, and we depend on them in our own lives. 

(Share the painting, Descent of Ganga by Raja Ravi Varma) 

Sue -              Water Communion Ritual 

We gather ritually this morning—carrying gifts of our summer—symbols of the water that we have been present with,  and which has been present to us.  We bring our water this morning to add to our collective water, gathered from many water communions - water that holds our congregations’ collective memories - of tragedy and loss, of healing, of joy, of pain, of love, and of our connection to each other.  

Your water symbols today may call to mind light summer showers, thunderstorms, dewy mornings, and misty evenings. Or moments at oceansides, poolsides, riversides, lakesides—swimming, fishing, hiking, strolling—and who we were with while there, even if we were alone. Perhaps we found ourselves in the presence of water during a moment of grief or birth or rebirth. Or, perhaps in a mundane place whose sacredness is palpable nonetheless.

We reflect upon what we brought with us to these moments and places, in backpacks and coolers, surely—but moreso, what spiritual, emotional or other baggage we carried. And what we did with it while we were in these watery places and moments.

Did the water’s unprovoked and indefatigable resiliency inspire you? Or its serenity? Maybe its waxing and waning tides? The music of its motion, or the silence of its sleep?

Did you feel the interdependent web of all existence coming alive in those moments? Some of you may have had the gift of a momentary spiritual epiphany. Others of you a growing awareness of how this very water is like strands of the web, and how the web is us… and everything.

Perhaps the ties to spiritual companions throughout the world come clearer and clearer. Bring to mind the monsoon rains that our UU partners in the Philippines and India know; or the churning ocean that the Uus in Tierra del Fuego know; the rivers and valleys of Transylvania; or the River Ganges from our story this morning. What brings these companions, like us, to the water? What does the water bring to them, like us?

How glorious. How sacred. How peaceful. Let us rest and rely on that truth in a moment of silence.

And now, come forward with the water you have brought today.  You are welcome to pour from our pitcher of symbolic water as well.  Take a moment to tell us about your water symbol, and what it represents to you.  You are also free to pour your water in silence.  Our Zoom participants are also invited to describe their water experience.  Please use the Zoom reaction of the raised hand so that I will know that you wish to speak.  

(After all participants have shared - I will introduce the video and invite all to join in the chant)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC2FHciQ0sU - Sing the Water Song - Native American - 

Fred - Sermon: 

"I am become death." 

Those words were spoken by J. Robert Oppenheimer on July 16, 1945 at the Trinity Site in the New Mexico desert on the occasion of the first nuclear explosion. 

Everyone who was present was deeply moved by the entire experience, realizing that the world would never be the same. 

The words were a quote from the Bhagavad Gita. 

The Hindu God, Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu, was encouraging Prince Arjuna to take necessary action against his enemies. 

Krishna suddenly looked a lot like images of Shiva, showing many arms and appearing dreadful and threatening. 

Whether in the form of Krishna or Shiva, the expression of energy was much the same. 

It was time to take action, even violent action, to oppose evil in the world. 

The illusion of such a time can lead to terrible, needless harm of human beings by one another. 

To act strongly and even violently can be necessary to defend the weak from the strong, the powerless from the powerful, and even good people from evil ones. 

The date of September 11 marks a tragic anniversary of the beginning of just such a tragic time. 

The fall of the Twin World Trade Center towers in New York was the result of an act of hatred. 

It was not the act of any god, nor faithful disciples of any god. 

It was an act against living human beings whose value exceeds that of any ideology or faith. 

People who speak and act as though ideas were more important than other people are a threat to us all. 

A religious faith that does not lead us astray can lead us to regard each other as beings of unlimited value. 

Hinduism is such a faith. 

In Hindu mythology Shiva brings both death and new life. 

That is why I feel today, Sunday September 11, is a fitting time to think of him and the mythology about him. 

911 lives in our sorrowful, national memory as a day of cruel destruction. 

And yet, one result of that evil action of hatred was indeed a kind of re-creation of the United States of America and the way of life and freedom the nation represents. 

At least for a time the nation could not have been more united, and the new-found unity reached many of its allies, including our closest ally, the United Kingdom, whose head of State, Queen Elizabeth II, died last Thursday. 

She will be missed, and we wish her son, King Charles III all the best! 

The strength of the alliance supporting Ukraine today has been compared with the unity of 2001, 21 years ago. 

And there is another side to the meaning and symbolism of 911: 

The use of 911 as a number to call in case of life-threatening emergencies makes it another important part of the story. 

September 11, also has an important place, a sad one, in my own life and in the lives of everyone who loved our dear Beth Toerne, my late wife. 

She died on September 11 of 2018. 

Today’s being a Sunday makes it a triple whammy for many of us: 

First, it may hit us hard because of the anniversary of September 11, 2001. 

Second, it may hit us hard because of the times we may remember having to use the emergency 911 number in our lives. 

Third, it may hit us hard because many of us remember Beth fondly, and we may still miss her. (I do!) 

It’s  a quadruple whammy for me since I’m trying to preach on it and about it. 

Those of you who know me also know that the use of the word “preach” or the word “sermon” means I will be looking for good news. 

Maybe I will have to look really hard, to find good news, but I do believe that it is and will be worth the effort. 

For me and for my personal faith, Shiva plays an important role in bringing good news to all people. 

That is especially true on September 11. 

There are many powerful myths regarding Shiva, but for our purposes today, the most important one to consider regards water, as told in our story of water and the sacred River Ganges. 

Shiva saved the world near the time of its creation. 

The great river Ganges was descending to Earth so powerfully that it threatened to destroy the newly forming world. 

Shiva intervened, allowing the waters to flow upon his head and to descend from his hair into the Himalayas and from there more gently through the Indian subcontinent. 

The River Ganges became herself a powerful, life-giving spirit as well as a river. 

Today she is suffering as pollution and drought threaten her ability to distribute her blessings of life. 

The great rivers of the world have likewise become the benefactors of human beings more than the agents of our destruction. 

They can be both, of course, like the Pearl River in Jackson, Mississippi and the Indus River of Pakistan. 

One of the lessons of our time must be our respect and regard for our world’s rivers and the bodies of water that they feed and are fed by, along with us, ourselves.

The best evidence I have seen about our species’ relationship with rivers would indicate that our first human ancestors evolved in the riparian (river) wetlands of Africa. 

Mitochondrial Eve and her close relatives lived there about 200,000 years ago. 

The good news is, first of all, that we, her descendants, are here to speak of her and our human relationship with the sacred waters of all rivers. 

Still more good news may be found in that the creative process of life and death goes on and on in so many ways. 

All the world’s great rivers are now in serious danger. 

Their waters can only continue to bring life if we are willing to become stewards who care for them. 

Following the example of Shiva, we have brought danger and even death, and we can bring new life and renewal, if only we are willing. 

In nature itself we see that death is not an end in and of itself. 

One living thing often must die in order that others may live. 

Plants and animals of all kinds are continually being sacrificed to ongoing life in our world. 

All of us omnivores can be keenly aware of the life from which we draw life. 

We eat to live - and sometimes we may feel that we live to eat. 

Yet without eating and taking nourishment there can be no continuity of life. 

Our gratitude is most appropriate toward those living things that have given us the stuff of life. 

Wendell Berry wrote a most beautiful verse of gratitude: 

“Prayer After Eating”

I have taken in the light 

that quickened eye and leaf. 

May my brain be bright with praise 

of what I eat, in the brief blaze 

of motion and of thought. 

May I be worthy of my meat. 

On this day of September 11, we are especially reminded of the importance of two of our Seven Principles: the 4th Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning; and the 5th Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. 

The failure of some ultra-conservative religious people to respect others’ free and responsible search for truth and meaning led to the attacks on 9/11 of 2001. 

I feel strongly that the application of those two UU Principles, Free and Responsible Searching (#4) and the Right of Conscience protected by the Democratic Process (#5) are exactly what all the people in our world need today. 

In troubled times, we have great good news to share. 

Our great good news is the privilege of advocating for the very freedom and responsibility in matters of faith that would surely have prevented the human tragedies of 9/11. 

We continue this sacred advocacy and seek to thwart and oppose every effort to spread any faith by force rather than persuasion. 

Our good news as UU’s is that even though democracy is under threat in many places, we stand for democracy and with democracy as a matter of our faith. 

Amen 

Let it be 

So mote it be 

Fred - Congregational Response 

Fred  - Offering Information 

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Sue - Extinguishing the Chalice and Closing words: 

As we listen to one another

By Maureen Killoran (altered by Fred) 

As we listen to one another,

May we know this ending of the service 

As more than a time of goodbye.

May the warmth of this community

and the memory of our chalice flame

sustain our hearts and encourage our minds,

as we engage the blessings

of life's challenges and joys.

The service has ended.

Your service has begun

Go in peace. Go in joy. Go in love.