On Not Getting Lost

This morning I found my way over to the First Unitarian Church of Minneapolis. I think it was only the second time I ventured out in the car to a new destination when I didn't get lost, so that was a good start to the day. The First Unitarian Church of Minneapolis is in a great big building with tons of spaces, and apparently was at one point a temple: the pews all have a Star of David on the end of them. I was uncomfortable because I'm not good with people I don't know and I always feel in situations like these like I'm starting my first day in a new school in the middle of a term (and experience I've had many a time). But I went because I'm committed to saying yes to experiences that might help open my heart, and I'm also committed to experiencing interconnectedness, and I find that the UU church can be a place to ignite some of that in me. 


The sermon today was part of the "Standing on the Side of Love" summer theme. The Summer Minister is the Director of Worship Arts, and she was just bursting with passion and projected that to a very large congregation (well over 100 of us). So much of the Order of Service spoke to me--from the brothers who sang a version of the Black Eyed Peas' song "Where is the Love?" (more than a few of us --young, old, and middle-aged alike--were moved to tears by their heartfelt rendition) to the "Meditation in Breathing" song we sang in key to an amazing glass singing bowl ("When I breathe in...I breath in peace, When I breath out...I breathe out love").  The theme of the sermon was a call to practice, really practice with our soul, with love, being a "Beloved Community." Practice, she asserted, was enlivening and healing to ourselves. The sermon was also a call to awareness to the racism in ourselves, in our community, in our nation. Using her experience at the recent UU General Assembly in Arizona, where thousands of Universalist stood in unity against the treatment of victims of the Immigration Law and the law itself, she passionately called us to practice, and to act. 


Normally, I feel uncomfortable hearing sermons that are organized around political action or news of injustice;  when I'm in the Sanctuary I want to feel love and uplift, not to face ugliness and unjust activities painfully close to home. But today was different. Today I felt something shift in me as Ruth MacKenzie spoke of her experiences, as she enumerated the injustices happening, not just in Arizona, but around the world. I felt pain, sadness, shame, and a cracked open heart, but I also felt in me the potential for change--in myself and then in the world. Could I face my own racist and judgmental impulses? Could I shed light on them, and, in casting light upon the parts of me that aren't so pretty, bring awareness and change in myself? And couldn't I then, finding peace and healing in myself, bring peace into the world? Isn't that one of the core teachings of Buddhism? That we must find peace in ourselves, and in so doing, bring peace to the world?  What does peace in ourselves look like? It looks like self-compassion and self-acceptance; it looks like self love. Sounds simple, but we are human, and we tend towards the judgmental. For me finding peace in myself comes with having the courage to be my authentic self in everyday life, travel open-hearted and practice compassion and love in the face of a defended, judgmental world (whose characteristics I share and contribute to). But it seems more and more clear to me how important it is to cultivate love and compassion--for if we don't, not only do we do harm to ourselves, but we do harm to others.  


When I left the sanctuary I heard the two young women who were sitting in front of me (and who had an 8-month-old babe in arms who I got to interact with) talking about how grounded and "whole" they felt after the sermon.  


I had ventured out in the car to a new destination and I didn't get lost. It was a good start to the day.