Preached at Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Oak Park, Illinois
March 13, 2005
Reading:
from Michael Casey’s The Undivided Heart: The Western Monastic Approach to Contemplation
The whole concept of purity is currently not much in favor, probably because it was used, in the immediate past, in a way that
seemed to make the noble virtue of chastity both unattractive and unattainable. The major effect of the discussion of chastity
was a sense of guilt; it inspired dread rather than generosity.... The monastic emphasis on purity of heart... explained in terms of
singleness of purpose, inner undividedness... in this case the image is seen not so much as a whiteness as a matter of being true
to one’s essential nature. Pure orange juice is devoid of additives...pure water is water and nothing else... a pure heart is a heart
which is fully alive, with all its energies directed to a single end... Purity of heart comes from being drawn toward God.
Sermon
Spiritual practices, the rhythm of spirituality, seems to have changed over the years from setting aside time to
renew to a time you have to grit your teeth and get through. I remember when Catholics were first allowed to attend Mass on
Saturday afternoons. This was after the Second Vatican Council in the 60s. Rather than setting aside a day to rest and renew and
starting that day with a little worship, that “little worship” became an obligation. The church changed their policy and
parishioners were allowed to fulfill their obligation the day before. Gone was the day of rest. This, of course, is not a change
made only by Catholics. I remember, as a child, reading books like The Great Brain or the Little House books. In them, the
children rankled at having to do nothing on Sundays. And so the Sabbath of most Christian religions became a day of boredom
and irritation.
Most of us have turned from this idea of Sabbath. Many of us have rejected it because it was a part of a broader range of religious
practices we have rejected.
I work part-time at a spa-type place in Bucktown. I greet clients, answer the phone, work some spreadsheets and whatever else
needs doing. I was at work a couple of weeks ago and a client came in and, I’m not sure how it happened, but the conversation
turned to Unity Temple and then to my giving this sermon. He asked what I wanted people to walk away with. I told him I wanted
people to find small, simple ways to be spiritual everyday. He asked me if I ran the reception desk for God. At that moment, I had
at least three conversations running simultaneously through my head. First, the God language. My mind was saying, I don’t do
anything for God, but I do try to find the purpose in a situation.” And another part of my brain was arguing, “Same thing.” The
second (or is it third?) voice was chanting a little mantra, ”Please don’t let him turn this to Jesus. Please don’t let him turn this to
Jesus.” And finally, I was trying to come up with something to answer his question. I thought about that conversation for a long
time. I found that I was still rejecting parts of the religion of my childhood long after I had decided that, in the end, we all basically
believe the same things. When I realized that, I found myself reframing what he said and changing the words to create common
ground.
Today, when I say “God,” please substitute whatever word you use to describe the ineffable. I don’t want you to have three voices
going in your head.
In rejecting the religious practices of our childhood, in dismissing customs of mainstream religions because of the dogma that
surrounds them, have we thrown the baby out with the bathwater?
For a short time I had a column in our monthly newsletter. I interviewed a different member of the congregation each month and
then wrote about their spiritual practices. So I know that many of you have daily and weekly practices. But some of you don’t and
some of us who did may have moved away from them or may be looking for new ways to inject a little spirituality into your day.
A monk’s day is filled with more than a little spirituality. Have you ever thought about being a monk or a nun? It has always
sounded very relaxing and satisfying to me, spending the day in worship, meditation, learning and helping the community, whether
the community within the monastery or the larger community. The Tibetan Buddhist’s daily schedule goes something like this: 5:
45 wake up bell, morning prayer in the prayer hall with breakfast, recitation and memorizing prayer and ritual texts, Tibetan
language class, English language class, lunch, more Tibetan language class, revision of the day’s lesson, a tea break, revision of
the recitation and memorization of the prayer and ritual texts, a break followed by the evening prayer and recitations, some
individual study, all ending at 9:30 with bed and lights off. 1
Buddhist nuns of the Theravada tradition have a similar routine: 5:00 wake up immediately followed by group sitting with chanting,
breakfast at 6:45 followed by Sutta (discourse, the Buddhist teaching on an aspect of the doctrine) study. Work some, have a
drink and clean up, more group sitting, food offering and chanting, a half-hour Dhamma (teaching) talk and a blessing. At noon:
clean up and rest until 2:00. Then individual practice, Vinaya (the foundation of training in a monastery, the written rules and
traditions) class or individual practice and work around the monastery, evening drink, then showers, ending with group sitting and
chanting and maybe another Dhamma talk. Bedtime is 9:30.2
But we aren’t monks and I doubt any of us plan to be. Yet in the book Blessed Simplicity, Raimundo Panikkar says, “There is a
monastic archetype or contemplative dimension innate in every human being... the monastic archetype is a living, dynamic reality
that must find a new expression in every generation. The modern monk does not want to renounce, except what is plainly...
negative, rather he wishes to transform all things. ...The whole challenge of modern monkhood...consists in the impossible
attempt -- at first sight -- to acquire by its simplicity the fullness of human life.” 3 (emphasis changed by me)
Simplicity. Transforming.
Simplicity is trendy. Getting rid of stuff is easy. You can go to seminars and buy books on reducing your stuff. But getting rid of
complicated artificiality is not. The process of simplifying and becoming authentic is the monk’s way.
St. Benedict is credited with being the father of Western Monasticism. In the 6th century he wrote the rule that most Western
monasteries continue to use today. It is a simple plan for living a balanced life, a life in community focused on God.
The first rule of St. Benedict is: Listen4. Do you trust your inner ear? Do you listen with your heart? When you listen for the Divine,
what do you hear? Can you distinguish the voice of the Universe from your own? Here’s something to try if you don’t already do
this: When you meet someone, send out the question, “Why is this person here right now? What is there for me to learn from him
or her? Or is there something for me to give to them?” Then listen for the answer.
The second rule of St. Benedict is: Pray. I especially like what the Rule says about prayer. It should be short and pure. It shouldn’t
be in embellished, stilted language; it shouldn’t employ persons or cases ye doth never use. You don’t have to say “Oh, God...” at
the beginning of every sentence and you don’t even need to end with “amen.” Catholic monks pray five to seven times a day,
centering on the Psalms. Muslims also pray five times a day. The idea is to haul yourself before the Divine everyday, no matter
what, just like you would haul yourself to the gym. You know you’ll feel better afterward. Or like you haul yourself to work
everyday.
Which brings us to the third rule: Work. St. Benedict says, “Let there be specified periods for manual labor as well as for
prayerful reading.” Work is good for us. We can listen while we work. Work reminds us that we’re not alone in the world. Work
isn’t a way to get to the weekend, it has value in itself. Ask, or pray, how can I be of service with this task or job? What can I
learn? Think about all the people your job touches. Think about jobs others do that touch you.
We have our work. Most of us went to school, studied something that we enjoyed and now have a job that interests us. But we
also do other work and there is a spirituality in those tasks. Take doing the laundry. It’s not a chore I’ve ever heard anyone say
they enjoy. But maybe we can transform it into an opportunity to see renewal. Perhaps you can transform it into a way to connect
to your week. As you sort the clothes, briefly review what you were doing when you wore that article of clothing. Were you
present in that moment? Did you take away from that day what you feel you were meant to take? Or you can see it as a weekly
version of the changing of the seasons, a way to remember the promise held in the cycle of nature. As your clothes hit the floor
each night, or as you toss them down the chute, it’s autumn. The clothes lying dormant in the hamper or in the basement are
symbolic of winter. As you set the washer, feel winter is ending and spring is about to start, renewal is about to take place. As
you fold the clothes and put them away, think of the summer, a kind of “the clothes seeing the light again.” Or maybe you can get
into the Zen of laundry: honoring the process, studying patience as you wait for the cycles to finish, listening to the rhythm and
hum of the machines. It can be an opportunity to say a small prayer of thanks for the luxury of an automatic washer and dryer.
How about making dinner? I usually see dinner as a chore to rush through. But if I slow down, I can make it into a chance to feel a
part of the interconnected web of being. Think of all the people who were needed for you to make dinner: the people who made
the metal, nylon, wood and plastic of the utensils you’re using, the people on the assembly lines and in the warehouses, those
who packaged them, the truck drivers, the clerks at the stores where you bought them. The people who forged the metal for your
knives and pots and pans. The engineers who designed your refrigerator, stove and microwave, the marketing people, the office
workers involved. The farmers, corporate or otherwise, who raised that chicken, grew those vegetables, harvested the rice,
brought it to market, the workers in the market... It took hundreds of people to produce the things you use to make a simple meal.
After remembering, you might want to pray, “I value every individual who played a part in making this meal. May they feel a spark
of pride as I send my gratitude.”
Once you get started, you’ll find new ways to transform routine tasks into a chance for a little spirituality.
Before I get up in the morning, I like to think of all the things I’m grateful for. I’m grateful for a warm house, a feather bed, and
Chris snoring beside me. I’m grateful that Max and Nora have been so easy to raise. I’m thankful for the crossword puzzle in the
newspaper that’s on my doorstep and the coffeemaker that I’m about to use. I’m grateful that I live in a community I like, in a
house I chose. I’m thankful for the internet, Bit o’ Honey candy, Burt Bacharach’s music, my fuzzy slippers, the public library,
knowing how to cook, Lady Clairol and blue ink in my Parker pen. Starting your day with gratitude sets you in an optimistic frame
of mind. It’s one of the best things you can do for your emotional and spiritual health.
As you get ready to leave in the morning, play through your day. How do you feel about the events that are about to take place and
the people you will interact with? Good? say a little “thank you.” Are you cringing? Ask for the wisdom to get through it gracefully.
While driving, instead of cursing the crazy drivers and the developers who are building condos and increasing the population
density, look at the beauty around you. Try to find funny bumper stickers and license plates. Being attentive and present in the
moment keeps us grounded and connected.
Reflect before you eat. Ask yourself, “Why am I eating this?” If you don’t like the answer, see if you can find a better way to satisfy
that need. Self-examination leads us to growth.
Is there a ritual you can create the mark the weeks? Abe Opincar, like thousands of Jews, marks his weeks with candles and
hens and blessings. Not even a time of great upheaval kept him from marking the Sabbath.5 Sure, we come here on Sunday
mornings, but is it enough?
I think carving out a day to clear our heads is even more important now than it was in ancient Israel. With relentless pressures of
work and school, with the constant bombardment of information and email, we need a day of disengagement, a day to reorient
ourselves and to regain perspective. We need some weekly rituals that can help remind us of a reality that can transcend and
transform. The weekly discipline of the Sabbath is a guard against forgetting who we are, where we came from and where we
want to go spiritually. 6
Time is holy. It is mysterious and elusive. You can’t “manage” time any more than you can manage a hurricane. But you can
mark it. In Benedict’s Way, Lonni Collins Pratt and Father Daniel Homan say that, “...marking time is as simple as being aware that
turning on the light in the morning is saying yes to another day... We enter into the sacred every day. We are often not aware of
the ways we do this.”
There should be a time for everything: work, sleep, food and companionship. Noise, silence, reading, and playing... too much work
leaves you feeling burnt, too much rest makes you lazy, too much companionship leaves you feeling threadbare. There must be a
time for reverence, praise and joy. There’s a lot of liberty in not being so important, of seeing the majesty of creation and standing
in awe.
Shirley Lundin and I led a class called Building Your Own Theology last fall and one of the class participants, was explaining why
she wasn’t a member of Unity Temple. She listed some of Unitarian Universalism’s finer points and said that when she wanted to
satisfy the hunger for a liberal religion she came here, but when she wanted to “get her praise on,” she went to the Baptist
church. But how do we get our praise on?
Joy doesn’t just happen to us, it’s a decision we make. We can choose joy -- or not. Is there something choking the joy in your
life? The emotions that choke joy are usually about self-defense. How could love relieve the joy-chokers in your life? Love, rather
than courage, gets us past those emotions. Loving others, opening up to love, not taking life too seriously and reclaiming a sense
of wonder will help you get your praise on.
Annie Dillard said, “God does not demand that we give up our personal dignity... that we lose ourselves and turn from all that is not
him. God needs nothing, asks nothing, and demands nothing, like the stars. It is life with God which demands these things... God
does not, I regret to report, give a hoot. You do not have to do these things—unless you want to know God. They work on you, not
on him.
"You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary. But
the stars neither require nor demand it.” 7
Each day find a way to begin anew. Find a conversion every day. Look for the “aha” moments. Look for moments of grace
extended to you by others. Each day become more authentically human. Be grounded and centered. Listen. Find little ways to get
your praise on. Mark time. Create opportunities for renewal and simple spirituality. You do not have to do these things -- unless
you want to know the Divine.
Benediction:
from Gerald May, Simply Sane
Can you, from time to time, just nurture a little warm feeling toward yourself? I truly believe that’s all it takes (for sanity and
realistic expectations). A little warm feeling creates an atmosphere of acceptance, of allowing, of permitting. And within that
atmosphere there is a kind of encouragement for the goodness to grow: the goodness that is you, the goodness that is life in you,
the goodness of creation in you, God’s goodness in you.
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1Michael Casey, The Undivided Heart: The Western Monastic Approach to Contemplation
2 IBID
3 Panikkar, Raimundo; Blessed Simplicity; The Seabury Press, 1982, pp x – 36
4 Pratt, Lonni Collins and Homan, Daniel; Benedict’s Way; Loyola Press, 2000
5 Opincar, Abe; Fried Butter; Soho Press, Inc., 2003
6 Adapted from: Alternatives; To Celebrate: Reshaping Holidays and Rites of Passage, Ellenwood, Georgia, 1987
7 Dillard, Annie; Teaching a Stone to Talk; Harper and Row, 1982
© Copyright 2005 Toni Maddi, All Rights Reserved.
