An Audio Recording of the full service... Mending Fences (Part 1)
One Day at a Time - 12 Steps for Everyone. Trevor Hudson tells how he once took part in a group discussion on the question: In which area of life have you failed the most? He says that his answer was not long in coming. It was not in the academic arena, nor in the sporting, or the vocational or the financial. He says that while he had certainly blown it more than once in each of those areas, they are not the biggest failures. By contrast he says that his biggest failures in life have been in his relationships. He says that he cannot believe how many times he has let down his family, his friends and his colleagues through either things he has done or things he has failed to do. He remembers one particularly painful moment in his marriage. It was early on in his ministry. He had just taken responsibility for his first congregation. Keen to succeed, he worked long, hard hours. Outwardly he says things were going well. Attendances and finances were both up and there were even plans to build a new church building. But his marriage was not doing so well at all. He was often away from home or out late. He was denying the person closest to him the attention, time and energy necessary for real communication and caring. And then one night he came home to find a note next to his bedside table which read: ‘Trevor, I love you and want to be married to you. I sometimes worry though that one day I may no longer be worried if you don’t come home. I miss you and want to reconnect. Debbie.’ Trevor asks: Have you ever experienced similar moments of failure in your relationships? The truth is he suggests, if you have character flaws, then it is inevitable that you have. We all have. Because our character flaws don’t only harm us, they inevitably harm others as well, especially those who are closest to us. It could be our desire to be in control, our explosive temper, our selfishness, our long held resentments, our not speaking the whole truth, our deep seated prejudices, our wanting everything to be perfect around us, or as in Trevor's case our tendency to over-commit ourselves and to take on too much. Step 8 suggest that if we are going to grow spiritually, which is just another way of speaking of growing to human maturity, it is going to be important to take responsibility for the ways in which our character flaws impact other people, creating bruised and broken relationships and making whatever amends are possible. Step 8 reads: We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. There are two parts to Step 8. - 1. making a list of people we have harmed. 2. becoming willing to make amends. In making a list of all the people we have harmed we are invited to shine a light on all of our relationships both past and present. To reflect on our relationships. To remember the faces of those we have hurt. To write down their names. To think carefully about what it was that we did or did not do that harmed them. And consider what effect we may have had on them? Trevor says, this will be a difficult task for when things do go wrong in our relationships our normal response is to want to justify ourselves, to become defensive, to insist that we were in the right, to make excuses for ourselves and to blame the other person. The last thing we want to do is to admit that we may have done something wrong. We would much rather focus on how others have wronged us and how we have been the victim. Step 8 invites us to buck the trend. To turn it around and to challenge this deep-seated tendency to focus on our own victimhood. It is not to say that other people don’t have their own stuff that they need to take responsibility for. Of course they do. But we can only take responsibility for our own actions. And if we wish to grow we have to start with ourselves and Step 8 encourages us to do that by making a list. Who have I harmed in my thoughts, words or actions, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do? Are there people who immediately come to mind? Can we find the courage to write their names down on a list? Can we describe in a few words next to their name what it was we did? Can we add a few words to describe the effect this may have had one them? The second part of Step 8 is about becoming willing to make amends. I know in my own life where I have felt I have needed to make amends, it has felt like the last thing in the world that I actually wish to do. It can feel like a mountain too big to climb. How do we become willing? We can become aware of some of the benefits of doing so and I mention 3 in particular: Firstly making amends can help us deal with our feelings of guilt, remorse, shame, failure, resentment, anger and even hatred. Do you carry with you any of these painful feelings? How would you feel if those could be removed? That is what making amends can do. It can help release us from the grip of past failures and the emotional baggage that we carry around because of them. Secondly, making amends can improve our health. It is becoming clearer and clearer in the medical profession that carrying around unresolved emotional baggage can end up doing terrible harm to our health. When we make amends and are released from some of this emotional baggage and find ourselves living in more harmonious relationships with us because broken fences have been mended, we feel lighter in ourselves and this can have an impact on improving our health. Thirdly, making amends can help us reconnect with a sense of joy. Broken relationships and the emotional baggage we carry around with us as a result of things we have done is probably one of the things, more than any other, that robs us of our joy. In 2022, on our trip back to South Africa, I felt the need to make amends. 4 years previously, when I had sold my car to a neighbour I felt afterwards that I had overcharged him. I had done my research and charged a price that other cars with similar mileage and age were priced. But there were other factors that I hadn’t considered such as the fact that the car had been in an accident and two of the doors were not original. For 4 years this had sat uneasily within me and during that time I thought numerous times about how to put that right. In the end I realised that it was robbing me of my peace of mind. And though it took a lot of courage, I decided to phone him and pay him back some of the money I had received from him. It felt painful giving the money back. But afterwards I was grateful to be free of the uneasiness I had felt within me for about 4 years. There are good reasons to make amends. If we remind ourselves of them, it can help us to become willing to make amends. Restoring one’s inner peace is a very compelling reason to become willing to make amends. Next week we explore actually making amends… today is simply about making a list of people we have harmed and about becoming willing in our hearts to make amends: I end with two verses of Scripture: Proverbs 14:9 Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright. Matthew 5:23-24 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
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An audio recording of the whole service: Asking for Help? One Day at a Time
Step Seven – We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings Trevor Hudson tells the following story: A man sat across the desk from his doctor and complained, ‘Doctor, I have an awful headache. Can you help me to get rid of it?’ Certainly,’ answered the doctor. ‘But I need to ask you a few questions first to help diagnose the problem.’ ‘Tell me, do you drink at all?’ ‘Alcohol!?’ said the man, ‘I don’t touch the filthy stuff.’ ‘Do you smoke at all?’ ‘Tobacco is disgusting! I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life.’ ‘I'm a bit embarrassed to ask you this, but its important. Do you run around with other women besides your wife?’ ‘Of course I don’t Doctor. Who do you think I am? I’m in bed every night by ten at the latest.’ ‘Tell me,’ asked the doctor, ‘that pain in your head, it is a sharp shooting pain?’ ‘Yes’ said the man, ‘It’s a sharp shooting pain.’ ‘Well, I know what is causing it. Your trouble is that you have your halo on too tight. You need to loosen it a bit.’ It is very easy to think of others when we hear that story… are there people you can think of who wear their halo just a little too tightly? Hopefully however we can see ourselves in that story. Like Trevor Hudson, I certainly can see myself in that story. Examining the story, it is not so much the answers that the man gives that suggest his halo is too tight, but rather the emotion and the defensiveness that are the problem. Reflecting on that story, Trevor Hudson asks: ‘How often do we not give the impression that we a more honest, more caring, more virtuous than we really are? While in theory, we may be willing to admit to our faults, we often become very defensive when anyone reminds us of them. A quick test: How did you respond that last time someone pointed out one of your character flaws? He suggests that true humility involves loosening our halos. That doesn’t mean necessarily loosening our behaviour and our conduct (although for some of us who may have grown up in a particularly constricted and repressed environment that may be the case). What it does mean is being less defensive in our responses to others and being more willing and open to see and admit our weaknesses and character flaws. This is requires a certain humility. True humility says Trevor Hudson involves loosening our halos. About being honest in acknowledging both our strengths and weaknesses, accepting that we can be both saint and sinner, angel and monster. It’s about seeing ourselves as we really are. Humility neither exaggerates nor plays down the truth of who we are. It simply accepts the reality that we are fragile, flawed and fallible human beings. This is one of the key parts of the 12 Step Programme. In some ways the 12 Step Program seems a little repetitive, but in a way that is important because each step builds on the next and sometimes requires us to revisit steps we have already been through. A key element of the 12 Step Program is in helping participants to humbly and honestly look at themselves. Without nurturing this quality of humility it will be very difficult for anyone to find healing from addiction and from our dysfunctional thinking and behaviour. Humility is a key quality needed for anyone who wishes to be made well or whole. In the Zen tradition, humility is also known as the beginners mind. The mind that thinks it is an expert already will never be open to learning anything new. The beginners mind is a humble mind that is open to learn new things. Step 7 explicitly invites us to practice humility. There is nothing like asking for help in helping us to practice humility. To ask for help is to recognise that we don’t have all the answers. To ask for help is a recognition of our need for the other or others. It is a recognition that we are not completely independent being, that we are not completely self-sufficient… we are part of a network of interdependence. Those who are humble are ready and willing to call out for help. Les Brown writes: Ask for help, not because you are weak but because you want to remain strong. And Louise Hay writes: Its ok to ask for help. I give help to others when they need it. I ask help from others when I need it. And Katrina Meyer writes: I am courageous enough to know that I can accomplish great things. I am humble enough to know when I need to ask for help. In Step 7 we are invited to call out to God (the God of our understanding) or our Higher Power or perhaps even our Higher Self if we may struggle with conventional God-language. Some might choose to ask Love with a capital L to help them. Asking humbly for help to remove our shortcomings. Richard Rohr, the American Franciscan priest who has written extensively on the value of the 12 step program writes the following: “We can never engineer or guide our own transformation or conversion. If we try, our so-called conversion will be self-centred with most of our preferences and addictions still fully in place but now well disguised. And so Step 7 says that we must “humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings.” As Trevor Hudson indicates, this is a water-shed moment in the 12 steps as we actually humble ourselves enough to ask for help and indicate our desire in no -uncertain terms to the journey towards well-ness and wholeness. Again, we are reminded by Trevor that this does not mean we will wake up with all our problems solves and all our character defects removed, but now we are truly on a path in which change can take place. It is a step in which we now become active partners with God or our Higher Power towards a journey into a new future. We have a heightened awareness now of what a strengths and weaknesses are. By sharing our wrongs with ourselves, God and one other human being, but indicating our entire willingness to change and now in humbling ourselves enough to ask for help, change can truly take place, even if the journey ahead is uneven, up-and-down and a long term process, all the ground work for change is now in place. Trevor Hudson share one final thought on this Step. He says that when we ask God (or our Higher Power) to remove our character flaws from us, we also now need to become active participants in replacing them with their opposite qualities. If we battle with selfishness, we can begin to do kind or helpful things for others. If we procrastinate a lot, we can get down to doing something that we have been avoiding. If we are continually on the defensive we can discipline ourselves to not always have the last word. As we take action to build positive habits like these into our lives our journey towards healing, with the help of God will become more effective. I end with a prayer that Trevor Hudson refers to at the end of the chapter. The prayer goes like this: O God, I ain’t what I could be, and I ain’t what I should be, but thanks to you, I ain’t what I used to be. Those words summarise what we can expect to happen when we apply step 7 on a regular basis. We may always be flawed, imperfect, in progress, on the way. But when we become humble enough to ask for help from God (or our Higher Power), and sometimes even from other people, God, or the Greater Wisdom that sustains us can start changing us One Day at a Time. Amen. SERMON: FULL SERVICE - AUDIO ONLY Ready for Change? Step Six We were entirely ready to have God (Higher Power) remove all these defects of character.
In John 5, we read the fascinating story about a man who has been paralysed for 38 years. We find him lying next to the pool of Bethesda which was believed to have healing powers. But the proviso is you needed to be the first in when the waters stirred. We read that he had no-one to help him in and so someone else would always get in ahead of him… that story sounds hauntingly similar to trying to phone in to get an appointment at the local doctors surgery. Who can get in there first. Jesus, seeing the man then asks him an interesting question: Do you want to be made well? Why does Jesus ask that question? Surely after 38 years of being afflicted by his ailment the man wants to be made well? Surely everyone wants to be made well? But in the story Jesus seems to have deeper insight into what actually makes human beings tick. If truth be told… not everyone necessarily wishes to be made well. Growing up in South Africa it was a common thing to see people begging on the streets. Unemployment is high because there are not enough jobs to go around. It is extremely rare to see a sign outside a business indicating a vacancy. It was one of the things that shocked Wends and I when we first arrived in the UK. Jobs were and are freely available. They may not always pay well, but there are there for the taking. Not so in South Africa. If you have even a very low paying job you are one of the lucky ones. And there is little to no social support for the unemployed and for those who have disabilities that prevent them from working. Today you would receive a maximum of around £100 per month in South Africa as a disability grant. During the Apartheid years things would have been even worse if you were a person of colour. Growing up in South Africa in a town called Pinetown (about the size of Lisburn), I remember a man who would sit in the main street begging. He had what is commonly called elaphantitus… His one leg was swollen large, a bit like an elephants, and it had rough nodules or warts and often looked raw and to constantly oozed with fluid and blood. It was a very unpleasant sight to see. And also not a very pleasant thing to smell when walking past. I struggle to imagine what it was like for the man himself. Interestingly, at some point we had heard that someone in the community had offered to pay so that he could get his leg medically treated. During apartheid in South Africa, the healthcare system was deeply segregated and discriminatory, with people of colour facing significant challenges in accessing medical care. Unexpectedly we heard that, he had declined the offer to receive medical treatment. One can only speculate what his reasons might have been? Probably first among them was that prospects of financial security with a healthy leg were in fact less favourable for him and by implication his family than if his condition was left untreated. Would he even be able to get a job in a country where job’s especially for the lowest paid are scarce. And if he got a job, would he ever earn as much money for his family if he was made well? It is a distressing story but it does illustrates the fact that Jesus question to the man in John 5 was in fact quite insightful. As human beings, we don’t always want to get well, whether that be physically or emotionally because sometimes there is a pay off of one kind or another for remaining unwell. And that takes us to the 6th Step on the 12 Step Program. Over the course of October and November we were exploring the 12 Step program, and we got up to Step 5. A quick recap of the first 5 Steps might be helpful: In Step 1 we were invited to identify that one issue or struggle in our lives that we feel powerless over and that makes our lives feel unmanageable. In Step 2 we were invited to consider the possibility of a Higher Power that can restore us to wholeness, balance and sanity. Some might call that Higher Power God, others might call it their Higher Self, some who are not conventionally religious might speak of the Universe as their Higher Power. In Step 3 we were invited to hand over the care of our wills and our lives to that Higher Power, or God, as we understand God. In Step 4 we were invited to take a moral inventory of ourselves, listing as honestly as possible our virtues as well as our weaknesses. In Step 5 we were invited to admit to God, to ourselves and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs. And today in Step 6 we are invited to ask of ourselves if we entirely ready to have our character defects removed? In essence, the 6th Step is asking of us the same question that Jesus asked the paralysed man. Do we want to be made well? It sounds quite passive… asking God to remove our character defects from, but that wording is important in the 12 step program because in Step 1 we admitted that we were powerless over some part of our life. In other words, we had tried to change some aspect of our lives and found ourselves repeatedly failing. Sometimes we have dysfunctions that go deeper than our ability to change them ourselves… Sometimes we need help. Perhaps we need help often than we would like to admit. But the bottom line of Step 6 is the question Jesus asks the paralytic, “Do you want to be made well?” Do we really want to change? Are we entirely ready to have our dysfunctional thinking and behaviour changed? In other words, the bottom line is simple change begins with a willingness and a desire to do so. How willing are we? How much do we desire it? Am I entirely ready to have my character defects removed, or have I grown quite attached to them? Trevor Hudson makes the point that being entirely ready to have one’s character flaws removed does not mean that we are suddenly going to become perfect people. Far from it. He reminds us that even Paul, the author of much of the New Testament, battled with his weaknesses until the day he died. He says that it goes without saying that to be human is to be imperfect. We grow and mature throughout our lives. But what it means to be entirely ready to have our character defects removed means is that we are fully prepared to give up any destructive pattern of thought or behaviour that is stopping our spiritual progress, and thus it is a statement of our openness and willingness to change. Trevor Hudson gives an illustration. He asks the question, ‘What is the first thing that we need to do if we want to buy and new car? Some might suggest going to a local car dealership or looking online for car sales websites. But he suggests that even before we start looking at dealerships and car sales websites, right at the outset we need to be entirely ready to give up driving the old car. Only then will we be able to start out on the journey towards acquiring a new one. He says it is exactly the same when it comes to wanting to change ourselves. We can only change when we are entirely ready to do so. Dr. Phil however suggests that often we hang onto our dysfunctional behaviour and thinking because we get some kind of a reward for it. Perhaps we are attached to our dysfunctions because they give us an excuse to not grow because growing can feel like an overwhelming task. Perhaps we are attached to our dysfunctions because through them we hope to receive sympathy from others. Or perhaps we hang on to them because they might be familiar and provide a sense of comfort and security. Change can be uncomfortable and uncertain and so we resist it because we are not sure what it is going to ask of us? We have a fear of the unknown. Others may hang onto their dysfunctional behaviour and thinking because of denial and a lack of awareness of just how destructive our dysfunctions are. For others there may be short-term benefits in dysfunctional thinking and behaviour such as a temporary escape from stress or discomfort which may lead us to prioritise immediate relief over long-term well being. For others there may be social reinforcement. We fear criticism or rejection if we were to change and sometimes friends and family members are invested in us remaining the way we are. They do not wish us to change, because it might mean change for them too. Sometimes we resist changing our dysfunctional behaviour because we just haven’t yet learned healthier alternatives and we don’t even know what those might look like. There are a lot of reasons why we are not always entirely ready to give up our character defects or dysfunctional thinking and behaviour. And so, how can we get to this point? What if we are still very attached to our dysfunctional patterns of thinking and behaviour? Trevor Hudson suggests that a few things might help: I. We can begin by imagining what life might look like if we did change? How might my life be positively different if my dysfunctional patterns were removed? A positive picture of the future can inspire us to change in the present. II. We can think about the pain that our character defects cause to ourselves and others. What impact do my dysfunctional patterns and character defects have on others, especially those we love and cherish. How might their lives be different if I was different? III. We can consider what the future might look like if we do not let go of our character defects. How bad might things get? Who or what might I lose If I stubbornly refuse to give up my dysfunctional behaviour and thinking? IV. Lastly, if we are still not entirely ready to change, Trevor suggests we can ask God, or our Higher Power, or even our Higher Self to create that desire within us. What is interesting about Step 6 is that it is not yet a Step in which we actually engage in trying to make changes. It is not even a Step in which we ask God or our Higher Power or Higher Self to actually change us… that will be left for Step 7. Step 6 is the prior step where we are invited to consider if we really want change to happen at all? In the words of Jesus “Do I want to be made well?” We are not talking physically. We are talking about a wellness of spirit. “Do I want to be made well in my spirit and in my relationships? Hi Everyone
There is no online sermon today. Rev. Moodie is not preaching today. He will be back in action next week. Wishing you all a very happy new year Todays Christmas Eve Service features a Nativity Christmas Puppet Show entitled "Beany's Christmas Rap". For those unable to attend, a recording of the Puppet Show was made at the DromoreNSP Church: If anyone missed the service today and would like to listen to an audio recording of it, please Whats App Brian on 07427662828. Due to technical difficulties the recording wont upload to the website, but it can be shared vis Whats App. Alternatively, below is the recording of the Dromore Service also led by Rev. Colin Campbell. Advent Hope - Reflecting on the life and teaching of Victor Frankl in the context of Advent3/12/2023 Hope - Reflecting on the life and teaching of Victor Frankl in the context of Advent
Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) was an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor, best known for his existentialist approach to psychology. His life was profoundly shaped by his experiences in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, particularly Auschwitz, where he endured immense suffering and loss. Before the war, Frankl had already established himself as a prominent psychiatrist, however, his life took a drastic turn when he, along with his family, was arrested by the Nazis in 1942. Frankl lost his parents, brother, and pregnant wife in the Holocaust. During his time in the concentration camps, Frankl observed the impact of extreme suffering on individuals and he noticed that those who were able to find meaning and purpose in their lives were more likely to endure and therefore survive the harsh conditions. While those who could not find meaning or purpose tended to die much sooner. He realized that even in the face of unimaginable suffering, individuals could maintain their human dignity by choosing their attitude toward their circumstances. Victor Frankl's experiences in the concentration camps became the foundation for his most famous work, "Man's Search for Meaning," which was published in 1946 as well as his approach to psychology which he called logotherapy. In the book, he detailed his observations and reflections on human nature, resilience, and the quest for meaning in the midst of suffering. One of his key insights was that even in the most brutal and dehumanizing situations, individuals retained the freedom to choose their response and that this was a crucial human freedom that could never be taken away. In his therapeutic approach, logotherapy, Victor Frankl emphasized the importance of finding meaning in one's life. He argued that the primary human drive is not the pursuit of pleasure (as Freud proposed) or the quest for power (as Adler suggested), but rather the search for meaning. He believed that individuals can find meaning and purpose in life through their relationships, their creative endeavors, and by accepting the responsibilities and challenges that come their way. Now today is the first Sunday in Advent. On this Sunday, all around the world, churches will begin their services as we did this morning by lighting the first candle of their Advent wreathe. And the first candle of the advent wreathe is normally the Candle of Hope. Hope is a theme that is very much present in the season of Advent leading up to Christmas. The Christmas Story is very much a story of hope. In the Biblical story in Luke 2:10-11 we read that "And the angel said to the shepherds, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.'" It is a passage that expresses hope, hope that life can change, hope that life can be different. This theme of Hope is also found woven throughout the Christmas Carols we sing: In O Holy Night, we sing: “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn” As we explore the meaning of the word hope, I believe that Viktor Frankl’s experience of Aushwitz provides us with some helpful and important perspectives. Firstly, he spoke of “Meaning as the Source of Hope”: Victor Frankl believed that hope arises from a sense of meaning in life. When people are able to discover a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives it energises them and gives motivation and hope for the future. A second key to hope for Frankl, is what might be called “a Freedom to Choose Attitude”. Central to his philosophy was the idea that even in the most challenging circumstances, individuals possess the freedom to choose their attitude. A freedom that can never be taken away. This includes how we choose to respond to suffering. By exercising this freedom-to-choose-attitude, hope arises when it is recognised that no-one can ever take this freedom from us. If we can always choose how we will respond, Victor Frankl believed that the human spirit can therefore never in fact be defeated, and thus hope can be found even in the most difficult of circumstances. He spoke therefore of what he called ‘tragic optimism’ because from his own experience he had seen that even in the darkest moments, challenges and suffering could serve as opportunities for growth and therefore for the discovery of meaning. Thirdly Victor Frankl believed that meaningful connections and relationships with others play a crucial role hope. In Aushwitz he observed that the camaraderie and mutual support among prisoners fostered a sense of solidarity. The shared experiences and connections with fellow inmates helped individuals endure the hardships of the camp. The feeling of not being alone in their suffering created a sense of belonging and purpose and therefore a sense of hope. Lastly, Victor Frankl stressed the significance of having goals and a future-oriented outlook. Hope, in his view, is closely tied to having a positive vision for the future and actively working toward meaningful objectives. He believed that the anticipation of a fulfilling future contributes to a sense of purpose and hope in the present. Getting back to the Advent Journey towards the Hope of Christmas, in what ways does the Jesus story invite us to become people of hope? I wonder if part of the answer comes in one of the names that is ascribed to Jesus in the Christmas story. In Matthew’s story, when the angel speaks to Joseph in a dream, the angel says: “...and he will be called Immanuel which means God is with us.” Matthew 1:23. Now most Christians would understand that to mean that somehow Jesus was uniquely Divine and that in Jesus, God decided to make a 33 year visit to earth after which he got zapped back up to heaven. But that is surely a simplistic understanding. Even the Psalmist in Psalm 139 believed that God was and is an ever present reality and that there are no God-forsaken places on earth or in the universe “Where can I flee from Your Spirit” the psalmist asks. Is it possible that the Advent hope in the coming of Jesus is the coming of one whose purpose was to remind us of this wonderful truth that God is always with us. And not just that God is with us, but rather there is an indestructible divine presence within each one of us. There is a son and a daughter of God in each of us that can never be destroyed or overcome. And it is this divine presence and identity within that is the very thing that enables and strengthens us to exercise this freedom to choose attitude that Victor Frankl speaks of. It is this Divine Presence and Identity within that is able to reach out and find meaning in relationships with others and finding solidarity in the midst of difficult and trying times. It is this divine presence and identity within that enables us to find ultimate meaning in life and the ability to work towards a positive vision for the future. I close with a few quotes from Victor Frankl: “When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” I wonder if that is the problem with much of Western Society today. People no longer know where to find a deep sense of meaning and so they end up distracting themselves with pleasure. “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men [and women] who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man [person] but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.” “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” And it is because of this that he could also say: “Whoever was still alive had reason for hope.” May God bless you and you consider this advent what hope means for you? Where do you find your meaning and purpose in life. What is the source of your hope? How might we become beacons of hope for others who are in danger of losing hope? This Sunday's Sermon was delivered by Rev. Moodie at the Dublin Unitarian Church. Links for the sermon, and for the entire service can be found below Beauty, Goodness & Truth
Rev. Moodie's Address at the Dublin Unitarian Church. The title of my address today is Beauty Goodness & Truth, although I think the more correct order should be Goodness, Truth & Beauty. Today, I put Beauty first because it is probably the more accessible word, and a little less open to abuse than the words Goodness and Truth. And today, I would like to reflect on those words in the context of my own spiritual-pilgrimage-and-life-journey which will hopefully make me a little less of a stranger standing in front of you as I speak to you today. And so I begin this address in 1999 as a young 24 year old in my first year as a Minister in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. It was just 5 years after the first Democratic Elections of 1994. Nelson Mandela was President and there was a real sense of hope for change with the ending of Apartheid. As part of the Methodist Church’s program to embrace and facilitate the process of reconciliation in the country and in the church itself, they had begun placing many of their new ministers in cross cultural appointments, so we could begin to bridge the cultural divide after decades of racial segregation in the country. And so in my first year of ministry I was sent to Soweto the largest African Township in the country. It was both exciting and challenging. Exciting because it felt like I was playing my part, however small in building a new South Africa. Challenging, because I was thrown into the midst of another culture that was so different from my own, surrounded by a variety of languages that I did not speak or understand. Challenging also, because I was brought face to face with levels of poverty I had never seen before. It had always been kept somewhat at a distance. About two or three months in, the senior minister I was working under, assigned me to lead a Wednesday evening healing service at one of our churches deep in the township. After some beautiful and moving hymn singing, in which the congregation of about 50 people swayed and danced in true African style, Bible readings were read and a short sermon delivered myself, and opportunity was then given for people in the congregation to come forward for prayer and healing. This was a first for me. As I descended the pulpit, feeling a little anxious about what would happen next, pews were shuffled around, and very soon I found myself sitting in front of a row of about 20-30 people all seeking prayer. The majority of them were young mothers with little babies strapped to their backs or sitting on their knees. And as I listened to-each-one, before praying for each of them individually, a common theme began to be expressed by almost all of them. ‘I am unemployed. We don’t have enough money at home. Please pray for me that I will be able to get a job.’ I left that service quite shaken that day. Filled with questions and a gnawing doubt. Even while listening and praying for each of the 20-30 people who had come up for prayer I had found myself questioning how on earth my prayer would make any difference in their lives, questioning how on earth my prayer would miraculously get jobs for each of those people in a country which had one of the highest unemployment rates in the world and where the very structure of the economy was working against them. It was a kind of shattering experience. In that moment, I found that whatever had remained of my naïve Sunday School faith, which had already been deeply challenged by 4 years of theological study, collapsing around me. Who or what was God? How was God at work in the world? What difference if any did my prayers make? A few days later, I remember writing a letter to my parents. And in that letter I expressed something of the inner struggles I was facing. And I remember writing the following words: “I don’t know what I believe any more, but I know that I still believe in Goodness, Beauty and Truth”. I am not exactly sure where those words came from, because at the time I had not heard of the Three Transcendentals in my Theological Studies. It was only later, that I came to read that those three words are known in Philosophy and Scholastic Theology as the Transcendentals, The Good, The True and The Beautiful. Some philosophers and theologians would add a few extra 'transcendentals' to the list. Philosophically speaking, The Good the True and the Beautiful were regarded as The Transcendentals, because they were said to Transcend our ordinary experience of form in this world, and at the same time, everything in this ordinary world of form was understood to be expressions, in one way or another, of The Good, The True and The Beautiful. I am still not an expert in the Philosophy of the Transcendentals. But it was helpful to discover later on that those three words that I identified in 1999 as being essential to my own personal value system and faith, have a deep and venerable history in the realm of philosophy going back to the time of Plato as pointing to the essential nature of the Divine or Reality Itself. For me, it felt like I had stumbled upon those words intuitively and by accident as I had found myself flailing about as a young minister struggling to make sense of my faith, my calling and my vocation. Goodness, Truth and Beauty. At the time I never tried to define those words. My engagement with them was at a more visceral and intuitive level, but they became three essential words that enabled me to continue as a Christian minister when I found myself doubting almost everything else. They became like a touchstone to me, a tool for spiritual discernment. A bit like the bread-crumbs in the story of Hans and Gretal, they became like clues with which I could begin to navigate myself back Home wherever Home was. And as a Christian minister, as I reflected on the life of Jesus in the Gospels, in many of the stories I felt I could still discern something of the Good, the True and the Beautiful, in some stories more brightly than others, but there nonetheless. Before coming here to preach today, I listened to quite a number of the sermons on the Dublin Unitarian Website. I found there a wonderful array of thought provoking reflections on a wide variety of really challenging topics, reflections on the possibility of reincarnation, reflections on the migrant crisis facing Europe and Ireland, reflections on the changing nature of sexual mores in a post-Christian society. There was also a challenging reflection entitled “Can we trust the New Testament” in which Dr. Martin Pulbrook raised important and challenging questions about the historicity of the New Testament. I would have to agree with him. There are major question marks that surround the historical details of the Gospels. If the New Testament cannot be trusted from an historical perspective, what value if any remains in it one might ask? My own answer to that question lies in part in those three words: Goodness, Truth and Beauty. If there is value in the New Testament, then its value exists to the extent that it is able point us in the direction of Goodness, Truth and Beauty… Truth, not in the sense of absolute propositions and doctrines that are then proclaimed to be ‘The Infallible Truth’, but rather intimations, and archetypal stories that have the ability to inspire us to become True, Wholesome (‘Good’) and Beautiful and human beings. I think for example of the story of Jesus and the Woman caught in adultery and Jesus’ incisive and compassionate response, “Let the one who has no sin cast the first stone”. It is a moving story because the Jesus whom it depicts embodies and and radiates a deep sense of The Good, The True and The Beautiful in contrast to the self-righteousness, the judging and condemnation of the religious Pharisees. Even if there emerged some absolute proof that Jesus never in fact existed, the Beauty, Goodness and Truth of that story would remain and would still have the ability to inspire us to become more compassionate human beings. Going back to 1999, a few months after that shattering experience leading that healing service, I was out shopping and found myself drawn into a Bargain Bookshop. I’m sure some of you might identify with the experience. And there in the bookshop, I found a copy of a book by the Vietnamese Zen Teacher, Thich Nhat Hahn entitled: “The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching”. Paging through it, even in the shop, I knew I had found a treasure, because almost immediately I could discern signs within it of the same Goodness, Beauty and Truth that I had could see and discern in the stories and teachings of Jesus. And as I arrived back to the Youth Centre where I was living, as I got out the car, I felt my heart expanding with a sense of joy and gratitude as I soaked in the beauty of the sky and the clouds above me. And so I discovered that those three words had given me a set of intuitive tools which enabled me to read and appreciate the writings and scriptures of other faiths too, The Hindu Bhagavad-Gita, and Upanishads, the Chinese Tao Te Ching which soon became a favourite and the many Buddhist writings and scriptures. It is something that Unitarians have known for a large part of their history, that the Scriptures of other faiths also have value to the extent that they can inspire and move us, helping us to become ever more deeply True, Wholesome (‘Good’) and Beautiful and human beings. In Closing I offer you three quotes from Khalil Gibran that might invite us to reflect a little more deeply on each of those three words: On Goodness - he writes: In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness: and that longing is in all of you. On Truth he writes: “Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather, “I have found a truth.” Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.” Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.” “Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness.” And on Beauty, he writes: Beauty is life, when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror. |
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