SERMONS 

New Year

My name is Rebecca Lee and I am a member of the Worship Committee of this church. Our Interim Minister, Reverend Bill Metzger usually preaches 3 Sundays and month and we have guests in the pulpit the remaining time. Sometimes we invite well-known speakers and musicians and other times members of the congregation. So if today doesn’t work, blame Elizabeth Papousek – she asked me to speak today.

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for the past five years I have worked at the Rape and Sexual Abuse Center here in Nashville. It is work that is sad and challenging, but that is ultimately about transformation and healing – leaving behind the old, the no longer useful, and the painful, and reclaiming – or sometimes claiming for the first time – the new, the more useful, and the healthier and more joyful patterns of thought, feeling, and life.

It’s sort of like making New Years Resolutions every day of the year.

Older celebrations of the New Year weren’t even held this time of year – for most farming societies the New Year started most logically in the spring – with the planting of new crops. The ancient Babylonians did begin the custom of New Year’s resolutions; however, most of their resolutions involved returning farm equipment.

The Roman Senate first proclaimed that January 1st was the start of the new year – of what would become153 BC. But other Romans liked to play with the calendar too, so when Julius Caesar also declared that January 1st started the New Year 46 BC, he had to make the year 445 days long to reconcile the calendar with the seasons.

Later on, the Catholic Church, as usual, first opposed this celebration of the New Year as a pagan holiday. Later they claimed it for themselves and changed it to the feast of Christ’s Circumcision.

And I thought UU’s would celebrate anything.

It really wasn’t until Pope Gregory re-created the calendar yet again in 1582 that January 1st became the holiday celebrated by Western nations. And now we celebrate with champagne, fireworks, by looking backwards and looking forwards.

We have had good times and sad in this church this year We remember the Retreat and the Ice Cream Social, of dancing to IGOR and participating in Social Action events, from Death Penalty discussions to Pride marches. We remember the glorious music of the Blues Sunday, the Spiritual Sunday, and Jason’s Ordination. We remember the amazing speakers who have stood before us, including Reverend Bill Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Reverend Forrest Church, who raised the roof with his glorious oratory. We said goodbye to our beloved previous minister Mary Katherine Morn and her probing intellect and open heart. We greeted our sojourning interim minister Bill Metzger and his mystical humanism.

We created a parking lot where there was only gravel; we solved the mystery of the Morgan House mushrooms; and we went to an e-mail newsletter, whose archives reminded me of all these events. And we suffered an electronic crisis when our server went down!

Within the church, we elected a ministerial search committee, a new president of the congregation, Gail Sphar, and we created – or recreated – Wednesday night dinners, women’s groups, in-reach groups, senior’s brunch, and a new singing group, Nashville in Harmony. Our Youth got a new room to meet in – and hosted their first con in years. We sent delegates to General Assembly in Long Beach and to Mid-South District events. Our Pagan Women’s group organized the Fall WomenSpirit’s gathering at the Mountain for nearly a hundred UU women from across the South.

We were once again grateful for the efforts of the Safe Congregation Panel. We supported marriage equality, voter registrations, and relief for natural disasters. We raised $19,000 in a church auction – and didn’t need a mid-year budget correction for the first time in years. And I’m sure that for some of you, I left out your most memorial events!

We remember the events, we tell the stories – we celebrate the joys and support each other through the sorrows. We have lost members, family and friends to relocation, life changes and other factors, and to death. But we have also welcomed new members, family, and friends to our church. And we figure out – someway or somehow – a way to move on.

And this is half the message of the New Year: letting go of the old.

But letting go is only half the message. The other half is about how will we change our lives for the better.

It’s resolution time – and unless you’re Babylonian and have got some farm equipment you need to return, I’d like to make some suggestions coming from the work of Dr. Martin Seligman.

Dr. Seligman is a psychologist who developed the novel ideal of studying happy people. We know an awful lot about how people are dysfunctional but not a lot about how healthy people function – and are happy. And after interviews, questionnaires and research, he has named 24 character strengths that help people to be happy.

Now surely some of you out there are showing that healthy skepticism that lead us to this church – that attitude of “pul-eeze, do you want me to buy into this obviously New Age mystic claptrap?”

And some others might be thinking – “I want some spiritual meat or tofu here – not fluff. Happiness? Pie-in-the-sky moonbeam-giggly- happiness?”

And maybe, echoing that voice in my own head: how dare I talk about something a trivial as personal happiness when one week ago today over a hundred thousand people lost their lives in that tsunami? How could our happiness be mentioned in the same breath as their suffering?

These are good questions. I hope that this is a good answer.

Seligman’s work is about the attitude in which we approach life and in the ways in which we give it meaning – not about the latest gadget or the newest style or the latest comedy at the movies. Humor is important to happiness – but it is only one of the 24 character strengths that cover such areas as wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.

And those qualities are as important to us in our daily lives as they are to the survivors of that dreadful tsunami.

We hope that they have the courage to accomplish their goals in the face of overwhelming external threat – the valor, persistence, integrity, and vitality to tend to the living, bury their dead, and rebuild their homes and cities.

They hope that we will have the humanity – the love, kindness, and the emotional intelligence to send the massive rescue efforts they need and deserve. They hope our sense of justice – of our citizenship in the world, our sense of fairness and our leadership will reach from here to their side of the world.

They hope our wisdom and knowledge will blend and meld with theirs’ as we engage our creativity, open-mindedness, and perspective as together we rebuild not just villages and nations but hearts and minds in the wake of this disaster.

And we can hope that all involved display temperance, that protection against excess that comes from self-control, prudence, and humility.

And if our individual efforts seem paltry in the aftermath, I offer you these words from Dr. Charlie Clement, President of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee: “ It is important to believe that you can make a difference. History is seldom made by individuals but rather by the sum of their responses in any situation. Your contribution no matter how small, in the face of the massive needs can make a difference. The gross national income of Americans is $37,810 compared to $530 in India and $930 in Sri Lanka. So a $100 contribution can be either a fifth or a tenth of a family’s annual income… Don’t feel badly if this is a difficult time to be as generous as you would like. The danger begins again for survivors when the media’s attention and the international response diminish. A larger tragedy can ensue when survivors are stalked by disease because aid agencies leave before public health infrastructure has been sufficiently rebuilt. Your support in a few weeks or a few months will be as important as immediate contributions… In a time such as this I find it helpful to keep in mind some words from the Talmud:

‘Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief.
Do justly, now.
Love mercy, now
Walk humbly, now.
You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.’”

I believe that the Talmud is speaking here of the quality of transcendence – of our connection to the larger universe, where we appreciate others and are grateful for their efforts. Where we, despite it all, maintain some sort of spirituality and hope for the universe.

So these character strengths that make up the qualities of wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence are not just about finding only happiness, they’re about finding meaning and purpose in life. About stretching our humanity to its most glorious while coping with tragedy and despair. This is the true sweetness of life.

In fact, most of these character strengths are embodied in our Seven Principals – the inherent worth and dignity of everyone, our quest for justice, our attitude of acceptance, our curiosity about the search for truth and meaning, our commitment to follow our conscience in seeking peace, liberty and justice for all while recognizing the connections between us. The character strengths even embrace using the democratic process in all our decision-making -- but this is where I find a sense of humor is essential -- in both congregational meetings – and in elections.

Us therapist types know we’re doing good if we introduce new thoughts to the people we’re working with. If we can get them to make a verbal commitment to those new thoughts, we’re doing better. And if we can get them to act on those new thoughts – we’ve hit a home run out of the ballpark. Some times the Red Socks even win the series.

So in a moment, I’m going to ask you to participate in a ritual of letting go of the old and of accepting the sweetness promised in the New Year.

I’d like all of you to come forward, row by row, and take a stone, say to yourself what it is you’d like to let go of – and let it sink into this bowl of water. Like casting your stones into the ocean, let the water take these thoughts and feelings and deeds from your life.

And then let us also accept the sweetness of the new and all its possibilities as our strengths and principals guide us. Let us embrace the work that is to come, the new life, the new challenges -- and accept a gift of chocolate, symbolizing not only the sweetness of the new year, but also the meaning and purpose with which we approach our lives. With which we build our true happiness -- and our world.