by Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell

A sermon given June 24, 2007

First Unitarian Church

Portland, Oregon

CALL TO WORSHIP

Good morning!

As we come together this morning,

Let us know once again

That we are not isolated beings

But connected

In mystery and in miracle

To the universe,

To this community,

And to one another.

Come now, and let us worship together.

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, innocent Dorothy, comes to a time in her bizarre journey when she looks at her cute little dog Toto, whom we remember from the movie of course, and says, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”  This moment symbolizes for us forever more that feeling of disorientation that we have when the world changes, irrevocably, and all of our assumptions fall away, and we stand there, naked and vulnerable so to speak to the new forces that surround us and form the new context of our living.

So it is today for us.  It’s not Kansas anymore.  And part of that is a positive good, if you’ve read the book What’s Wrong with Kansas?.  But a lot is right about Kansas, too.  Predictability. People who stay put for a long time.  Hardware stores where people gather just to visit.  People who come to your door with a casserole or a fried chicken when there is a death in the family.  And everyone in town goes to the funeral.  Seems as if things could go on like this forever.  But Dorothy is thrown into new and fearsome territory, and she is surprised.  She is not ready.  Neither are we.  We’re not ready to lose our Future—but that’s what we’re threatened with just now.

Have you ever heard of the Clock of the Long Now?  It is going to be a huge mechanical computer of a clock—it will be simple and slow, marking the hour, the day, the year, the century, the millennium, and the passing of the equinoxes.  It will have an enormous mainspring and an unearthly loud ticking.  It will stand 60 feet high, cost tens of millions of dollars, and when completed, its visionary designers and supporters plan to hide it in a cave in the Great Basin National Park in Nevada, a day’s rough hike from anywhere.  It’s going to run for 10,000 years. 

The Clock of the Long Now may or may not last 10,000 years—even with regular maintenance—but its very creation is the fulfillment of its purpose.  It has been created to restore the whole idea of the Future—that is, to help us imagine a Future—for you see a Future is not something there for us to happen into: it is a story that we project and then live into.  It is a story of who we are and what we value and what we are going to create for those who will follow.  But to look at our lives, at how we live, to look at our popular culture, you’d get the idea that we don’t believe in a Future.[1] 

We don’t save money—we buy things: in fact, we spend more than we make.  The average credit card debt for a U.S. citizen today is over $9,000.  Our classic sci-fi films are dystopias, like Solyent Green or Blade Runner.  Popular music?  Dissonant sounds of pain and disconnection.  Not to mention the millions of books which have been sold depicting the “rapture” and the end of time. 

Our children say things to us and we think, aghast, “Where did that come from?”  Michael Chabon, who tells the story about the Clock of the Long Now, says, “If you ask my eight-year-old about the Future, he pretty much thinks the world is going to end, and that’s it.  Most likely global warming, he says . . . but possibly a viral pandemic, meteor impact, or some sort of nuclear exchange.  . . . .  My son seems to take the end of everything, of all human endeavor and creation, for granted.  He sees himself as living on the last page of a long, strange and bewildering book.  He is capable, however, of being excited about his next birthday,” says Chabon.

So many of our children conceive of a future that goes no further than an education that will turn them into a good consumer.  Think about it.  You’re supposed to work on your resume, starting at about age 2 or 3, get into a good elementary school, get into a good high school, get into a good university where you will make the right connections, graduate, get a good job, or a series of them, get married, buy a nice house, have 2.3 children, work hard and consume a lot (buy a lot of toys), and die.  This is not a dream worthy of our lives.  This will not render a life that will model anything worthy for our children.  The emptiness of it will become apparent, as they try to reach out for some larger meaning in a society in which the parents serve an economic system that no longer serves them, a system that is no longer grounded in communal and spiritual values, a system which has no Future, because it is simply not sustainable. 

No wonder so many of our young people seem lost, floundering in a world that offers them no compelling goals, nothing worthy of sacrifice.  Our children need a larger, a bolder vision.  They need to believe that a Future is possible, and that they can be the architects of that Future.

And so today I’m suggesting that we claim a Future, imagine it to be different, yes—and good—imagine it to be life-giving, and set it before us, and move toward that Future, for ourselves and for the children.

So where are we now, and how far do we have to reach in order to live the way we truly want to live, to live lives of integrity and honor?  How much change is necessary for us to live in a country that is an ethical and moral leader in our world, instead of the world bully, feared and hated by so many other nations?

We are in a very dangerous place just now—and when I say we, I mean the whole world.  This is the first time in human history—now hear me—this is the first time in human history that a whole civilization, world-wide, has declined to respect its limits. 

On March 30, 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report was released by organizations representing 1,360 scientists in 95 countries.  The report cost $24 million and was the largest such study ever of the planet’s capacity to carry life.  The analysis was extremely detailed, and the final diagnosis was clear and beyond question: the earth is wearing out and will soon become unable to support the life forms upon it.  This report acknowledged what scientists have been warning us about for over a decade: ecosystems, like all non-linear systems, do not necessarily wind down gradually when they are challenged, but they may reach triggering thresholds, kind of ecological heart attacks, where systems suddenly collapse and die.  We are in an environmental free-fall, and our task is to preserve what remains and commit ourselves to restoring what has been lost.  In other words, the house is on fire.  And when the house is on fire, you do not discuss the color of the drapes.  You tend to the fire.

Climate change has been typically portrayed as a gradual warming that will cause a series of adverse affects: rising sea levels, loss of many species, movement of diseases into warmer zones, more droughts, more floods, more powerful hurricanes.  We’ve been thinking, “This would be tough, but we’ll adapt.”  (Of course, we should note that it is the poor people of the world, already living on the margins, who will carry the brunt of this adaptation.)  New science, however, is warning that current models greatly understate the rate and magnitude of change.  A runaway event, one that would turn the earth into a virtual desert, could happen as soon as 40 years from now, says leading environmentalist Paul Hawken.[2]  (His new book is called Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming.)

I’ve read reports from various scientists, ecologists, journalists, and no one has a definitive answer as to what will happen or exactly when, of course.  And because there is uncertainty, people (and countries) are too apt to choose the most positive scenario, instead of preparing for the worst. 

I think of New Orleans and Katrina.  I had read years before that the disaster that occurred was just waiting to happen.  Everybody in the N.O. area knew that.  FEMA should have known that, President Bush should have known that.  But the point I’m making is this: everybody was willing to be passive about the danger: maybe it won’t happen, I mean it never has, maybe it’ll be ok, I don’t want to think about it, not today. 

I think this is the way we’re facing the current crisis—only it’s a lot bigger than a single storm and a single city.  We’re hoping for the best.  But the polar bears are drowning!  And have you noticed how much warmer our weather has been over the past 10 or 15 years?  Oh, well, nothing much we can do about it.  Let’s just watch the ball game on TV.  Or go shopping.

So what my various sources seem to be saying, when I look at the aggregate is this, in terms of addressing this crisis:

1—The Earth is one, and we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility—we must move forward in a global partnership with other nations.

2—We must change our own lives, in order to live with a smaller footprint on the earth.  The new frontier for human development will be becoming rather than having.  The new frontier will be spiritual, not economic.

3—As the only super-power left in the world, the U.S. must step out as the moral leader in this effort, to encourage developing nations.  If we fail to lead, we can’t expect China and India to curb their carbon emissions.

4—Each one of us must use our power in whatever sphere we have, to move toward the goal of a sustainable planet—starting with our own lives, but not stopping there.  Political change is absolutely necessary—we are way past congratulating ourselves for changing our light bulbs and recycling.  Yes, we will want to do these things as a witness, to raise consciousness, but more is necessary, political action is necessary.  If the Federal Government won’t act, then we act at the State level; if the State won’t act, we act at the city level.  Make change from the bottom up, and others will follow.

Now the good news—and I feel certain you are ready for some of that—the good news is that we can actually make the changes we need to make.  Earlier in history, we had the Agricultural Revolution and then later the Industrial Revolution.  Now it’s time for an Ecological Revolution, and here are some excellent ways to start:

--We can shift tax subsidies—instead of taxpayers paying $700 billion annually to subsidize environmentally destructive activities such as retrieval of oil and gas, clear cutting forests, and over-fishing, we can shift tax subsidies to wind, solar, biomass & geothermal, and from road to railroad.

--We can stop creating stuff that we throw away.

--We can come to see pollution as a design failure.

--We can demand that the market tell the ecological truth about the cost of their endeavors—

The good news is that for a paltry 1/6 of the global military budget annually, we could actually turn things around![3]  So says Lester Brown, of the Earth Policy Institute.  And he is a dependable witness.  We could have an earth that is sustainable, that will support all various forms of life, that will provide a Future that is challenging and compelling, yes, but a Future that is solid for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  For all the children of the world, and for the creeping, crawling things as well.

But I worry.  It sounds so simple.  The scientists say we can do it.  We know we need to do it.  So—what’s the problem?  The problem is that this plan to heal the planet all depends on the political will of people all over the world.  It depends on the co-operation of China and India and Russia and the Middle East.  It depends on enough people waking up soon enough to make the necessary changes.  I mean people waking up not just to the scientific facts—no, but to the spiritual necessities: to the common humanity that makes us love our children and all children, love this good earth, and love the creatures that roam upon it.  And so what I’m saying is that I believe that the only thing that will save us, ultimately, is a spiritual sea change, a spiritual revolution, if you will.

And that’s where we come in.  We need to ask ourselves: we are a church—so what is our part in this waking-up process, this enlightenment?  We need to be prophets of a new age.  That is our role.

Notice what is life-denying and resist it—just say “no,” for your own sake and your children’s sake.  Live with the moral authority that comes from compassion and non-violence.  Form communities of people who will sustain you in living as you wish to live, whether they are study groups, or alternative living arrangements, or socially responsible businesses.  Things are not the way they are because the plan has been handed down from above—no, human beings have made decisions, and we can make different decisions.  We have that capacity.  We need to re-imagine our lives, re-imagine our economy.  Now we structure our lives to serve the economy—what would an economy look like that was structured to serve the people? 

This brave new world has the possibility, you know, of being far superior to the one we live in now.  We’ll be more dependent upon our neighbors.  We’ll eat what is grown by local farmers.  We’ll live together more often than alone.  Lots of us will ride together on trains instead of each of us driving a car.  Travel will be difficult and expensive, and so perhaps we’ll have more time for art, for singing, for loving, for community of all kinds.  We’ll make more of what we need ourselves or perhaps barter at our neighborhood co-op.  It’s a Future only limited by our imaginations—and if our dreams are the right dreams, the earth will be sustained by those dreams and in turn will sustain us.

Right now in the Portland area there are visionaries who are setting out new ways for us to consider as we move into this brave new world. 

*Hank Patton of WorldSteward is pioneering a new class of investment bonds—his strategy provides a market of services for future generations, for outcomes like happiness, health, and harmlessness.

*Architect Mark Lakeman has pioneered the City Repair Project, in which neighborhoods design and build neighborly meeting places, with the help of local architects—places like seating arrangements or memorials or covered space, drawing people together for the work, and then ever after.

*Beautiful young twenty-somethings in this area have started sustainable community learning centers.  These young people are not dropping out, but inviting us all to learn organic gardening, cob building, forest and stream restoration.  They have brought the arts and sciences together, demonstrating how we can live in a sustainable way.  Every year they have a week of work and celebration called “Convergence.”  I have attended, and I was about 3 times as old as most people there, but I was welcomed, and I learned a lot.  This is the future, and they are leading us into it, by simply living it themselves, dropping out of the consumer society and seeking simplicity and integrity.

This church, too, is an institution which holds up values that are very different from those in the popular culture, and these values needed to be supported and reinforced.  Last church year we started small groups called “Sustaining Circles,” and the theme of these groups is “Changing Self, Changing the World.”  We will begin new groups in the fall.  There are other groups in our social justice program which are making a real  difference in our world which you can join now—for example, our Peace Action Group, our Economic Justice Action Group, our End Corporate Personhood Group, our UU Community for Earth Action Group, and our Hunger Action Group.  

One last word.  We do this work not to save the world—we cannot count on the fruits of our labor—we do this work to save our own souls.  We do it because it is the right thing to do, because it lends meaning and integrity to our lives.  We know that our spiritual lives are not worth much unless that spiritual growth flows over into compassion and care for the larger community and the world. 

If we could have one theme that would carry us through these difficult days ahead, I think that theme would be the words carved in stone above the portico of our Eliot Chapel—carved there generations ago by the people who built that beautiful sanctuary.  Those words read, “That they may have life.”  “I have come that they may have life,” Jesus said.   He didn’t say, “I have come that they may be comfortable.”  He didn’t say, “I have come that they may be happy.”  (Happiness is way over-rated.)  No—“I have come that they may have life.”         

Our generation has a mission, a clear and evident one; we have a compelling moral purpose which can direct our lives and our energies.  These days of challenge call us to put aside our pettiness and our little personal concerns, to imagine a new way of being together, a way of peace and sharing, and then to bring that new life into being.

Impossible, you say?  Too much to ask of us?  I know that wherever the human spirit is willing to join with that larger Spirit that new dreams can be dreamed and whole nations can be moved.  We saw that with Gandhi, we saw it with Martin Luther King, Jr., we saw it with Nelson Mandela.  It’s our turn now.  There are no heroes out there.  It’s only us. 

I am convinced that what is life-denying, what is repressive and false, will be known as such, and people, who are basically good, will follow a new way.  My prayer is that we Unitarian Universalists will be among those who step out and lead the way, who will dare to be the prophets and seers of the new world that is calling to us.  So be it.  Amen.

PRAYER

Spirit of Life, it is that very life that we pray for this day.  Help us see clearly the good that we must do, and the new ways we must adopt, and give us the courage to change.  Awaken us to the new, awaken us to possibility!   Let us leave our petty ways, the little quarrels that have so often captured our attention and our energies, and let us give ourselves to the task at hand, to our good earth and her people, that we might live and flourish for long years on this land you have entrusted to our care.  Amen.

BENEDICTION

Go now, my people, and love one another and love the earth—as you go through your days, let that light of the Spirit shine through your living, that others may be greatly blessed.

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Copyright 2007, Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell. All rights reserved.