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Creation, Harmony and Covenant A Worship Service by the Reverends Mark W. Christian & Jonalu Johnstone Presented to the First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City Sunday April 3, 2005
Reading From: Soul: An Archaeology—Readings from Socrates to Ray Charles Phil Cousineau
What does soul mean? Is it, as in Aristotle’s classic definition, the "life-giving" principle? Is it the shiver up your spine when Aretha Franklin sings the blues? Or is it the simple, breath-taking beauty of a Pablo Neruda poem? Soul defies definition, yet it surrounds us, permeating every aspect of our lives and culture from art, music, and literature to religion, society, and identity. ...For many, soul is the constellating image for the paradox of unchanging depths in an ever-changing universe ... an existential anchor for the drifting ship of awareness ... Soul is that unmistakable fire that infuses all truly creative endeavors and sends the shiver up the spine, telling us we’re in the presence of lived truth.
Prayer and Meditation Prayer for the Earth Barbara Deming (SLT 570)
Spirit of Love
Creation, Harmony and Covenant A Sermon by the Reverend Mark W. Christian Delivered to the First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City Sunday April 3, 2005
Growing up, I remember taking field trips to the Kilpatrick Planetarium out at the Fairgrounds. The Planetarium was the forerunner of today’s Omniplex. They had science displays, cultural artifacts and, of course, a large domed room with a weird looking contraption in the middle that projected little beams of light on the round ceiling which, with a slight suspense of disbelief, one could imagine as the night sky. An aspect of those field trips came to mind as I pondered today’s sermon. It could be that oddly shaped contraption that begged for a slight suspense of disbelief in projecting a portrayal of the real world, but it isn’t! It could have been that creepy old mummy they held on display in the museum area, but it isn’t. No, the thing that tickled my imagination as I considered this last sermon in a series about the affirmation we share was—a hologram. Some of you long time Oklahoma Citians, no doubt, remember that green tinted projection of a hand holding out a dollar bill on display where you lined up to enter the old planetarium. You could look at it from different angles as it defied logic in a way that seemed both real and unreal. It tempted you to try a grab the bill from mid air—I can tell you from concerted effort that no matter how many times you tried, that dollar bill still hung in mid air. Before I going further, I should tell you that this isn’t a canvass sermon about trying to pull money out of thin air—but I guess it could be. In some ways, though, this series of sermons is like that hologram. The affirmation which is at the core of this series is in some ways like any hologram. A hologram is an optical trick. It is a projection of something—it’s not the real thing. In the case of the display I remember the hope is to grab your attention—to test your assumptions about the world. It may be too harsh to say that the Griswold Williams piece we read in unison together is a trick—but it is intended to help you understand your world, and I believe it employs a bit of misdirection to achieve that goal. It is intended to create an experience that you can use as a tool to compare, contrast and communicate reality. There is a paradoxical sense within that statement that is neither affirmation, nor covenant nor creed. There is something in those sentences that takes my memory back to an old holographic projection. There is something holographic in all this that I hope to express to you about those words we share. “Love is the doctrine of this church,” we say. Love—which is not a doctrine at all—is the ONLY doctrine of this church. “The quest for truth is its sacrament.” Something resides in us that compels us to search for truth as an outward and observable sign of a larger indwelling Grace. “Service is its prayer.” Prayer to us should not be silent and solitary—it should be dynamic, vital and observable. When you can comprehend these things you will understand much of what we are about. Beyond these things, we are—“To dwell together in peace … seek knowledge in freedom … and serve others in community” These parts of that affirmation establish the reason we exist as a community—dwelling, seeking and serving in the ways that freedom compels. Then the affirmation ends with what may be its richest sentiment: “To the end that all souls shall grow in harmony with creation. Thus do we covenant together.” So what does this have to do with my hologram? As I understand it, if one breaks apart a hologram, each constituent piece possesses the whole image—not a fragment of the whole. There is a paradoxical, yet harmonious, element in all this. The individual aspects of our lives, which combine, creating this church, if taken individually bear little resemblance to the whole. Still, each individual part—each individual person—carries with them the sum of the whole. You carry from this place, each and every time you come into our midst, the sum of your experience of this church. You carry with you the whole of our holographic projection. Today, we conclude this sermon series by considering at that last phrase—“To the end that all souls shall grow in harmony with creation—thus do we covenant together.” I believe this phrase is that holistic element that is present in all the other pieces. This last statement is the focal point of what we share together as we gather for worship and fellowship. We affirm, covenant and promote all those earlier ideals “To the end that all souls shall grow in harmony with creation.” That, I believe, is the hub of our institutional wheel—it defines the constituent parts and casts them into a useable religious whole. That phrase reminds me of one of the great Unitarians of the 20th century. A. Powell Davies captured so much, so eloquently, when he observed: “A life is just a chance to grow a soul.” Now, I don’t always agree with all the connotations of the word “Soul,” but I believe that we are in the Soul business here at First Unitarian. We are in the business of Growing Souls, of Organizing Souls, of Soul-Searching and Soul Finding and, above all else, Sanctifying Souls. Growing souls, while a worthwhile endeavor in its own right, still doesn’t quite capture everything that needs to be said. The next part of that phrase asserts that our objective is to nurture these souls into harmony with creation. Perhaps there is a whole series of sermons in that phrase alone, but suffice it to say that harmony and creation are so much a part of what we are about that they are the appropriate core of the religious promise we make each to the other. One of my favorite books, now a soon-to-be released film, is Douglas Adams’ “The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy.” Adams in Science Fantasy fashion has a giant animated computer express the notion that “The answer to the Great Question … of Life, the Universe and Everything … is … forty-two.” Perhaps, paradoxically stated, my religious understanding “Creation” also equals forty-two. Creation, I believe, is the sum of everything that is, ever was and ever will be along with the matrix from which everything comes and the void to which everything decays. Everything is creation and everything is in creation. Theologically this is called Panentheism. I guess I am clueing you in that anytime you hear me use the word Creation, I am expressing my notion of God, Life, the Universe and Everything. Borrowing from Douglas Adams’ enigma: creation equals forty-two and our task is to live in harmony with that knowledge. Applying that notion to the piece we share each week: the religious life is spent living in harmony with “The answer to the Great Question … of Life, the Universe and Everything,” a.k.a. Creation, a.k.a. 42. Remember, we are to live in Harmony—not in Unison with creation. I can sing a single note. You can play a single note on the organ or guitar or oboe. Depending on timbre and pitch, it can be varied and even beautiful but it is only one note. Harmony comes when different voices, each aware of the other, combine in ways that we find pleasing. As a little exercise—I’d like Dianne to play middle C on the organ for a moment. She can change the sound of that note to make it sound more like strings or horns or a variety of sounds. By itself, though, it is just one note—and even when modified it speaks in only one voice. Continuing the musicological “Show and Tell” part of today’s sermon. Dianne, play that “Middle C” again. Now add an octave above and octave below. Now add a “C” from the foot pedal. It is more interesting, but it still is just a “C.” Now take the Middle C and add an E. That’s harmony—harmony is the relationship between the two notes. Adding another note—a G—creates a chord. This is a C major chord. Its constituent notes fulfill each other—they resolve themselves in a way that reinforces—but is infinitely more complex than the C note alone or even that single note played in different octaves. That’s not the only, or even the most interesting, kind of chord, though. Dianne, play the C major again—but add the seventh, a B-flat…and the tone changes and is less resolved. Now take the C major again—but flat the E—and you have a minor chord, which has an all-together different character to it. Musically, there are 5th and 9th and 13th chords that create different harmonies. There are Augmented and Diminished chords that express different harmonies. Some harmonies are easy to appreciate and others need to be used sparingly and with exacting purpose. In this church we don’t expect our members to sing in unison, spiritually. We are the organ ranks. We are the choir—where each member takes on different notes, building, supporting, contrasting and creating creative tension. There are some churches where it is assumed that everyone sings in unison—or, at most, sings the same note in different registers. The affirmation we share expresses something radically different. We don’t seek to homogenize our voices—we want to help each voice sing with its own timbre and tone, its own vibrato and sustain—but we expect each of our members to sing in harmonies not solos. Living in harmony with creation doesn’t mean erasing our differences it means treasuring them. Another aspect of this harmony we seek is that, as Beverly can attest, one of the most challenging parts to a chorus is that all the parts have to “hear” each other. Singing in harmony is about more than hitting the right notes at the right time. It is about listening and balancing and respecting the other parts. There can be no harmony with just the Root note, however marvelously it may be sung. Every harmonious note relies on differing voices. So do the things we find compelling about living spiritual, ethical, religious lives. We each sing our root notes but to live in harmony, not in solo, we not only tolerate and allow—we must encourage harmonious voices singing notes different from our own. This is true to the core of our life as a church. For some, the root may be worship or music, for others social action or a sense of community, for some—ecological sustainability or the education of our youth, still others focus on how we deepen our own understanding of the world. The key is that whichever of these things you or I hold as our Root—we need the other voices to perfect the chord. We need each other to sing harmony. The paradox is that to sing harmony you must be totally committed to your note and totally committed to others singing an entirely different note at the same time. This last phrase from the affirmation we share points us to the core of what we are about as a religious community. We strive to create and be part of a community—but that community is symphony than melody. It isn’t a hologram where every piece is the same—even though each and every piece is precious and necessary. The community we create and sustain is a complex environment with differing and sometimes conflicting elements. Ultimately, though, our task is to gather in a common body in the hope that one day, all the elements of our life, our truest selves and our world, will grow in harmony we Creation. That is our promise and purpose. That is our great covenant. May we forever sing its praises. AMEN
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