The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, Oregon

UUCS Sermons
Sermon by the Reverend Richard R. Davis

There we were, a jeep full of devout spiritual seekers, driving home from a Buddhist meditation retreat in the Catskill Mountains through the snowy mid-December landscape of upstate New York .  This was in the early seventies and the high idealism of the late sixties was still lingering in the atmosphere.  Although I hadn’t had any earthshaking spiritual breakthroughs during the seven day retreat, I was in much better shape than before I went.  I felt much calmer, less anxious, more open to the joy and beauty of each moment of life.   It was a very positive change for me.

            Then suddenly, the jeep was in a deep ditch on the side of the road.   We were seriously stuck out there in the lonely countryside.  Before we could even get out of the jeep to walk for help a very friendly farmer in a big tractor came around the bend.  With his help we were on the road in less than five minutes. 

            Later, back home, the wife of our jeep driver asked us how we had ended up in a ditch in the first place.   I responded:   “The road turned and we didn’t.”  That strikes me as a comment about life in general.  If we are traveling straightforward down the road of life -- guided by assumptions and beliefs and attitudes that have taken us successfully through a long, straight stretch of the road – and then road ahead turns and we don’t –perhaps because we’re not paying attention and don’t see the new curve, or we’re just afraid to change course -- we will end up in a ditch.

            Of course this talk of traveling the “road of life” is a metaphor--but a useful one.  Even if you aren’t traveling any roads and are staying put, the scenery around you will change.  Noting that the only constant thing in life is change is one of the most ancient of universal observations.  Whether it’s the Buddha, or the early Greek philosopher Heraclitus or the anonymous author of the book of Ecclesiastes, they all said what we can see for ourselves – everything changes.   As the Diamond Sutra from the Buddhist canon puts it:  “Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:/  A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream/ A flash of lightening in a summer cloud,/ A flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream.”

There’s nothing we can do about the inevitability of change – and when you think about it, who would really want to? -- but we can do something about the way we meet and accommodate to change. 

            To be sure, there are some changes that seem to come from out of the blue, and we may not see them coming – a death, a divorce, a job loss, an accident, an illness.  Yet there are many other changes – which if you look up and around with awareness – you can see coming.  And seeing such change coming, you can gracefully adapt and prepare to steer skillfully through that oncoming curve in the road. 

            There’s much talk about change in the air these days.  Many of us welcome the prospect of substantive changes in our country.  Here’s my blunt opinion: Those who have been in our nation’s driver’s seat need to have their licenses revoked because they are driving us into deep ditches of denial, debt, despair and destruction.    We need some change here.  Change can be a very good and welcome thing.  So let’s talk just a bit about positive change, ranging from the personal to the congregational to the national arena. 

            First, consider the paradox, the possibility and the promise of change.   (I’m feeling alliterative today)

            The paradox of change – and here I’m speaking of change at the personal and interpersonal levels is this:  It’s impossible to change yourself or others if a feverish desire for change is your starting point.  If you want to change because you can’t stand who you are, you’ll tend to push too hard, spin your wheels in the mud and dig yourself deeper in a hole.  Or if you marry someone thinking that you can change some of your mate’s irritating flaws once the wedding is over you should just go ahead and sign up for some marriage counseling because you’ll need it.   

Acceptance of how you or another person is now has to be the starting point.  If you can accept yourself, a loved one a friend – as you or they are now – then, paradoxically, positive change will be possible when the time is ripe for it to happen.   Then, you will be able to open your eyes, your heart, your mind and see whatever bends there might be in the road ahead and freely choose to make any necessary changes in the course of your life.  Perhaps it’s time to change an old attitude or habit, or let go of what is irretrievably past, or prepare to accept some new scenario in your life.   As the seasons of our lives change, so, too, do our strategies for living.  Change is constant. 

Our religious tradition is grounded in this psychological principle applied in the theological realm – we don’t believe in forcing people to change or adopt any particular religious beliefs because we know that such change comes from within, that forcing change is a violation of the principle of freedom of conscience--which is not to say we cannot encourage and support change and growth at the right time.

            But how do we change when we’re ready?  Well, let me introduce you to the newest significant addition to my vocabulary – this new word (for me) is “conation.”  (KO-NA-SHUN)  It’s a psychological term that refers to how we translate what we know and feel into meaningful action and behavioral change.  It’s the third leg of the psychological stool necessary for positive change and growth.  There is 1) cognition (knowing) 2) affect (feeling) and 3) conation (doing)  -- all are necessary for positive change and growth.  

For example, say you know about this very special remote location (cognition) and you have positive feelings about it (affect), but you have no strategy, no plan, no idea of how to get there.  You could only idly, ineffectually dream about getting there.   What’s missing is conation – a sense that you can indeed make the journey.  But now, what if someone gave you a good map and a mode of reliable transportation and you honestly felt you could get there.  You could make that change.  That’s conation – it’s a belief in the possibility of positive change and a genuine willingness to take that journey to a promised land.  When you have conation you can make positive changes in their own life and in the world.  When it’s lacking, the most knowledgeable and kind people can only sit and idly dream of where they yearn to go.

Once again, our religious movement is grounded in this psychological principle applied in the theological realm.  In much traditional theology people are taught that they are helpless sinners who can only be saved by the grace of God, not by virtue of their own efforts.  In our tradition – especially the Unitarian side – we affirm that we can promote our own growth and that we can serve the world by applying our wills to the tasks at hand.   Our tradition has always preached conation.  Let me hasten to add that the great creative power that transcends us, the sacred ground of all being – call this what you will – is not discounted.  We are not purely a do it yourself faith.  The Hindu sage Ramakrishna said it well:  “The winds of grace are always blowing, but YOU have to raise the sail.”   You and I must raise the sail to catch the winds of grace and inspiration – that’s conation.  

            Before I move on, I need to issue a warning that comes from personal experience.  Ignore the anti-conational voice of resignation and hopelessness within you.   UU Minister Forrester Church calls this the voice of “sophisticated resignation.”  This voice will tell you that positive change isn’t possible, that you should throw in the towel before the game even begins.  These voices can convert you to their life denying, do nothing, what’s the use gospel of hopelessness.   Just remember:  these voices are habitual liars.  Don’t be fooled and disempowered by them.  If you just move forward, one step at a time, day by day, you will soon find yourself in sunnier spiritual climes.  That’s been my personal experience.  

            Now consider the promise of positive change.  Change for the mere sake of change is just rearranging the furniture – there’s no qualitative difference.  Positive change means growing morally and spiritually, moving toward a promised land for all of us – a land where the storms of hatred and bigotry no longer cloud the horizon, a land of compassion where everyone is accepted and respected, a land of justice where the rich and powerful no longer throw bread crumbs to the poor but where all are welcome at the banquet table of life, a land where people will feel a special connection to the earth and live in harmony with it. 

            Once again, the yearning for such positive change in our world is woven into the genetic code of our free religious tradition.  We recognize that a religion that focuses too narrowly on personal salvation or individual spiritual enrichment and ignores the cries and pleadings of a suffering world is morally askew, ethically unbalanced. 

            Well, I’ve been talking quite a bit about change – it’s a fascinating issue and I could ruminate some more on this, but now I’m going to shift my focus from the abstract to the concrete. 

            Regarding personal change let me simply say this.  It’s easier to make positive changes in your own life if you make good associations, if you hang out with the right crowd – a group of others who are also committed to positive growth and change.  The amount of support, encouragement and gentle challenge we give one another and the positive example we can provide for each other is transformational.  That’s why being part of a religious community of kindred spirits is so essential, that’s why you can’t really be a Unitarian Universalist alone.  Lonely potted plants stuck indoors can only grow so much.  We must plant ourselves in the garden of a larger community to truly flower and grow.  

            Speaking of religious community, as I look up ahead I can see some bends in the road this congregation should prepare ourselves to steer through.    Now a congregation is more like a ship than an automobile.  Congregations can’t turn on a dime.  We have to start making a turn sometime before we actually expect to see a change in direction.  Here’s my view of how we need to begin turning.  

First, let’s affirm that we’ve accomplished a lot in the past decade – we crossed an amazing passage from one facility to another, we’ve made it through some troubled waters without capsizing, we’ve settled in nicely here and expanded our outreach.  Yet our surrounding community is changing – it keeps growing and changing demographically, and if we do not grow and change, we will be shrinking in relative significance.

We can’t rest content because we have something very valuable to offer here that could benefit others – a religious community where religious freedom of conscience is honored, where we each strive to be the best we can be without imposing our views on others, where good people who didn’t ever think they would feel welcome and included in any religious community do feel accepted.   We have something to offer that could make a positive difference in the lives of more people than currently belong here, a place where many can find the hope, the love, the acceptance, the sense of meaning and purpose that is currently lacking in their lives.  Then, too, the stronger we are, the more we can bless this community. 

We know we should grow and it would feel right – after all, we’re not an elite social club of liberal thinkers, we’re a religious community with a mission to bring more hope, compassion and justice into our corner of the world.  Yet we don’t really have a clear plan for this.  We need some conation – practical ideas for how we can make our presence more widely known, how we can reach out and connect to those in this immediate area, how we can become more sensitive to class issues and unwitting patterns of behavior that may leave some feeling excluded, how we can have the most effective staff configuration and the most effective use of volunteers, how we can enrich the opportunities for spiritual and intellectual growth.  I’d say we need a conation committee – or, if you will, a steering team to negotiate positive change – group of committed and wise members who will be as dedicated as the committee that oversaw construction of our new home, a group who will look at our ministry holistically – not just piecemeal--a group who will listen to our ideas and suggestions and not simply make recommendations but take action and let us all know how we can support our common endeavor.  (In a month we will have our annual congregational meeting to consider such matters, and I am discussing this in greater depth with our board of trustees.) 

Finally, as we consider change let’s focus on a much larger picture.  In just a few months we will be electing a new president.   It’s not my place to make any endorsements here, but I will share some observations.  We are headed in a direction that calls for a positive, creative, major change, lest we end up in a deep ditch that will leave many hurting. 

One candidate for president, Barack Obama (and please don’t construe my quoting him as an endorsement), has written eloquently about the need for such change:  “.. the nation’s most significant challenges are being ignored, and .. if we don’t change course soon, we may be the first generation in a very long time that leaves behind a weaker and more fractured America than the one we inherited.”  

“What’s troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics – the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and the trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem.”  

What does this mean for us?   A great deal.  Encourage your elected representatives to move forward toward positive change to avert disastrous changes – in our health care system, in the health of the environment, in our foreign policy, in our care for all our citizens, in preserving our constitutional liberties.   We need to and can regain a sense of our national conation.  The perils ahead are real.  The greed for personal gain, the rampant materialism, the denial of the common good has sent us close to some dangerous shoals.  Let’s remember, we are in this national and global boat together.   It is not beyond us to see this; it is not beyond us to be guided by communal values, to acknowledge mutual responsibility and social solidarity, a show a deeper sense of empathy with those we typically disdain. 

Look!  Can’t you see those momentous bends in the road ahead?  Let’s turn together, let’s change together.  It’s not too late.