Spirit-led Voting ~

Body spiritual ~ Body Political

A sermon offered at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marblehead on Nov 4, 2012

Who here is sick to death of this election season?  Who has found the ads, the never-ending rhetoric soul sucking?  The negativity is so demoralizing.  I worry what it says about who We are.  I worry about good people turning away from a life of service because they look at this process and say NO WAY.  NO WAY for themselves.  NO WAY for their families.  For me I think the tipping point was the analysis of the analysis of the debates.  It seemed to go on for days.  I wonder if it ultimately received more coverage than the storm.  I hope not.  There was a moment I was actually moved to say STOP!  I know that sounds dramatic and all I really did was reach for the remote control and push off – but I did it really quickly!  And, I did utter the words ‘STOP’ and shook my head in disbelief!  It was when they started analyzing the body language of the presidential candidates’ wives pre- and post-debate, saying ‘How she did this with her mouth’ or ‘this with her arms' --- well  that, said it all.  I turned off the television quickly because I was afraid they would start to analyze the children and grandchildren.  Whether they were there or not and what that meant.  What they wore and what that meant.  What their body language said about the performance of their father or grandfather.  For me, it was finally too much.

And yet, here I am bringing it right into this sanctuary.  But before you race to turn off this form of media.  Please hear me out!  Even were it permitted, and it is not, today’s morning message will not include an endorsement of any candidate or a smearing of another.  It’s about our bodies and souls.  The body spiritual and the body political.

People have argued that politics and religion don’t mix.  World history tells us something different about that, doesn’t it?  And current history as well.  Politics and religion have always been entwined.  Battles, wars, marriages, the trinity itself – all tied up in politics.  And today, fights over BGLTQ rights, birth control, prayer in schools, money – all tied up in politics.    But how about spirituality and politics.  That is a different conversation.  Where there is an institution, power, money, sometimes land and silver is at stake when politics and religion mix.  There are prizes to be won.  But isn’t the equation quite different when we step inside of ourselves and look at our individual spirits and then ask ‘Where now resides politics?’

For many I think the answer is a loud ‘NOT HERE!’  I think I understand why.  I think there are many who seek deeper spirituality as a place of purity, of quiet, of contemplation and perhaps revelation.   I, however,  come to a different conclusion.  For me the answer is “RIGHT HERE.”  And for the same reasons – because it is a place of purity, of quiet, of contemplation and perhaps revelation. 

We are complex beings – we humans.  As we grow we mature in so many different ways.  We mature physically, intellectually, socially, sexually, financially, ethically, spiritually and politically. As I matured physically I was able to reach more things, lift heavier objects and as I continue to mature physically, I understand those two processes will reverse!  But I also learned what pieces of the earth make my heart sing.  I learned the best use of my body is in a swimming pool teaching others.  I learned that being in a room with charcoal, an eraser, sketch pad and a model allows my body to create beautiful lines.  I have watched similar awakenings in each of the other strands of maturations I listed.  

It should not be a surprise that I’m drawn to the spiritual thread!  My vocation calls me to focus most on spiritual maturity, my own and inviting others into furthering their own.  What I know is that I mature as a spiritually being I am less and less able to act in any portion of my day in a manner that is not in keeping with my values.  It took me a year, but I’m now using recyclable K-cups in the coffee maker because it bothered my spirit to  keep creating more plastic waste.  When I last car shopped efficiency was key as I sought to reduce my carbon footprint.   I continue to train on my bicycle with a goal of eliminating some car travel all together.  I was called to put my body on the line for human rights in Arizona.   I have far to go before my body spiritual is in complete charge and life as a human being on this treasured planet is in complete synch with what creation intended or what is a very best outcome, but I do find with each year, my body spiritual is  more often than not, leading the way.   And so, when the political season arrives, many months before any election as it is wont to do, there it is more often than not, right in the center.   That place of purity, of quiet, of contemplation and perhaps revelation, grounding me in who I really am, how I am connected to the world and what matters most.  

I was once invited to participate in an exercise that I have never forgotten.  It altered my relationship with money.  It didn’t get me any more money but it changed how I saw money and how I chose to use money.  I was at a training run by UU lay leader Dr. Helen Bishop and she had us all sit in a circle.  She then asked us to get out our wallets, checkbooks or a piece of paper we could use to write an IOU.  She said something like “In a few minutes, we are all going to put some money in the circle.  After that, we will decide as a group what to do with the money.  We can decide anything other than return it to ourselves.  What you are tasked with doing right now, is deciding how much money you need to put in in order to care about the outcome.” Differently put we had to figure out how much of our money made it worth caring about where it went.

I don’t remember how much I put in.  What I do remember was that it was not a time in my life that I had much discretionary income so it really made me think. But the amount was certainly more than it would have been had it simply been a call to donate to X, Y or Z and perhaps most importantly, having been through the exercise, my participation in the conversation about the decision what to do with that money changed.  And that was the point.  By setting the scene just as she did, Helen, required that we get in touch first with our values, not knowing an outcome, only that if our values were attached to our contribution, we would care more, be more thoughtful, show up more fully than if that were not the case.   And perhaps follow-through.

So it is with the intersection of the body spiritual and the body political.  I invite us all to engage in a similar exercise.  To sit quietly in that place of purity, quiet, contemplation and revelation.  To be in touch with our values, our body spiritual.  The place inside that knows what we hold dear above all things, and what we hold dear after that and after that and after that.  And then consider each of our votes and then, most importantly – cast them.  Cast them proudly and strongly knowing that what is attached to each is our most core, spiritual self.  We won’t all agree. 

On Thursday night, my dear colleague Rabbi David Meyer and I presented our views about Question #2, Death With Dignity.  We did so in a room where we knew we would vote differently but we agreed to share our hearts ---  our body spiritual and how each of us knew it would guide our body political.  What mattered in that room was not that either of us swayed others to vote as we would vote.  It was to invite others into their own deep reflection on what it was they held most dear and to let that guide them in their decision.

That is my great hope, as the spiritual leader of this congregation.  That each and every one of us, participate on Tuesday, but that we sit quietly first, body spiritual and body political fully engaged and then go cast our votes.  Knowing our votes represent the very best of who we are and hope to be ~