I co-host a radio show with Fred Wooden who’s the senior minister at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids. He’s a Unitarian and he’s probably one of the brightest guys I’ve ever met. Fred knows everything about everything. I kid him about it. He kids himself about it. He calls himself “Mr. Know-It-All” from the old “Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.” Listeners know how smart Fred is. One listener called up a few weeks ago and said, “Well, as you know, Fred…” And I said, “What am I? Chopped liver?” And he said, “Well, no, but I think Fred would know something about this.” A month or two before we got Osama bin Laden, we were talking on the radio about how come it’s taking so long to get him. I said that I just don’t understand why we don’t send a Navy Seals team to take him out. Fred said, “Well, there’s a simple explanation for that Bill. Osama bin Laden is on land and the Navy Seals only operate in the water.” As you know, it was the Navy Seals that got Osama bin Laden on land. I will never let Fred forget that!
I was home sick on that day, lying on the couch, watching television when the news report came on. President Kennedy had been assassinated. They say you never forget where you were when you heard the news on November 22, 1963 if you were alive when President Kennedy was assassinated.
I turned on the computer that morning about nine o’clock. At the time I was the editor and publisher of a little political magazine in Grand Rapids and I wanted to read the morning papers. I was on the USA Today website and there was a little blurb about a plane that hit the World Trade Center. My first thought was, it must be a foggy morning and it was a little Cessna or something. As I went to turn on the TV, I remembered that a few months before I’d taken my daughter to New York City and we went to the top of the World Trade Center during spring break. We saw a video that said the World Trade Center buildings were constructed in a way to take a hit from a 707 and keep standing. As I turned on the Today show, the second plane hit the second tower. Matt Lauer and Katie Couric were saying we could no longer say this was an accident. It was obviously a terrorist act, a terrorist attack. As the day went on, as probably all of you know, we heard about a plane that hit the Pentagon and another plane that went down in a field in Pennsylvania. About 3000 people were killed in those 9-11 attacks. They say you never forget where you were if you were alive on 9-11-2001 when you heard about the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil.
Later we’d hear from loved ones of the victims and their heart-wrenching stories. We’d hear about the heroes and heroines of that day, the police officers and firefighters who, while everyone was running from the buildings, went into the buildings before they collapsed. Some of you may know that I felt called to the ministry on that day, which happened to be my 47th birthday. I just knew that one day I wanted to preach love in a sometimes hateful world. So I moved from the media to the ministry to pursue a path to pastoring. I get the feeling sometimes when I tell people that, that they think I’m bragging or something. You know, mere mortals are called to the ministry on any other day of the week or of the year, but me, I had to be called to the ministry on 9-11-2001, my birthday, the worst attack on American soil. I get the feeling people think that I think I’m somebody special because of that. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Forty years before that, give or take, when I was about seven years old, I set up chairs in my basement and I had my siblings and my neighbors sit in those chairs and I conducted a worship service. If that was my first call to ministry, I ignored it. When I was in high school, I read Norman Vincent Peale’s book, The Power of Positive Thinking. I came away from that book not really impressed with the positive thinking aspects of it, but I was taken by what I now know is called the pastoral care aspects of it. Norman Vincent Peale was the minister of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City and he traveled around the country and made speeches and talked about how after he made a speech somebody would come up to him and say how they needed to talk to him about some personal problem and he took the time to talk to them. I was taken by that, I was impressed by that, I was moved by that. But if that was my second call to ministry, I ignored it. When I was 35 years old, I was sitting in my then church, Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, listening to my then minister, David Rankin, a Unitarian, talk about having just turned 50. He preached about looking back on his life and how he was so grateful that he became a minister because the ministry gave his life purpose and meaning and I was so impressed by that, I was so taken by that, I was so moved by that. But if that was my third call to ministry, I ignored it.
Moses felt called to the ministry when he saw a burning bush. For me it took two burning towers before I finally felt it, after what I think was a lifetime of being called to the ministry. Now don’t think that I think that God caused 9-11 so that I would become a minister. No, I don’t believe that.
In the Hebrew Scriptures King David reportedly wrote Psalm 140. Psalm 140 begins, “Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers.” But it’s difficult sometimes to know who the evildoers are. Oh, sure, the people who flew those planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and into a field in Pennsylvania, they were obviously evildoers. Osama bin Laden, who masterminded 9-11, was obviously an evildoer. But some people take from that, because they were Muslims, that all Muslims, therefore, are evildoers or terrorists or at the very least all terrorists are Muslims.
But a moment’s reflection tells us that can’t be the case. Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building, at that time the worst terrorist attack on American soil. Timothy McVeigh was a Christian. But we don’t conclude from that that therefore all Christians are terrorists or that all terrorists are Christians.
Eric Robert Rudolph blew up an abortion clinic in the south, killing an off-duty police officer who was a security guard there. Eric Robert Rudolph was a Christian. But we don’t conclude from that that therefore all Christians are terrorists or that all terrorists are Christians. It’s hard sometimes to know who the evildoers are.
Natalie Maines is the lead singer with the Dixie Chicks. Before the war started in Iraq, as you probably remember, she went to Great Britain and gave an interview in which she said she was embarrassed by her fellow Texan, who just happened to be the President of the United States. Immediately country radio stations across America banned the Dixie Chicks’ music. I know this because I called one up just for kicks and requested a Dixie Chicks song. They never played it. Natalie Maines said that after that she received death threats. One woman wrote her and said she hoped that she’d die. It’s difficult sometimes to know who the evildoers are.
On the night of March 20, 2003, I was supposed to be studying for a prophets test in my seminary class the next day. Instead, probably like many of you, I was glued to the television, watching as bombs were bursting in Baghdad. Even though I wasn’t studying for a prophets test, I feel like I was acting like a prophet. I didn’t respond to that attack with shock and awe. I responded with sadness and anger that my country attacked a country that hadn’t attacked us and had nothing to do with 9-11. As the war went on, we heard that thousands of American military men and women were killed and thousands more were wounded and that tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent Iraqis were killed in that war. We heard about how America doesn’t torture, but it engages in something every other country calls torture – waterboarding – but we call it enhanced interrogation techniques. We heard about Abu Ghraib, where our military personnel acted horrendously. It’s difficult sometimes to know who the evildoers are.
When you look back on 9-11, it’s hard not to ask, “Why did they do this? Why would anybody attack us?” In part, it’s difficult to ask that because if you ask it, you’re sometimes branded in some circles a traitor for asking such a question, or at least un-American or unpatriotic, because there could be no reasonable explanation. And I don’t think there is a reasonable explanation why they attacked us, but they must have some reason that they hate us so much. And I’ve got to believe it’s more than just they don’t like our freedoms. I don’t think it’s the other pat answer that you hear. They don’t like our Western way of life; they don’t like our lifestyle; they don’t like our Hollywood movies. Because if that’s why they hate us, then we should put all the members of the religious right on a terrorist watch list, because they hate us for the same reason. They don’t like our Western ways, they don’t like our lifestyle, they don’t like our Hollywood movies either.
It’s got to be something deeper than that. I wonder, along with others, if it isn’t because we have boots on the ground in their countries. We have boots on the ground, as you know, in dozens and dozens of countries. We have hundreds of military bases in countries around the world. How would we react if Russia had boots on the ground in Florida? Or China had boots on the ground in California? If Russian tanks rolled into Orlando or Chinese tanks rolled into San Diego, how would we react? You don’t have to think about that too long or hard to imagine it. We know how we reacted a couple hundred years ago, when the British had boots on the ground in America. In part, we had a revolution because of it.
After 9-11 we came together as a country. We responded to certain voices. I wonder, though, what America, what the world, would be like today if we had responded to other voices, less militaristic voices. Voices like Gandhi, a holy man from India who through civil disobedience convinced the British to turn over sovereignty to the people of India. Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.” What if we responded to the voices of people like Dorothy Day? Dorothy Day was a devout Catholic, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, an activist for peace and justice. Dorothy Day said, “The challenge of the day is to have a revolution of the heart.” What would America or the world be like today if we would have responded to voices like Desmond Tutu? Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as you know, was one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. When the white government was finally driven from power and Nelson Mandela took over, Desmond Tutu was named the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “Forgiving is not forgetting. It’s actually remembering, remembering that we have the power to hit, but choosing not to.”
On 9-11, after watching all those horrific images on TV, I walked the three or four blocks to my daughter’s school. I thought I could offer some comfort to her and maybe some of her classmates. She was in elementary school. When I got to her classroom, her teacher was wondering whether to turn on the TV to allow the students to see the images that we’d all seen. The teacher asked the students how many of them would be going home to an empty house and therefore to a waiting television set. I think more than half the students raised their hands. So she decided to turn on the television and she and I were there when the students saw the terrible images of that day. It didn’t dawn on me until I was working on this sermon that on November 22, 1963, I was nine years old and in the fourth grade. On 9-11-2001, my daughter was nine years old and in the fourth grade. We try hard to protect our children from the horrors of life, but we can’t always succeed. Perhaps all we can do is be with our children as they face the horrors of life, to help them cope. And maybe that’s all we can do for each other is to walk together, to help each other cope with the horrors of life. Whether it’s on November 22, 1963, or on 9-11-2001, or on 9-11-2011.
Friday, September 23, 2011
We Give Thanks For Time
Let us lift up our thoughts and prayers: All that is holy, loving and true...
We give thanks for time: May it heal all wounds.
We give thanks for time: May it cause us to reflect.
We give thanks for time: May it allow us to put things into perspective.
We give thanks for time: May it lead us to understanding.
We give thanks for time: May it reward us with wisdom.
Now and forevermore: Let it be. So be it. And: Amen.
We give thanks for time: May it heal all wounds.
We give thanks for time: May it cause us to reflect.
We give thanks for time: May it allow us to put things into perspective.
We give thanks for time: May it lead us to understanding.
We give thanks for time: May it reward us with wisdom.
Now and forevermore: Let it be. So be it. And: Amen.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
This summer I was at a party. A bunch of us were sitting around and I mentioned that, in addition to my duties as minister of Interfaith Congregation in Holland, I was going to become, in the fall, minister of Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Muskegon. One of the people there, a retired university professor, said, “You know, I know a little something about the Unitarians. They’re very intellectual. Why did they hire you?” I have no idea. I’m not really intellectual. I find that now that I’ve been hired here I try to read more and watch TV less. And I do listen to NPR now! (Someone in the congregation: “You’re on the right path!”)
I was at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids a few weeks ago and I was in the Theology/Philosophy/Religion part, and I noticed there was a book, “Christianity for Dummies” and another book, “World Religions for Dummies.” But I didn’t see a book called “Unitarian Universalism for Dummies.” ‘Cause it’s not! I later went on Amazon.com and looked. It doesn’t exist. So I don’t know what I’m going to do.
I’m beginning my seventh year of ministry. While I’m grateful that I’m the minister of two churches, I have to admit that I’m not where I thought I’d be in my ministry. I thought I’d be kind of like Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Jesus by now. I thought I’d leave my house and dozens, if not hundreds of people would walk with me through town. There would be scribes writing down every profound thing I said. And everything I said would be profound. But that hasn’t happened.
I thought at the very least I wouldn’t be preaching sermons anymore. I’d just come to a place like this, maybe sit in a lotus position, and I’d just spew wise words, just off the top of my head. I didn’t think I’d still be agonizing over sermons. You know, this was an important sermon for me; I had to preach it in two different places. So I would wake up in the middle of the night and write things down on a little Post-It note. I can’t imagine Jesus doing that. I can’t imagine Jesus saying, “Oh, I’ve got that big Sermon on the Mount coming up.” I can’t imagine Jesus getting a big hammer and chisel and stone tablet and saying, (acts out chiseling on stone) “Oh, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ that’ll preach! ‘Love your enemies,’ that’ll preach! ‘Forgive and you’ll be forgiven,’ that’ll preach!” So I’m not where I thought I’d be in my ministry. And I have to confess, I’m not where I thought I’d be in my personal life.
I thought by now I’d be perfect. Or at least close to perfect. I thought everything I did would be just right. And everything I said would be just right. No. About a month or two ago, I’m driving down the road, a four-lane divided road, and I’m in the left lane of two lanes. I stop at a stop light. After a few minutes the light turns green. I take off. After two or three seconds, the person behind me is honking her horn! What’s the matter? She’s doing one of these, (motions with hand to hurry up) like I’m not going fast enough. So I speed up a little bit, but apparently not fast enough, so she passes me on the right, pulls in front of me and then she slows down. So I get angry and get on the horn myself (makes a sound like a car horn blaring) for about a hundred yards. What am I thinking? What am I doing? I’m a minister! I’m not supposed to be about road rage. I’m supposed to be about street serenity.
A week or two ago, I went to the Women’s Equality Day Dinner in Muskegon, co-sponsored by the National Organization for Women, the local chapter, and my new church. Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation is a co-sponsor of this dinner. It was a wonderful dinner and a wonderful program. But before dinner we were sitting around our table, talking politics, and somebody mentions one of the presidential candidates. I won’t say her name, but I think she’s the only female running. Somebody says, “She believes women should be submissive to their husbands.” So I, Mr. Comedian, Mr. Funny Guy, Mr. Hilarity, say, “You know, that’s one point I agree with her on.” Stunned silence. I think I heard a couple of gasps. Everybody turns and looks at me and I say, “I’m just kidding!” But what was I thinking? Why did I say something like that? I mean, talk about inappropriate humor. You guys were there; you know I did this. Why don’t I learn? I’m not where I should be. I have some changes to make in my life.
The first time I ever heard Michael Jackson, he was part of the Jackson Five. I was in my teens and he was probably eight or nine. Back then I was a big fan of Casey Kasem. So I probably heard Michael Jackson for the first time on American Top Forty. (Imitating Casey Kasem’s voice) “This is Casey Kasem. Time now for that new smash by Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five.”
That’s not the song I want to talk about. The song I want to talk about came much later in Michael Jackson’s life. I think it’s one of the greatest songs he ever did. It’s a song called “Man in the Mirror.” Michael Jackson sings, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. No message could have been any clearer. If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that – change.” Michael Jackson was speaking to me. He’s still speaking to me.
If you came here today and thought I was going to preach to you, I’m sorry to disappoint you. If you came here today thinking I was going to preach to the choir, I’m sorry to disappoint you. If you came here today thinking I was going to preach to the whole congregation, I’m sorry to disappoint you. This sermon is just for me. I’m the one who needs to hear this. In fact, probably most of my sermons are for me. I need to hear them more than anybody else does. I need to change that man in the mirror. I need to say the things I should say and do the things I should do. I don’t always.
Jesus. He’s somebody some people don’t like to hear about. I think it’s because they think the preacher’s going to talk about Jesus the God. Jesus, one third of the Holy Trinity. But that’s not how I talk about Jesus. I think that Jesus was who he said he was, he was the Son of Man, the Son of Adam, just like all of us are sons and daughters of Adam, metaphorically speaking. So when I talk about Jesus, I’m talking about Jesus the man, who said some profound things. One day Jesus was speaking to his disciples, who followed him a lot of the time. He said, “Don’t worry about the speck in your neighbor’s eye. Be concerned about the log in your own eye. You hypocrite! You try to take out the speck in your neighbor’s eye and yet, you ignore the log in your own.” Jesus is speaking to me. I do that all the time. I can pick out the flaw, and that’s what Jesus was talking about – don’t worry about the flaw in your neighbor before you worry about the flaw in yourself. Take care of your own flaws before you deal with somebody else’s. But I do that all the time. I can spot somebody’s flaws a mile away. My own? Mmm. Not so much. And I need to change that.
Henry David Thoreau was a brilliant writer. He wrote Walden. He was a transcendentalist. And a Unitarian – probably one of the most famous Unitarians ever. Henry David Thoreau said that if you want to change your thinking, you need to think something over and over and over again. If you want to think good, positive thoughts, think them over and over and over again. Don’t just think them once. Henry David Thoreau was speaking to me. I think a good positive thought once. Then I go back to my usual bad negative thoughts. But I need to think those good thoughts over and over and over again in order to change. In order to become the person that I need to become.
My favorite movie ever would probably not make anyone’s top ten list of the greatest movies ever. It probably wouldn’t even make my top ten list of the greatest movies ever, but it’s my favorite movie ever because it spoke to me at the time when it came out. The movie was “Bruce Almighty.” Jim Carrey played Bruce and God was played by Morgan Freeman – no relation. As far as I know. Before I tell you about the movie, in case you haven’t seen it, let me tell you a bit about my life at that point. It’s 2003, I had been a TV feature reporter – I did funny stories in the news. At that time – 2003 – I was going through a painful personal relationship and I was wondering, if God exists, does God even know that I exist? Does God care that I exist? Does God care that I’m going through all this personal pain? So one Friday night I decide that I’m just going to escape my life. I’m going to go see “Bruce Almighty,” this new comedy with Jim Carrey – I love Jim Carrey! So I go to the movies and, if you’ve never seen “Bruce Almighty,” Jim Carrey plays a TV feature reporter. He does funny stories in the news. He’s going through a painful personal relationship. And he’s wondering if God knows whether he exists, cares whether he exists. I didn’t go there and escape my life. I went there and saw my life writ large on the big screen!
Toward the end of the movie, Jim Carrey is walking in the middle of the street, calling out to God to show him the light. He falls down on his knees and a light comes upon him. Unfortunately it was the light from a Mack truck! He gets hit. He goes to heaven. Morgan Freeman says, “You can’t kneel down in the middle of the street, son, and expect to live to tell about it.” Then Morgan Freeman says to Jim Carrey, “You have a divine spark. You have the ability to make people laugh.” He said, “I know. I created you.” Jim Carrey says, “Quit bragging.” Now of course I know that Morgan Freeman wasn’t speaking to Bill Freeman. I know that was just a coincidence. That wasn’t providence. I’m becoming more and more intellectual. Of course I know.
Jim Carrey says he basically wants to see other people through God’s eyes. I tell you all that to tell you this. A month or two ago, I thought of this person I used to know, somebody I didn’t really like. I thought to myself, I wonder what that person I don’t really like is up to. I go to his Facebook page, hoping that he’s miserable. I go to his Facebook page and I see his face and I gasp, because I see him for the first time, if you will, with God’s eyes, with compassionate eyes. I don’t see him as a person I dislike. I see him as my brother.
Now I don’t tell you that story so you’ll think, “Wow, our new minister is really open-minded and compassionate and caring.” I tell you this story to say that I don’t do that enough. I don’t see people enough as my brothers and sisters. Sometimes I see people as people I don’t like. And I don’t like that about myself and I need to change.
When I was in seminary, now remember I went to Western Theological Seminary in Holland, where I was probably the most liberal person. Everyone else was pretty orthodox and very Christian. I had a classmate who was about my age, maybe a couple of years younger, and he had a son in the military. This was at the height of the Iraq war. Even though I was opposed to the Iraq war, every once in a while I would walk up to my classmate, and I’d give him a big hug and I’d say, “How’s your son doing?” Then one day I overheard my classmate talking to another classmate about me. I’m not sure if he wanted me to overhear this or what, but he said, “You know, I disagree with him about everything – politically, theologically, philosophically – I disagree with him completely. I should hate this guy. But every now and then he walks up to me and gives me a great big hug and says, ‘How’s your son doing?’ So I like him.”
Now I didn’t tell you that story so you’ll think, “Wow, our minister is so open-minded, so caring and compassionate. He goes up to people he disagrees with – politically and theologically and philosophically – and he gives them a big hug and he wonders about their lives.” No, I tell you that story because I don’t do that enough. There are people I disagree with - philosophically, theologically, and especially politically – whom I don’t see as my brother and my sister and I need to.
About a month ago, probably all of us saw on TV or heard on NPR about how the government was basically melting down in Washington. Democrats and Republicans were at each other’s throats over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. It was just ugly. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. You didn’t want to look at it. But then, like a flower growing in the desert, in comes Gabbie Giffords to the floor of the House. Everything stops and everybody hugs Gabbie Giffords and everybody says hi to Gabbie Giffords, the woman who eight months before had been shot in the head, and yet, there she was, having the courage of her conviction, doing the right thing. Now I’m not saying she did the right thing because she voted for raising the debt limit; that’s not what I mean. She did the right thing by coming to Congress, by doing her duty, by accepting her responsibility and doing it. I hope that Gabbie Giffords inspires me to always do the right thing.
I don’t have any obstacles to overcome really. I’m not walking around having been shot in the head. She was able to do the right thing and I hope she inspires me to do the right thing because one day, sooner rather than later I hope, I’d like to look in the mirror and see that I’ve made those changes, look in the mirror and see, I hope, a better man and a better minister.
I was at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids a few weeks ago and I was in the Theology/Philosophy/Religion part, and I noticed there was a book, “Christianity for Dummies” and another book, “World Religions for Dummies.” But I didn’t see a book called “Unitarian Universalism for Dummies.” ‘Cause it’s not! I later went on Amazon.com and looked. It doesn’t exist. So I don’t know what I’m going to do.
I’m beginning my seventh year of ministry. While I’m grateful that I’m the minister of two churches, I have to admit that I’m not where I thought I’d be in my ministry. I thought I’d be kind of like Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Jesus by now. I thought I’d leave my house and dozens, if not hundreds of people would walk with me through town. There would be scribes writing down every profound thing I said. And everything I said would be profound. But that hasn’t happened.
I thought at the very least I wouldn’t be preaching sermons anymore. I’d just come to a place like this, maybe sit in a lotus position, and I’d just spew wise words, just off the top of my head. I didn’t think I’d still be agonizing over sermons. You know, this was an important sermon for me; I had to preach it in two different places. So I would wake up in the middle of the night and write things down on a little Post-It note. I can’t imagine Jesus doing that. I can’t imagine Jesus saying, “Oh, I’ve got that big Sermon on the Mount coming up.” I can’t imagine Jesus getting a big hammer and chisel and stone tablet and saying, (acts out chiseling on stone) “Oh, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ that’ll preach! ‘Love your enemies,’ that’ll preach! ‘Forgive and you’ll be forgiven,’ that’ll preach!” So I’m not where I thought I’d be in my ministry. And I have to confess, I’m not where I thought I’d be in my personal life.
I thought by now I’d be perfect. Or at least close to perfect. I thought everything I did would be just right. And everything I said would be just right. No. About a month or two ago, I’m driving down the road, a four-lane divided road, and I’m in the left lane of two lanes. I stop at a stop light. After a few minutes the light turns green. I take off. After two or three seconds, the person behind me is honking her horn! What’s the matter? She’s doing one of these, (motions with hand to hurry up) like I’m not going fast enough. So I speed up a little bit, but apparently not fast enough, so she passes me on the right, pulls in front of me and then she slows down. So I get angry and get on the horn myself (makes a sound like a car horn blaring) for about a hundred yards. What am I thinking? What am I doing? I’m a minister! I’m not supposed to be about road rage. I’m supposed to be about street serenity.
A week or two ago, I went to the Women’s Equality Day Dinner in Muskegon, co-sponsored by the National Organization for Women, the local chapter, and my new church. Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation is a co-sponsor of this dinner. It was a wonderful dinner and a wonderful program. But before dinner we were sitting around our table, talking politics, and somebody mentions one of the presidential candidates. I won’t say her name, but I think she’s the only female running. Somebody says, “She believes women should be submissive to their husbands.” So I, Mr. Comedian, Mr. Funny Guy, Mr. Hilarity, say, “You know, that’s one point I agree with her on.” Stunned silence. I think I heard a couple of gasps. Everybody turns and looks at me and I say, “I’m just kidding!” But what was I thinking? Why did I say something like that? I mean, talk about inappropriate humor. You guys were there; you know I did this. Why don’t I learn? I’m not where I should be. I have some changes to make in my life.
The first time I ever heard Michael Jackson, he was part of the Jackson Five. I was in my teens and he was probably eight or nine. Back then I was a big fan of Casey Kasem. So I probably heard Michael Jackson for the first time on American Top Forty. (Imitating Casey Kasem’s voice) “This is Casey Kasem. Time now for that new smash by Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five.”
That’s not the song I want to talk about. The song I want to talk about came much later in Michael Jackson’s life. I think it’s one of the greatest songs he ever did. It’s a song called “Man in the Mirror.” Michael Jackson sings, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. No message could have been any clearer. If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that – change.” Michael Jackson was speaking to me. He’s still speaking to me.
If you came here today and thought I was going to preach to you, I’m sorry to disappoint you. If you came here today thinking I was going to preach to the choir, I’m sorry to disappoint you. If you came here today thinking I was going to preach to the whole congregation, I’m sorry to disappoint you. This sermon is just for me. I’m the one who needs to hear this. In fact, probably most of my sermons are for me. I need to hear them more than anybody else does. I need to change that man in the mirror. I need to say the things I should say and do the things I should do. I don’t always.
Jesus. He’s somebody some people don’t like to hear about. I think it’s because they think the preacher’s going to talk about Jesus the God. Jesus, one third of the Holy Trinity. But that’s not how I talk about Jesus. I think that Jesus was who he said he was, he was the Son of Man, the Son of Adam, just like all of us are sons and daughters of Adam, metaphorically speaking. So when I talk about Jesus, I’m talking about Jesus the man, who said some profound things. One day Jesus was speaking to his disciples, who followed him a lot of the time. He said, “Don’t worry about the speck in your neighbor’s eye. Be concerned about the log in your own eye. You hypocrite! You try to take out the speck in your neighbor’s eye and yet, you ignore the log in your own.” Jesus is speaking to me. I do that all the time. I can pick out the flaw, and that’s what Jesus was talking about – don’t worry about the flaw in your neighbor before you worry about the flaw in yourself. Take care of your own flaws before you deal with somebody else’s. But I do that all the time. I can spot somebody’s flaws a mile away. My own? Mmm. Not so much. And I need to change that.
Henry David Thoreau was a brilliant writer. He wrote Walden. He was a transcendentalist. And a Unitarian – probably one of the most famous Unitarians ever. Henry David Thoreau said that if you want to change your thinking, you need to think something over and over and over again. If you want to think good, positive thoughts, think them over and over and over again. Don’t just think them once. Henry David Thoreau was speaking to me. I think a good positive thought once. Then I go back to my usual bad negative thoughts. But I need to think those good thoughts over and over and over again in order to change. In order to become the person that I need to become.
My favorite movie ever would probably not make anyone’s top ten list of the greatest movies ever. It probably wouldn’t even make my top ten list of the greatest movies ever, but it’s my favorite movie ever because it spoke to me at the time when it came out. The movie was “Bruce Almighty.” Jim Carrey played Bruce and God was played by Morgan Freeman – no relation. As far as I know. Before I tell you about the movie, in case you haven’t seen it, let me tell you a bit about my life at that point. It’s 2003, I had been a TV feature reporter – I did funny stories in the news. At that time – 2003 – I was going through a painful personal relationship and I was wondering, if God exists, does God even know that I exist? Does God care that I exist? Does God care that I’m going through all this personal pain? So one Friday night I decide that I’m just going to escape my life. I’m going to go see “Bruce Almighty,” this new comedy with Jim Carrey – I love Jim Carrey! So I go to the movies and, if you’ve never seen “Bruce Almighty,” Jim Carrey plays a TV feature reporter. He does funny stories in the news. He’s going through a painful personal relationship. And he’s wondering if God knows whether he exists, cares whether he exists. I didn’t go there and escape my life. I went there and saw my life writ large on the big screen!
Toward the end of the movie, Jim Carrey is walking in the middle of the street, calling out to God to show him the light. He falls down on his knees and a light comes upon him. Unfortunately it was the light from a Mack truck! He gets hit. He goes to heaven. Morgan Freeman says, “You can’t kneel down in the middle of the street, son, and expect to live to tell about it.” Then Morgan Freeman says to Jim Carrey, “You have a divine spark. You have the ability to make people laugh.” He said, “I know. I created you.” Jim Carrey says, “Quit bragging.” Now of course I know that Morgan Freeman wasn’t speaking to Bill Freeman. I know that was just a coincidence. That wasn’t providence. I’m becoming more and more intellectual. Of course I know.
Jim Carrey says he basically wants to see other people through God’s eyes. I tell you all that to tell you this. A month or two ago, I thought of this person I used to know, somebody I didn’t really like. I thought to myself, I wonder what that person I don’t really like is up to. I go to his Facebook page, hoping that he’s miserable. I go to his Facebook page and I see his face and I gasp, because I see him for the first time, if you will, with God’s eyes, with compassionate eyes. I don’t see him as a person I dislike. I see him as my brother.
Now I don’t tell you that story so you’ll think, “Wow, our new minister is really open-minded and compassionate and caring.” I tell you this story to say that I don’t do that enough. I don’t see people enough as my brothers and sisters. Sometimes I see people as people I don’t like. And I don’t like that about myself and I need to change.
When I was in seminary, now remember I went to Western Theological Seminary in Holland, where I was probably the most liberal person. Everyone else was pretty orthodox and very Christian. I had a classmate who was about my age, maybe a couple of years younger, and he had a son in the military. This was at the height of the Iraq war. Even though I was opposed to the Iraq war, every once in a while I would walk up to my classmate, and I’d give him a big hug and I’d say, “How’s your son doing?” Then one day I overheard my classmate talking to another classmate about me. I’m not sure if he wanted me to overhear this or what, but he said, “You know, I disagree with him about everything – politically, theologically, philosophically – I disagree with him completely. I should hate this guy. But every now and then he walks up to me and gives me a great big hug and says, ‘How’s your son doing?’ So I like him.”
Now I didn’t tell you that story so you’ll think, “Wow, our minister is so open-minded, so caring and compassionate. He goes up to people he disagrees with – politically and theologically and philosophically – and he gives them a big hug and he wonders about their lives.” No, I tell you that story because I don’t do that enough. There are people I disagree with - philosophically, theologically, and especially politically – whom I don’t see as my brother and my sister and I need to.
About a month ago, probably all of us saw on TV or heard on NPR about how the government was basically melting down in Washington. Democrats and Republicans were at each other’s throats over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. It was just ugly. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. You didn’t want to look at it. But then, like a flower growing in the desert, in comes Gabbie Giffords to the floor of the House. Everything stops and everybody hugs Gabbie Giffords and everybody says hi to Gabbie Giffords, the woman who eight months before had been shot in the head, and yet, there she was, having the courage of her conviction, doing the right thing. Now I’m not saying she did the right thing because she voted for raising the debt limit; that’s not what I mean. She did the right thing by coming to Congress, by doing her duty, by accepting her responsibility and doing it. I hope that Gabbie Giffords inspires me to always do the right thing.
I don’t have any obstacles to overcome really. I’m not walking around having been shot in the head. She was able to do the right thing and I hope she inspires me to do the right thing because one day, sooner rather than later I hope, I’d like to look in the mirror and see that I’ve made those changes, look in the mirror and see, I hope, a better man and a better minister.
Friday, September 9, 2011
We Give Thanks For Self-Evaluation
Let us lift up our thoughts and prayers.
All that is holy, loving and true:
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that we’re not perfect.
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that we make mistakes sometimes.
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that we can learn from our mistakes.
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that we do many things right.
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that each one of us is unique.
Now and forevermore:
Let it be. So be it. And: Amen.
All that is holy, loving and true:
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that we’re not perfect.
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that we make mistakes sometimes.
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that we can learn from our mistakes.
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that we do many things right.
We give thanks for self-evaluation,
for the capacity to realize that each one of us is unique.
Now and forevermore:
Let it be. So be it. And: Amen.
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