The Lego and I

© 2012 Erick DuPree, DRE

Who here knows what a lego is? That’s right, they are toys to build with. Who here has some legos at home? Young at heart, (in the congregation) by show of hands, who had legos as a child? That’s a lot of legos! This is the story of Brendan and his legos. Brendan loved legos and every year for his birthday asked for and would get more legos. He must have had hundreds of legos… red and blue, yellow and green. He loved to build things with his legos, and let his imagination run wild. He liked to built houses and one day hoped to become an architect.One day, Brendan was playing with his legos in the park when a little boy came up to him and said, “Can I play with your legos?” Brendan, didn't like anyone to touch his legos! “No!!!” he said… “you might ruin them.”

The little boy was sad that Brendan was so mean. He began to cry.

Brendan felt horrible for making the little boy cry, and remembered that in church he was taught to share. “Being kind in all you do,” he remembered, and so he handed the little boy some legos. Together they could build more houses than only one.

Soon, lots of kids were coming by each taking a handful of legos from Brendan and building something unique and different. Eventualy the legos were being shared by all with everyone’s little lego house becoming part of something bigger. That afternoon adults too began to notice how all these children were working together to create something that was truly amazing, an entire community made of legos!

Brendan was so happy that everyone was working together. He realized looking at the entire lego village that the boys and girls added something unique and no two houses were alike. He also understood that had he not shared and given his legos to others, the lego village would not exist! At the end of the afternoon, it was time to go home… but instead of taking the legos with him, or even giving each house away to the child who made it, Brendan decided to leave the legos at the playground for all children to play with. To this day there are still legos at that park, each with children adding to the lego village.

Unitarian Universalists believe that we each bring something to the gathered community, each unique and special because we choose to give of ourselves. When we work together, and are generous, our dreams can be made to come true. We can go from one small idea into something amazing, just like Brendan and his legos.

Do You See What I See?

© 2012 Erick DuPree, DRE

People were talking...coming into my golden throne room, telling me a King was to be born. Some said they heard it from angels, messages in the wind. I though they were crazy! Voices in the wind, but as a good King I listened to my people. In my velvet robes and bejeweled crown, I listened. People from the east and west came before me, even the poorest shepherds from their fields. All saying the same thing, a king was to be born.

As I listened I wondered, where was this king coming from? I knew all the kings in the kingdom of David and beyond. It found it all quite humorous... “Voices in the wind.”

But soon after my throne room was cleared, and after a sumptuous feast of ham and turkey, exotic fruits and delicious wine, I retired for the evening. There, lying in my bed swathed in fur and the softest silken sheets, I saw a light. It was so bright, shining through my window. The light was bouncing off my gilded crown, creating a dazzling rainbow on my walls.

What was it this amazing light? From my window, I saw up high in the sky a star. There was no moon, and the night sky was black, except this lone star. It seemed so close to me, so close that I could touch it and yet it was so far. It mesmerized me, it hypnotized me, it bewitched me body and soul. It was as if I was drawn into its brightness, knowing it would lead me to something life changing.

But I soon went to sleep. However each night the star appeared in my window, and each night it was brighter and brighter. I asked my friends about it. I asked my people, but none of my subjects had seen the star. Even my husband thought I was crazy...”Seeing a star?” he said, “Just like the shepherds hear voices in the wind. There is no star my King!”

But there was a star! I knew it and I knew I had to follow that star. I didn’t know where it would lead, and I didn’t care. Nothing else mattered to me but that I find the source of the star. Who needed riches? Who needed gold... finery... when there was a star so bright and perfect calling me? Sure my palace was warm and safe, my treasuries full of money, my stables with fine animals, my silos with more wheat than I could ever eat.

But something about that star made the pit of my stomach stir... follow me. Follow me. Sometimes we have to make choices, I thought. Despite what others might think, despite that maybe I was crazy, I decided to give into the star’s luminous light and leave the palace, my wealth, my safety, my beloved husband and devoted subjects.

And one night I set out, alone on my camel...my best gold in my bag, following the star. The star perfectly lit one road, and soon I was joined by two of my closest friends. Also kings, and guess what... they too, saw the star!

("Do You See What I See" or King One, is a part of a larger body of revisioning the Three Wisemen compiled XMAS Eve for the Unitarian Society of Germantown by Revs. Kent Matthies and Rob Keithan and myself.)

On Freedom

In 1787 here in Philadelphia America was defined:

We the people of the United States in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common difference, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.

Unitarians and Universalists were inspired.

In troubled times, President Lincoln leaned on faith, and endeavored that:

"The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot

be for and against the same thing at the same time."

Unitarian and Universalists were united...

Our nation’s wisdom was further inspired by Dr. Maya Angelou who reminded us:

"No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day

You may have the grace to look up and out

And into your sister's eyes,

into your brother's face,

your country...

And say simply

Very simply, with hope, good morning."

Unitarian Universalists were hopeful.

In 2008 my colleague Rick Warren invoked:

"Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation, and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations and all people will stand accountable before you."

And Unitarian Universalists were enraged.

Yet through all wisdom I wonder, can the kingdom ever be united, left to right, as above and so below? When does religiosity and religious pluralism come together to form one bond, united in love, and service, for justice and peace? I invite to be accountable, not so much the 99%, but simply true to who you are...free.

Don't be afraid of El Dia de los Muretos

“Don't be afraid of El Dia de los Muretos - the Day of the Dead” my mama said.

“This is a happy holiday!” She told me that this ancient holiday began as a day of thanks for the harvest, when people gather crops for the winter.

Josephina she said, “It then became a time put aside to remember and celebrate our ancestors and people we love that have died.”

For three day my family and friends celebrate!

On the first day, my mother helped me to put flowers on graveyards of my grand parents. We chose yellow and red chrysanthemum. At home we also put flowers around the house in vases with cards.

We created an altar in the living room. My mother said that the altar was like a scrapbook or a photo album. Pictures of all our loved ones who dies, along with favorite loved objects and other mementoes; like jewelry, were placed on the altar. I then helped mama make grandma and grandpa’s favorite foods.

On the second day, we had a big celebration and serve the food we made the day before. We eat candies shaped like skeletons, and all our family and friends came by to dance and sing. It was so much fun, a lot like a birthday party!

On the third day, the entire neighborhood came together for parades and floats with costumed characters. Coffins are carried that have people in them dressed in skeleton outfits with bright paper flowers and streamers.

My mama told me, “Many superstitions have been added over the years, but for the most part, this ancient holiday is as it always was - a time of remembrance and love.”

So, don't be afraid of Day of the Dead

Water, Water, Every where…

“Noni, why does the water and the sky meet like that?” Kimbyah asked . “It’s like it never ends…so beautiful...”

“Kimbyah, that is the horizon out on the ocean it is an illusion.” Noni told her granddaughter. “The sea is never ending, it just seems free… to meet the sky…maybe fish meet the birds there Kimbyah, ever thought that?”

“Silly Noni…that isn’t possible, the sea and the sky have to end, they cannot meet somewhere out there….”

“Out there, beneath the pale blue sky, Kimbyah, oh my child the sea does meet the sky just as I meet you just this close.” Noni interrupted.

“Do you know about the rain Kimbyah?” “Do you know that the amazing light from the sun causes the water to mystify and rise up into the air like magic and create the puffy clouds? And that from the puffiest of clouds come the softest rain?”Noni continued.

“Uh uh…nooo I didn’t know that Noni.” Kimbyah was enchanted as Noni began to weave her tale.

“Oh Kimbyah, there is water, water every where…in the plants and the fruits we eat and the air you and I breathe. Baby, water is the life force which moves so powerful…water flows in rivers, and streams, and even in you and in I. When we are happiest and when we are sad…what do we do Kimbyah? We but cry…and tears are but like the drew drops of rain.”

“Water has many mysteries from all living tradition, like out native American rain staff and the medicine men who used it with tribal dance”

“Noni if water is everywhere is that why we have the water Ceremony at church?” Kimbyah asked

“That’s a very interesting question Kimbyah” Noni said.

We celebrate with water Kimbyah because water symbolizes many things: like the spirit of woman…can you tell me something water represents Kimbyah? “

“I take a bath in water Noni!”

“Yes you do, but with the water we collect from Water Ceremony we dedicate babies, we bless animals, and we remember where we have been. Kimbyah water is ever where…in most places on the earth, no matter where we are there seems to be water…and when we come together to celebrate we bring our water joining that water in one BIG bowl.” Kimbyah was overwhelmed with Noni’s story.

“What’s amazing is all that water is from someplace different…and yet…it looks, feels, and tastes…all the same!”

“Kimbyah, the greatest mystery of water is that, not only is it everywhere but like our eighth principle, respect for the world’s great life boat…water is free for everyone, to drink and to bathe, and to cleanse, and play.

“We can even learn from water and to be like water…because water is clear…what do you think that means Kimbyah?”

Kimbyah sat and looked at her Noni …wow she smart and old, Kimbyah thought to herself! After a minute she said…

“Noni…I think it means…that water doesn’t judge, like people sometimes do. That maybe people should look at the water inside, and not the color a person is, or if they are in a wheelchair, or different! Cause really we are all made of some water…and just like the water in the pretty bowl at church, we all come from one big bowl right?”

Noni’s eyes began to water themselves for she was proud of her little girl…because water, water is truly everwhere in Noni and in Kimbyah, in me and in you. Water is above and it is below…

What I Learned from Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was born November 29th, in 1832 and is probably best known for her seminal coming of age novel, Little Women.

Published in 1868, the semi-autobiographical Little Women was destined to become a classic; it made Alcott famous, fiscally secure, and a household name. How many of us have aspired to be a March sister: Meg, Jo, Beth or Amy? But seldom do we hear the real story of Louisa May Alcott. Born right here in Germantown, PA, Louisa was the daughter of Bronson Alcott, a tragic Transcendentalist educator and dreamer who repeatedly and epically failed at most attempts to bring about social reform. Like many children today, Louisa was born and raised “working poor.” It was her pragmatic mother, not her brilliant father who supported the family of six on her one income.

Today, you can visit Orchard House where Louisa lived in Concord, MA. A hauntingly beautiful homestead that leaves you feeling transported to a magical other world. What you don’t see is a ravished New England during the crux of the Civil War, or learn that all of Louisa’s childhood and adolescence was spent being evicted and moving; from mansions to rooming houses; while following the dream of her father’s ill fated attempts of a utopia at Fruitlands. The first 20 years of Louisa’s life totaled six different residences with little money or resources. But what Louisa did have was community and a progressive father who believed that she was destined to be more than a governess.

Her family believed in education even if it was unconventional. Louisa’s early education included lessons from the naturalist Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller, whom were all family friends. She later described her education and childhood in a newspaper sketch entitled Transcendental Wild Oats, that relates the family's experiment in "plain living and high thinking" at Fruitlands. Poverty made it necessary for Alcott to go to work at an early age as an occasional teacher, seamstress, domestic helper, and writer. Eventually Louisa became a writer for the Atlantic Monthly, a popular periodical. She wrote of her experiences during the Civil War serving as a nurse in the Union Hospital that brought her first critical recognition for her observations and humor. Her novel Moods, based on her own experience, was also promising.

She also wrote passionate, fiery novels and sensational stories under the nom de plume A. M. Barnard. Among these are A Long Fatal Love Chase and Pauline's Passion & Punishment. Her protagonists for these tales are willful and relentless in their pursuit of their own aims, which often include revenge on those who have humiliated or thwarted them. Written in a style that was wildly popular at the time, these works achieved immediate commercial success. However it is Little Women and the March Family saga that transformed Louisa’s life.

Without having fallen in love with Little Women, I would not have thought to learn about Louisa May Alcott, the woman, the writer, the abolitionist, the feminist, the Transcendentalist. In discovering her exceptional life, her faith (a precursor to modern Unitarian Universalism) and her pursuit for inherent worth and self-determination against all odds, I would not have discovered the truth. Beyond happily ever after, was a woman whose life paralleled many of today trials and tribulations; from single incomes and wayward fathers, poverty, classism and inequality, Louisa learn that the search for what is true, courage, and faith in community leads to something exceptional.

Louisa’s life circumstances taught me that the only guarantee life truly holds is in having hope. Unitarian Universalists today aspire to intentionally create a world where hope endures. Hope for tomorrow, and hope that together we can make the world a better place. Regardless of circumstances, Louisa made hope her legacy, and her truth inspires me and makes me proud. People say that Unitarian Universalist’s have no prophets, creeds, or books of faith that bind us, but I think in many ways Louisa May Alcott was quite prophetic, with a living creed, and many books to inspire. Today, Louisa’s lesson that endures is hope creates change for the better.

Love's Benediction

Written benediction for Sacred Rite to Choose sermon

Love is the spirit of this congregation, and that is our prayer,

Love is the hope that unites us, when in life’s despair.

Love is Universal salvation, to give us this day,

Love is the peace that passes all understanding so that we make way.

Love is the hope that unites us, and we invite all,

Love leads us back to center, when we stumble and fall.

Love is our chalice sacred, shining bright and true,

Love welcome’s the kingdom and the kingdom welcomes you.

Love, in all ways, always, a love divine.

Amen.