“The Sphinx’ Riddle”A Seeker Service by the Reverend Mark W. Christian Presented to the First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City Sunday August 14, 2005
Reading One From “Our Beliefs” by David Rankin (In the UU Pocket Guide) There are ways in which we are similar to other religions. Like the Roman Catholics, we have a long tradition extending over many parts of the world from India to Hungary to the Americas. Like the Jews, we have our heroes and heroines: Servetus, David, and Fuller; Murray, Channing, and Emerson; Barton, Anthony, Steinmetz, and many others. We have a system of democratic polity, like the Baptists, with the congregation acting as the ultimate authority. There is an elected Board of Trustees, and a pulpit characterized by freedom of expression. As with the Confucianists, we have emphasized reason, wisdom, and knowledge. We have an eclectic system of theology, like the Hindus, which encourages each individual to develop a personal faith that is not dependent on the demands of an institution. Like humanists, we have our roots in the experience of the world as it is known through touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell. Like Buddhists, we accent the beauty, mystery, and holiness of every man, woman, and child, seeing each as a sacred vessel. The similarities of belief are not an accident of history. Rather, they spring from the receptivity of Unitarian Universalism to the surrounding culture. While our roots are deep in the Christian tradition, they also extend to the Greek philosophers, the Hebrew prophets, the Renaissance thinkers, the mystics of the East, and the secular thinkers of the modern world.
Reading Two We Bid You Welcome Richard Gilbert (SLT 442) We bid you welcome, who come with weary spirit seeking rest Who come with troubles that are too much with you, who come hurt and afraid. We bid you welcome, who come with hope in your heart Who come with anticipation in your step, who come proud and joyous. We bid you welcome, who are seekers of a new faith Who come to probe and explore Who come to learn. We bid you welcome, who enter this hall as a homecoming, who have found here room for your spirit Who find in this people a family whoever you are, whatever you are, wherever you are on your journey. We bid you welcome.
Prayer and Meditation “Bridging” by Marge Piercy Being together is knowing Even if what we know Is that we cannot really be together Caught in the teeth of the machinery Of the wrong moments of our lives A clear umbilicus Goes out invisibly between, Thread we spin fluid and finer than hair But strong enough to build a bridge on. That bridge will be there A blacklight rainbow arching out of your skull Whenever you need Whenever you can open your eyes and want To walk upon it.
“The Sphinx’ Riddle”A Seeker Sermon by the Reverend Mark W. Christian Delivered to the First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City Sunday August 14, 2005 Douglas Adams, writing in the last quarter of the last century, outlined an ever present and ever frustrating aspect of the human condition—our propensity to ask questions and the absurdity of anticipating answers. In the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—Adams informs us that “The answer to the Great Question … of Life, the Universe and Everything … is … forty-two.” Our questions today may be different—or they may not be—but it is the pervasive nature of our questions that is at the heart of this series of Seeker Services. Experience has taught me that those who are new to our church bring with them a host of questions. Some of the questions have straightforward answers—“Through two sets of double doors, past the hallway, on your right. If you go down stairs you have gone to far.” Some of the questions elicit more elusive responses. I would remind you that I don‘t promise answers—but I have discovered that I can respond to just about anything. Sometimes the questions that you have are about the “Great Questions” of life…the great questions of death…the great questions of meaning…the great questions of ethics and the great questions of action. Experience has also taught me that even the not-so-new among us harbor questions about this church—some mundane, some sublime. To this end I fashion the first few services of my preaching year to the kinds of questions that spiritual seekers and the religiously curious may have about this church and its ways. I do this very intentionally because I know that often trying to intuit the why and wherefore of what we do and how we do it is challenging. It can lead one to the conclusion that Winston Churchill drew when asked to explain the meanings behind the foreign policy of the Soviet Union. “…It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." We can be a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. There are, of course, riddles and then there are RIDDLES. Perhaps the most famous riddle of all time is drawn from Greek dramatist Sophocles. The Sphinx was a terrifying being—part woman, part winged cat. In the ancient tragedy, the Sphinx is said to have sat outside Thebes and queried all passersby “What has one voice, is four-footed in the morning, two-footed at mid-day and three-footed in the evening.” One by one, the Athenians failed to resolve the riddle and were summarily devoured by the Sphinx. Before I go on, let me assure you that (to the best of my knowledge) this church has never actually consumed someone who couldn’t decipher the riddle of our existence! In due time, Oedipus comes forward and un-riddles the mystery with the answer “Human-kind” (OK, he really said “Man” but literary purity is not the riddle I am focused on today). Human beings, Oedipus knew, crawl on all fours as infants, walk upright on two legs in the middle stages of life, and use a staff as a third leg in old age. Once Oedipus resolved the Sphinx’ riddle she threw herself off a cliff, and despite having wings, was crushed on the jagged rocks below. As another aside—remembering that this is all metaphor please know that I this church won’t implode if you actually come up with the key to the riddles we embody. Part of what makes the Greek tragedies classic is that experience they embody holds true across the ages. It held true nearly three millennia ago when the legend of the Sphinx arose and it holds true today. I believe the truth in the Sphinx’ riddle holds true for us individually and it holds true for us institutionally. In fact it is the fact that as our lives move undeteredly from birth toward death that our needs and ability to respond to life change. Because each of us is four-footed in the morning, two-footed at mid-day and three-footed in the evening yet remain the same person our community tries to respond to the realities of each stage. In this church, much of our energy goes to that four-legged variety of species human. How many of you here today started coming to this church, or one much like it, because of the kids? There are, of course, cultural morés that tell us “Good parents take their kids to church.” More than that, though, there are those pesky questions that little ones start asking about life, death, God and everything. While I suspect we can all get by on our own version of Douglas Adams’ “forty-two” for a time—deep inside we know that honest questions deserve honest responses. Often the desire for that kind of response, demanded by our crawling, creeping, crouching, crunching, kids brings us to church. It brings us to church and it shapes what we, as a church, do. We start by taking every measure we can to make sure that this is a safe place for our children. Beyond that, though, we strive to provide spiritual guidance that entices your children’s religious curiosity in ways that are developmentally appropriate. Obviously the way we treat, and what we expect a two-year-old differs from what we offer a five-year-old, a fourth grader or a high school Senior. We hold each of their needs at heart though. Last year we began a new approach to our Religious Education—or “Life Span Faith Development” as it is increasingly called. QUUEST (Questioning Unitarian Universalists Each Seeking Truth) brought a complete makeover of our classrooms. I highly encourage you to take a swing through the upper level of the Murdoch Wing (that’s the big building that sits parallel to the sanctuary) and check out Kaleidoscope, The Incredible Edible Lab, The Thirteenth Street Playhouse and Rhythm and Roll. These spaces are designed to use different learning modalities in the encounter with spiritual questions. Our kids use Music, Movement, Drama, Puppetry, Science, Cooking, Arts and Crafts to decipher stories about the Great Questions of Life, the Universe and Everything. I can’t unfold all we do with and for our children in our time today but know that do what we can to help them grow into the mysteries of life. I guess one of my messages today is that life is forever and anew a mystery. Some places try to explain away the mystery. I think our truer path is to learn to appreciate the mystery. This kind of appreciation starts with children but it doesn’t end there. We may walk on four legs in the morning but we walk on two legs at mid-day. Earlier, I asked how many of you started coming to church for the kids. Now let me ask, how many of you are still here years after the kids have moved out? Our institutional energy is also focused into that same kind of appreciation of mystery translated into the means and methods appropriate for adults. This worship service is designed largely for the two-legged species of humans. All of us continue to be riddled by questions of God and Goodness, Evil and Suffering, Action and Apathy, Living and Dying, Freedom and Responsibility, Fulfilling our Duties and Embracing Life. I think that as we move through adolescence into young adult hood and through our middle years toward maturity that the questions never really go away. I don’t think we so much answer the questions of life the universe and everything as we look for a balance between conscience and comfort in facing these riddles…conscience and comfort. One of the ways that religion has been described is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Part of the mystery is in there, I suppose. There is much of comfort and affliction in each of our lives and the role of the church is to minister to both our comfort and our affliction. This church exists to deepen our appreciation for the mystery of life and to push us to engage in actions that are consistent with our deepest and most aspiring values. We do this by asking you to take part in Adult Education classes, by volunteering at Horace Mann Elementary or by inviting you to sing in the choir. You participate in this when you pick up trash along 13th Street, facilitate a workshop in QUUEST, make donation to “Change for Change” or help our “Befrienders” help people in our community. You can address conscience and mystery by wrestling with the important issues of the day in our Forum, by serving on the Board or Council, by being a Youth Advisor or by deepening your connection with others and with life through one of our Covenant Groups. There are a myriad of ways in which we exist to help the adult members of our community find the relationship between conscientious action and spiritual growth. None of these things is as opposite as the phrase “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable” would lead us to believe. Our mission is focused on transforming people to transform the world in ways reflect an ethic of justice, love and compassion. This commitment to transformative spiritual depth and community conscience are tied together in the one riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma that we each experience as life. As with the Sphinx’ Riddle—our story does not end with us walking upright on two legs. A funny thing happens to all of us. We look up and we are no longer who we thought we were. I suspect that all of us look up one day and are shocked—perhaps bemused—but certainly amazed that we are older…OLDER. There is something wrong in our culture that wants us to believe that our elders burden society. The stories from the Inuit people of elders going out on the ice-flow to die are sometimes echoed by resentment that our society spends too much on Medicare and Social Security. Too often the life experience of our elders is not only ignored but discounted and denied. This is wrong and the church is perhaps the one place where those of us who have hit that three-legged place in life are not seen as someone who just needs to have their car keys confiscated. I see it every week. I see 20 and 30 and 40 something’s talking and listening and learning from 60 and 70 and 80 and 90 something’s. I see it in Coffee Hour. I see it in Adult Ed classes. I see it in chance encounters and congregational dinners. The Alliance, this worship service, Covenant Groups and our Befrienders are but symbols of what this evolution of our humanity means to a church such as this one. It is easy to think that the needs of our elders are all about death and dying. The issues around death and dying are quite real and they are a part of the needs to which this community responds. There is something deeper than that, though. Each of us, I think, struggles with questions of meaning. What does our life mean? Will it matter that we lived? I want to acknowledge that this church exists in the way it does as the incarnate inheritance of generation after generation of its elders. If you wander about this church you will see names like Daniel, Murdoch, Von Stilli, Combs, Kirby and Allen. These are all names we have immortalized. It is not just to those that we owe our existence, though. We are here because of the steadfast presence of so many people. A bit of thousands of people come together to form the DNA of this church. We do exist, in part, to serve the needs of our elders—but we also exist as the incarnate body of their struggle with the mysteries and tragedies of life. We exist as we do because so many of have shaped us with their love, ethic, dreams, generosity and legacies. We are a church that treasures and teaches its young, ministers to and through its middlers and honors and institutionalizes the ethics of its elders. Together we are a community that walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs at mid-day and on three legs in the evening. The Sphinx’ riddle was more than that though. The Sphinx’ Riddle also observed that this being had one voice. Often we seem more cacophonous than unified. There is unity in our diversity though—I hope to touch on it next week as this Seeker Series continues. Next week we will look “In and Out and Roundabout” for the keys to this transformation. Until then, know that whoever you are, wherever you come from, however old you are or aren’t that this church exists to help you live into the miracle and mystery that surrounds us all. We exist to transform you so that you can transform the world. Young and Old and In-between—we welcome you. You are our sunrise. You are the brilliance of our mid-day sun. You are our evening star. AMEN
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