Two sermons from two Unitarian Universalist churches (Washington DC and Tulsa OK) from MLK Sunday (2018) about courage and the journey towards justice that continues, 50 years later. Both tell the story of James Reeb – a UU minister and activist martyred in 1965 – an event that triggered the signing of the voting rights act a week later. Where does the courage come from to work for justice? What kind of daily activities helps us develop resolve? Martin Lavanhar and Rob Hardies offer some answers.

(Music: Jamie Cullum – Pure imagation featuring Rev William Barber III and Martin Luther King, Jr Running time: 26 min)

This combines two sermons from All Souls UU Church in Washington, DC 2010. Rev. Rob Hardies and Louise Green speak about grief, and finding a way to express both the pain of loss and the praise for life. Our tears are a lament and a prayer – of thanksgiving for what life offers us every day.

“Notice how we try to protect others from the pain of grief,” Rob says, “and how the voice of the psalm cries out in grief without reservation. We don’t know how to deal with grief.”

I compiled this for someone who just got the news that her brother walked onto the freeway and died a few days ago. I hope this is a message that resonates as an answer to both “how” and “why” – how to work through grief, and why it is important to live open to the brokenness. With tears we cherish and respect the joy that others have brought us in life. Tears are an offering on the altar. To live full of spirit is to put something of ourselves on the altar, and recognize the preciousness of life.

Reverend Deniece Mason tells two stories: Trekking in the Himalayas as a teenager with friends, and an episode of a woman in a nice neighborhood who noticed a homeless figure sleeping for days on a bench at the bus stop on her street. Both stories are a reminder that Jesus is not high on a mountain; He lives and works in the world, and if we want to understand God, we must look for him on park benches.

Those on the margins of society are the people who reform and refine the message. The Jews didn’t put their scriptures together until they were in exile in Babylon around 600BC. They also wrote most of their important books while wandering in the Desert with Moses.

Source: Karen Vineyard Church 2013 Doug Brown – Nairobi Kenya

With news of Trump in Korea this week, and talk of the unlimited potential of human endeavors to reshape the planet as a technology-enabled paradise, this parable of the red cranes offers a different viewpoint. In the DMZ between North and South Korea there live rare majestic birds whose habitat would be crushed by development if the two countries reunited. Both plan to build a massive city on the mouth of the river in the DMZ, making the cranes extinct in that country. Their livelihood depends on a fragile truce. The pastor asks whether the story of the tower of Babel is about technology and the promise of human endeavors, snuffing out the possibility of a God-centered existence.

Source: 2017-07-23 Columbus, MD Mennonite Church

Deneice Mason tells the story of an early Christian peacemaker who bought an end to the circus of death in Rome, and asks us how are we bringing Peace and fostering dialogue in these times of political strife.

Source: Pleasant Valley UMC

“Find a god as you understand God. That was the key to my spiritual liberation,” explains Father Leo Booth. Booth (http://fatherleo.com/ a recording from 2000) shares his story of struggle with addiction and with the essential ingredients of the disease, and his redemption. These feelings mirror those of victims of sexual assault, as Rev Kathy Schmitz (https://www.orlandouu.org/) shares in an excerpt from her sermon “me too” and becoming vulnerable.

We are all on similar journeys through life, and it has been my focus this month to share stories that intersect in dealing with racism, sexism, alcoholism, and other diseases that are about our own insecurities with the world.

Father Leo Booth provides makes a compelling case that addiction and recovery are a spiritual journey of becoming aware of our own power. He highlights all the self-doubt and ego that drives a person into addiction, and how to overcome this. What’s interesting is that you can replace every mention of “acohol” and “alcoholic” with “racism” or “racist” and it would make perfect sense. This is about a journey towards true self-awareness, rather than some superficial acceptance of a problem others see in us.

This recording is from 1983, from RecoveryAudio.org

I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands

There was a time when women social activists asked men to stand

Full Transcript PDF

U2’s singer Bono used to be a believer in Karma but through his journey, he’s grown to be a firm believer in Grace.

Most religions are based on Karma. The ancient Israelites believed in Karma (“we are God’s chosen people” and “lepers must have sinned to be diseased”). Hinduism and the caste system is about karma. And most importantly, a large swath of Republican social conservatism is also based on Karma.

Deniece Mason explains why Christianity is so revolutionary – that it is based on Grace, not Karma. Karma is getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt only to have them complain about all the things that God hadn’t done for them, that they wanted. They had still created a God in their image rather than waking up and recognizing the bounty that God had provided them. How often do we look at our lives in the same way, missing out of the promises in front of us?

The folly of placing one’s spiritual beliefs on karma has a dangerous parallel in politics. The idea that some people deserve more privilege over others by their merit leads us to a world with greater suffering, disunity, isolation, and insurmountable problems. But a firm believe in grace transcends our differences and leads to the possibility of a nation that reflects the audacious aspirations outlined in our Constitution. If you are wondering how we build a society that raises up the meek, and binds the broken, here’s 8 minutes of what we can do to follow the blueprint of our founding fathers.

http://ia601504.us.archive.org/1/items/20170924WaterWhineKarmaGrace-Bono-Moses-Deniece-Mason/2017-09-24-Water-Whine-Karma-Grace-Bono-Moses-Deniece-Mason.mp3