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Congregation Unitarian Universalist
A Religion of Realities
Prelude:
Today I want to share my reflections on the beauties as well as the realities of life that are often overlooked or forgotten, but
are with us always. If we bring these things into our lives we can find the joy and magic of this season throughout the year
while continuing to remember that many do not share our wealth and freedoms.
The joy of these winter holidays is not just getting together with our families, nor the smiles of strangers in the street, or even
the companionship of close friends; it is the spiritual inspiration that we find when we discover that it could be like this all year!
Words of Welcome:
Opening Words:
Jacob Trapp
Prayer: ( followed by a moment of silent meditation)
Hymn::
Joys and Concerns:(We throw a small stone into this bowl filled with water, to symbolize our thoughts, which move in circular rings eternally, like concentric waves.)
Story for All Ages: Children leave for RE at the end of the story
First Reading: A Religion of Realities
Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the attendant of truth.
Discussion Theme: A Religion of Realities Copyright Congregation Unitarian Universalist of Puerto Rico Domestic Non-Profit Corporation #6268
*Closing circle of hands: (Holding hands or link arms as you read the closing words together)
Jonaly Johnstone Extinguish Chalice:
We extinguish this chalice but not the flame of hope or the shared compassion of this community
*Hymn: Go now in Peace,
May the Love of God surround you
Everywhere, everywhere, You may go Final Words:
Spirit of Love and many names
Who has no beginning and no end
Who is male and female and neither one
who serves and is served
who creates and is created
who binds the world together and tears it apart
Spirit of Hope and many names
Touched and untouchable
Mysterious and answering all mystery
Out reaching and all-embracing
Apart from and part of all
Spirit of All and of many names
We acknowledge your presence
Now and forever
Here and everywhere as we come in and for all our days.
To worship is to stand in awe under a heaven of stars, before a flower, a leaf in sunlight or a grain of sand.
Lighting the Chalice:
To worship is to be silent, receptive, before a tree astir with the wind or the passing shadow of a cloud.
To worship is to work with dedication and with skill, it is to pause from work and listen to a strain of music.
To worship is to sing with the singing beauty of the earth:
It is to listen through a storm to the still small voice within.
Worship is the mystery within us reaching out to the mystery beyond.
It is an inarticulate silence yearning to speak;
Worship is the window of the moment open to the sky of the Eternal.
We come to this time and this place
To rediscover the wondrous gift of free religious community;
To renew our faith in the holiness, goodness, and beauty of life;
To reaffirm the way of the open mind and full heart;
To rekindle the flame of memory and hope; and
To reclaim the vision of earth made fair, with all her people one.
In the quietness of this place and in the Spirit of this Community in which we share and find strength let us pray. Prayer cannot bring water to parched land, not stop a roaring flood, nor mend a broken bridge, nor rebuild a ruined city, but prayer can water an arid soul, change the tide toward rightesness,mend a broken heart and rebuild a weaken will. Let us pray.
# 123 (STLT)
"Spirit of Life" by Carolyn McDade (adapted)
Spirit of Life, come unto us,
Sing in our hearts all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
Move in our hands, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold us close; wings set us free;
Spirit of Life, come to us, come to me.
We invite you to share your joys and concerns since our last meeting
A religion of realities is a faith that the real world provides sufficient beauty, adventure, and growth for our needs and aspirations. We are real creatures in a real world; only if we miss the splendor of this world do we need fantastic substitutes. This life is worth living, this world enough, of such qualities and extents it needs no future life to justify it; we forgo hope for heaven. We are content to be human beings on planet earth, circling our modest star in one galaxy among a billion galaxies, living out these lifetimes, loving our human loves, enabled by human intelligence and knowledge, limited by human powers and controls, exercising human virtues, patient with our unavoidable failures. We strive to realize these brief lives in full, acclaiming this one chance to savor the cosmos, to prove its secrets and sing its glories, to love its creatures. We are skeptics, unwilling to delude ourselves, our brains unhitched from our longings, thinking what they think, no matter how we might prefer it otherwise. Our eyes will not lie to us on demand. We confront our fellow humans on terms. We work at a real bench and feed our children real food. Our feet press real earth and stub on real boulders. We are hot with the real sun, cold with real ice. Our loves are native and human. We live a real life, and we will die a real death. We have seen beautiful sunsets a thousand times more beautiful than the heaven, minnows more justified than god. We have eaten new peas sweeter than nectar, breathed cool air finer than the substance of the soul. A bird's wing, a snail's shell refute all disbelievers. We are undone by reality. We acknowledge the quandaries and dubieties of the real world, but it is less conjectural than the world of fantasies. We accept the human passage in preference to assumptions of divine
Second Reading: Cherish Your Doubts -- Robert T. Weston (UU minister)
Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery.
A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error, for there is incompetence and imperfection in every belief.
Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false.
Let no one fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it; for doubt is the 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.
Those that would silence doubt are filled with fear; their houses are built on shifting sands.
But those that fear not doubt, and know its use, are founded on rock.
They shall walk in the light of growing knowledge; the work of their hands shall endure.
Therefore let us not fear doubt, but let us rejoice in its help:
It is to the wise as a staff to the blind; doubt is the attendant of truth.
In this world there have always been many opinions about faith, religion and reality.
Do you agree that there must be knowledge in faith and reason is the lantern of faith?
Unitarian Universalists try to live by the words: You need not think alike to love alike. Do you agree? When do you find this difficult ?
One of the most important spiritual functions is conscience, the source of all spiritual joy and happiness. Has this been your experience?
Conscience will not be quieted by anything less than truth and justice. Our sixth principle calls for us to be a justice seeking people. How can we seek justice in our daily lives?
Spirit of All and of many names
We acknowledge your presence
Now and forever
Here and everywhere as we go out and for all our days
Go now in Peace, Go now in Peace,
Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.
Paul Tillich
*Stand as you are willing or able
