“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future; live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
This Sunday, John Hall will give a lesson entitled, “Mindfulness: Being Aware of Ourselves”
We are forgoing meeting in person during the coronavirus epidemic. We share music, readings, and hymns, on our usual presentation slides, have a story and a talk, and share joys and sorrows, as well as a virtual “coffee hour” discussion, starting at 10:30, with the service at 11. If you prefer not to be seen, video is optional. If you would like to participate, please email westforkuu@gmail.com for details and a link, or for help with using Zoom.
We would love to have you worship with us!
If you are a regular attendee, we have added you to our Google Group if we had an email address. If you have not gotten a group email already, please email westforkuu@gmail.com so that we can add you to the group, which we will be using for staying in touch with each other during this time. Public announcements will continue to be posted here on the website and on our Facebook page and Twitter account, as usual.
Tolerance is a social rather than a religious virtue. A broad-minded view of the private belief of others undoubtedly makes for the happiness of society; but it is an attitude impossible for those whose personal religion is strong. For if we know that we have found the key and guiding principle of Life, we cannot allow our friends to flounder blindly in the darkness.
— Steven Runciman, The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy
Unitarianism and Universalism were both born in heresy, challenges to the beliefs and mores of the world around them.
Welcome before prelude
Good morning and welcome to West Fork Unitarian Universalists. I’m Robert and I feel blessed to serve this congregation as a lay leader. I’m glad to see all of you here today.
Thank you for joining us.
Let us use the prelude for centering. We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention.
Please silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.
Breathe.
Let go of the expectations placed on you by others—and those they taught you to place on yourself.
Drop the guilt and the shame, not to shirk accountability, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness.
Let go of the thing you said the other day. Let go of the thing you dread next week. Be here, in this moment. Breathe, here.
Some time ago, in a conversation with Wes Jackson in which we were laboring to define the causes of the modern ruination of farmland, we finally got around to the money economy. I said that an economy based on energy would be more benign because it would be more comprehensive.
Wes would not agree. “An energy economy still wouldn’t be comprehensive enough.”
“Well,” I said, “then what kind of economy would be comprehensive enough?”
He hesitated a moment, and then, grinning, said, “The Kingdom of God.”
— Wendell Berry, “Two Economies”
Our lives are embedded in a complex web of interconnections, some of which we can understand and some of which we cannot, some of which we cannot even know. Is that the Kingdom of God?
Welcome before prelude
Good morning and welcome to West Fork Unitarian Universalists. I’m Robert Helfer and I feel blessed to serve this congregation as a lay leader. I’m glad to see all of you here today.
Thank you for joining us.
Let us use the prelude for centering. We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention.
Please silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.
Breathe.
Let go of the expectations placed on you by others—and those they taught you to place on yourself.
Drop the guilt and the shame, not to shirk accountability, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness.
Let go of the thing you said the other day. Let go of the thing you dread next week. Be here, in this moment. Breathe, here.
Prelude: That’s How Every Empire Falls – RB Morris
There are some heights to which we have not risen, and never will; there are some depths to which we have not fallen, and never will, we pray. Somewhere between there are places where we can reach up and reach out for the strength we need for our journey.
This is such a place.
Thus we pause for refreshment; thus we worship in thanksgiving.
Song: “Come, Come, Whoever You Are” (Singing the Living Tradition, 188)
Come, come, whoever you are Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving Ours is no caravan of despair Come, yet again come
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Story for All Ages: By Right of Mercy, by Lin Jensen from Deep Down Things: The Earth in Celebration and Dismay
Invitation to Offering
We will now receive an offering for the support of this religious community and its work in the world. You are invited to give generously and joyfully as you are willing and able.
Offertory Épitaphe de Seikilos, Petros Tabouris Ensemble
While you live, shine, Have no grief at all; Life exists only for a short while, And Time demands its toll.
Response (Unison)
For the gifts which we have received—and the gifts which we, ourselves, are—may we be truly grateful. Yet more than that, may we be committed to using these gifts to make a difference in the world: to increase love and justice; to decrease hatred and oppression; to expand beloved community; to share, and to keep sharing, as long as ever we can. Amen.
Song: Earth Is Enough (Hymns for the Celebration of Life, 180)
Reading: from “Two Economies”, Home Economics, by Wendell Berry
Some time ago, in a conversation with Wes Jackson in which we were laboring to define the causes of the modern ruination of farmland, we finally got around to the money economy. I said that an economy based on energy would be more benign because it would be more comprehensive.
Wes would not agree. “An energy economy still wouldn’t be comprehensive enough.”
“Well,” I said, “then what kind of economy would be comprehensive enough?”
He hesitated a moment, and then, grinning, said, “The Kingdom of God.”
Reading: from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
After awhile the tenant who could not leave the place came out and squatted in the shade beside the tractor.
“Why, you’re Joe Davis’s boy’!”
“Sure,” the driver said.
“Well, what you doing this kind of work for — against your own people?”
“Three dollars a day. I got damn sick of creeping for my dinner — and not getting it. I got a wife and kids. We got to eat. Three dollars a day, and it comes every day.”
“That’s right,” the tenant said. “But for your three dollars a day fifteen or twenty families can’t eat at all. Nearly a hundred people have to go out and wander on the roads for your three dollars a day. Is that right?”
And the driver said, “Can’t think of that. Got to think of my own kids. Three dollars a day, and it comes every day. Times are changing, mister, don’t you know? Can’t make a living on the land unless you’ve got two, five, ten thousand acres and a tractor. Crop land isn’t for little guys like us any more. You don’t kick up a howl because you can’t make Fords, or because you’re not the telephone company. Well, crops are like that now. Nothing to do about it. You try to get three dollars a day someplace. That’s the only way.”
Lesson: The Kingdom of God Robert Helfer, Lay Leader
Today I find myself in the midst of several occasions, about which I think I should at least comment. Briefly. Last Friday was St. Valentine’s Day, the day on which we celebrate the patron saint of bee keepers, epilepsy, and fainting, among other things. It also marked the beginning of this year’s four day Great Backyard Bird Count. If you’ve not been counting there’s still time – the count continues through tomorrow. And tomorrow is Presidents’ Day, the US holiday that used to celebrate George Washington but now celebrates all the past Presidents of the United States.
Besides all that, today is also just past the middle of Black History Month. This is important, but I won’t be speaking about it. I’ll not be reciting significant events and people in Black History, mostly because I don’t feel competent to speak about these things without trivializing them, or seeming to steal someone else’s identity. I would, however, like to say one thing. The comedian Dick Gregory once said that February is Black History Month because it’s the shortest month. It’s a pointed comment, with a barb on it. It rings of truth, with an understandable note of bitterness. It makes you think a bit about priorities, our government’s and our own. But despite all that, it’s not quite true.
The origin of Black History Month lies in 1926, the year Carter G. Woodson organized the first “Negro History Week”. Woodson created this observance, because, he said, “the achievements of the Negro properly set forth will crown him as a factor in early human progress and a maker of modern civilization.” And he scheduled the observance for the second week of February because that week included the birthdays of two men whose lives he considered significant for Blacks in the United States: Abraham Lincoln on 12 February and Frederick Douglass on 14 February. Woodson, who established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and its journal, The Journal of Negro History, was the son of former slaves and had been for a time a coal miner in West Virginia. Despite the limited educational opportunities available to Blacks of his time, he accomplished much, including a master’s degree in History from the University of Chicago and a doctorate from Harvard – his life is a good case study in resilience. Today he is known as the Father of Black History. In 1976 Woodson’s Negro History Week was expanded to the full month as Black History Month. So, that, despite Gregory is why February.
But that’s not what I want to talk about today. The title I’ve given this talk, which might seem surprising, comes from that little conversation of Wendell Berry’s I read a few minutes ago.
As some may know, Wendell Berry is a long-term environmentalist (very long-term, since the 1960s at least), a poet, and the author of both fiction and non-fiction works. He also farms land on the Kentucky River in Kentucky, land that has been in his family for several generations; and he often writes, and protests, about the plight of rural populations in the face of the degradation of the land by corporate interests – particularly the coal industry.
Berry’s conversation introduces an essay contrasting the world that people can affect with a wider world that people cannot affect, at least not in the same way. He talks of the former as “little economies”, “human economies”, and the latter first as “The Kingdom of God” and then as “The Great Economy”. In Berry’s terms, people live in little economies, but any little economy is dependent upon the Great Economy. “The difference between the Great Economy and any human economy is pretty much the difference between the goose that laid the golden egg and the golden egg. For the goose to have value as a layer of golden eggs, she must be a live goose … The golden egg, on the other hand, can be fully valued by humans according to kind, weight, and measure – but it will not hatch, and it cannot be eaten.”
He’s talking about ecology, of course. And he spends a lot of time talking about topsoil. We all know that we need good topsoil if plants are to grow, if we are to get food from our fields. But topsoil can wander. Notably, it is pulled into the rivers by the natural flow of water across the land. And the rivers then take it on to the sea, where it is lost to us. Waste.
We often talk of waste. I recently read an article that declared that “US Households waste nearly a third of the food they acquire”. But perhaps in a sense nothing is ever actually wasted. Food not eaten by people will be eaten by something else. My compost pile, for example, is currently converting our kitchen vegetable scraps into rich, black dirt. We never ate it, but someone else is now.
Similarly, the topsoil that has left our fields, carrying away the fertility, goes to nourish something else. Perhaps it builds up the river delta, extending the land out into the Gulf and making a fertile base in a different place. That is to say, the concept of waste reflects a human value judgment. Someone or something else gets the benefit, not me.
But Berry emphasizes that human activities, poor farming practices, result in the loss of topsoil; before there was farming, the topsoil stayed put, mostly. And here he points at human economy vs. the Great Economy, and the importance of a human economy that reflects the Great Economy. “Only a little economy, only a good human economy, can define for us the value of keeping the topsoil where it is.”
Well, I guess this is going to be really short, mostly because I’m doing a poor job of saying what I had to say. When I first read Berry’s essay I was intrigued. There is something in the way he blends ecology and Christian beliefs and notions of virtue that appealed strongly to me. But the more I buried myself in my attempt to explain all that the more I realized that my words weren’t doing it. I can think of no better way to explain what I was trying to say than to read this final section of Berry’s essay.
Music: God Bless the Grass – Melvina Reynolds
Joys and Sorrows
If you woke this morning with a sorrow so heavy that you need the help of this community to carry it;
or if you woke with a joy so great that it simply must be shared, now is the time for you to speak.
…..
For the joys and sorrows that haven’t been spoken, but which remain in the silent sanctuaries of our hearts.
…..
These joys and griefs, spoken and unspoken, weave us together in the fabric of community.
Silent Meditation Let us join our hearts and minds in silent meditation
Song Go Now In Peace (3 times)
Go now in peace, go now in peace May our love and care surround you Everywhere, everywhere, you may go
Closing: from: “The Wood Thrush”, by Sam Keen, in Sightings: Extraordinary Encounters with Ordinary Birds
The proper name for this experience of unknowing is not mysticism but wisdom. When Socrates was told that the Oracle of Delphi said he was the wisest man in Greece, he replied that it could only mean he knew what he did not know. Wisdom arises from the certain knowledge of our ignorance, and it teaches us that we dwell within a small circle of light surrounded by an immense mystery. According to tradition, the owl — the symbol of Athena, the goddess of wisdom — spreads its wings only with the arrival of dusk. Wisdom is the paradoxical art of seeing in the dark.
The chalice flame is extinguished Until once again ignited by the strength of our communion.
Most often the people in Berlevaag during the course of a good meal would come to feel a little heavy. Tonight it was not so. The convives grew lighter in weight and lighter of heart the more they ate and drank. They no longer needed to remind themselves of their vow. It was, they realized, when man has not only altogether forgotten but has firmly renounced all ideas of food and drink that he eats and drinks in the right spirit.
— Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), “Babette’s Feast”
We’ve all got to eat, if only for our bodies’ sake. But can eating nourish our spirits as well as our bodies? Do we need rules? What rules? This Sunday Robert Helfer will ponder how eating can feed our spirits.
Join us for Worship:
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.
Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
Children are welcome. There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.
The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.
Part of working for equity and justice is to try and make more of life’s goodnesses available to everyone. Over time, if we squelch and reject those goods, not only is life miserable for us, we make it really difficult for us to participate in society, be friends or coworkers, love anyone, or keep up our efforts to make a more equitable and just society that’s worthwhile and full of blessings for every one. We’re not working to make us all more equally suffering. If that’s our notion of justice, it is a spirit-destroying one, and all we must do is increase the misery of folks in this world.
Rev. Naomi King
The news is mostly gloom and doom, and it is easy to believe the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Lisa deGruyter has been reading Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress and will share some thoughts on humanism, Buddhism, both kinds of Enlightenment, and reasons for optimism.
Join us for Worship:
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.
Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
Children are welcome. There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.
The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.
Niggle was a painter. … He had a number of pictures on hand; most of them were too large and ambitious for his skill. He was the sort of painter who can paint leaves better than trees. He used to spend a long time on a single leaf, trying to catch its shape, and its sheen, and the glistening of dewdrops on its edges. Yet he wanted to paint a whole tree, with all of its leaves in the same style, and all of them different.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, “Leaf by Niggle”
This Sunday we will explore some aspects of art and redemption. Robert Helfer will lead the service.
Join us for Worship:
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.
Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
Children are welcome. There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.
The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.
October’s theme was “Belonging.” Sometimes, when most people around us seem to believe differently, we feel we don’t belong. Unitarian Universalist seems like a new and different belief here, now – but for a century and more, Universalism was alive and well in our area, rising from the beliefs of some of our earliest settlers. Rev. Quillen Shinn, born and raised in Bingamon, was a Universalist minister and well-traveled missionary, is known as the “St. Paul of the Universalist Church.” He has been credited with starting at least 40 churches and inspiring nearly 30 persons to enter the ministry. He also founded the Ferry Beach UU camp and conference center in Maine.
Lisa deGruyter will talk about Rev. Shinn and early Universalism in Harrison Co. – and we will sing the Quillen Shinn song which is still sung by campers at Ferry Beach.
[Postponed from October 26]
Join us for Worship:
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.
Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
Children are welcome. There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.
The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.
This month’s theme is “Belonging.” Sometimes, when most people around us seem to believe differently, we feel we don’t belong. Unitarian Universalist seems like a new and different belief here, now – but for a century and more, Universalism was alive and well in our area, rising from the beliefs of some of our earliest settlers. Rev. Quillen Shinn, born and raised in Bingamon, was a Universalist minister and well-traveled missionary, is known as the “St. Paul of the Universalist Church.” He has been credited with starting at least 40 churches and inspiring nearly 30 persons to enter the ministry. He also founded the Ferry Beach UU camp and conference center in Maine.
Lisa deGruyter will talk about Rev. Shinn and early Universalism in Harrison Co. – and we will sing the Quillen Shinn song which is still sung by campers at Ferry Beach.
Join us for Worship:
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.
Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
Children are welcome. There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.
The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
— Ecclesiastes, 3:1
This Sunday we will talk about those times of transition when one season becomes another. Robert Helfer will lead the service.
Join us for Worship:
Our services are Sundays at 11 a.m. at the Progressive Women’s Association Event Center, 305 Washington Ave. in downtown Clarksburg, behind the Courthouse. There are classes for children and adults 10 to 10:45 am, and a coffee gathering before the service. More about us.
Classes and worship are replaced by Spiritual Outings on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, with brief worship, a potluck picnic, and outdoor activities. The schedule is in the sidebar.
We would love to have you come worship with us.
Children are welcome. There is childcare and an activity for young children during the service.
The building is wheelchair accessible, with an accessible restroom.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. — Matthew 10:16
Welcome before prelude
Good morning and welcome to West Fork Unitarian Universalists. I’m Robert Helfer and I am blessed to serve this congregation as a lay leader. I’m glad to see all of you here today.
Thank you for joining us.
Let us use the prelude for centering. We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention.
Please silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.
Breathe.
Let go of the expectations placed on you by others—and those they taught you to place on yourself.
Drop the guilt and the shame, not to shirk accountability, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness.
Let go of the thing you said the other day. Let go of the thing you dread next week. Be here, in this moment. Breathe, here.
Prelude:Heyr, himna smiður – Árstíðir
[Heyr, himna smiður (Hear, Smith of the Heavens) was written by the Icelandic chieftain and poet Kolbeinn Tumason, according to tradition, on his deathbed in 1208 AD. Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson set the poem to music in 1973. This recording features the Icelandic “Indie Rock” group Árstíðir. For more information, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolbeinn_Tumason.]
Come sit by our fire and let us share stories. Let me hear your tales of far off lands, wanderer, and I will tell you of my travels. Share your experience of the holy with me, worshipper, and I will tell you of that which I find divine. Come and stay, lover of leaving, for ours is no caravan of despair, but of hope. We would hear your stories of grief and sorrow as readily as those of joy and laughter, for there is a time and a place and a hearing for all the stories of this world. Stories are the breath and word of the spirit of life, that power that we name love. Come, for our fire is warm and we have seats for all. Come, again and yet again, come speak to me of what fills your heart, what engages your mind, what resides in your soul.
Come, let us worship together.
Song: Come, come, whoever you are
(Singing the Living Tradition, 188)
We seek our place in the world
and the answers to our hearts’ deep questions.
As we seek, may our hearts be open to unexpected answers.
May the light of our chalice remind us that this is a community of warmth,
of wisdom,
and welcoming of multiple truths.
Principles of Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles, which we hold as strong values and moral guides:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Story: King Lindorm
This morning’s story revolves around a Lindorm. Some might be familiar with this beast, since it is mentioned in some fantasy games, especially those inspired by Nordic mythology. It’s also a figure used in English heraldry, and sometimes called a Wyvern. Basically, it’s a dragon, usually a dragon of a rather specific form: wingless, not fire-breathing, more like a serpent than the typical European dragon, and bipedal. Such beasts can be seen, woven and twisted, on some ancient Rune stones. In Scandinavian mythology, Níðhöggr, chief among the serpents or dragons who gnaw the roots of the world tree, Yggdrasill, is pictured as a Lindorm.
The story of King Lindorm comes from the collections of the Danish folklorist Svend Grundtvig. It was gathered in 1854 from Maren Mathisdatter in North Jutland. This version was translated by D.L. Ashliman in 1998.
Say to thyself, ‘If there is any good thing that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now; let me not defer it nor neglect it, for I may not pass this way again.’
We will now receive an offering for the support of this religious community and its work in the world. You are invited to give generously and joyfully as you are willing and able.
Offeratory: Epitaph of Seikilos — Petros Tabouris Ensemble
[Epitaph of Seikilos is the oldest surviving complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world. The epitaph has been variously dated, but seems to be either from the 1st or the 2nd century AD. The song, the melody of which is recorded, alongside its lyrics, was found engraved on a tombstone from the Hellenistic town Tralles near present-day Aydın, Turkey, not far from Ephesus. (theancientrhythmoflove.weebly.com/seikilos-epitaph.html)]
Offering and Response (Unison)
For the gifts which we have received—and the gifts which we, ourselves, are—may we be truly grateful. Yet more than that, may we be committed to using these gifts to make a difference in the world: to increase love and justice; to decrease hatred and oppression; to expand beloved community; to share, and to keep sharing, as long as ever we can. Amen.
Song: Faith of the Larger Liberty
(Singing the Living Tradition, 287)
Reading: Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Snakes and Doves
Robert Helfer, lay leader
What I really intend to talk about this morning is our third principle, “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.” I think I’ll get there eventually, but first I’ve got some things to say about serpents and doves. And a little bit about magic. And maybe a bit about expectations and following instructions.
Each of us is on a pilgrimage, a journey of discovery, a quest, perhaps. It’s a personal journey, but at the same time it’s a shared experience. And each Sunday one of us stands up at the front of the room and shares a bit of their journey, some of the lessons they have learned along the way, attempting to describe it in a way that others can understand and that others might find useful. Sometimes the telling is beautiful, when the telling all flows together into something like a unified whole. Sometimes the telling is awkward, partial, confused. Sometimes the path we’ve followed has not led forward, but perhaps spiraled oddly without actually leading anywhere useful. I think it contributes to our spiritual growth to share all these pieces, even though the telling is by necessity always incomplete.
This past week my journey involved my discovery of a story.
A while back I happened across a discussion of the Lindorm tale I read a few minutes ago. I was intrigued. The discussion, of course, only summarized the tale, extracting those parts that were relevant to the writer’s arguments. So, I naturally decided to find the original tale.
That turned out to be a bit more complicated than I expected. I found many references, but the origin of the tale became more obscure as I searched. In the first places I looked it was identified as a story gathered by the Norwegian folktale collectors Asbjørnsen and Moe, but I quickly discovered that the story was not actually in any of their collections. It seems that a version had been inserted into an English language collection of Norwegian tales, most of which came from Asbjørnsen and Moe, thus implying that this story also came from them.
A bit more poking revealed that the story came instead from the Danish folklorist Svend Grundtvig’s publications.
I found the Danish original (isn’t the Internet wonderful?), but, alas, no English translation. But I had decided that it would make a great “story for all ages”, despite being a bit gory in places, and I wanted to use it, and it was clear that the original story was much superior to the “Norwegian” story I had found. I gritted my teeth and proceeded to poke at Google Translate and my various dictionaries, hoping to make a reasonable English version. And I actually did – well, sort of — but an hour or so after I had finished a rough first draft I discovered the fine English version by D. L. Ashliman that I read this morning. Hurrah!
If, by the way, you have any interest in European folklore, fairy tales, and mythology you should look at Professor Ashliman’s site (www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html).
But enough about my adventures of research. Let’s talk a bit about the story.
The queen, denied children by the writing on the marriage bed, longs for children anyway. The old woman in the woods provides her with a way to have one. And it works – a baby is born. But because the queen didn’t follow the instructions, the baby turns out to be a lindorm – a fearsome dragon. Well, it’s a baby fearsome dragon at first, and it vanishes under the bed. But when the king returns home, the lindorm demands to be recognized as the king’s lawful son. I like the matter-of-fact flow of the narrative, the way the king just goes along with this suggestion, with relatively little argument. “Okay, you’re my son.” And naturally, as the king’s son, the lindorm expects a bride. Unfortunately, we soon see the lindorm’s nature.
Having eaten two brides, the lindorm still demands another. I think about the parents here. They’re trying to provide for their child, no matter how beastly he is. One wonders, though, what the lindorm has been eating all this time. The story doesn’t tell us.
Anyway, the king forces his shepherd to give his daughter as the third bride, and while the young woman goes along with the deal she knows that it means her death. Enter an old woman in the woods again – the same old woman? — with a new set of magical instructions for the bride. Fortunately, unlike the queen, the bride follows the instructions to the letter, and we get a happy ending. The lindorm is transformed into a beautiful human prince.
Actually, this isn’t quite yet the “happily ever after” point, since the story continues through a new set of challenges, which reveal the kind and generous nature of the lindorm king and the resilience of his bride. But I left this part of the story out of the reading and we’re not going to worry about that today.
And here I think I’ve lost the point I was trying to make. Maybe. Can someone help me relate all this to the third principle – “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations”?
Can we see “acceptance of one another” in how the lindorm was treated while still a lindorm? If so, is that a model for behavior in our religious community? This morning we sang “Come, come whoever you are”, and I believe that we meant it. But does our acceptance truly extend to literally everyone, or are there exceptions? Must the community accept a rapist? A murderer? A lindorm? Do we need to accept, as the lindorm’s parents did, everything a person says or does without regard for others?
Somehow I don’t think that’s what the third principle is supposed to mean. There must be limits of some kind, if only to protect other members of the community. And perhaps this is where the second part of the principle, “encouragement to spiritual growth” really comes into play.
I’d like to think that what the bride did amounted to “encouragement to spiritual growth”. Quite effective encouragement, in fact, since the lindorm’s entire being seems to have been transformed. But I wouldn’t recommend such techniques as a regular practice.
Now, my question is real, although not an issue in our current religious community. When Lisa and I were In a different congregation there was a member whose actions were suspect and possibly dangerous. I can’t say much more beyond that, since I was not directly involved. But I can say that the congregation did not reject him. Instead, while accepting the individual into the life of the congregation, it remained watchful, alert to any possible harm he might cause. And certain members of the congregation sought to guide him – “encouragement to spiritual growth” once again.
Of course, “encouragement to spiritual growth” is more general than helping someone overcome bad attitudes or practices. Those who told me I should stand in front of this room and talk was encouraging my spiritual growth, and those who describe spiritual practices are encouraging growth as well. And that brings us around to another serpent.
If you look on the wall to your left you’ll see the emblem of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, which is part of Romania. In the center of the emblem a dove stands on a mountain, encircled by a serpent who is biting its own tail. And at the top of the emblem is a golden crown.
The emblem is intended to reflect the history of the Unitarian Church, and at the same time encourage development of character traits that have proven useful in the survival of this tiny minority church for over 400 years in an often hostile environment. The golden crown symbolizes John Sigismund, the only Unitarian king in history. John Sigismund ruled as King in Transylvania and part of Hungary from 1540 until 1570. It was under his rule that the Edict of Torda first declared religious tolerance in 1568. It also symbolizes the God or Goddess, as well as the goal of happiness that we can all obtain – to wear the crown of happiness.
The mountain of solid rock represents the ethical heights we must attain to fulfill our human potential; high because our goal is high, solid rock because we need a firm foundation. Perhaps we can help each other climb this mountain?
The serpent holds its tail in its mouth, forming a circle, the emblem of eternity, of regeneration, a reminder of Ouroboros.
The serpent and the dove reflect Jesus’s call to his apostles when he sent them out to preach. As part of his charge to the apostles, Jesus said, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”
So, here’s a different serpent, not something to be feared, but a symbol of wisdom. And perhaps we can take something for ourselves from this symbolism. The world is often a dangerous place for those who don’t fit comfortably, and obviously, into the general community. The wisdom of serpents might help. At the same time, we don’t want to become ourselves like those who might harm us. Remaining harmless as doves is necessary, too. And perhaps this should be at least part of our goal in our encouragement of ourselves and our fellows to spiritual growth: to be wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.
I guess that’s really all I wanted to say for now; maybe I’ll try to continue these thoughts some time in the future.
Hymn: From All the Fret and Fever of the Day
(Singing the Living Tradition, 90)
Joys and Sorrows
If you woke this morning with a sorrow so heavy that you need the help of this community to carry it;
or if you woke with a joy so great that it simply must be shared, now is the time for you to speak.
—-
For the joys and sorrows that haven’t been spoken, but which remain in the silent sanctuaries of our hearts.
…..
These joys and griefs, spoken and unspoken, weave us together in the fabric of community.
Silent Meditation
Let us join our hearts and minds in silent meditation
Song: Go Now In Peace (3 times)
(Singing the Living Tradition, 413, modified)
Go now in peace, go now in peace
May our love and care surround you
Everywhere, everywhere, you may go
As we part now one from another, let these be our thoughts:
If that which is most holy lies within the human person, and if the greatest power in the world shines flickering and uncertain from each individual heart, then it is easy to see the value of human associations dedicated to nurturing that light: the couple, the family, the religious community.
For the power of good in any one of us must at times waver. But when a group together is dedicated to nurturing the power of good, it is rare for the light to grow dim in all individuals at the same moment.
So we borrow courage and wisdom from one another, to warm us and keep us until we’re together again.
The chalice flame is extinguished
Until once again ignited by the strength of our communion.
Go now in peace.
