Bloom Where You Are Planted

Once my daughter Sally and her friend Molly were approached by a street corner evangelist intent on their conversion. The two were just teenagers at the time. At some point in the conversation the evangelist asked them, “Where do you go to church?” and Sally and Molly replied, “The Unitarian Universalist church.” After a long pause the evangelist said, “Well, you can find Jesus there too if you look hard enough.” 

I rate this as a fairly benevolent encounter. But this morning I want to ask the question, “Have you ever had a bad encounter with an evangelist; someone who was very aggressive about trying to convert you to their religion? Someone who gave you the hard sell, who acted like they had everything to teach and nothing to learn from you?  I think most of us have. 

Mahatma Gandhi, was a Hindu who was critical of the Christian missionaries in India who could be very aggressive, overbearing and insensitive. In their hands religion could become just another form of Western Imperialism. For this reason, he advocated for a different approach to sharing one’s faith. He wrote that we should try to spread our religion not so much through our preaching and our proselytizing or our pressure tactics. Instead we should spread our religion the way a flower spreads its scent. 

Just as a flower draws people irresistibly to itself, the way we live our lives will always speak more eloquently than anything we can ever say with our lips. As Mother Theresa once said, “At all times preach the gospel, if necessary use words.”  Language can be an obstacle when trying to talk about religion. As the Tao te Ching says, “Those who know don’t say. Those who say don’t know,” words that are very humbling for preachers to hear. 

On the Saturday before Easter Doris Gove led a church hike on the River Bluff trail in Norris which is known for its wildflowers. We got there early before the parking lot was full. People come from miles around just to see the wildflowers. 

It is always good to go on a hike with Doris because she knows all the names of the flowers – trillium, dog hobble, trout lily, wild oat, mayapple, phacelia, Solomon’s Seal, bishop’s cap, fiddlehead ferns, dutchman’s breeches and more. Now this time of year each one of these flowers becomes a kind of celebrity and hiking groups become the paparazzi. Everyone is taking pictures of wildflowers with their cell phones.

During our hike we would periodically stop to enjoy the fragrance of a flower or plant. As Gandhi wrote, “We will all admit that the real proof of the truth of a religion is the fragrance of real spirituality, love, joy, peace, that may emanate from those who hold to that religion. And without that our creeds and professions and preaching of it, even our worship and prayers, will not lead anyone to see…” For this reason Gandhi told people, “A life of service and uttermost simplicity is the best preaching.” 

Gandhi was Hindu but he was influenced by the religion known as Jainism. If you ask someone from the Jain tradition, “Do you believe in God?” that person might answer, “Yes” or they might answer, “No.” Either way they will follow up with a clarifying statement that might read this way,  “We do not believe in an external God.  Instead we contemplate that principle of physics that  ‘energy cannot be created or destroyed’ and we aspire to align with that energy. We do not believe in any external authority, divine or human, that demands perfection of us. Our goal is growth. We believe in a power within ourselves, an unfolding life within us.” In this way the religion of Jainism aligns with the gospel of Luke, “The Kingdom of God is within us.”  The secret is to align ourselves with a Larger Life inside us that is unfolding like a flower.

Earlier we held our child dedication ceremony; a tradition grounded in the power of the inner life. In the 19th century Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing once said, “The great end of religious instruction is not to stamp our minds upon the young, but to stir up their own…not to impose religion upon them…but to awaken the conscience…to awaken the soul.” To awaken the inner life. 

One of the more interesting saints in the Catholic Church tradition is Saint Therese of Lisieux, who was known as “The Little Flower.” She did not live a long life. She did not accomplish very much in the ways that the world measures such things. Her power was not in her resume. And yet in her comparatively brief life she made a difference. When she was canonized the church statement read, “She did ordinary things with extraordinary love.” 

Saint Therese once said, “If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose then spring would lose its loveliness.” The life that unfolds in each one of us unfolds in different ways. In some of us it may unfold as a rose and in others it may unfold as crested dwarf iris and still others as a trout lily. There are as many different varieties of spirituality as there are wildflowers. Once we discover this power in our inward lives it unfolds naturally. We find Unity in Diversity. We become like many different flowers of one garden.In this sense, bad evangelism is when a rose tries to convert everyone else into being a rose. Such an impulse is at odds with the color and variety of spring. 

A week ago many of us volunteered to help with Family Promise, helping to turn our church building into a home for families who would otherwise go homeless. This work included shopping for supplies, cooking meals, washing dishes, setting up tables, blowing up air mattresses, being available for questions or just to listen. Ordinary things grounded in extraordinary love. This past week we had church volunteers organizing for a Justice Knox Rally, working for systemic change to end homelessness, improve our schools, reduce violence in our community and create better public transportation options. This work includes making phone calls, sending emails, recruiting volunteers, organizing house meetings and negotiations with local government leaders. Ordinary activities done with extraordinary love. All of this work and every other form of the volunteer work of the church is an expression of the life within us unfolding as naturally as the wildflowers in spring. A life of simplicity and service is our best preaching.

When I was a senior in high school I had a job delivering flowers, which is one of the best jobs a teenager can have, because everyone is happy to see the flower delivery person. When you walk into a room carrying flowers everyone lights up. Everyone is glad to see you, the mood of the office building is transformed in an almost miraculous way.  

In the sixties the hippies spoke of “flower power” but the idea is older than that. The scriptures tell us, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” These are the words of Jesus. So the street corner evangelist was right. You can find Jesus here too if you look hard enough.

This week I was hiking on the Big Creek trail, mindful of the fact I have three memorial services to do in the next two weeks, one for an old friend Bill Dockery and two for people who died way too young, Tony Webb and Alanna Gray. And there was a moment on that hiking trail when looking  at those wildflowers I was overcome with emotion. I was overcome with the power, the brevity and the beauty of life. 

The flowers on the Big Creek trail do not need evangelists. The wildflowers do not require missionaries going door to door. And at our best our church spreads our message like a flower shares its fragrance – the fragrance of love, joy, peace, serenity and goodwill. And if we do our job right everyone around us will light up when we walk into a room and the atmosphere of our world will be completely transformed. May it be so. 

(This sermon was given by the Reverend Chris Buice at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday, April 16, 2024 for the annual Flower Communion service.)

Miracles for Doubters

Once an atheist bought an Ancient Middle Eastern oil lamp at an antique store. He took it home, and began to polish it. Suddenly, a genie appeared and said, “I’ll grant you three wishes.” The atheist said, “I wish I could believe in genies.” The genie snapped his fingers, and suddenly the atheist believed. The atheist said, “Wow. I wish everyone believed in genies.” The genie snapped his fingers again, and suddenly everyone all over the world believed. “What about your third wish?” asked the genie. “Well,” said the atheist, “I wish for a billion dollars.” The genie snapped his fingers again, but nothing happened. “What’s wrong?” asked the atheist. The genie shrugged and said, “Just because everyone believes in me, doesn’t necessarily mean that I really exist.” 

So here we are in a Unitarian Universalist Church on Easter Sunday. Easter is a holy day that invites us to contemplate the miraculous. And yet there is a strand in our faith tradition that remains skeptical in the midst of all the festivities of this day. There is a part of our tradition that acknowledges, “Just because everyone believes in something does not necessarily mean it is true.” 

For this reason my favorite disciple is Thomas. In the gospel according to John the story is told that when the other disciples informed Thomas that Jesus had risen from the dead he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side where he was wounded, I will not believe.” 

Some biblical commentators are critical of Thomas. He is often lifted up as a bad example, as someone who lacked faith. And yet compared to some of the other disciples I think Thomas comes off looking pretty good. Thomas did not betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Judas did. Thomas did not deny Jesus three times. Peter did. All Thomas did was show a measure of very understandable skepticism. 

Some religious leaders condemn all skeptics by calling them doubting Thomases. And yet everytime I hear that term “Doubting Thomas”, I am reminded of the words written by the Unitarian Universalist minister Robert Weston, “Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the attendant of truth…A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompleteness and imperfection in every belief…Let no one fear the truth, that doubt may consume it; for doubt is a testing of belief.The truth stands boldly and unafraid; it is not shaken by the testing: For truth, if it be truth, arises from each testing stronger, more secure.” 

And this leads us back to the gospel according to John. It is said that a week after Thomas expressed his doubts he saw Jesus with his own eyes and heard him speak with his own ears saying, “Peace be with you.” Then Jesus continued, ““Put your finger here; see the wounds in my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into the scar on my side. Stop doubting and believe.” In other words, Jesus was not shaken by testing. 

Now based on this statement alone we might justifiable conclude that Jesus is what seminary professors call an empirical theologian. An empirical theologian is someone who contends that all of our knowledge about matters of religion must be based on our own experiences. All theological concepts, all religious beliefs, all doctrines and dogmas must be confirmed by our own observation and our own experimentation.  It will probably surprise no one that the founder of empirical theology was the Unitarian theologian Henry Nelson Wieman. So when Jesus said, “Put your finger here” he was inviting Thomas to practice empirical theology. A faith strengthened by testing. 

This reminds me of the Indian folktale of the blind men and the elephant which is part of the Hindu tradition.  In the traditional story a group of blind men who had never encountered an elephant walked into town and asked to be directed toward that creature. The first one grabbed the elephant by the trunk and said, “So this is what an elephant is like. An elephant is like a hose.” Another held the elephant by the ear and said, “No, you’re wrong! An elephant is thin like a piece of paper.” Still another had the elephant by the tusk and said, “You’re both wrong. An elephant is sharp like a spear.” Yet another had the elephant by the leg and said, “An elephant is thick like a tree trunk.” Another who had the elephant by the tail said, “An elephant is like a piece of rope.” And the one who had the elephant by the sides said, “An elephant is like a strong wall.”  And in the Unitarian Universalist Church I add an extra blind man who is standing far away from everyone else waving his hands in the air saying, “I don’t feel anything at all!! I don’t know what any of you are talking about!!” The story reminds us that each one of us has a part of the truth. None of us has the whole truth. And all of us belong to each other. 

In the Unitarian Universalist Church we sometimes say, “We believe in the religion of Jesus not the religion about Jesus.” When it comes to theology we have always been more interested in the practical than the abstract or the metaphysical. During the civil rights movement of the 1960’s in Birmingham, Alabama, protesters were invited to sign the following pledge, sometimes called the 10 commandments. This statement can be seen as a simple description of the religion of Jesus. 

1. MEDITATE daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.
2. REMEMBER always that the nonviolent movemen seeks justice and reconciliation – not victory.
3. WALK and TALK in the manner of love, for God is love.
4. PRAY daily to be used by God in order that all might be free.
5. SACRIFICE personal wishes in order that all might be free.
6. OBSERVE with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. SEEK to perform regular service for others and for the world.
8. REFRAIN from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
9. STRIVE to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. FOLLOW the directions of the movement and the captain on a demonstration.

I have always found this simple statement more powerful than the Nicene Creed or the Apostle Creed or any other creeds of the church. It is succinct and practical. It is not about “what we believe.” It is about “how we should live.” And on this day when Easter Sunday overlaps Transgender Day of Visibility I am reminded that these 10 principles have been adopted by the organization Soul Force to work for the freedom of all people of every gender identity and every sexual orientation. The freedom movement continues. 

A friend once told me that he drove by a Unitarian Universalist church on Easter week which had a sign out front that read, “You can’t keep a good man down.” And I mention this sign because one of the primary leaders of the civil rights movement in Birmingham in the 1960’s was the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth who had the qualities of both an irresistible force and an immovable object. Shuttlesworth was unstoppable. He would literally get beaten down on the ground, get back up and continue marching. He was fearless. 

The Reverend Gordon Gibson tells the story of when a more cautious minister advised Shuttlesworth to cancel a civil rights meeting so things could cool down saying, “The Lord told me to tell you to call the meeting off,” and Shuttlesworth replied, “When did the Lord start sending my messages through you? You go back and tell the Lord that ….I will call it off is if he comes down and tells me himself. And tell him to be sure to have the identifying marks of the nails in his hands and the spear marks in his side! Otherwise, I ain’t gon’ call it off.”

One night Shuttleworth’s house was bombed, and the entire structure of the building collapsed. His home was in ruins. One of the neighborhood children who witnessed the bombing would later say as an adult, “If we had seen Jesus walk on the water it wouldn’t have been any more miraculous than when we saw Fred Shuttlesworth walk out of his house that night.” Not only Shuttlesworth but his whole family emerged from that crater that was intended to be their grave. 

So here we are in a Unitarian Universalist Church on Easter Sunday. Easter is a day when we are invited to contemplate the miraculous. Life from death. Joy from sorrow. Celebration from mourning. And we have reason to be skeptical because we know from the history of the civil rights movement that not everyone walks out of every bombed building. And we know this from current events in Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, and other violent parts of our world. And we have experienced violence in our own community and even in this room. We all have reason to feel doubtful. 

And yet … we all want to believe in hope. Everyone does. Of course, just because everyone wants to believe in something does not necessarily make it true. However, if  you ever ask me the question on Easter Sunday, “Do you believe in resurrection?” I will say, “Yes,” and one of the reasons I believe is because I’ve met Fred Shuttlesworth. He is no longer living. He died when he was 89 years old. He lived a brave life and died of old age. Shuttlesworth came through town on a speaking tour over a decade ago. I got to meet him face to face. I got to see him with my own eyes. I got to hear his preaching with my own ears. I got to shake his hand and talk with him after the service. And that encounter, however small on a global scale, gives me hope. That moment continues to remind me that the meaning of life is found in moments of unimaginable courage and unbelievable bravery. Just because everyone wants to believe something does not necessarily make it true BUT when we see courage with our own eyes. When we hear bravery with our own ears. When we feel resilience in our own bodies then we all have an opportunity to say. “We believe in resurrection.” Happy Easter everyone!

(The Reverend Chris Buice gave this sermon at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday, March 31, 2024) 

Intentionally Difficult: The Spirituality of Ella Baker

Once a preacher said to his congregation, “A good minister is like a clear pane of glass through which the light shines – but all too often I feel like I am mere wax paper, a poor substitute for that clear pane of glass.” After the service a woman approached the preacher and said, “Pastor, you’re not wax paper. You’re a real pane.” 

This morning in the midst of Women’s History Month I wanted to take the opportunity to speak about the spirituality of Ella Baker who knew how to be a real pain in order to advance a good cause. Ella Baker would have agreed with the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, “Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder or lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.”

Ella Baker knew how to plow the ground. She knew how to be thunder and lightning. She knew how to roar. Barbara Ransby wrote a book – Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement where she described Baker in this way, “She was deliberately ‘difficult.’ That is, she did not ingratiate herself with those in high positions, and she did not hesitate to speak her own mind even when her ideas were controversial… She gave concrete meaning to the slogan – speak truth to power.” 

Baker was a leader in the civil rights movement that was often dominated by men. In the 1940’s she was a field organizer for the NAACP. In 1957 she became the first executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Wherever she worked she was known to be challenging. It has been said that a prophet is someone who can “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Ella Baker was someone who could be a prophet to the prophets. 

Once again her biographer wrote, “She was not the kind of person that made a special effort to be ingratiating. She was well aware…that her forthrightness in the face of authority carried a certain price…but it was a price she was willing to pay in order to think and act according to her conscience.” 

The civil rights movement was grounded in the work of churches that often had very limited visions for the role of women. Often women were expected to be quiet, supportive helpmates, demur and deferential. In contrast Ella declared.  “I did not hesitate in voicing my opinion and…it was not a comforting sort of presence that I presented.” Of course, she also had a soft side. As her co-workers testified she could argue passionately with you one day and then cross the street to give you a hug the next day. 

Baker had no trouble ignoring the advice of the apostle Paul who wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, “Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak.” Ella Baker preferred the sentiment found in the book of Proverbs, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” 

There is a preacher running for governor in our neighboring state of North Carolina who shows that sexism in the church is still a phenomena. He declared in one of his sermons, “When God wanted to defeat Goliath he sent David not Danielle.” Such a preacher would never hire someone like Ella Baker to be on his staff.. 

Ella Baker refused to cooperate with anyone who wanted to treat her like a 2nd class citizen. She stood up for herself to bus drivers, railway conductors, segregationist politicians, sheriffs and to civil rights leaders. She had a gift for challenging authority without feeling particularly penitent about it. Her mom told her to, “Always walk into a room like you belong,’ and she followed her mama’s advice. Her very presence commanded attention. 

Ella Baker’s community organizing techniques bear some similarity to the ones used by Justice Knox, an organization of congregations that includes our church. The goal was always grassroots organizing for systemic change – change from the ‘bottom up” not the “top down.”  In other ways Ella Baker presaged the Black Lives Matter movement’s critique of “respectability politics.” She did not feel that activists needed to conform to society’s ideas about “respectable behavior.” She rejected the idea that oppressed peoples need to prove they are worthy, worthy of respect, worthy of citizenship, worthy of equal opportunities. She felt that “respectability politics” dulled the edge of radical action.

Also, presaging the Black Lives Matter movement her sympathies were with the younger activists who were willing to take more risks than their elders. In that spirit she helped to organize the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960 and played a very influential role in helping to craft the methods and strategies to advance the work. 

She often said, “Give people light and they will find the way.” She was not a speech maker or a grandstander. She did not welcome or seek publicity for herself.  Instead she focused on giving people the education, information and organizing skills that allowed people to lead themselves. She wanted to help ordinary people feel like they could make an extraordinary difference. She told one interviewer, “You didn’t see me on television, you didn’t see news stories about me…My theory is, strong people don’t need strong leaders” 

Her work followed a certain pattern. She would enter into a community and listen. Her goal was to cultivate local leaders so that people would not continue to look to her for guidance. The goal was to work herself out of a job. Enter the community, empower the community, leave the community. Giving people light and they will find the way. 

In our culture that so often focuses on self-help and individual personal growth Ella Baker proclaimed, “Lift as you rise.” Help yourself certainly. Aspire to personal growth, yes. Aim to be a better person, yes. But we must lift others as we rise.

Ella Baker died in 1987 but her memory continues to inspire activists everywhere. She once described her own life mission with these words, “Until the killing of black mother’s sons is as important as the killing of white mother’s sons, we who believe in freedom cannot rest.” Words that have been set to music by Sweet Honey on the Rock to inspire a new generation of activists, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest.” 

I also believe her spirit can continue to inform our own lives and help us reflect on our own work. For instance, one of the reasons I admire Ella Baker is that she is so very different from myself. She challenges my natural orientation. Many years ago I took that personality test known as the Enneagram and learned that I have that personality type known as “The Peacemaker.”  This could explain why I have had a lifelong affinity for studying the lives of peacemakers – Jane Adams, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa. 

According to a popular book (Personality Types; Using the Enneagram for Self Discovery by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson.) people with my personality type make good mediators in a dispute. We are able to help people find common ground. We work to create a peaceful harmonious environment. At our best we are able to work for peace in the world because we are at peace with ourselves. We love to commune with nature. We are able to be compassionate toward those who are abrasive. We can maintain calm in a crisis. These are the qualities that stood out when I read that book 20 years ago. 

Today, when I reread the book it is the downside of this personality type that stands out.  Peacemakers can lose touch with ourselves, subordinating ourselves to roles and social conventions. We can repress our own opinions. We can have a tendency toward self deprecation and self effacement. We can become good at compartmentalizing, shutting down personal feelings, while focusing on the good of the whole. We can try to appease and accommodate others. We are flexible and adaptable but we pay a price for it. We can repress emotion to maintain self control, subordinate feelings to keep the peace. Which is to say, that people with my personality type have a lot to learn from Ella Baker. 

Next week our congregation will be hosting the KICMA Good Friday service at noon on March 29. On Good Friday we remember that Jesus did not get crucified for being a peacemaker. He got crucified for being a troublemaker, for turning over tables in the temple, for the politics of disruption. So it is appropriate that we commemorate Good Friday with our friends in the black church, the church that gave birth to the civil rights movement, the church that reminds us that we all need to be willing to get into Good Trouble. 

Similarly, Ella Baker’s trouble making style challenges our church history. You may not know this but one of the reasons our church decided to locate on Kingston Pike in the 1950’s is because of the “respectability factor.” Any church located on this street has a certain cache in the community. We wanted to be front and center, not sidelined. And to our credit we have been able to leverage this respectability to advance the cause of social justice. 

Our work to desegregate our community and advance civil rights has been a form of “respectability politics.” Our work to advance women’s rights and LGBTQIA has been effective in part because of our ability to leverage respectability. And yet we live in an age when respectability politics is falling out of fashion. Many see respectability politics as dulling the edge of radical change, diluting the potential for truly transformative social action. Which is to say, we may all have something to learn from Ella Baker. She was 83 years old when she died and now she is one of our ancestors, however, her approach to activism still feels very young. 

And so in conclusion, Carl Jung once said, “The rules that got you through the first half of life will destroy you in the second half of life.” And as I enter more deeply into the second half of my life I am open to being a little less of a peace maker and a little more of a pain. And as our congregation celebrates its 75th anniversary we have the opportunity to become a little less respectable and a little more aligned with young, the new generation of leaders. The average age of the churches on Kingston Pike, like the average age of members of Congress, and the average age of the Senate and the average age of presidential candidates is edging upward. Politically our age has been described as a gerontocracy. So we have an opportunity to change. As individuals we must grow old. We have no choice about that. But the church must always be young. We have an opportunity to be that clean pane of glass through which the light shines, illuminated people of all ages. We have the opportunity to lift others as we rise. We have the opportunity to give people light so that we will all find our way.

(This sermon was given at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church by the Reverend Chris Buice on Sunday March 24, 2024.)
 

Shopkeeper’s Religion: The Perils of Transactional Relationships

During the days of the Great Recession when young activists were leading the Occupy Wall Street movement there was a joke circulating. It seems Saint Peter was standing before the pearly gates greeting new arrivals when a group of Wall Street executives approached him. He had never seen anyone from Wall Street in heaven before so Saint Peter went to ask God what to do. And God said to Saint Peter, “Let them in.” Saint Peter left God’s presence to do his will but he came back a few minutes later and said, “They’re gone!” God said, “Who’s gone, the people from Wall Street?” Saint Peter replied, “No, the pearly gates.” 

This morning I want to talk about the intersection of religion and the marketplace, ethics and the economy. To borrow some language from our Unitarian and  Universalist forebears who were part of the Transcendentalist movement, I want to speak about the difference between the transcendental and the transactional. 

I was once talking to a real estate agent who said to me, perhaps in the spirit of confession, “Chris, I am really a Unitarian but I go to the Episcopal Church because that’s where I can make the best real estate deals.” Now, before I say anything more, I should mention that my father, my brother and my uncle are all Episcopal ministers so I know a lot of people go to the Episcopal Church for all the right reasons. And yet there are also those people who go to church of all denominations for more transactional reasons. I’ve met many people who go to church for mass and I’ve known others who go for marketing. 

The apostle Paul declared, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” And Jesus taught, “No one can serve two masters, Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” These verses are in the Bible but you will not hear them quoted at the Chamber of Commerce or many prayer breakfasts often. 

These teachings seem unambiguously clear, And yet American religion exists within a fast paced market driven economy. And while we might hope that religion would influence the marketplace, it is often the other way around. It is the marketplace that influences religion. 

Sometimes it feels like America has just enough religion to lubricate the wheels of capitalism. Not enough religion to provide universal healthcare to everyone. Not enough religion to provide food for everyone who is hungry. Not enough religion to provide a living wage for everyone working full time. But just enough religion to facilitate business deals. Just enough religion to make a market economy possible. 

Joseph Campbell, who has done so much to educate the world about the power of myth, once wrote, “You can tell what’s informing a society by what the tallest building is. When you approach a medieval town, the cathedral is the tallest thing in the place. When you approach an eighteenth-century town, it is the political palace that’s the tallest thing in the place. And when you approach a modern city, the tallest places are the office buildings, the centers of economic life.” Today the spires of the churches are overshadowed by the banks and the corporate headquarters. 

Now this is a dynamic that none of us can escape. Most of us work in office buildings. Most of us do business with banks. Many of us shop in stores that are corporately owned and operated. So we all live in this market economy. None of us can escape its influence. However the challenge is to find a way so that our spirituality shapes the economy more than the economy shapes our spirituality. For as the gospels tell us, “What does it profit us, if we gain the whole world but lose our own soul?” 

In early 20th century China there was a term for people who converted to Christianity for economic reasons. Such converts were called “rice Christians.” The purpose of conversion was to gain physical food to end physical hunger (not spiritual food or to address spiritual hunger.)  A similar dynamic has been at work in other colonized nations. Some have been willing to convert in order to have better job opportunities, to live in better neighborhoods, to have access to the right networking opportunities, to get in good with the dominant culture. 

Of course, human beings are economic creatures. And we do have a responsibility to provide food for our family, shelter, clothing and other economic necessities. So the dire economic situation that might drive someone to become a “rice Christian” is something we can all empathize with, especially if we have ever gone through a period of our lives experiencing hunger. That’s why we have a Free Food Pantry at our church. People who take food from our pantry do not have to convert to our religion. People who accept our hospitality can also keep their integrity. 

A market economy places its emphasis on transactional relationships and here the emphasis is on 

• Quid pro quo
• Getting something more for something less
• Self-serving goals
• Prioritizing money and status over building relationships
• Every relationship becomes a business deal. 
• There is a lack of emotional connection

Once again, all of us are involved in transactional relationships in our economic lives. Everytime we go to the store or eat in a restaurant or use an ATM or insert a credit card. We all participate in the market economy. However, the goal is not to gain the whole world and lose our own soul. The goal is to meet market force with soul force. 

For the goal of all the great world religions is authentic relationships. In order to enter into an authentic relationship we have to let go of tendencies to be transactional. The emphasis in authentic relationships is on, 

• Love
• Kindness
• Compassion
• Empathy
• Intimacy
• Emotional connection
• Trust 
• Mutual respect

We live in a world where the transactional language of business can spill into our more intimate relationships, our families, our neighborhoods, our houses of faith. So much so that Forbes magazine, a pro-business journal, polled its readers with the question, “What business jargon do you hate the most?” I asked the same question on our Facebook Members and Friends page and I got over 100 responses and many of those responses contained multiple words. So here are some of the most despised examples of business jargon according to Forbes magazine and our church’s social media. 

• thinking outside the box
• Downsizing or rightsizing or any other covert way of saying that company is firing people.
• Human capital
• Synergy
• Empower
• Let’s put a pin in it
• Take it to the next level
• Alignment 
• Pivot
• Low hanging fruit
• Deep dive
• Monetize
• Paradigm shift

I am going to stop right there because I got way too many answers to that question. And my guess is that we have all been guilty of using some of these phrases. One of the most despised phrases is “lean in” and I have to say that I went through a phase of my life where I really leaned into leaning in. The negative reaction to business jargon can be so intense that you can actually buy a computer program that will help you eliminate all business jargon from your emails. (So eliminating business jargon is actually a business. They’ve found a way to monetize it.) Another troubling insight for many of us is that business studies confirm that people have a strong negative reactivity to all acronyms whether it be CYA or TYT and I believe that should concern all of us here at TVUUC. 

One of the big problems is when the language of transactional relationships invades the arena of authentic relationships. Corporate CEO’s love the mantra “Move fast and break things.” Try that in your marriage or intimate relationship and see how well it works. Edgy entrepreneurs encourage us to take risks with the mantra “Fail faster.” Try that in your parenting or at a family reunion and see how well that turns out. Indeed we see the “Move fast and break things” and “Fail faster” approaches at work with Russian and the Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, with such destructive and long lasting results. 

Another thing we need to remember is that use of business jargon in religious spaces is especially offensive to young adults. The Reverend Jesse Jackson once said, “People used to rob banks. Now the banks rob us.” When I graduated from college I did so debt free. Today, the average student loan debt is $30,000. Many young adults have been on the bad end of some societal business deals. Young adults want a church that can critique the culture and not mindlessly conform to the culture. 

Another way the market economy influences congregations is that it can transform religion into just another consumer product. A Presbyterian friend told me the story of a man who approached his minister after the service and said, “I really did not like today’s service. The readings were dry and the hymns were boring,” and the minister replied, “That’s okay we weren’t worshiping you.” 

A minister can tell that story because when we are off duty we are the worst critics of worship services led by other people. It can be hard to turn off the voice of the “inner critic.” However, I believe we come to church to participate in Something Bigger Than Ourselves, Something that Transcends Ourselves. We are not here to be passive consumers of a product. We are here to be co-creators of the Beloved Community. 

The Hindu leader Vivekanada was often a guest speaker in Unitarian churches in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was a critic of what he called “shopkeepers’ religion.” He said of the missionaries in India, “They were always begging of God – ‘O God, give me this and give me that; O God do this and do that.” In other words prayers were not worship. Prayers were a form of haggling. Prayers were an attempt to strike a bargain with God. The goal of prayer had become transactional not transcendental. 

We began this sermon with the story of some Wall Street executives at the pearly gates. And I am reminded that the wisdom of the Universalist tradition holds out the hope that All Souls will be reconciled with each other and the divine in heaven. The goal of the universe is not rejection or retribution. The goal of the universe is redemption and reconciliation. And yet as the social gospel reminds, “We must never become so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.” Our goal must be to keep the faith without losing the pearly gates. To gain the world without losing our own soul. 

For if we speak with the tongues of executives and CEOS but do not have love we are but a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If we have a vision and mission and strategic plans to move mountains but do not have love, we are nothing. And if we raise so much money in our stewardship drive that we are the envy of every other congregation on Kingston Pike (and we hope we will) but do not have love, we gain nothing. 

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never fails. Love never ends. So may it be. 

(This sermon was given by Rev. Chris Buice on Sunday March 3, 2024 at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.) 

It’s a Sin to Call Someone a Sinner

Many years ago when I told my neighbor Jeff Walbruch that I was thinking about going into the ministry he said, “I thought about going into the ministry but then I realized that if you want to reach the real sinners in the world you won’t find them in the church. If you want to reach the real sinners you have to go out into the world to find them,” and I said, “Jeff, you have obviously never been to my church.” 

In the Unitarian Universalist Church we do not place as much emphasis on “sin” as some other denominations including my friend Jeff’s. Even so the topic does come up periodically. I remember when the Reverend Peter Sampson was a minister of this church he told the story of a young minister fresh out of seminary who preached a sermon about sin to his new congregation. After the service an elderly woman approached the young minister and said, “Son, you haven’t lived long enough to have sinned enough to have repented enough to have been forgiven enough to talk to this congregation about sin.” 

This morning I am going to take a similar risk as that young minister and talk to you about sin even though some people in this room may not feel that I have enough experience to be an authority on the subject. 

In the Bible Belt, here in the South,  the word “sin” has been overused to the point of trivialization. I had a summer camp counselor who thought that comic books were sinful, listening to rock n’ roll was sinful, dancing was sinful, co-ed swimming classes were sinful and to ask too many questions during his Bible study was a sin. In other words, so many things were sinful, that it became hard for me to take the word “sin” very seriously. 

The educator activist Nicholas Ferroni spoke to this dilemma when he wrote, ““I was born a sinner. My sin is mentioned in the Bible 25 times. I tried to change but I couldn’t. Luckily society has learned to accept left handed people.” My brother Bill was left handed and throughout elementary school was forced to write with his right hand. The prejudice against left handed people was (and possibly still is) a real thing. 

So the word “sin” can be abused. Indeed, in the Bible Belt the words “sin” and “sinner” are often used as a form of gaslighting. In this circumstance gaslighting involves accusing someone of something and then putting the burden of proof on them to prove otherwise. If I say to you, “You are a miserable sinner” putting the burden of proof on you to prove otherwise – that’s gaslighting. If I tell you, “You are going to hell” putting the burden on you to prove your own innocence – that’s gaslighting. This kind of treatment is gaslighting because it can make us doubt our own sanity, second guess our own perceptions and leave us feeling like we are on the wrong side of every argument. Instead of being innocent until proven guilty gaslighting makes us feel guilty until proven innocent. 

The word “sin” is problematic for many reasons partly because there are many different definitions of the word. I once heard a counselor make a distinction between guilt and shame. She said, when we feel guilty we say, “I made a mistake.” When we feel shame we say, “I am a mistake.” 

So there are two different ideas about sin that correlated with these ideas about shame and guilt. One definition of the Hebrew word for sin is “to miss the mark” like an archer who does not quite hit the target. To miss the mark is to fall short of the goal. If we accept this definition of sin then we will say, “I made a mistake.” 

Another definition of sin is offered by John Calvin who once proclaimed that “Human beings are so poisoned by sin that all we can let off is a noxious stench.” That’s a pretty low view of human nature. Sin is not just something we do, it’s who we are. If we accept this definition of sin then we will say, “I am a  mistake.” 

Of course, in the Unitarian Universalist Church we have a higher view of human nature. Our forebears liked to quote the scriptures from the book of Hebrews where the biblical writer speaks to the Almighty saying, 

“What are humans that you are mindful of them

    or mortals that you care for them?

 You have made them a little lower than the angels;

    you have crowned them with glory and honor.”

This is the high view of human nature. When we hold this view we understand why Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” All too often religion can feel like we are giving our consent to feeling inferior, we are giving our consent to feeling like we are a mistake. 

In the South it sometimes feels like the separation of church and state does not exist or is not respected by elected leaders. And so  the church and state align to make people feel inferior. In our day and age we see church and state aligning to make women feel inferior, gay people feel inferior, transgender people feel inferior, people of color feel inferior. Anyone who is a little bit different is made to feel inferior. Every day many churches give aid and comfort to our elected leaders who pass laws that tell our children, “You are a mistake.” This is not only bad politics. It is bad religion. 

There is another way to look at life. The scripture tells us to “Judge not lest we be judged.” We hear echoes of this sentiment in the Eastern religions. Swami Vivekananda once declared, “It is a sin to call someone a sinner. It is a libel against human nature.” The moment we call someone a sinner we commit one of the gravest of sins. Not only that, the moment we think of ourselves as sinners we commit a grievous sin. Vivekananda wrote, “The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness but thinking of strength.” “By declaring we are weak, we become weak. Suppose we put out the light, close the windows, and call the room dark. What good does it do me to say I am a sinner? If I am in the dark, let me light a lamp.”

In the 19th century Unitarians and Universalists declared that there is a divine light inside of every person. Whenever we encounter another human being we encounter someone worthy of reverence. In India there is the greeting NAMASTE, “the god in me sees and honors the god in you.” Everyone we encounter is worthy of respect. 

A few weeks ago I was asked to be the minister for a memorial service for Todd Cramer who was a co-founder of Knox Pride. At the memorial service the Appalachian Equality Chorus sang the old spiritual This Little Light of Mine. After the song I pointed out that when light shines through a prism we see all the colors of the rainbow. And we are called to let our light shine before all people. Not hide it under a bushel, no! Not let anyone blow it out! We’re called to let it shine. 

As Marriane Williamson once wrote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

It is for this reason that it is a sin to call someone else a sinner. It is a sin to ask someone to dim their own light. It is a sin to ask someone to hide that light under a bushel. It is a sin to try to blow that light out. Our goal in life should be to see the divinity within each other. 

This week we are mindful of Nex Benedict, a non-binary child from Oklahoma, who was beaten to death in a public school restroom by bullies. When an elected leader from that state was asked how he felt about the violent death of this child he said, “My constituents don’t want this filth in their community.” In this toxic climate it becomes our job to hold up the banner “Love Your Neighbor” and stand up for our children against all bullies in our schools and in our legislatures. 

This week I was listening to an interview with my friend Chris Battle, who left his job as a minister of a large successful Baptist church in order to create an urban farm in the middle of a food desert. Planting a garden in a field in a zip code where there are no grocery stores. Growing nutritious foods for the people who live in subsidized housing nearby. Chris Battle is a Baptist minister but he often notes that the people who come to his farm include atheists, skeptics and pagans. He said that when he was younger he was taught to be holy. And the definition of holy was “to be set apart.” 

Believers set apart from unbelievers

The righteous set apart from the wicked

Saints set apart from sinners

And then one day, Chris Battle said to himself, “If this is what it means to be holy then maybe Jesus wasn’t holy.” For Jesus hung out with everybody. Jesus loved everybody. Here is how the scriptures describe him. “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a heavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” In other words Jesus did not set himself apart. Jesus  could say as country music singer Garth Brooks once said, “I’ve got friends in low places.” 

In Alcoholics Anonymous the goal is “progress not perfection.” If you stay sober for 30 days you pick up your 30 day chip. If you stay sober for 60 days you pick up your 60 day chip. If you stay sober for 90 days you pick up your 90 day chip. But if at any time you relapse well then you just start back over again, living life one day at a time. Which is to say, “You can make a mistake. That does not mean you are a mistake.” For even when we are in a darkest room with the windows shut, we can still light a lamp so that everything is illuminated. 

My friend Jeff decided not to go into the ministry because he felt that real sinners of the world did not go to church. I, on the other hand, decided to work for the church and contrary to my friend’s concerns, I’ve never had to travel far to find opportunities for ministry. But that may be because Jeff and I have different ideas about the meaning of ministry and our definitions of the word “sin.” Ultimately, I am glad that I found a church to serve where it’s okay to make mistakes, where the emphasis is on progress not perfection, where we do not strive to be set apart but seek to build the Beloved Community that includes us all and where the most serious sin is to call someone else a sinner. 

(This sermon was given at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday February 26, 2024 by Rev. Chris Buice)

When the Saboteur is Ourselves

I learned something interesting about the covert operations of the Central Intelligence Agency recently. Apparently, when the CIA wants to infiltrate an organization to undermine their work they employ tactics that are outlined in a book called the Simple Sabotage Field Manual.  First they recruit a saboteur to secretly join the organization. Once embedded the saboteur will do the following things to disrupt operations. 

1. The saboteur will recommend that the organization form as many committees as possible. 
2. The saboteur will then use these committee meetings to make long speeches, bring up irrelevant issues and share personal anecdotes with the goal of consuming as much time as possible. . 
3. The saboteur will argue over the precise wording of every statement regardless of how irrelevant the statement might be to the overall mission, reviewing every memo, memorandum or copy of the minutes, 
4. The saboteur will then recommend that the organization continually revisit every decision ever made as often as possible. 

After I read that list I began to wonder if our denomination has been infiltrated by the CIA. As one church historian observed, “A Unitarian Universalist Church is a place where there are more committees than people.” Indeed, when I joined the Unitarian Universalist church our national denomination had a group called (wait for it) The Committee on Committees. There were so many committees there had to be a committee to figure out what to do with them all. 

So in the UU church we are prone to create too many committees. We are also prone to some of the other items on the list. So much so that the idea that we have been infiltrated by the CIA might fall into the category of one of the more plausible conspiracy theories of our time. BUT – I think it is just as plausible that we are our own saboteurs. I think we have to be open to the possibility that we are the ones who sabotage ourselves. 

These are the kinds of thoughts that are appropriate to contemplate during the season of Lent. The time of Lent is meant to be a time when we practice self-examination. We reflect on the ways we might be our own worst enemies. We consider the possibilities of letting go of some of our more self-destructive behaviors. Lent is often a season when we give up bad habits, if not forever at least until Easter. 

Many people give up smoking or drinking or sugary foods or social media for Lent. However the CIA manual reminds us that some of us might need to give up creating new committees or wordsmithing or other bad habits. In other words, we are invited to stop self-sabotage in whatever forms we tend to practice it. We are invited to give up self sabotage by reflecting on what we eat or drink or smoke or other daily habits that might not be in our own best interest. 

The traditional word for giving up something for Lent is fasting. In this spirit Pope Francis has made some suggestions for how we should fast during this time. He advises us to,

“Fast from hurting words … and say kind words.

Fast from sadness … and be filled with gratitude. 

Fast from anger … and be filled with patience. 

Fast from pessimism … and be filled with hope. 

Fast from bitterness … and fill our hearts with joy.

Fast from selfishness … and be compassionate to others.

Fast from grudges … and be reconciled.

Fast from words … and be silent!”

When we hear words about Lent from the Pope it comes as no surprise. Lent is an important part of the Catholic liturgical year. However, Lent hasn’t always been as important to  Unitarian Universalists. Even so an increasing number of UU ministers are reflecting on the meaning of this season. One of my fellow ministers, the Reverend Peggy Clarke of the Community Church of New York has written out a list of discernment questions we can ask ourselves to enhance this time of introspection. I have taken the liberty of adapting these questions for the topic of the day. She suggests that during this time of year we ask ourselves the following questions. 

1. Can I see within myself my own tendency to self-sabotage?
2. How have I committed self-sabotage this week? 
3. Was harm done because of my behavior to me or anyone else? 
4. Can I ask for forgiveness and repair that harm? 
5. What do I need to do to do better in the future?

There is a theme in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures that is echoed by the Koran that suggests it is not enough to give up something bad, we need to embrace something good. It is not enough to let go of our bad habits. We need to replace them with good habits. It was in this spirit that the prophet Isaiah called out. 

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

    and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

    and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

So during this season here at TVUUC we might fast by bringing in some canned goods for our free food pantry or delivery groceries to those in need through the FISH program or by getting involved with Justice Knox to work for systemic change or some other tangible act of compassion

The Reverend John Buehrens, a former minister of this church and a former president of our denomination, often notes that we UUs have a certain gift for self sabotage. He once said, “I am no longer surprised when we shoot ourselves in the foot. I am surprised how quickly we reload.”  For this reason the season of Lent can be a time for us to try to refrain from this self-destructive habit. 

This year the Eurasia Group, a foreign policy think tank,  has identified three conflicts in our world that are putting the fate of the earth at risk. These conflicts are 

Russia and the Ukraine

Israel and Hamas

The United States vs Itself

In other words one of the most dangerous situations in our world today is our national capacity for self-sabotage. In the United States of America our biggest enemy is not some other country. Our biggest enemy is ourselves. Here is how the Eurasia group describes our current predicament. The report reads…

“Fully one-third of the global population will go to the polls this year, but an unprecedentedly dysfunctional US election will be by far the most consequential for the world’s security, stability, and economic outlook. The outcome will affect the fate of 8 billion people, and only 160 million Americans will have a say in it, with the winner to be decided by just tens of thousands of voters in a handful of swing states. (Due to increasing levels of mistrust) The losing side (may) consider the outcome illegitimate and be unprepared to accept it. The world’s most powerful country faces critical challenges to its core political institutions: free and fair elections, the peaceful transfer of power, and the checks and balances provided by the separation of powers. The political state of the union … is troubled indeed.”

That is a very sobering analysis. Thomas Friedman was speaking to someone who grew up during the civil wars in Lebanon who told him, “You Americans think your democracy is a football so you kick it around but it is really a Faberge egg.” And as anyone from Lebanon can tell you once democracy is broken it can be very difficult to repair. 

This morning, I saw pictures of Nazis marching in our state capitol yesterday. It has come to this, my friends. So what are we going to do about this problem? What are we going to do about the United States vs itself? Well, I talked to someone from the Unitarian Universalist Association and they suggested to me that what we should do is give thoughtful consideration to the idea of forming a committee (Not really, I made that up.) 

The season of Lent is not about administrative solutions to spiritual problems. There is a place in the world for committees, I serve on many, but during the season of Lent we are challenged to adopt the maxim that “less is more.” During this season, it is by letting go that we gain. During Lent the question is not, “What do we add to our lives?” but “What do we subtract?” The season of Lent exists for this purpose – to help us practice self-examination.  This season is not about quick fixes or easy answers. Nor is Lent about changing other people. It’s about changing ourselves. It is time to ask ourselves the question, “Are we going to be part of the problem or are we going to be part of the solution?” 

The mystics of the world teach us that we are one. We should spend time each day meditating on that Oneness. And this Oneness is often framed using different kinds of language  – One God, one people, one love, one planet, one home, one hope, Oneness. For when we meditate in this way we realize that to harm another is to harm ourselves. Everything we do that hurts others is a form of self-sabotage. The word “ceasefire” has become controversial of late. Politicians disagree over the meaning and value of that word. But here is one thing I know for certain – when we are the ones shooting ourselves in the foot, it’s time to stop and practice self-examination. When we are the ones shooting ourselves in the foot, it is time for a ceasefire.  

(This sermon was given by the Reverend Chris Buice at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday, February 18, 2024)

The Problem with Yahweh

There is an old story about a psychologist who declared to her patient, “After 15 years of therapy I can now say that you have been completely cured of your delusions of grandeur.” To which the patient sighed and said, “15 years ago I was God. Now I am nobody.” 

This morning I want to speak about God and the wide variety of things we mean when we say that name. This morning I am mindful of something the Dag Hammarskjold, the Secretary General of the United Nations, once wrote, “God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.” 

So this morning I will be speaking about God, but if that word doesn’t work for you, find another word to describe that experience which illuminates our lives and fills our days with radiance and wonder beyond all reason. 

There are a million names for God in Hinduism. There are 99 names for God in Islam. In the Hebrew scriptures there are also many names. There is Yahweh and Adonai and Elohim and El Shaddai and more. The mystics remind us that just as many doors can lead to the same room, many names and  images can lead to the same experience

Of course, it seems like we hear the name Yahweh more than all the others names which led one rabbinnic scholar to say, “The problem with Yahweh is he thinks he’s God.” 

Our church recently hosted a workshop called “Reclaiming the Divine Feminine” led by the Reverend Maggie Whitehouse of the Unity Church. I was one of three men in an audience otherwise made up of women and I found it to be a very interesting presentation. 

In that workshop Reverend Whitehouse pointed out that the Hebrew word for God, “El Shaddai” translates as “the many breasted one.” In other words, the image is a maternal one. The image is a feminine one. And the image lends itself to non-anthropomorphic images of God suggesting the many different animal mothers who can nurse many babies all at once. God is the nourisher and nurturer of life. In other words when we see a mama cat nursing her kittens we are glancing at an image of God. 

In my office I have a collection of statuettes of a variety of Hindu gods and goddesses. These images often have many hands, many arms, many eyes and many ears. Perhaps it is a symptom of the pervasiveness of patriarchy that it is very rare to see an image of a goddess with many breasts (The statue of the goddess Artemis at Ephesus being a notable exception.) In our oversexualized society perhaps such a statue would be rated R, to use language from the movies. However, we are missing out on the meaning of that word “El Shaddai” when we see things in this way. 

When my wife Suzanne was a young mother she was a member of La Leche League, an organization dedicated to promoting the benefits of breastfeeding. Within this contingent there was a more radical group that would challenge any business that had a rule against public breastfeeding. If a store made a rule against public breastfeeding then a big group of mothers would show up one day and stage a nurse in. Just sit down somewhere in the middle of the store and nurse babies, without permission and without apology. Whenever I hear that word El Shaddai, that’s what I think about, those groups of mothers committed to nourishing and sustaining life, even if it means breaking the rules, even if it means upsetting sensibilities, even if it means creating a stir. Radical love, making waves in our world. 

So as we contemplate the many names of God we should also remember something the Reverend Forrest Church used to say, “God is not God’s name but our name for that which is greater than all yet present in each.” God is not God’s name. Yahweh is not Yahweh’s name. Adonai and El Shaddai are not God’s names. These are our names for that which is Larger Than Ourselves yet present within ourselves. 

The theologian Paul Tillich put it this way, “The name of this infinite and inexhaustible depth and ground of all being is God. That depth is what the word means. And if that word has not much meaning for you, translate it and speak of the depths of your life, the source of your being, of your ultimate concern, of what you take seriously without reservation. Perhaps, in order to do so, you must forget everything traditional that you have learned about God, perhaps even the word itself. For if you know that God means depth, you know much…You cannot then call yourself an atheist or unbeliever. For you cannot think or say: Life has no depth! Life itself is shallow. Being itself is surface only. If you could say this in complete seriousness, you would be an atheist but otherwise you are not.” In order for us to be religious we must be in touch with the depths of our being. 

One of the more interesting conversations I ever observed at a church potluck was between Clint Walker, a young adult of blessed memory, and Xavier Mankel, a Catholic priest who was visiting us. Suffice it to say Clint and Father Mankel had very different ideas about the nature of God. Clint was explaining to Father Mankel that he was a pagan but not only a pagan – a very specific kind of pagan. Clint’s spirituality revolved around the Greek goddess Athena, whose temple is the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Greece. Of course, Athena has influence even in the depths of the American Bible Belt because there is a replica of the Parthenon in the capital of our state, Nashville, Tennessee. Athena is the goddess of wisdom. There is a corollary between her and the wisdom of God as described in the Bible where wisdom is given the feminine name of Sophia. And so the book of Proverbs describes the feminine face of God calling out to us in these words. 

Listen as Wisdom calls out

Hear as understanding raises her voice!

On the hilltop along the road,

she takes her stand at the crossroads.

By the gates at the entrance to the town,

on the road leading in, she cries out,

“I call to you, to all of you!

I raise my voice to all people!”

When you ponder these words you begin to understand what the rabbi meant when he said, “The problem with Yahweh is he thinks he’s God.” Indeed, archeological evidence suggests that feminine images of God are much older than masculine images of God. Indeed, many of the temples to gods around the Mediterranean are built on top of sites that were once considered the sacred sites of the goddess. If God is the depths of all being, then we need to be able to look below the first layer of dirt at the archaeological site. We need to keep digging and digging until we reach the Divine Feminine. 

There is a song that is often sung in women’s circles

We come from the Goddess

And to her we shall return

Like a drop of rain

Flowing to the ocean. 

And this is the role of the Divine Feminine. She gives us life, she receives us at death and she inspires us while we are still living. Like a group of feminist moms conducting a nurse in. She is on our side. She is a comforting nurturer AND a fierce defender of life. More often than not patriarchal images of God cause division separating one tribe from another, the saved from the unsaved, the sheep from the goats, friends from enemies. Whereas the feminine form of God more often than not seeks unity not division, union not separation, communion not estrangement, a vision of life where ‘even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea.” (Charles Swinburne) 

Not everyone will be comfortable with the word God, but perhaps all of us can align with this vision of justice, equity and inclusion. There is a reason that the patriarchy is so upset by those words – justice, equity and inclusion.  There is a reason that predominantly male Supreme Courts and state govenments want us to erase those words from public life. Justice, equity and inclusion are a threat to patriarchy. Justice, equity and inclusion are an invitation to ponder the feminine face of God. 

Did you notice that most of the university presidents put on the hotseat by Congress were women? I did. Did you notice how quickly all the men dropped out of the presidential race to rally behind a man and against a woman in the New Hampshire primary? I did. Did you notice that the person to get nominated for best actor in the Barbie movie was a man? I did. Did you notice that the Southern Baptist Convention is kicking out all the churches that have women as ministers? I did. Patriarchy is ramping up in our times. 

In India there are festivals for the goddess where the villagers pick a small girl to be the embodiment of the divine. Throughout the whole festival that young girl is given the respect of a goddess. After the festival she becomes a young girl again. However, the lesson remains that the divine light shines in every one of us. Each one of us is an embodiment of the divine. 

As the proverbial patient said to his psychologist, “15 years ago I was God. Now I am nobody.” However, that is a very limited way to see things. Another way to look at life is to say, “We are all somebody. Everybody is somebody.” Or as one theologian put it, 

God is the good we do,

When and where we do it. 

God is practiced, like dance, like music, 

Like kindness, like love.

God’s work is our work

To become more human

More loving

More compassionate,

More courageous,

More just, 

More intelligent,

More happy,

More caring. 

God is the good we do

In everything we do. – (Michael Benedikt paraphrase)

God is not God’s name. God is our name for the work we do in the world. So as we leave this church let’s go out into the world and do it so that the divine light will shine always and everywhere. Amen. 

(The Rev. Chris Buice gave this sermon at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday, January 28, 2024)

Bumper Car Crash Theology

When my children were young one of their favorite rides at Dollywood was the bumper cars. Any other bumper car fans out there? 

I mention this ride to introduce an image, a metaphor. Because when I was studying for the  ministry in theology school I assumed that church leadership meant setting goals and moving a congregation from point A to point B in the most direct way possible. Now I think ministry is more like bumper cars. You may start moving from point A to point B in the most direct way but then WHAM someone hits you from the left knocking you off course. Then WHAM someone hits you from the right knocking you off course AGAIN.

Here is what a week in the life of a minister can be like. 

I start out working on a sermon and WHAM there is a death in the congregation and I find myself meeting with a grieving family.  

I start out working on administration, writing a report to the board, and WHAM someone in crisis knocks on my door for counseling. 

I start out creating a Welcoming Garden and WHAM suddenly I’m engaged in intense horticultural conflict resolution. 

I start working on my newsletter column and WHAM someone comes into my office and says, “Do you smell gas?” and there goes the day. 

I began working for this church in August 2001. In order to be prepared I outlined my plans for the first year in detail. Then WHAM two planes flew into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon and another crashed in Pennsylvania changing everything everywhere on the earth. 

In my 7th year I went on sabbatical in order to make plans for my next phase of ministry. I put together my plans for the next year and then WHAM I got a call from Jenny Arthur, who was then our Director of Administration, who said, “Chris, there has been a shooting in the church. It’s bad.” Indeed it was bad, two people killed, Greg McKendry and Linda Kraeger, 8 people injured, Tammy Sommers in coma, it was bad! Everything changed. 

After the shooting we had many years of intergenerational trauma recovery. It was heartbreakingly difficult and much more than I can easily summarize in this sermon but I can tell you this. Just when it was beginning to feel like things were getting back to normal WHAM we were hit by a global pandemic. We closed the church building and began quarantining and social distancing. 

I could name other moments in my ministry but suffice it to say my ministry has not been an uninterrupted journey from point A to point B. But here’s the thing, I bet your life hasn’t been either. As John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you are making other plans.” 

So what is true about ministry is true about all our lives. I imagine there are people in this room who have been on a grand journey from point A to point B when WHAM a heart attack. WHAM a stroke. WHAM a cancer diagnosis. WHAM a divorce. WHAM unemployment. WHAM homelessness. WHAM a disability. Ministers are not the only ones whose lives are like bumper cars. 

Many of you are probably familiar with the famous psychologist Carl Jung. After my father died I found among his possessions a gift I once gave him for Christmas – a Carl Jung Action Figure. My father was an Episcopal priest who was deeply interested in the intersection of psychology and religion. He and my mother even spent a short residence in the Jungian Institute in Switzerland. Carl Jung was a psychologist famous for making this observation. He once wrote, “One of the main functions of organized religion is to protect people from a direct experience of God.” 

Of course, Carl Jung’s understanding of the word “God” was a little bit different from many other people’s understanding. He wrote, “God is the name by which I designate all things which cross my willful path violently and recklessly, all things which upset my subjective views, plans and intentions and change the course of my life for better or worse.” In other words, God is found in the bumper car that hits us and knocks us off course. 

The challenge of spiritual living is to find meaning in the disastrous. There is a Zen meditation that reads like this, “After my house burned down I have a clearer view of the mountains and the moon.” Let’s repeat that together, “After my house burned down I have a clearer view of the mountains and the moon.” This is not an easy thing to say. It is not an easy thing to believe. But then again Zen meditation is not supposed to be easy. 

When Robert Oppenheimer watched the atomic bomb explode into a mushroom cloud he was reminded of words from the Bhagavad Gita, “I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” And that is the paradox of atomic energy, so much potential for creation and so much potential for destruction. 

In Hinduism the god Shiva is said to participate in the dance of creation and destruction. That cycle by which something must be destroyed in order for something else to be created. A tree must be cut down in order to make the paper for an artist’s canvas. Dynamite must blow a hole in the ground in order to find the marble that will become the artist’s sculpture. The death of the old is what makes possible the birth of the new. This is the dance of Shiva. 

Another image is the Hindu Goddess Kali who is sometimes portrayed with a sword in one hand and nursing a baby with the other, destruction and creation. Or to use the words my mother often quoted from scripture, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” 

One of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes cartoons is the one where the tiger asks the boy, “Do you believe in God?” and the little boy replies, “I do believe there is someone who is out to get me.” In some ways this boy Calvin’s idea of God seems similar to Carl Jung’s idea. God is found not only in everything that is beautiful and sublime but in everything that is out to get us. 

Swami Vivekananda used to urge his followers to worship the terrible as well as the good. In other words, there is a kind of egotism to worshiping a god who is always doing good things for you. There is a kind of narcissism to being devoted to a kind, loving and comforting God if we do not also have a heart for the God of the earthquake, the volcano and the hurricane. 

I have had personal experience with the God of the hurricane. When I was a young man I was caught in the middle of Hurricane Gilbert when it hit the Yucatan Peninsula. My friend David and I were safely ensconced in our room when we suddenly felt the entirely illogical impulse to go outside and see the action, a very dangerous impulse. We stepped into a sheltered outdoor hallway where we could see the wind blow the roof off the house across the street and knock a solid concrete sign to the ground. If we had been logical or rational our feeling would have been fear. But it would be more accurate to say that what we felt was reverence. Reverence for a power greater than ourselves. Reverence for a power blowing through our lives and the lives of all around us. Reverence for the terrible and the good. 

As the Sikh scriptures tell us 

Wondrous is union, wondrous is separation

Wondrous is hunger, wondrous is satisfaction 

Wondrous is wilderness, wondrous is the right path

Wondrous is closeness, wondrous is distance

And to this list we might add – wondrous is the terrible, wondrous is the good. To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. 

This week we remember the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We remember his life and his assassination. We remember the nonviolent marches and the all too violent backlash. We remember the sit-ins that desegregated downtown lunch counters and the white flight to the suburbs. We remember the martyrs at Selma for the Voting Rights Act and the recent Supreme Court decision undermining that act. We remember how Dr. King had a dream and how Malcolm X had a nightmare. The civil rights movement (and other movements for social change) has never been a linear path from point A to point B. Even so we recommit to the work no matter how many times we get knocked off course because that’s what we do. Because that’s our ministry. 

I think most of us would never consciously choose for terrible things to happen to us or to anyone else. And yet we are shaped by the terrible things that happen. We are shaped by every hit we take from the bumper cars of life. Who we are as human beings is a product of every time we’ve been slammed on our way between point A and point B. 

So in conclusion, let me say, on my driver’s license it indicates that I am an organ donor. That way I know that if something terrible happens to me something good will also happen. Being an organ donor is my attempt to creatively participate in the dance of Shiva, the dance of creation and destruction. This is my way of worshiping the terrible and the good. Honoring the sadness and the joy of life. This is my way of ensuring that even after death my heart will be in a holy place. 

(The Reverend Chris Buice gave this sermon on Sunday, January 14, 2024 at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church)

Should Humans Hibernate?

There is a Cherokee legend about the Ani Tsa gu-hi clan. One boy who belonged to the clan loved to spend all day in the mountains among the bears. Every day he would return home a little hairier than he was before. Every day he was a little less human and a little more like a bear. When his parents asked him why he liked to spend so much time in the mountains he said, “Because life is easier there. There is plenty to eat. The nuts and berries of the forest are tastier than the corn and beans we grow in the fields.” His parents tried to discourage him from going up into the hills but he would not be dissuaded. “You should come up in the mountains with me.” So the boy’s parents consulted their tribal clan leaders and soon there was a great tribal council and after a long debate the whole community decided to follow the boy up into the mountains and no one heard from them again.

The common belief is that over time the people became bears because they preferred the bear lifestyle over the human lifestyle. And it is said that they left a message for the other clans saying, “We are going where there is plenty to eat and no one will ever go hungry and you should never be afraid to hunt and kill us for now we can never die. Now we will always be alive.” 

This legend challenges the anthropomorphic theology of most Western religions with humans at the apex and all other species considered to be lesser beings. Missionaries tried to convert the Cherokee to imperialistic ideas of “Christian Civilization.” And yet this Cherokee story suggests that human beings might want to consider converting into bears, converting into wild creatures, moving toward a closer relationship to nature. 

Today, I want us to consider this possibility as well, especially as we enter into the winter holiday season, a time when studies show many human beings experience winter depression or Seasonal Affective Disorder, a condition with the very appropriate acronym S.A.D. 

Of course now is the season when bears begin to hibernate for the winter. And this has inspired at least one poet to invite us to reconsider our own relationship to winter. The poet Andrea Gibson has written a poem called Instead of Depression that I’d like to share with you this morning. 

Instead of Depression 

Try calling it hibernation.

Imagine the darkness is a cave

in which you will be nurtured

by doing absolutely nothing.

Hibernating animals don’t even dream. 

It’s okay if you cannot imagine 

spring. Sleep through the alarm

of the world. Name your hopelessness

a quiet hollow, a place you go

to heal, a den you dug, 

Sweetheart, instead 

of a grave. 

I love this poem. As the Quakers say, “It speaks to my condition.” The poem suggests that this time of year Nature is telling us to slow down and rest. And the wisdom of the Cherokee and other indigenous peoples reminds us to align with the rhythms of nature, to align with the cycles of the seasons. As the nights grow longer and the days grow shorter, work less, rest more. 

According to the shamans of many indigenous traditions the bear serves as an exemplar for rebirth. Bears hibernate in winter and awaken again in the spring. In the Smokies this period of hibernation is not one long deep sleep. Instead it is a period of longer stretches of sleep. So you may occasionally see bears during the winter months but the overall trend is more rest in winter, more activity in the spring.  A mama black bear hibernates during the period of gestation so that there is both birth and rebirth in the Spring. That’s why when you go hiking in the Smokies in the Spring it is not uncommon to come across a mother bear and her cubs. 

Many indigenous peoples teach that bears have a shamanic quality because of their solitary tendencies. Many observers have noted that bears can often be found sitting still or remaining motionless in the presence of mountain vistas, lakes, rivers and sunsets. There is even some speculation that bears have an appreciation of beauty and may be engaging in some form of contemplation. So whenever we see a bear (and that bear is at a safe distance from us) we can see it as an invitation to sit and rest and drink in the beauty all around us. 

Western “civilization” is based on different principles. Instead of looking to bears for wisdom we look at machines. Deists, like many of the Founding Fathers of this country (a disproportionate number of whom were Unitarians), argued that the universe was like a machine; a clock. God was the great clockmaker. However, once God created the clock, and wound it up, God allowed the clock to operate on its own without any divine interference. To paraphrase an old ad for a brand of watches the Deist taught that, “The universe takes a licking but keeps on ticking.” A wound up clock does not slow down for winter or speed up in the spring. The clock continues at the same pace all year round, without interruption, without pause, without a moment of rest. 

Most of our workplaces are built on the machine model. So when the longer nights and shorter days are telling us to “rest, rest, rest,” our offices, workplaces and schools with their artificial lighting are telling us to “work, work, work.” Just imagine for a moment if one of your co-workers disappeared for a few hours and returned to the office more harry than before. And the next day they were away for a little bit longer and came back even more harrier. Until one day your co-worker suggested everyone in the office go up in the hills and join the bears, creating a mass exodus from the workplace. My guess is that this would not go over well with management. 

The Sufi poet Hafiz once wrote this poem about depression. The poet seems to be speaking directly to a friend who is experiencing this very difficult emotion. The poem begins by exploring the deeper and darker emotions but ends with a little bit of earthy humor. So get ready for the surprise ending. 

I know the voice of depression

Still calls to you.

I know those habits that can ruin your life

Still send their invitations

But you are with the Friend now

And look so much stronger.

You can stay that way

And even bloom!

Keep squeezing drops of the Sun

From your prayers and work and music

And from the companions’ beautiful laughter.

Keep squeezing drops of the Sun

From the sacred hands and glance of your Beloved

And, my dear,

From the most insignificant movements 

Of your own holy body.

Learn to recognize the counterfeit coins

That may buy you just a moment of pleasure,

But then drag you for days

Like a broken man

Behind a farting camel. 

That camel metaphor may (or may not) work for you. Even so, all  humor aside, during the winter months we can hear the voice of depression speak to us and this can sometimes lead us towards those habits that can ruin a life. And if the machine model of the universe isn’t working for us, if the nonstop tick, tick, tick of the clock is not working for us, then we have an opportunity to follow the example of the bears, when the nights are long and the days are short, rest more, work less. 

Activist Tricia Hersey has written a powerful book for other activists called Rest is Resistance. In it she argues that rest is a divine right. Rest is not a luxury but a necessity. Rest is a sacred act. Rest is not a waste of time. Rest makes us more human. Rest creates time for reflection and contemplation. Rest helps us to appreciate a beautiful vista, a lake, a river, a stream and enter into life’s beauty. Rest is renewal. Rest is resurrection. 

A friend who owns a farm points out that, “In the winter even the chickens don’t lay eggs.” So why do we human beings imagine that we need to be productive without any interruption through all four seasons, to be productive without any appreciation for the cycles and seasons of life, to be productive instead of aligning ourselves with Nature and the Cosmos. 

There is a Native American leader from the Lakota tribe who once wrote about the ancient ways of his people. He wrote these words using the past tense as if conceding that the way of the Lakota had given way to the age of the machine. Even so, I want to invite us to think about these words in the present tense,  “From Wankan Tanka, the Great Spirit, there comes a great unifying life force that flows in and through all things – the flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, animals…Thus all things are kindred, and are brought together by the same Great Mystery. This concept of life and its relations…gives to the Lakota an abiding love…reverence for all life. The Lakota can despise no creature, for all are one blood, made by the same hand, and filled with the essence of the Great Mystery.” The name of the Native American leader who wrote these words is Chief Luther Standing Bear, a little bear wisdom flowing through the words of a human being. 

Activist Tricia Hersey tells us that rest is resistance. I will remember those words during the upcoming Family Promise week, a time when our congregation offers a home to the homeless in our own building, shelter from the winter cold.  I will remember those words as I serve as an overnight host, making a meaningful contribution to ending homelessness while also nestled underneath my covers in one of our new and improved inflatable beds. Rest is resistance. 

There is a Cherokee legend about the Ani Tsa gu-hi clan, a community of people who decided that they would rather be bears than human beings, a community of people who aligned themselves with that life force that flows in and through all things, the life force that can never die, the life force that will always live. Perhaps, you and I are not ready for a complete conversion. Perhaps, you and I are not ready for a total transformation. It is conceivable that many of us want to learn from the bears while also maintaining our humanity. If so, we can begin with one small step. Instead of depression, let’s call it hibernation. 

(This sermon was delivered by the Reverend Chris Buice at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday December 11, 2023)

The Buddhist Vending Machine

We began this service with the Advent Hymn, “People Look East” so it seems appropriate that we talk about the Buddha this morning. 

Many years ago I was in the Green Earth Emporium, a New Age store near the church. I was with my daughter Sally who was still in high school at the time. She kept pointing out different things she wanted so I decided to dispense a little fatherly New Age wisdom. I said, “You know the Buddha taught that it is our own desires that make us miserable. The more things we desire the more miserable we become.” Sally was quiet for a moment then she pointed to an item on the shelf and said, “Look we could get a Buddha statue!” And she was right. There was Buddha on the shelf. 

The First Noble Truth of Buddhism is “life is suffering.” And the source of our suffering is our own desires, our own cravings. In other words, ultimately the fundamental problems of the human condition can never be solved by a shopping spree. Our misery will never be sustainably relieved by a little “retail therapy.” Ultimately consumerism is not a path toward enlightenment. 

Nevertheless, when Heather Finney went on vacation in Japan this summer she sent me a picture of a Buddhist Vending Machine that she saw in the train station at Kyoto. Needless to say, this caught my attention. In America we associate vending machines with sugary sodas, snack foods and candy. We rarely think of a vending machine in relation to spirituality or religion. And yet, due to the miracle of social media I now have a picture of a Buddhist Vending Machine on my cell phone. 

As far as I know there is only one Buddhist vending machine on earth. I did some internet research and the only Buddhist vending machine I could find on the planet was the one in Kyoto. Even so, I think the idea of a Buddhist vending machine is worth contemplating as we enter into the winter holiday season. We are in the midst of a season of rampant consumerism. Malls are bustling with holiday shoppers. We are living through a time when the line between materialism and spirituality grows thin to non-existence, a time when advertisers are doing their best to kindle our desires and multiply our wants. 

I guess the idea of a Buddhist vending machine shouldn’t be too surprising. In this age of online shopping there are a wide variety of products available 24/7 catering to Buddhist shoppers; an almost endless collection of books, prayer beads, meditation cushions, singing bowls, incense, travel altars, amulets, bracelets, lamps, statues, figurines, audio guided meditations and more. 

And this is why our desires can make us miserable because our desires can be almost endless. There is a Zen saying that, “Feeding our desires cannot lead to contentment anymore than drinking salt water can quench our thirst.” 

A story is told that in one of the Buddha’s many lifetimes he was the Emperor of the World. He ruled the world for thousands of years but he was not content so he decided to go to heaven. For a while he was happy in heaven but then he realized that he was at the lowest level of heaven and he began to wonder what it might be like on some of the upper levels. So over a period of 30 million years he climbed from one level of heaven to another until he finally reached the top of the heavenly corporate ladder. In the highest heaven the king (and CEO) of all the gods agreed to share his throne with the Buddha. The Buddha was content with this arrangement until one day he thought, “I’d like to have this throne to myself. I’d like to rule the highest heaven all on my own.” And with that selfish thought he fell from the highest heaven all the way back down to earth, 30 million years of spiritual evolution undone by one craving, one desire. 

In Alcoholics Anonymous they say you know that you are an addict when, “One drink is too many and a thousand is never enough.” This dynamic is similar to other addictions whether it be alcohol or drugs, food, gambling, sex, power, wealth, fame or any kind of consumerism. An addiction is a spiritual condition in the sense that it is a craving for the infinite. To quote a country music song, addiction is about “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” Seeking the infinite where it can never be found and through experiences that can never ultimately satisfy. 

During the holidays advertisements try to prime the pump of our consumer addictions. Yet just as salt water can never quench our thirst. Consumer addictions can never lead to peace. 

The Dalai Lama of Tibet once explained this dynamic with these words, “The problem is that our world and our education (system) remain focused exclusively on external, materialistic values. We are not concerned enough with our inner values. Those who grow up with this kind of education live a materialistic life and eventually the whole society becomes materialistic. But this culture is not sufficient to tackle our human problems. The real problem is here (points to head) and here (points to heart.) Materialistic values cannot give us peace of mind – and more peace in our world…Everyone seeks happiness, joyfulness, but from the outside – from money, from power, from big car, from big house. Most people never pay much attention to the ultimate source of a happy life, which is inside, not outside.” 

Which leads us back to that Buddhist vending machine in that railroad station in Kyoto. From the picture Heather Finney sent me I couldn’t be sure what products the machine sold so I began to speculate about the possibilities (so I ask your indulgence for this imaginative exercise.) One of my favorite writings by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh is his meditation on brushing our teeth where he wrote, “Each toothpaste manufacturer tells us that their brand will make our mouth and our breath fragrant. But if we do not have ‘Right Speech,’ our breath will never be fragrant.” In other words, everytime we brush our teeth is an opportunity to reflect on 

the power of the words that come out of our mouth and the impact those words can have on others. We can aspire to always speak words of honesty, words that foster mutual respect, words that honor the worth and dignity of others. And so it occurred to me that one of the things in that vending machine might be Buddhist toothpaste. Toothpaste that helps us practice mindfulness, so that our breath will always be fragrant. 

Along these lines the vending machine could dispense an ear wax removal kit to help us listen to others with the ears of compassion. It could dispense packets of lens cleaner to help some of us clean our glasses and see one another more clearly and compassionately. It could dispense razors as there is Buddhist saying, “Better a shaved heart than a shaved head,” better an inward heart shaved free of attachments, shaved free of desire than merely the outward appearance of a monk, a shaved head.

Indeed, in Buddhism almost any material thing can become a source of mindfulness. After we finish our soda from the vending machine we can look at the empty can as a reminder of the impermanence of everything in the natural order. Once there was soda in the can and now there is not. After we finish the candy bar we can look at the empty wrapper and meditate on the transitory nature of everything in existence. Once there was a candy bar in this wrapper and now there is none. We can reflect that one day our own bodies will be like an empty container that will return to the earth. So there really is no limit to the items that could be sold in a Buddhist vending machine since everything can be used to help us practice mindfulness. 

However, allow me to return to the actual Buddhist vending machine in that train station in Kyoto. Through a little research I discovered its origin story. Apparently there used to be a cigarette machine in the same place until someone suggested there should be something healthier and more in keeping with this sacred pilgrimage site. Kyoto is the home of 1,600 temples. People come from all over the world to walk through the gardens and visit the holy shrines. Somehow it seemed inappropriate for a cigarette machine to be the first thing people saw when they got off the train. 

And so Big Tobacco lost one to Big Spirituality, and the cigarette machine was replaced by a Buddhist vending machine which dispenses small statues or figurines and protection charms. For example, one popular figurine is of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Mercy. She is the embodiment of compassion. The Christian missionaries referred to her as the Goddess of Compassion. Others have referred to her as the Madonna of Buddhism. She is sometimes pictured riding on the back of a dragon so she is an embodiment of power and agency. Carrying around an image of her is meant to provide a kind of spiritual protection. 

Oddly enough, my mother of blessed memory used to have a statue of Guanyin in her garden. I discovered the statue shortly after she died.  I often wondered about that statue because my mom was Christian not a Buddhist. She was an open-minded Christian but even so I was never sure why she chose Guanyin over Saint Francis or some other Christian saint. But the more I pondered the statue the more it made sense. Because Guanyin has many hands and the one thing every mother needs is an extra set of hands. And my mom had five children so she needed all the extra hands she could get. In that sense, Guanyin could very well be the patron saint of all mothers. 

And we know how hectic the holiday season can be for mothers. The Buddha taught that it is our desires that make us miserable. Anyone who doubts this just needs to watch a mother try to navigate her children through a toy store during the holiday season. Every meltdown on aisle 3 is a reminder of how our desires can make us unhappy. 

And so as we all navigate this holiday season, as we endure the commercialization of the winter holidays we can look east for inspiration. May the materialism all around us spur us toward mindfulness. May the products dispensed by every vending machine remind us to look at the world through the eyes of compassion, to listen with the ears of sympathy, to speak with the fragrant breath of kindness, to contemplate the impermanence of everything in the natural order, to ponder our own mortality, to strive for peace on earth and goodwill toward all people. To remember whenever we feel overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of shopping madness to keep our eye out for that Buddha sitting on a shelf. And by doing so, may we all find some peace. 

(The Reverend Chris Buice gave this sermon at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday, December 3, 2023.) 

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