"Our Finest Moments…"
Homily for Fire Communion
By Rev. Charles Blustein Ortman
December 28, 2008
M. Scott Peck wrote:
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur
when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled.
For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that
we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different
ways or truer answers."
This has been a most amazing year, one filled with events that
we'd probably rather not even want to recognize because they are
so filled with discomfort, discord and dissatisfaction:
" It is our seventh year in a war that was perpetrated by our
administration, against not only the despotic president of Iraq
and his armies, but in the end against the Iraqi people them-selves.
I expect it has also been waged against the core progressive spirit
that resides at the heart of this country and those who would celebrate
and promote that spirit.
o 4,526 Coalition forces including 4,210 US Military, 178 British
Military, 138 Other Country Coalition Forces have lost their lives
in these misguided efforts.
o Not only did Saddam Hussein and his armies fall, but close to
100,000 officially documented Iraqi citizens have died - with estimates
of actual deaths ranging over 200,000.
" On this balmy, rainy day in the last week of December, we
recognize the toll of wide spread indifference to the environment
and note the arrogance with which the outgoing administration has
promoted that indifference.
" In this holiday season, a time of celebrating the theme of
peace on earth good will toward all, we know that in this country:
o There are loving families of same sex couples who are yet denied
the rights enjoyed by most other loving families everywhere;
o There are too many children in our inner city schools whose brightest
and most sustainable hopes for the future are relegated to survival
through gang activities, incarceration or the military;
o There are immigrant families who want nothing more than the right
live here and to work - the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness
- families whose members are threatened instead by exploitation,
servitude and deportation;
o Over three years after the devastating hurricanes pummeled the
Gulf Coast, followed by the human-caused disasters that nearly finished
the destruction of New Orleans and other Gulf cities, citizens of
Louisiana and Mississippi continue to mourn their losses, which
continue to escalate even while they attempt to recreate their homes
and their lives;
" Caused by widespread greed and the forfeiture of common decency
and a shared ethic promoting the general welfare, our economy has
sunk into a deep recession, if not a depression, that will take
years to overcome;
" And the list of those things we'd rather not think of, but
must, goes on…
The truth is though, that at the same time this has also been a
time - an amazing time - filled with experiences and events that
we would want to celebrate and cherish. We know that in this country:
" We have just witnessed and participated in a presidential
election of incredible historic proportion:
o In which an African-American man or an Euro-American woman would
be the first such nominee for the highest office in the country
for one of the two major political parties;
o In which the final outcome would in fact be the election of the
first African-American male president or the first Euro-American
female vice president;
o In which fear and divisiveness - the predominant political combination
that have reigned supreme through the past eight years, lost their
voice to a larger vision;
o That we are in the midst of a historic moment in this country,
following the elec-tion of Barack Obama, the first African-American
president - a day we dreamed would come, but feared would not be
within the span of too many of our lifetimes - and that this president
will ascend to his office three weeks from now, having run on a
platform of community and global collaboration, political and social
conscience, and with a hope that emanates from faith and is not
based in the dark shadows of fear.
There is so much to celebrate, to cherish, relish and take hope
from.
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur
when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled.
For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that
we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different
ways or truer answers."
This has been a difficult year for many of us personally. I've
talked with many of you who have faced:
" Crisis of faith and spirit;
" Deaths of family members and loved ones;
" Sicknesses from long term difficult diagnosis or new ones;
" Career upheavals;
" Economic challenge, if not destruction.
This has also been a most amazing year, filled with personal experiences
and events that we can celebrate, cherish, relish, and take hope
from. I have talked with many of you, seen many of you:
" Reaching milestones and personal goals;
" Recovering from illnesses or spiritual malaise;
" Reaching out with generosity to embrace the larger community
as an aspect of your own personal struggle;
" Learning to accept the struggles and limitations and illnesses,
not as the characteristics that define you, but as the milieu in
which we grow our souls.
It has been a most amazing year indeed:
" That we are here, is cause for celebration;
" That we are living and breathing, held by gravity to this
beautiful blue/green earth, flying 'round and 'round through this
grand universe that didn't have to exist, but does, is cause to
celebrate;
" That we are fondly and caringly held in the thoughts and
hearts of family, friends, com-munity and loved ones;
" That we are even capable of being fond, capable of caring,
holding and being held.
These are all causes, good causes, for gratitude and celebration.
The truth is much like Charles Dickens wrote when he began, A Tale
of Two Cities, "It was the best of times; it was the worst
of times." It is nearly always both - the best and worst of
times in which we live.
M. Scott Peck's point is that our finest moments become available
to us when we are willing to face and accept our discomfort, discord
and dissatisfaction, not as an endpoint, but as the begin-ning of
our next step in growing our souls, our communities, our country
and our world. The universe wants us to be here, or there would
be no such thing as humanity. Given the opportu-nity, our task is
to grow humanity. The fertile ground for that growth lies, not in
Paradise, not in any Garden of Eden, but in the garden of discontent.
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur
when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled.
For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that
we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different
ways or truer answers."
I suspect that 2009 will be a difficult year and a rewarding year
for all of us. The difficulties will provide us with many opportunities
for growth. The rewards will, at best, provide us with moments of
respite along our way.
As 2008 comes to an end, I'm reminded of a poem that I love to
use for memorial services here. I share it with you now, as a reminder
and as an aspiration to reach for the fullness of life in the year
to come.
Poet, Alvin Fine offers these hopeful thoughts:
Birth is a beginning
And death a destination
But life is a journey,
A going --- a growing
From stage to stage.
From Childhood to maturity
And youth to age.
From innocence to awareness
And ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to discretion
And then perhaps to wisdom.
From weakness to strength
Or strength to weakness---
And, often back again.
From health to sickness
And back we pray, to health again.
From offense to forgiveness,
From loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude,
From pain to compassion,
And grief to understanding---
From fear to faith.
From defeat to defeat to defeat---
Until, looking backward or ahead,
We see that victory lies
Not at some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey,
stage by stage
A sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning
And death a destination
But life is a journey,
A sacred pilgrimage
Made stage by stage---
From birth to death
To life Everlasting.
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur
when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled.
For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that
we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different
ways or truer answers."
I wish you always, new ways and truer answers.
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