HUU Sermon Archives

But HOW Did Jesus Drive?

by Merle Wenger
March 16, 2003

Chalice-lighting reading

Simple Truths by Kent Nerburn

If you perform these simple acts, little by little you will start to understand the miracle of giving. You will begin to see the unprotected human heart and the honest smiles of human happiness. You will start to feel what is common among us, not what separates and differentiates us.

Before long you will discover that you have the power to create joy and happiness by your simplest gestures of caring and compassion. You will see that you have the power to unlock the goodness in other people's hearts by sharing the goodness in yours.

And, most of all, you will find the other givers. No matter where you live or where you travel, whether you speak their language or know their names, you will know them by their small acts, and they will recognize you by yours. You will become part of the community of humanity that trusts and shares and dares to reveal the softness of its heart.

Once you become a giver you will never be alone.

Second Reading:

The Stream of Life by Rabindranath Tagore

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world in life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Reading before prepared service:

A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman

A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

But HOW Would Jesus Drive?

I made my annual buying trip to San Francisco in January, as I have for the past 10 years. I have never been able to put my finger on what it is about this multi-cultural city on the bay that attracts me. This time I returned home savoring one little detail of friendship that personifies that city for me; and also serves as a symbol to what Unitarian Universalists might have had in mind when they developed the 7th principle back in 1985. That principle states, “Respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are all a part.” The addendum to those principals that points to various sources which influence our tradition states, “Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.” On the one hand, it appears that this principle is a catch-all and covers everything possible that had not been mentioned. But on the other hand, “interdependent web” implies that all of nature is connected in rhythmically balanced patterns as sensitive and methodically as the carefully crafted orbs of a spider’s web.

I thought about our principles when I noticed, somewhat incredulously, that San Francisco drivers appear to love pedestrians. Although there may be other cities where drivers treat pedestrians with equal friendliness, none of them are anywhere near my home or work. And I must admit that I personally could use some improvement on my “behind the wheel” patience. I was surprised by the simple courtesy afforded me by driver after driver, more or less making eye contact with me the pedestrian, and then making sure I was safely to the other side of the street, before they proceeded through the intersection. I might assume on one hand, that I looked so much the frustrated tourist that even the most hurried of drivers took pity on me, or I could conclude that Frisco drivers, for whatever unknown reason--some reason that seems to stem from a more developed spiritual awareness--want to connect --to make a communication between driver and the pedestrian. This simple act of kindness lifted up my spirit. I had the sensation that a biker must have when they catch the draft of a bike directly in front of them--a very pleasant inspiration for the day.

And that experience made me think about road rage. Have you experienced that emotion? Consider both the anger we clearly recognize in another driver, or perhaps have recognized springing up out of our own emotional awareness. What is the appropriate response to make toward a pedestrian, or perhaps a confused or unskilled driver? Recently the American news media chose “What kind of car would Jesus drive?” as its weekly news junkie topic.

This “hard-core” journalistic effort was motivated by the Evangelical Environmental Network’s like-minded ad campaign calling attention to the fact that the average gas mileage of new cars is now at its lowest level since 1980. OK, OK, it got my attention--I read it, so maybe it was newsworthy. But in reflection, what is more interesting to us here is not what kind of car Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed or the Dalai Llama might choose to drive but how they would drive it. Can we imagine Jesus pulling up to an intersection in his BMW or Porsche and then gunning his engine as he tears ahead of pedestrians so he can reach his next speaking engagement on time?

I mean, after all, he would be one of the “hot properties” on the paid speaker circuit—certainly right up there with Bill Clinton or Henry Kissinger. Or Buddha--imagine for a moment this respecter of all life' including butterflies and crickets; imagine Buddha pulling up to the intersection in let's say a lotus leaf green Lexus with a blossom-cream leather interior, and imagine with everything we have heard about this man who has lightened the emotional burden of billions of people over the past 2000 years. Visualize how he would treat us as pedestrians if he were driving the car.

How have we gotten so detached from these simplest of courtesies? What is it that feeds the frenzy of unfriendliness? I submit that it is our failure to recognize the interdependence of all living and non-living matter in our right to exist. The fact that a man or woman driving some high-tech automobile, be it the 2K dollar used Toyota, or the 100K Hummer, might assume some level of power over the pedestrian, based on horsepower, ego-inflation, color or class differential is puzzling. Apparently humans, in their love affair with speedy machines, often adopt them as ego-power boosters. These mechanical gadgets that so intrigue us in the 21st Century--computers, cell phones, automobiles, waves of new TVs, palm pilots and dozens of other household appliances have become so embedded in our egos, that we apparently make the mistake of translating the mechanical power of the gadget into a sort of personal ego advancement. Machines, make-up, money, svelte bodies and wardrobe increasingly are substituted for meaningful connections. The courteous driver serves as a reminder that such simple acts of kindness actually could shape our future significantly. I suggest that the accumulated positive energy created by this attitude of generosity, is in fact enough to save the human race. The attitude of gratitude I felt, when an anonymous driver shows me the kindness of respecting my street crossing, is infectious. This motorist became my God, my Jesus, my Buddha, my Mohammed, my Dalai Lama. I was inspired by this goodness. I wanted to spread the good word. I wanted to shout it from the mountaintops. I wanted to learn to drive that way too. In fact I want to drive my entire life this way. I want the pedestrians along my journey to feel, in their hearts, the same glow I felt in San Francisco. I dream of the simplest acts of kindness spreading like gentle rain falling on the parched desert of human selfishness.

 Is it conceivable that minor interconnected acts like this can save the universe? Is it possible that as society debates the larger social issues--war in the Middle East, global warming, starvation in Bangladesh and Aids in sub-Saharan Africa--is it possible that these very small acts of kindness and thoughtfulness are the only evidence that we can win the larger issues? What is the ultimate result when a spouse treats her spouse with dignity? What is the ultimate result when children observe this act and pass it on to their friends on the playground or teachers in the classroom? The network of dignity and respect spreads like a virus infecting all along its web. Can we expect the child who is corrected by spanking, hitting and degradation to treat their pet any differently? What is the cost to society when that same child defiles the bond with their pet? Isn't it likely that when a child, of 8, or 10, or 12, is left alone in the home, that in a moment of crisis, they will immediately adopt the actions modeled by his parents? And have you ever experienced the enraged confusion of a pet that has been mistreated? Imagine how that dog or cat connects with animals in the larger world. And what about the treatment of the animals we eat? If you eat meat, could it make a difference if that meat is taken from an animal that has been treated well? Does that in fact create a positive mutual connection between the farmer, the animal and the end consumer? Or what about your connection with the trees in the forest? Are you generous and willing to pay that part of your taxes that goes to protect a small area of virgin timber protected from harvest in our country? Are you responsible with your use of paper whether it is in the bathroom, the kitchen or the office? How does that connect you to the universe? These are not great acts of social justice but they do encourage society to act justly.

And furthermore, how connected are we with the sun as it rises each morning? Do we scorn its rising with an attitude or do we acknowledge its energy with gratitude? Our relationship with the sun will infuse our children, our spouses, our office mates, our co-workers everywhere. We can greet the sun into our life each morning, thanking it for being the source of all life on this planet, or we can pull the pillow over our head, ignore the giver of all life, assume we have some power that equals that of the sun, assume we can do without. We can curse this life-giving disc in the sky, this fountain of energy--we can deny our interdependence to this aspect of the universe. We can forget that this sun warms the oceans and moves the waters, that it warms the atmosphere and creates all weather; that it is the source of all plant and animal life--which the billions of complex photosynthesis factories that are humming along in your backyard at this very moment, would stop if it were not for the sun. The sun is the ultimate gift-giver. When we do not recognize that interdependence, we miss our primordial root, and this connection connects life with non-living matter.

This disconnection of our brain and oxygen-bearing circulatory system, from the nuclear fusion of the solar system has the potential to be far more menacing than any Oedipal or Electra complex. A healthy relationship is mandatory for the future of the earth.

What are the larger implications of ignoring these natural elements that connect us to the interdependent web of the universe? Without this recognition, can we know love? Without recognizing this great gift and receiving it, can we pass on love to other beings--to our children? Can we teach them to respect and connect with the old growth rain forests of Brazil? Can we teach them to respect the sedges and lichens of the sensitive, interdependent, artic tundra ecosystems which caribou and snowshoe rabbits have inhabited for thousands of years? Can we teach them to overcome racial and cultural stereotypes and build interdependent respect with their Hispanic, Asian, European, or African brothers and sisters? Can we do this in the same way that those drivers in San Francisco showed no discrimination to me as a visitor? Can we create this sense of generosity out of thin air? Is it possible to deny the generous on-going billion-year-old life-sustaining gift of the sun and at the same time continue to love? What possibly can sustain us without this sense of interconnection to all including the buffalo that roam the Great Plains that fed, clothed and tooled millions of the earliest settlers in our homeland?

Perhaps the most complex interdependent relationships we humans establish are the emotional and psychological connections we make with other human beings. I think most of us tend to see these relationships as linear and rational. However, there is good reason to believe that we are only beginning to understand the complexity of these bonds and that they actually rival the mystery of the interdependence of our universe whose 100 billion galaxies with 100 billion stars each have evolved over the past 14 billion years. A recent National Geographic article states that the universe is composed of 10 percent ordinary matter and 90 percent “dark” matter that is only indirectly observable. I find this to be a fitting analogy for the complexity of our psychological relationships.

During the last week I have been reading from Valerie Hunt’s The Infinite Universe. In this book, Ms Hunt draws on her graduate level teaching and experimentation along with her advanced degrees in human physiology and psychology, to postulate that our ultimate connection with the universe is through our mind, not our brain, and that our mind is part of a measurable electrically charged energy field that surrounds our body. This energy field can be opened or closed to connecting with other’s fields. Some patients with barrier diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease orscleroderma exhibit such rigid fields that they are unable to receive energy from energy field healing. She further argues that it is through ion exchange between our own and other’s fields that we open ourselves to supersensory experiences and collective social awareness. Our life choices determine how open or closed our energy field is to other energy fields. Quoting Valerie Hunt, “All material substances—trees, dishes, or animals—have fields because they all are composed of particles, atoms, and cells. Each of these fields is in constant dynamic equilibrium.”

I like this hypothesis and how it resonates with our principles. Imagine that this charged energy field does surround us. Imagine what happens when we shut out the beliefs or positions of another human being in our presence.

Imagine how much we cheat ourselves when we pretend that others are not connected to our web. Imagine the devastating effects of pretending that we have our own web. Imagine if our principle stated respect for “the independent web of our existence.” We hear people talking about their religion or spiritual values this way. We hear citizens and national leaders talking about other cultures this way. Unfortunately this is the road toward pessimism.

It is difficult to establish any kind of hierarchy of relationships. Consider the most important bonds of our existence: bonds with other human beings, with the sun, the earth, the air, water, gravity, bonds we develop throughlanguage, art and music. Without a hierarchy, the delicate patterns of a spider’s web remind us of our delicate existence. Each circular orb is connected to the attachment strands that lead to the center of this small universe, but where the strands are so delicate that any interference at any part of the microcosm is immediately communicated and reflected in the other strands. Like the spider, we make our own web. We find anchor points and spin out toward other safe foundations. When our web suffers damage, we spin a new one—always seeking secure foundations for our web. By reaching out to people, to animals, plants and the physical universe, we recognize that our survival depends on this interdependent web.

I would like to close by quoting from a service that Lark Matis Ruffner presented at the Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado shortly after the Columbine shootings.

“Web talk is about not being alone in this world. It allows our young people to be caught and supported by loving arms. I think most of our young people don’t know that there is such a web—bigger than their family—bigger than a school—a web that is open to all races, sexual orientations—jocks and nerds and artists . . . the brilliant . . . the physically challenged. . . .

Yet hearts get walled off—become armored. They get armored by hatred, anger, envy, resentment and fear. That’s what’s happening to our young people—layer upon layer—so that the good—the inherent worth—can’t shine through. They fall out of the web, and no one is there to catch them. The armor is so thick and so fortified by weapons, dress and violent media that that inner voice which should say, “This is wrong,” is silent.”

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