“The End of God”
Rev. Greg Ward and Cliff Brown and the UUMAN Worship Associates
Unitarian Universalist Metro Atlanta North
January 29th, 2006

Faith – Cliff Brown

Earlier this week I got to ride in a small plane.  A business acquaintance, one that I didn’t know very well, asked if he could pick me up on his way from his horse farm in Kentucky to his coastal South Carolina vacation home for a business meeting.

“Sure,” I said.  “I’d love to fly with you to South Carolina.”

He arrived on time and asked if I was ready.  I suggested we get a quick cup of coffee first, not because I wanted coffee so much as I knew I had to buy time.

“So, how long have you been flying?”  I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Since 1968, I flew for the air force.”  From this I made two mental notes, first, he was certainly an experienced pilot, good.  Second, he was 60 years old, precisely the age commercial pilots face compulsory retirement,  hmm, that’s at best a neutral.

Next I asked a series of questions about the plane itself, again all very cleverly disguised to appear as just a healthy interest in aviation.  How old was this plane?  How many hours had it logged?  When was the last oil change?  How recently had the navigational system been updated?  Was there a backup?  Was it reliable?  How many engines?.  Could the plane fly on just one engine?  Had he ever flown this plane on just one engine?  Was there a parachute?

At first, he answer cheerily, but suddenly, he crushed the empty Styrofoam coffee cup in his hand and impatiently suggested that if I was that interested in his plane, maybe I should come out and see it.

We boarded and taxied down the runway.  Although we were both wearing headsets, he suggested that I not talk during takeoff.  As it turned out, I didn’t talk during the entire flight.   There were no flight attendants to offer me a drink so I was not exactly sure when the takeoff part ended.

At 11,000 feet, however, he became quite chatty.  I pretended the microphone on my headset stopped working and quickly devised a series of hand signals so that I could communicate while ensuring that he’d hear any messages from ground control about other planes, weather systems, or flocks of birds that had happened across our flight path.

The landing was a bit like the takeoff.  Hectic, but over quickly.  While I was silently congratulating myself on my stoicism he said, with just a tiny note of sarcasm,

“I’ve cheated death once again.”

So what can I tell you about my faith?  Three things.

1.  Trust…but verify.
2.  Be open minded, but not so open minded your brain falls out.
3.  The take-off and landings in life can be a bit hairy, but cruising at 11,000 feet isn’t really bad at all.

SIN

LO:      Sin….

DH:      That penchant in us which separates us from the search for our true selves, from love, and from the creation of goodness – those efforts which would block us from wholeness.

RB:      An ethical or moral “oops!!”

CB:      Something for which you might get “caught.”

RB:      But not such a big “oops!!” that it becomes a salvation issue.

CB:      Unless you make a habit of getting “caught.”

SR:       In high school, I knew someone in the band who was a fantastic trumpet player.  He was incredibly talented.  And when I saw him years later and found out he gave up music, I thought that was a sin.   

LO:      Sin.  Original Sin.  Seven Deadly Sins.  Sinners.  No, not words which most of us comfortably think about.  It’s a word that has been used by religious authorities – AND popular culture – to reinforce standards, behavioral norms, pat answers and happy endings at all costs.  In that vein, we're told that "sin" is eating an entire dessert, or having full-fat milk with our coffee.

Is it any wonder our views of sin are funhouse-mirror-distorted?  On the one hand, sin is something scary, to be avoided, like cancer.  On the other hand, it is trivialized till it represents any indiscretion or momentary lapse of behavior.  Most of the time we leave it to the ministers and church leaders to present the concept in its proper context.

[EVERYONE STOPS AND STARES AT GREG WHO STARTS TO SAY SOMETHING -
- AND THEN STOPS – 5 SECONDS TOTAL]

LO:      But that’s exactly one of the problems – too many ministers who have who’ve created a well trodden road leading from the pulpit to the idea that we are all sinners.  This has caused great anguish in the pew. 

[EVERYONE STOPS AND STARES AT GREG WHO LOOKS SHEEPISH -
 – 5 SECONDS TOTAL]

LO:      But I have to agree that we are all sinners. 

[EVERYONE STOPS AND STARES AT LARS WHO LOOKS UNAPOLOGETIC -
 – 3 SECONDS TOTAL]

LO:      No really.  Perhaps my views of this concept are distorted by virtue of my vantage point of being a full-time parent.   But there's a strange simplicity and elegance to many of a child's definitions of things in the world.  And often, it's their take on some of the more weighty and difficult issues which make me wonder if getting older isn't just a process of trading wisdom and clarity of vision for experience and knowledge. 

From my perch as "dad," I hear my children say that sin (ok, they don't actually know what sin is, but their definition of "bad" is about the same) is when we do things that harm ourselves, others, or our world, things that separate us from our best selves (or our collective ‘best selves’ which some people call God).

DH:      That penchant in us which separates us…

LO:      Who here hasn't done those things? 

DH:      …from the search for our true selves…

LO:      Hurt the ones we love? 

DH:      … from love…

LO:      Treated the Earth rudely and ungraciously? 

DH:      …from the creation of goodness – those efforts which would block us from wholeness.

LO:      Lied to ourselves or done things we wish we hadn't that held US back? 

DH:      …those efforts which would block us from wholeness.

LO:      We ARE all sinners, looked at from that perspective.  But one of the things associated with good children and good churches is that caregivers in both will tell you to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, recognize what you did wrong, why you were tempted to do it, and try not to do it again.  Oh, and to make amends for the hurt you've caused.  Not bad advice.  It's the fear of revealing our mistakes and our vow to hide them from others that keeps us mired in our sins.  As Joe Hill famously  said on his deathbed, don't mourn, organize.  Don't wallow, change.   Keep improving. 

SR:       To make choices that go against a great gift – that’s a sin.  Not being who you are meant to be.   That’s a sin.

LO:      None of us will ever be perfect, but the real sin would be to let that paralyze us into inaction, to stop striving to embody our best selves, to stop reaching for God.

SALVATION

DH:      Salvation…

RB:      A means to forgiveness…

LO:      …is the feeling that comes of having found my place - of knowing that I've sung my song well   and when my time comes, I can lay me down with a will - possessed of a clear head and a light heart. 

RB:      …either from an outside source or, more importantly, from myself…

CB:      The realization that some things I can change, most things I can’t, and I’m OK with that.

LO:      … so that when my time comes, as Robert Louis Stevenson said, “I can lay me down with a will - possessed of a clear head and a light heart.” 

GW:     Salvation…

DH:      One day seventeen years ago, in the spring of our first year in Atlanta, Kate set out on a narrow, obscure path she found at the back edge of our property, following it along the small creek there, through a beautiful mature hardwood forest, across a larger brook that ran through a rocky ravine down near the river, and up out of the river bottoms, nearly a mile in all, to a clearing, where she found a sign that read “Welcome to Nowhere”. At the far side of the clearing stood an old log cabin.  For Kate, it was as though she had discovered a treasure she had never thought to look for.  She was elated.  The walk through the woods had been glorious; the treasure at the end, beautiful.

To me salvation is very much like Kate’s discovery of Nowhere.  Salvation is about being restored to one’s [rightful place(?)] – about being restored to wholeness. As such, it is a state one strives for, like the ancient cabin in the remote clearing. 

SR:       I struggle with the concept of salvation as it has been widely used in Christianity.   It seems to suggest having to ask a mystical outside force to save us.

DH:      As I think about my life, I realize that I am not saved. I have not been saved.

SR:       Saved by Whom?  For What?

DH:      But I am in the process of being saved.

SR:       For What?

DH:      Five years ago I set out on a journey of self-discovery.  I enrolled in one of Greg’s Spiritual Autobiography classes - not aware when I did, that I was embarking on a path. When I did become aware of a path, I had no idea where it led; I did not sense that it led anywhere.

GW:     The word salvation as it appeared in the Old Testament Hebrew meant ‘to make wide and sufficient, the road ahead.’  In the new testament Greek, the word ‘saved’ means ‘made well’ as in the blind who are made to see, the deaf made to hear and the lame made to walk.   Neither the Hebrew or the Greek generally indicate something ‘other worldly.’  As they are used they refer to what places us on a better course, what makes a better life possible. 

DH:      My journey has been filled with discoveries many of which I never set out to find…

SR:       If salvation means anything to me it must be something that enabled me to feel like I was headed in the right direction…

DH:      …but all of which have enriched my life.  Revealed something I was meant to see.

SR:       …doing what I was supposed to be doing; going where I was supposed to be going.  …

DH:      But the true significance did not appear until the trees began to thin, and I began to see a treasure on its far side. I was becoming more of who I was meant to be.

SR:       … If I’m being saved from anything it’s from living a life where I forever feel like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. 

DH:      … through this process, I was becoming more whole.  Through this process I got a better sense of where my life is headed – even if it’s ‘nowhere’ – and knowing that’s where I belong. 

LO:      …The feeling that comes of having found my place - of knowing that I've sung my song well.  

RELIGION

SR:       Religion…

DH:      A system of beliefs and practices regarding the pursuit of/worship of ultimate truth and meaning, which some call God or Creator or Lord.

RB:      A means to an end.  In other words, a structure to my beliefs.

CB:       It’s what separates us from the animal kingdom, that and indoor plumbing.

SR:       I was not raised in a religious home.  We didn’t attend church, say grace, or discuss matters of faith.  I grew up to believe that being part of a religion was not as important as the practical day-to-day concerns of providing for yourself and your family.  In fact, we sneered at religion, and at religious people.

Secretly, though, I always yearned for religion.  When I was very young, it was because I wanted to be like everyone else.  As I got older, it was because I admired the religious people among my friends and family.  And finally, I yearned for religion because I needed it – I needed a new way of looking at my life, of creating meaning and purpose.

GW:     Religion – from the Latin, ‘to bind together again – to take what is broken and find wholeness – a regimen for restoring, maintaining and building relationship with others.

SR:       Although I have known many religious people who I would not care to emulate, there have always been those religious people in my life who I really admired and respected.  They had three things in common.  First, they were committed to regular spiritual practices and rituals – like attending church, or daily prayer, or observed religious holidays in a thoughtful way.  Secondly, they were sincere about exploring their beliefs.  They honestly acknowledged their struggles and doubts, and always remained open to a new way of looking at things - to learning more.  And finally, they had integrity.  They worked hard at living their faith – at living their life in accordance with their beliefs.  They weren’t concerned with converting or convincing others; instead they put their energy towards their own practice and ideals.

LO.      “To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense ONLY, I belong to the rank of the devoutly religious."  - Albert Einstein

When I think of religion, I think less about beliefs and more about behavior – how beliefs get put into action.  To some people, I don’t qualify as religious because I am, more or less, a lifelong atheist.  But I’m here at UUMAN almost every Sunday and through this community I have explored my beliefs and pushed past boundaries I grew up with, even past boundaries I have created for myself.   I have worked beyond what has always been comfortable to what I believe to be true  And from this always emerging truth I try to create a life of meaning and purpose. 

LO:      In this sense, and in this sense ONLY, I belong to the rank of the devoutly religious." 

I still struggle with words like spirituality, faith, prayer, and God.  But here, in this place, I believe that I have finally found religion.

GOD

RW:     God…

SR:       I have a hard time defining God.
 
DH:      Ultimate truth and meaning, the power of goodness, love, and truth.

SR:       I can’t believe in God as an all-powerful, all-knowing, conscious entity (probably white, male, and bearded) that exists separately from us with its own unknowable plans. 

RB:      That which gives me hope.  She can take many forms and show up when I least expect her to.

SR:       That doesn’t make sense for me.  But I’ve had a very hard time redefining God so that it CAN make sense for me. 

CB:      A handy compartment that contains all the stuff I can’t change and I’ll the stuff I’ll never understand.

RW:     When I think about it, it seems futile to try to DEFINE God.  God has no limits. In the words of the bible, ‘the Alpha and Omega.’ How in the world does one define something that encompassing?  How can you restrict something that is everything?

GW:     In the words of religious writer, Bruce Feiler, ‘if we were all made in the likeness of God, we each carry a bit of divinity around within us.  So to disrespect another human is to disrespect God.  God dies in that place where one group of humans tries to impose its view on others.  

RW:     My own understanding of God has changed a great deal as I’ve grown.  Now that I am in my fifties, I am letting go of those old limited views of God acquired in my youth.  The influence of a progressive United Methodist Church and, most recently, that of this UU Church, has offered me the opportunity to experience God in new ways. 

GW:     And God is born in the place where humans and God work together to create a more righteous world."

RB:      That which gives me hope.

RW:     Is God a He?  Is God truly the Father? 

RB:      She can take many forms and show up when I least expect her to.

RW:     Well, of course God is a ‘He.’   And not only is God a ‘He’ but ‘He’ is a southerner.  With a good southern accent. 

RW:     But God is more than ‘He.’  God is also a mother.  To and for us.  God is a brother.  A sister.  A friend.  A co-worker.  That anonymous good Samaritan when we are in need. God can be found in an inspiring sermon, a spirit lifting hymn or song, a poem that speaks to our human heart, a prayer that lifts us away from the mundane and toward the eternal. God is found in the infinite selfless deeds that are offered without expectation of reward. God is present when we protest injustice or oppression – whenever we express love for another or the need for fairness. God is that spark that gently moves us away from ourselves and toward the needs of others.

God is all around us.  In the Fall sunset.  In the majesty of an eagle gliding in the air.  That first cry of a new born child is God proclaiming new life.  The cycle of the seasons is God explaining how nature grows in Summer, matures in the Fall, dies in the Winter and reborn in the Spring. 

God’s energy is in all living things. At death, that energy returns to God.  Like a rain drop that eventually rejoins the ocean.  Nothing is ever lost.  It has simply merged with that infinite body of water the ocean represents. 

LO:      As Rilke suggested "why not think of ourselves as the leaves of a tree whose final fruit is God?" 

God is also Spirit.  A spirit that is best understood as that still small voice found in each of us. Why do we often choose to do the right thing rather than the wrong thing especially when there is nothing to be gained in doing so?  Why do we put the needs of others above our own?  What inspires us to love the unlovable, forgive the unforgivable, attempt the unattainable, believe in that which can not be proved? 

LO:      I have faith that there is a better nature in all people which can be appealed to and nurtured, and it is this which is literally all that stands between us and ruin. 

RW:     I am coming to understand, our task on earth is to always listen for that still small voice…

LO:      WE are the guardians of the light at the end of the tunnel - and that is an awesome weight.

RW:     …that is all things speaking.

SR:       I can say that I believe that human beings play a special role in creation and life (at least and until we meet the aliens) and we are the consciousness of God…

LO:      WE are the guardians of the light at the end of the tunnel…

RW:     … that is God.

SR:       …so we are responsible for love and justice and community

RW:     … our task is to gradually learn to be in harmony with that God. 

DAMNATION

RB:      Damnation

LO:      Damned!!

CB:      Damn!

GW:     Being judged and found wanting by the biggest critic in the world.

LO:      Damned!!

DH:      To be forever alienated, forever separated from wholeness.  A concept I reject.

CB:      Getting “caught” one too many times.

LO:      Living unredeemed, in a grace-less state.  Being blocked from within from reaching that place we still yearn to reach. 

SR:       The line that you cross – after which reparations become impossible. 

DH:      To be forever alienated…

SR:       A place of such injury in a relationship, it is hard for humans to find their way back.  

LO:      It also refers to traveling with small children in a minivan during rush hour traffic.

RB:      It’s the damnedest thing, damnation.  I mean look at it - if we sin, we’re damned, if we ignore sin and all the people who try to damn us for sinning, then we’re damned for ignorance.  We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t - and that’s the damndest thing I’ve ever heard of. 

We could all toe the line and accept all the damn(ed) rules, but then if we don’t truly believe them, and we’re just going along to be safe, then we’re just living out a damned lie and then we’re damned for sure! 

We look for a way around it but we can’t seem to avoid damnation since there are those who say, because of original sin, we’re damned from the beginning.  If we’re damned when we come in and damned when we go out, how can anyone have a happy damned life?  

Most of us were probably told to just pretend it doesn’t exist.  To act as though the people who stand on their soapboxes and promise us eternal damnation, are damned fools.  But there aren’t many people in this world who have lived any length of time without wondering, ‘What if they’re right?  What if we really are damned?  What if we really should feel bad about our lives?’   I think that would be a damned shame.

The more I think about it we are damned. 

LO:      Damn!

CB:      Damn!

SR:       Damn...

RB:      We are damned if we live our whole lives accepting condemnation by others as part of our religion.  But we’re just as damned if we spend our time resenting them, feeling contempt for them, condemning them.  What if we really defied damnation by saying that not only does no one have the power to condemn us; but we will not condemn others either. 

SR:       Damn...

CB:      Damn!

LO:      Hot Damn!

RB:      Then all we’d have to do is learn how not to damn ourselves.  Learn how to let go of the ways that we feel inadequate, forget the mistakes or stupid things we’ve said; forgive ourselves for the things we feel embarrassed about – the things that we think are unacceptable about us that we imagine other people notice when they see us. 

GW:     Being judged and found wanting by the biggest critic in the world.

RB:      Sometimes the hardest part to let go of about damnation is our own damned selves. 

GW:     And there’s no bigger critic in the world than the one we face in the mirror.

LO:      Being blocked from within from reaching that place we still yearn to reach. 

DH:      … forever alienated…

SR:       A place from which it is hard for humans to find their way back.  

DH:      … A concept I reject…

RB:      The truth is, no matter what people try to tell you, we’re not damned.  None of us.  No matter what we do.  We’re not really damned until we come to the day that we are unable to forgive others – unable forgive ourselves – unable to face the world – because of the judgment we hold choose to hold onto more than the relationships we’re part of.  When that day comes, we’re damned for sure.