Unitarian Universalist Meeting of
“A Trickster’s Treat:
Questions of the Minister”
Rev. Kathy Duhon
This
is our annual sermon based on your questions to me. As usual, you have asked some good ones,
challenging questions. Some are tricky, but all are treats. Some are related to each other, so I will
take similar ones together.
First,
the questions about sermons: How many
sermons have you preached? What are your
three favorites? What causes you to
choose a certain topic? Could you talk a
little about sermons – that is, what guides the way you talk about a subject
that moves it into the realm of religious or makes your
treatment of it turn it into a sermon?
I have preached over 400 sermons. Trying to pick out favorite ones is tough,
and I don’t think of the sermons in that way.
An ongoing surprise for me is that often the sermons I struggle with the
most and am least sure about are the ones that you tell me have been most
meaningful to you. I’ll finish the
service feeling I have let you down, only to hear over the next week that
something of the Spirit has gotten through anyway, loud and clear, despite my
inadequacies.
I have tried to remember a few recent sermons that I
liked for various reasons. In the sermon
“Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom”, I got to do Bible study, connect with another
world religion that had a similar story, and reflect on Wisdom in general, all
of which are the kind of study and reflection that I enjoy doing. When I preached another sermon,
“Fundamentalism is Not a Religion”, I didn’t enjoy the process at all. I had to be prophetic, which is both scary
and humbling, but also a calling that I must do at times. Speaking prophetically implies that I have
real Truth to impart, a difficult Truth, and despite wishing I could just be
sweet and soothing all the time, sometimes I cannot help but be prophetic.
Not
all sermons are hard work. I love the
Easter sermons because I always start with a joke and end with renewed joy. Another sermon, that is a favorite, came from
the past and was very different from my usual writing – it wrote itself – the
poem sermon I gave the Sunday after
How do I choose topics? Topics come to me from my readings, study,
reflection, and spiritual practice. They
also come to me from your requests, and from the thoughtful ideas of the
worship committee. I try to maintain
balance – reaching for different areas of subject matter, such as religious
history, world religions, ethics, forgiveness, human development, scriptural
study, gratitude, science and religion, healing, generosity.
How do I make a subject religious, turn a topic into a
sermon? This is the crux of the
matter, something I do reflect upon and should undoubtedly think about more
often. We have such latitude in
Unitarian Universalism that it is tempting to simply lecture, to reveal the
passion I feel for any given subject, and think that you will be as excited as
me to learn, for example, about the books of Kings, chronicling the political
history of the Hebrew people, which I recently heard a great lecture on. In the future, when I do speak to you
about those narrative legends in First and Second Kings, however, it will be because
of their truth-telling and transformative power, because they are stories that
still can feed our lives.
I
believe that sermons are always meant to bring us closer to the great Reality,
to the universals of the spirit, to the way of God. Whether they are about peace and justice, or
courage and hope, or faith and sacrifice, or love and healing, the words I convey,
the words and emotions that come through me in a sermon, are supposed to be
channels for the spirit to journey along on the Way. The Way – that mysterious term in Taoism, early
Christianity, mystical Judaism, Native American Spirituality, and other religious
contexts – is more universal than the word God, and yet conveys the same sense
of yearning and wonder. We seek the Way
through this life, and my sermons attempt to help.
How
are you enjoying the empty nest? Five years ago, as we sent our oldest off to
college, I was heartsick, but the heart learns to let go. Our three children are all in my thoughts and
prayers every day, but I’m liking this next phase of less responsibility for
them, and more time for other possibilities.
I feel blessed to be able to enjoy this new way of being with Jon.
As
UUs how do we deal with fellow UUs who support policies and political
candidates whose platforms and actions are contradictory to our UU values? What are our UU values? How can we define them? Our principles are great, but very large in
scope. They include values like peace
and justice, and the inherent worth and dignity of every person, but you will
find folks who live those larger values out while supporting different
policies. Peace may mean no military
conflict, or limited conflict that has a goal of peace. Justice may mean working against the parts of
the Patriot Act that threaten civil rights, or it may mean supporting a strong criminal
justice system. The inherent worth and
dignity may mean opposing the death penalty or opposing abortion. The above examples are sometimes conflicting,
but people do begin with values that are deep and universal, and end up with
different understandings of what they mean.
As
Unitarian Universalists, we vote democratically on resolutions and statements
that are more specific, that do oppose the death penalty, support a woman’s
right to choose, and support civil marriage for all, for example, but that is a
democratic process, and not one of consensus.
We do not have a litmus test for membership, for example, that folks
must support the resolutions and statements of conscience of the Unitarian
Universalist Association. We are called
to accept our differences based on different interpretations of our shared
values. But not without a lot of
ruckus. Sometimes we work the hardest
among ourselves to educate, persuade and enlighten each other, because we do
have a common vocabulary and a shared understanding of religious values, and
because we care so much.
Is there a spiritual bridge that unites all religions and could you define it? How do you reconcile the contradictions of
different faiths – for example, the Hindu idea of reincarnation and the
Christian concept of Heaven? And a similar pair of questions: If there are diverse theological outlooks,
how does the congregation manage this diversity? What theological issues draw people together
despite their differences? Bridges
and contradictions and diversity – the paradox of our religious life as
Unitarian Universalists. We are able to
find great unities and speak out of the wisdom and nurturance of all religions,
often noticing that the same value is in many traditions, but we do not always
do well with specific theologies. We are
a living tradition that is wonderfully inclusive, but sometimes we exclude
beliefs that are crucial to some of our members. We are still learning how to be this amazing new
kind of religion, Unitarian Universalism.
Are there contradictions among religions, or diversities in the
congregation that are difficult? Often the differences on a micro level
disappear when the view is greater. For
example, I do remember that the Catholic priest in town several years ago said
that there was no problem with believing in reincarnation and being a good
Catholic – they were not mutually exclusive to him. You could keep coming back in the cycle of
life and karma, and still eventually reach heaven. But actually, what I, or anyone else in our
congregation, believe about God or death or war or responsibility or
forgiveness, or whatever, is different from what anyone else believes. Truly, if you go into the Congregational Church
a few doors down, or Hevreh down the road, or to the Buddhist Sangha that meets
nearby, and asked about one particular point of belief, even one for which
there is a standard answer in that religion, you will find a multitude of
expressions and differing beliefs. We
are each unique, each containing amazing wisdom and different lived experiences. The differences, however, are all overshadowed
by love. As Francis David from 16th
century
What meaning do you attribute to the lighting of the chalice in
our service?
We light the chalice as a symbol of our religion, with its unity in diversity. The words that go with the lighting of the
chalice point to the many diverse directions in which our very open and
inclusive symbol can go – to the warmth of love, the light of truth, the fire
of justice, the spark of hope, the candle of peace, the beacon of faith, the
chalice of being, the flame of Spirit.
How does your faith help you cope with loss and face death? My faith is an anchor, not
so much because of particular beliefs that comfort me, but in the basic premise
that goodness and love are the ultimate and final reality and truth, which
describes something of my belief about God.
God is Love, the ultimate power for goodness at the heart of the
universe. I always know deep down that
all will be well.
How can we live with four more years of W. if he wins? All will be well. If we live now, fully engaged and seeking our
values, we will reach the Promised Land.
Is there a UU take on death and the afterlife, and if so, what is
it?
There are no prescribed views, nor any prohibitions; only a deep respect
for each one’s very personal belief about what happens when we die. People have a variety of understandings,
based on faith, the experience with the death of loved ones, and any personal
close encounters with near death. With
Unitarian Universalists, you are not alone, whatever you believe.
What is your opinion about the UUA President’s suggestion that we
return to a “vocabulary of reverence”? President Sinkford has asked us to dialogue
about the religious language that we use, and to consider what we could agree
upon in terms of “reverence”. Religious
language has never been an issue for us here.
We recognize diversity and accept a variety of sacred ways of expressing
our religion. We sometimes pray,
meditate, chant, and do simple but meaningful rituals, from candle lighting to
a variety of communions. We speak with
awe and wonder of the Mystery that we name differently, and we seek the Truth
about the Ever Surprising Goodness at the heart of the universe. We are happy with our vocabulary of reverence
and gladly share it.
Which part of your ministry is the most rewarding and the most
difficult?
I love listening to the amazing wisdom of you folks.
I am inspired by the ministry that we do together in service of the
greater good. So much is rewarding –
what’s not to love here? Finding the
balance again and again is the difficult part, but how else could we dance? I thank you for this great privilege of
ministry to this congregation. Amen.