As to the first question -- why am I talked about God and Jesus in Church? Because I have faith that Unitarian Universalists are large enough in heart and mind to hear about God and Jesus, especially during certain times of the year -- like Springtime, when people in our culture and around the world celebrate Passover and Easter.
There are those of us, even within this Congregation, to whom these are meaningful celebrations, and I think there's a certain maturity of mind and spirit when we are able to consider what many of our friends, families and neighbors are taking to heart, even if we do not agree with the literal interpretations of their sacred scriptures. It is good for us to practice the tolerance that we preach.
Additionally, when we consider sacred texts from world religions, I respectfully use the names in those texts . For example, we recently considered our Fourth Source together, which specifically mentions Jewish and Christian teachings and since I am sourcing particular sacred texts -- Hebrew and Christian texts -- I will respectfully use the names used in those texts, such as God and Jesus.
There is integrity and respect in honoring sacred texts, and part of our work as Unitarian Universalists -- in the absence of a sacred text that is unique and particular to us -- is to hear and interpret the world's sacred writings in ways that inspire and challenge us.
It is also fun, sometimes, to consider all these enduring ancient stories in ways that help us learn something about our contemporary lives. That's what we do together, as religious people -- we help one another make meaning -- we have made this promise to one another, we are in covenant to engage in "a free and responsible search for truth and meaning" -- and in this journey of understanding, in this exploration of possibilities, there is always something to learn -- about yourself, and about the lives of those with whom your own life intersects. Also, here is always something to teach others about our faith -- and since covenant, not creed or doctrine, lies at the heart of our differences with most other religious traditions, it is helpful to be well versed in covenant and what it means to you, especially.
As I have acknowledged, there are times when we stray from our covenant, there are times when we break our sacred promises -- this has been demonstrated over and over again, in ancient texts and in modern life. But we learn from our stumbling and our soaring; we don't give up on each other -- this is what it means to have faith. We stick with it, and we keep at it -- and it is here, in this intimate space and time of revelation that we create and sustain together, that we tend our sacred promises to one another.
In a world of convenience and performance, when entertainment has replaced thoughtfulness and we are so deconstructed as to flit from event to event, from channel to channel, from electronic device to electronic device, from text to text (even while driving!), it is worth our attention to figure out what is worth a promise, and what our promises are worth!
In your lives, here and now -- not in an ancient story but in the here and now -- what is worth your promise, and what are your sacred promises worth? Are you in covenant with any other community that invites you into the intimacy of such revelations, that lets you strip yourself right "down to the bone" as you figure out the kind of person you want to be, the kind of life you want to live, and the contributions you want to make to the world during your brief tenure here?
