March 9, 2008 Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley
Integrity of membership involves each member having a regular spiritual practice.
But what is a spiritual practice?
Are there spiritual practices for us spiritual doubters
and for us spiritual believers?
Spirit comes from the Latin spiritus for breath, to infuse with life.
A spiritual practice brings awareness of breath, of being present to life.
A spiritual practice is what can make you feel more alive.
Being aware and being present to whatever you're doing
goes a long way in making an activity a spiritual practice.
What's important is to try some practices
and find what works for you
and then commit to doing them regularly.
The great cellist Pablo Casals attained mastery
by practicing every day.
On the day he died, at the age of 96,
he had already put in several hours of practicing his scales.
What are the spiritual scales we practice
to become more adept at being alive?
When it comes to physical exercise, we make commitments
and then something comes along to interrupt our routine,
and our intentions flop down on the couch.
Something comes along like a job change, a new relationship,
the arrival of a baby, vacation, visitors, an extra meeting.
Sometimes the transition is illness or being physically
or emotionally exhausted.
We make commitments at New Year's
or maybe Lent, this current period in the Christian calendar,
when people use the forty days before Easter
to practice living a healthier life.
Or maybe each weekend, we make commitments
to exercise beginning Monday.
We make commitments; we fall out of practice;
we become couch potatoes.
We repeat this pattern over and over.
If life gets more stressful,
you have to work pretty hard to make it through the day.
It's hard to muster the energy to go for a walk or to the gym.
It's good to make a reasonable, yet firm commitment like
walk three times a week,
do a few minutes of stretching every weekday morning,
go to the gym twice a week.
As hard as it can be, many of you know
that when we stick with a plan,
it actually helps us through challenges and hard times.
In our spiritual lives we also have to a plan. If we don't, we can become... pew potatoes.
Exercising the body, the mind, and the spirit
is good for our health
and helps us through stressful and challenging times.
Often you hear spiritual practice
and what comes to mind is meditation and prayer.
Anne Lamott, the liberal Christian Bay Area writer,
says her basic three prayers are
"Help!"
"Thank You"
and "Wow!"
Now in her 50s, Anne Lamott says, she's gotten forgetful,
so she wears a bracelet with her own name on it.
You know the way memory goes, you lose nouns, names, first,
so her bracelet has her name.
On the other side of the bracelet she has etched "LGB."
My first thought was lesbian, gay, bisexual...
which actually helps me remember
L, G and B which for her are "love, gratitude and breath."
Anne Lamott prays to see love in all these people
everywhere around her,
half of whom annoy her to death.
When she is tense in traffic
or in an insanely, infuriating conversation
with her 16 year old son about the car,
she practices presence of breath.
Things become a lot more spacious and she behaves better.
A friend's practice is to wake up each morning,
thinking of what's before her in the day that only she can do.
She reminds herself that she wants to do it
in the most life-affirming way she can.
Isn't that great since intention is half the battle, if not all of it?
When you go in for a medical procedure or surgery,
wouldn't it be good to know your doctor awakened into the new day
remembering you and wanting to care for you
in the most life-affirming way?
Doesn't that sound like a good idea for police officers,
teachers, therapists, parents, neighbors,
just about everybody you can think of?
When you get in the car to drive the kids to school
or yourself to work or to church,
it's helpful to remember
to drive in the most life-affirming way you can.
You get the idea.
If you're like me, you're grateful for whenever you remember
to do whatever you do in life-affirming ways.
There's a traditional prayer from the Hebrew scriptures.
Let the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts
be acceptable in Thy sight.
I often think of it on Sunday mornings.
That too could be a prayer for teachers, for parents,
for anyone who speaks.
May our words and what we give our minds and hearts to
be worthy of our best, our deepest selves.
Since music can often take us where words can't,
let us receive that prayer as it sung for us.
[Soloist: Let the words of our mouths
and the meditation of our hearts
be acceptable in Thy sight. Amen.]
Inspiration comes from the same roots as spirit,
to breathe, to infuse with life.
A spiritual practice is quietly reading
passages which inspire you.
You might choose traditional spiritual texts
or the poems of Mary Oliver or Rumi.
In our communal spiritual practice, in Sunday services,
hearing the words sung or witnessing them embodied
can be life-giving.
Bobby McFerrin adapted the 23rd Psalm
and dedicated it to his mother.
The 23rd Psalm has been a comfort to many.
Here it is sung .
Journal writing can be a way to notice what gifts we have,
the green meadows, the still waters.
In journals we can draw or name
the dark and dreary landscapes of our souls,
speak to the longings of our hearts,
describe the path of goodness and kindness we want to follow.
We can write of what is deep and dear that sustains us.
A member of our congregation keeps a gratitude journal.
She makes a list each night of a few things for which she is grateful.
Because she doesn't want the list always to be always the same,
she goes through the day looking for sparkling moments.
Being on the look-out increases her having them.
Another practice is to invite someone to be your spiritual partner.
You go for a walk together or sit down with a cup of coffee.
You agree on an amount of time each will speak.
First one then the other speaks of your life,
what's challenging, what's working, for what are you longing.
The other listens with an open heart.
When you are the listener,
you listen as if precious gold was being given to you.
You listen without verbal comments.
You listen as if the message you need to hear is being offered to you.
After the first speaker's minutes are up,
You might sit silently, invite in grace, the unexpected surprising insight.
The speaker can see if one more thing arises to be said.
Then listener becomes speaker and speaker listener.
After each partner has had a turn in both roles,
You may decide to converse
about what the experience stirred in each of you.
Spiritual partnering can be a way
to be more in touch with your feelings,
more connected to another.
Meditation is another form of spiritual practice.
It takes practice to sit still and quiet.
Nearly all forms of meditation involve
paying attention to your breath.
Thoughts, emotions, sounds, sensations, whatever rises,
you let them come and let them go.
Always, gently, sweetly,
you bring your attention back to the breath.
Some forms of meditation and prayer give us practice
in offering ourselves and others compassionate attention.
I'd like to invite us to try one form
Unitarian Universalists can practice.
I'm grateful for your willingness to give this a try.
I encourage you to keep an open mind and heart.
This practice will have several parts.
In a minute, we'll get quiet.
Then after some quiet, we'll picture ourselves
and offer a prayer for ourselves.
Then we'll think of someone we love,
perhaps someone for whom we have a current concern.
We will offer a prayer for them.
Then we'll bring into our focus someone
who is a little more difficult for us.
We don't have to choose the people who are most difficult.
Perhaps it will be some one you feel a little distant from
or in some conflict with.
The last part of this practice will be hearing similar prayers sung.
Will you please get as comfortable as you can
sitting up in your seats,
probably with your feet flat on the floor?
You might want to close your eyes.
Breathe in and out, slowly and gently.
As you can bring quiet to your mind.
Find a stillness.
Picture yourself.
"May you be safe.
May you be well.
May you know peace.
May you know love."
As you picture yourself, may this wash over you:
"May you be safe.
May you be well.
May you know peace.
May you know love."
Now bring your attention back to your breath.
Allow the image of a person you know and love
to come into your consciousness.
As you picture this person, offer
"May you be safe.
May you be well.
May you know peace.
May you know love."
Again bring your attention back to your breath.
Let someone else come to your awareness,
perhaps someone you are upset with or distant from.
As you picture this person, offer as truly as you can:
"May you be safe.
May you be well.
May you know peace.
May you know love."
Continue to breathe in and out, slowly and gently
as a version of this prayer is sung.
[soloist sings Filled with Loving Kindness: I, You, We]
Now if you haven't already, let your eyes softly open.
Thank you for making the effort to try this practice
even if you didn't feel like it
or don't feel different having done it.
Each time you complete a spiritual practice,
appreciate yourself for doing so.
Practicing shows care not just for your own well being,
but for that of others and for all of life.
Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk,
said a powerful spiritual insight
came when he was standing on a corner in New York City.
Hundreds of people hurried past him.
He had a moment of realizing
he was connected to each and every one of them-
all members of the same human family,
living on the same fragile planet,
with all our frailties, all our glories.
Being together here in this congregation offers us the opportunity
to see our personal lives within a larger context.
Gathering for Sunday worship is a spiritual practice.
We glimpse our connections.
We hear our voices join with others.
We struggle with big questions, tap into wisdom.
We share the quiet.
We hear one another's sorrows and joys.
We look into one another's eyes and take one another's hands.
Our busy lives and busy minds rest awhile.
The fragments of ourselves begin to come together.
Moments of wholeness and holiness can help us through the week.
Nebraska writer Willa Cather believed the miracles of church
"rest not...on healing power coming
suddenly near to us from afar off,
but upon our perceptions being made finer,
so that for a moment our eyes can see
and our ears can hear
what is there about us always."
We practice on our own;
We practice together-
so we might see and hear and have more life.