God is already within; God dwells in us as us; we already have Buddha-nature but just don't realize it; or "I am That!" Allah's mercy and compassion are limitless and unconditional. We are one with God while at the same moment being separate from God. These are words which point at the beautiful terrifying ecstatic wonder of existence. Reality is irreducibly simple yet infinitely complex. Neither striving nor non-striving can bring one to this experience of reality. Neither faith nor unbelief can be guaranteed to secure this peace. Neither knowledge nor ignorance can figure out the way to acceptance and unity. The end of the religious journey is found when the proper paradoxical balance is discovered and the rugged barrier between self and non-self, between humanity and what is beyond humanity becomes transparent.[1]

If you understand and appreciate that paragraph from the sermon I gave a year ago titled, "The Universal Journey" then you will recognize one of the themes of my ministry which I have brought to this Fellowship. Our oneness with the Ground of Being is an important theme of Unitarian Universalism expressed in our Purposes and Principles as "the inherent worth and dignity of every person." Yet as profound and obvious as this truth is, it is a truth that can be very hard to realize in our own personal experience. We are marooned in the rugged barrier islands between self and non-self. All of us need a little help to cross the boundary.

The function of ministry is to offer that help and support as we explore and chart our religious lives. On Sunday morning the customary support to offer is a sermon which the American Heritage Dictionary defines as "An often lengthy and tedious speech of reproof or exhortation." I hope that my messages of inspiration offered here have not proved this definition to be accurate.

While I greatly enjoy writing sermons, I am regularly awed by the challenge of composing words in a form which will make a difference in people's lives. All of your ears are different. All of you have different ways you can hear. Some will hear the word God and turn off every word after it as their anger builds. Others don't know what I am talking about until God is mentioned and connected to the topic. Some love poetic and metaphorical language which stimulates their imagination. Others detest flowery prose and only want theories and facts. Some desire sermons that address the issues in the world and others seek here a refuge from the troubles of the world. Suffice it to say, trying to satisfy everyone with one sermon is next to impossible.

Many ministers resolve this tension by talking about what matters deeply to them hoping that if the words may not be always satisfying, the feeling in their words will carry the message home. As I have reviewed the sermons I've preached over the last six years, some of those themes leapt out at me. This morning I'd like to review some of those themes and lift out some of the words I've spoken to express in one sermon where my heart is. All of the sermons these quotes come from can be found on my web site you will find the address for on the back of the program.

First I'd like to draw some quotes from sermons about the world and the issues of the day.

Being a former computer engineer and programmer, I'm especially sensitive and I hope insightful in the area of technology. While I look back a little wistfully about how much money I could be making right now in the field of technology, in my sermon titled, "Are We Becoming Borgs," I addressed my decision to enter ministry:

One of the reasons I'm in ministry and not in technology is because the world needs to accelerate the evolution of our social skills to keep up. Technology shows no indication that it will slow down. Just in the course of my professional work in the computer industry since the late seventies, we have seen the evolution of neural networks, a silicon replication of our brain cell. Some researchers are investigating biologically-based rather than silicon-based computers. Some researchers are looking at using individual molecules as a storage unit for computer data. While the speed of innovation continues to race ahead, nations and individuals continue the same patterns of conflict unchanged for thousands of years.[2]

I believe the debate about the personhood of a zygote is a red herring. It isn't the real issue to be grappled with. Yes, let us agree that a zygote is a potential human person. And if you accept that a potential person is not the same as a real person, we can focus on what I think is the real issue: What is the value of the fertilized egg. There are many distracting highly emotionally charged side issues in the abortion debate which detract from this central issue: What is the value of a human life?

Let me pause here and say that this is scary stuff. This is frightening territory to enter as it forces us to sit in judgment on the value of another's life. We seem to be usurping divine authority. Yet this is what the doctor asks when we are called in to decide whether to keep a family member on a respirator or not. This is what a couple must struggle with if a doctor tells the woman she is carrying a severely deformed child. We need intellectual tools to come to grips with these new situations and choices.[3]

I've been strongly influenced in my ministry by struggling with the issues of anti-racism, diversity, welcoming different sexual orientations and people with disability. I've tried to bring this conversation highlighted at General Assembly back for us to work on. I'm paying so much attention to this issue for the reasons in this next quote from my sermon titled, "Shades of Liberalism:"

The 21^st century will bring even greater diversity of races, languages, and religions into the same geographical region. More and more, Christians, Moslems, Buddhists and Jews are living, working, praying and playing side by side. The exclusive claims of religious authority do not permit us to learn from each other and respect each other. The literalist Christian who believes that "no one comes to the Father but through me" and denies the validity of all other faiths will be in constant conflict with the devout Jew and the faithful follower of Islam. The liberal idea of multiple paths to the truth is the only path to creating a peaceful pluralistic society. The majority of Americans share this liberal view of a pluralistic society.

... Liberal religion believes our religious growth and development happens best in a climate of free choice rather than coercion.[4]

The second theme I've addressed regulary is building community. Because we have no authority or revelation to shape us as an institution, each congregation must do it ourselves. This is true of a democratic pluralistic society as well. There are many forces today working against building communities. In my sermon on Communitarianism, I said:

A society is better able to be good and just when it values and encourages the growth and development of it's members. No matter whether we were born with a silver spoon in our mouth or straw for a cradle, we must all grow and develop throughout our lives. If a society gives its members its inheritance of power without preparing and requiring them to be responsible stewards of that power, it casts its jewels before swine.[5]

The work of community building is difficult as I explained in early June of 1996:

What is challenging about this work of building a vibrant intergenerational spiritual village is not being able to see what you have created. The thousand invisible strands which weave us together often only become visible when someone dies or moves away. But even if we can't see them much of the time, we can feel them. We can feel supported by them and feel the tug to be of service to each other.[6]

For several years I encouraged this Fellowship to define itself more clearly by developing mission and vision statements. We are very, very lucky to have Joe and Ann Batal to have helped us effectively work toward better self definition.

I came back from a summer minister's workshop last fall with what I thought was a great solution to the mission and vision problem in my sermon titled, "Our Identity Trinity: Passion, Dream and Promise." I had the words, the Batals had the process to get us there:

Basically it all boils down to this: Forget membership numbers and budget figures. Growth for these reasons alone is empty. Do you want this congregation to thrive? If you do, the Fellowship needs your help finding those common threads and making them visible in a way that kindles our passion, gives form to our dreams and makes us willing to make promises and commitments.

We have an important liberal religious message Charlotte County needs to hear. We have an important liberal religious message for our own ears. We have an important liberal religious message for our children's minds. Finding unifying words for this liberal religious passion will unleash our power to make a positive transformational difference in the lives of our members and friends, in our community and in the world at large.[7]

The last focus for my sermons I'll share this morning was encouraging our personal and religious growth. My experience, knowledge and understanding of Buddhism informs much of my preaching. In this illustration from my sermon titled "Practice Living," I explore how to use our daily experience to deepen our religious lives:

Doing the dishes is really a wonderful religious experience. It begins with destruction and disorder - crusty pans, messy plates, cups with rings dried into the bottom - and runs them through soap and water with a little elbow grease, changing them into beautifully sparkling clean cookware, dishware and utensils. Once the counters are wiped and the floor is swept, the reign of order is reestablished in the kitchen and chaos is defeated. As the dishes are being done, the mind can relax and become quiet and focused on the task. Washing dishes can also become a laboratory to examine the contents of our mind in relationship to the movements of our hands, the speed at which we wash, the care we use to be sure all particles of food are removed, the parts of our body that may become tense or sore during the process. There are many pleasant sensations associated with dishwashing, such as the feeling of our hands in warm soapy water and the satisfaction of scrubbing off the last bit of crud on a very dirty dish.

The change of attitude required is the willingness to pay close attention to not only what we are doing but the activity in our mind and body coincident with what we are doing and witnessing the processes and relationships. The simple mundane tasks of our lives can, if rightly viewed and used, become great teachers. No need to climb to the top of Mount Everest to feel alive, just walk into the garage mindfully, gas up the lawnmower and pull the starter cord with a deep reverence for every moment of existence knowing each one is precious.

Now I realize hurtling down Space Mountain at Disney World, or bungee jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge, or meeting an extremely attractive man or woman is not the same as cleaning the cat box. Certainly the hormonal content of our bloodstream is vastly different. But for the development of awareness and wisdom, the mundane repetitive parts of our life are tremendously valuable.[8]

Intentionally developing one's religious life through some kind of regular practice prepares us for action as I explained in the sermon titled, "Quiet Mind, Open Heart:"

I believe social activism arising from one's personal experience of the nature of reality is potentially stronger and more powerful than striving to follow an ideal vision of the way the world ought to be. By honing one's direct experience of reality, one is much better able to make positive change than when one is ends directed. There isn't the temptation to commit evil for the greater good of the ideal. There is no need to force another to accept an alien religion or belief system to save their souls or change their politics. There is no desire to sacrifice the children of today for a more glorious tomorrow. There is no rejection of the world as sinful in need of redemption. Little in life is more satisfying than cultivating the ability to work positively and creatively with whatever reality we encounter each morning. The individual engaging in this kind of social action doesn't have their eye on a shining and unreachable goal but rather on the problem or opportunity presenting itself today

Buddhism teaches a means oriented way to do social action which is in constant relationship with the present. I believe this has an advantage over the ends oriented idealistic path to social action for UU's because it doesn't defer individual satisfaction into the future nor require a faith based commitment. Rather than attempting to banish pain from the world, the unsatisfactory nature of reality is directly confronted and transcended through an evolution of consciousness. The social activist grows and matures whether or not the world is saved, discovering themselves through social action which is mutually transforming. No special revelation is needed. No belief is required. Only the willingness and commitment to actively engage life as it is and be ready to learn and respond.[9]

The last quote I want to share comes from one of my favorites titled "Seeking the Beloved." It tilted a little far for some into the mystical but I hope you'll give it a second hearing now:

...the longing for the beloved in human form is but an alias for a longing for union with the source of creation, which we inherited in an act of sexual intercourse, an intense longing of a sperm and an egg for each other. It is a longing that cannot find earthly satisfaction in the world of cause and effect, the world of impermanence, in the world where all that arises, passes away. It is a longing for that which is beyond time and space, it is a longing for that which is eternal.... It is not by desire one finds the Beloved but by giving the desire away, a process of self- relinquishment. For the Beloved is as close as the hair on our heads and fills us with each breath. Love is the way to the Beloved.[10]

I end this excursion through highlights of some of my previous sermons of the last few years on the most important theme of my ministry: love. The first sermon I gave in my internship in Rochester, NY was titled "Practice Love" and it remains what I believe to be the primary underlying motivation for us to be together. Whether it be nature, person or divine being, we meet together always learning to love better till our last breath.

My greatest hope and wish in all my preaching has been to communicate and enlarge the presence of love in each of us. The greatest gift we give each other is the gift of love. If there be any legacy ringing in the many sermons I've given let it be: he loved his congregation in words and actions.

And remember, all these sermons are out on the Internet waiting for your eyes. My presence may be leaving but my words remain with you, I hope always.

SO BE IT.

Closing Words

Words cannot convey what is most sacred and holy in life.
Each of us must make our own religious journey
crossing the river of mystery.
Yet we need not be without companions
and inspiration to help us on our way.
Our love for each other is a raft to carry us to the other side.
I hope my words have been puffs of wind
to fill your sails as you move between the banks.

Copyright (c) 1999 by Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore. All rights reserved.

[1] "The Universal Journey" May 31^st, 1998
[2] "Are We Becoming Borgs?" February 12th, 1995
[3] "When Does Life Begin?" February 16, 1997
[4] "Shades of Liberalism" April 26, 1998
[5] "Communitarianism" November 17th, 1996
[6] "A Thousand Invisible Strands" June 2^nd, 1996
[7] "Our Identity, Trinity: Passion, Dream and Promise" September 13, 1998
[8] "Practice Living" Rev. Sam Trumbore November 12th, 1995
[9] "Quiet Mind, Open Heart" June 15, 1997
[10] "Seeking the Beloved" December 17th, 1995