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(c) Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering at Northern Hills, All Rights Reserved

Please listen to the message here or see below to read it.

Before the U.S. Constitution was written in September 1787, almost exactly 232 years ago, many of the most basic freedoms we now enjoy were surprisingly limited.  Freedom of religion and conscience, enshrined in the Constitution’s First Amendment, was an ideal advocated during the American Independence but often not practiced.  

The British Anglican church controlled religious expression throughout the colonies.  In Virginia, often referred* to as the cradle of American Democracy, the Anglican church was the official state church well into the 1780’s.  That was likewise the case in many colonies.  

Ministers were an exclusive group and a man could only become one if he was both ordained by the Anglican church and licensed by the colonial government.  Anglican Ministers were then employed and paid by the colonies.  They often became government officials and public school teachers and exercised wide control over both spiritual and civic life.

Pastors to other religions were regularly imprisoned for preaching without a license – one that could be obtained only if one was ordained by the Anglicans and hired by a colonial government.  

Fortunately, many of the founders perceived that government sanctioned religion was counter to the principles that compelled American independence.  The most outspoken advocate for freedom of conscience was James Madison who believed that one’s conscience is “the most sacred of all property”.  The right of conscience is, he said, intrinsic to being human.  The right to form, believe, and express opinions about morality and issues that touch on it are foundational to both liberty and the practice of democracy.  For Madison, people cannot be free to vote if they are not free to follow their conscience. 
After the freedom of religion clause was included in the Constitution, Madison wrote Thomas Jefferson this, “I flatter myself we have in this country extinguished forever the ambitious hope of making laws for the human mind.”  His wish has sadly proven untrue – especially for the present times.  Our minds, souls, and right to believe as we wish should not be subject to control by anyone – except by ourselves.  This right of conscience is a bedrock American value – even as many try to dictate how others should think and believe.

One year prior to the 1961 merging of Unitarianism and Universalism, wise leaders from both groups wrote the UU seven principles.  Much later, in 1984, the Principles were rewritten with the same meaning while revising  sexist language – replacing words like “mankind” with “humanity” for instance.  Even with those minor changes, the Principles have stood the test of time.

Reviewing, analyzing and understanding the seven Principles will be the theme for my messages in September – and then again in November.  Today, I look at the Fifth Principle which says that we as  UU’s affirm and promote “The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.”

Experts with the Georgetown University Center for Religion and World Affairs recently weighed in on defining the human conscience.  Arriving at a satisfactory definition for it is not easy.  Most of the experts define the human conscience as comprising one’s judgement about truth and falsehood, right and wrong, good and evil.  The conscience is therefore ethically based and not simply one’s personal whims about what one wants to do, or wants to believe.  In other words, the conscience is defined as our way of thinking that seeks goodness. 

Constitutional and legal experts say that to have freedom of conscience is to hold opinions and beliefs as one thinks best – so long as one’s opinions do not unduly burden others.  As an example, there is no burden on others to believe wearing a yarmulke is a way to honor God.  It does burden others, however, if one’s conscience believes contraception is morally wrong and then promotes or enforces laws forbidding it. 

That standard for the right if conscience is a fundamental part of Unitarian Universalism.  Within UU ranks, there are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Humanists and Atheists.  All are freely welcome to share their deeply held beliefs within UU congregations.  Very importantly, however, nobody is free to expect others believe as they do.

That is particularly essential for UU Ministers.  All UU Ministers are granted freedom of the pulpit – to freely speak their mind in a message.  But a minister should not tell you that you must believe what he or she believes.  The freedom also implies we are each deserving of having our ethically based opinions respectfully heard and considered.

It’s that point which I believe causes the most problems.  How does a nation, a denomination, a congregation, or two individuals who resolve differences between ethically based beliefs and opinions?  As the founders stipulated for the United States, and as the writers of the UU principles believed, we rely on the democratic process to make the difficult decisions between competing opinions of conscience.   In other words, a majority with similar opinions prevails.

Of course, that does not mean the majority is right.  It simply means that democracy is the fairest way to make a decision.  As Winston Churchill drily noted, “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others.”

Democracy is messy.  It often leads to disingenuous ways of influencing people’s opinions or forbidding them altogether.   Democracy takes time and effort to hear all sides of an issue.  Passions and emotions often prevail and people are often left feeling frustrated and separated from the whole.  Frequently, the winner in a debate is 50% of a group plus one – meaning that nearly half of the group loses.

Those less than ideal outcomes lead us full circle back to what the UU Fifth Principle begins with – the right of conscience.  If we believe in that freedom, then it is logical that even in losing a debate we should gracefully respect the result.  Winners should not be harassed or disrespected for prevailing, and most importantly the loser must be free from a tyranny of the majority.  They must be able to continue to share their opinions and be respectfully heard.  Both winners and losers must proceed from the idea that having differing beliefs and opinions does not mean they are enemies, or somehow not still part of the larger group or community.

To rise above the inclination toward resentment of those who disagree, the Fifth UU Principle implicitly says that everyone  should agree to accept democracy’s results.  That means that people should move from resentment of those who disagree, to instead feel gratitude for the opportunity to have learned about differing ideas.  It also means being grateful the free competition of ideas and the privilege of being heard.  And it finally means there are no lingering animosities.  A respectful debate is held, the democratic process is followed, and then all should move on from their differences to reunite and work for the good of the whole.    

In any fair, open and democratic debate, experts on conflict resolution recommend all parties enter into the debate with the attitude they are wrong.  That requires humility and a willingness to genuinely consider what others say and believe.  It also requires believing that whatever the outcome, it will be the best one for the entire group.  In other words, the good of the whole is seen as more important than whether the opinion of an individual or a sub-group wins.   

Those are extremely difficult attitudes to adopt, especially when one believes something to the depths of their conscience.  Even so, attitudes of humility, grace, and kindness – toward opponents – are the hallmark of people who understand and believe in the right of conscience and the practice of democracy. 

A beautiful example of that ethic is found in President George H.W. Bush’s letter to incoming President Bill Clinton.   He shared the awe and privilege he had felt as President and that he knew Clinton would feel the same.  He offered encouragement and understanding for the challenging times ahead – particularly when Clinton might be criticized.  He concluded his letter by wishing Clinton great happiness as President and wrote, “Your success is now our country’s success.  I am rooting hard for you.”

Whatever one may think of Bush’s politics, he was a man of great kindness.  In defeat, he saw the country’s well-being as more important than his own.  Bush embodied the best of American democracy. 

Psychologists say there are five ways people resolve conflicts of opinion.  The first is to avoid a conflict by not engaging in a debate or discussion.  The second is to compete in a conflict resolved that one side must win and the other side must lose.  The third is to accommodate.  One side just gives up – often for the sake of keeping the peace.  The fourth is to compromise or partially accommodate.  Both sides partially give up such that nobody wins.  The fifth and final conflict resolution strategy is to collaborate where both sides work together, find common ground, and reach a decision everybody supports.  This last form of conflict resolution is what I often call a win-win.  

As you may know, I am a strong believer in collaboration.  It’s why I prefer to call volunteer groups in this congregation “teams” and not committees.  Each person on a team collaborates with others for the good of the entire team.  There are no leaders or prima donnas, egos are checked at the door, and all try to find common ground solutions.  Every singer Board of Trustees I’ve worked with in this congregation has acted in that manner.  There have many decisions made by our Boards with every one of them being unanimously agreed to.

Collaboration, though, is perhaps the most difficult form of conflict resolution.  It asks that nobody makes their desired perfect outcome the enemy of a good enough outcome.  Collaboration thus requires creative thinking on everyone’s part to move beyond their own conscience based  opinions to find a solution to which all sides agree.  You win.  I win.  We all win.

Implicitly, collaboration expects participants refuse the figurative assertion of “my way or the highway.”  I must win or else I quit.  Agreeing to be part of a democracy like the United States or a UU congregation assumes humility in debate, grace in losing, magnanimous kindness in winning, and a total commitment to remain united and together.  For me, that is exactly what the Fifth UU Principle expects – not only am I free to believe what seems right to me, more importantly so are you – and I will respect and honor the democratic process in resolving our differences or, even better, I’ll collaborate so any vote is unanimous.

I think all of us relate to the challenges of living in a democracy and of embracing the right of conscience.  On paper, the two ideals seem virtuous and obvious.   Despite that, most of us have felt extreme upset and even anger at past election results, or of debate outcomes in our nation, families and this congregation.  The virtuous rights of conscience and democracy often run up against our deeply held opinions on what is right and wrong.  

And that is both the reality and the challenge of the right of conscience and the practice of democracy.  How is it possible to respect opinions and outcomes that do not fit with our sincere individual consciences?

That is precisely where humility must do its work in our minds, hearts, and attitudes.  While recognizing nobody’s conscience is formed haphazardly, humility asks that we understand our consciences are not infallible.   My conscience is very fallible and I must continuously readjust it  to help me be a better person.  To do that, my conscience asks me to look for what is true, good and ethical in someone else’s conscience.  That’s what Unitarian Universalism is all about and what uniquely and ethically sets it apart from any other religion or belief system.  Unitarian Universalism IS inherently humble.  So long as one is respectful, whatever she or he believes is welcome here.  And we will not try to change someone’s beliefs but celebrate them as possible answers to our group  questions.

This ideal is true for spirituality, politics, church affairs, and any other matter.  Nobody’s beliefs or opinions are perfect and right, but they are  nevertheless still worthy, beautiful, and good – if they are ethically based.   

Since all of us believe that to be true, then it behooves us to continually remember, and use the Fifth Principle for all we say and do.  When the next debate of opinions happens in our families, or in this congregation, let us remember the high ideal of right of conscience and democracy.  Let us remember the implicit meaning of those rights – that we respect other opinions, that we see democracy as an imperfect but still good tool to encourage collaboration, and that we remain loving and kind people who stay united no matter the outcome.

Ultimately, I believe the Fifth Unitarian Universalist Principle is about selflessness, sacrifice and above all, love when love is hard to show to an opponent.  Our love for opponents is not an impossible task, but as with many actions in life, it asks us to heed the better nature of our angels.  Let us look to the Fifth Unitarian Universalist Principle whenever we disagree and whenever our passions tempt us to follow negative paths.  Let us be, in the spirit of the Fifth Principle, truly humble, all loving, and full of grace.     

I wish you all peace and joy.

(c) Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering at Northern Hills, All Rights Reserved

Please listen to the message here or see below to read it.

Over ten days at the end of July, I traveled with my partner Keith to the Rocky Mountains.  We spent several days hiking and camping with my daughters.  We also spent time with my sister and her husband as we spread my dad’s ashes in a fishing stream he had loved and regularly visited.

For me, time spent in nature is invigorating.  I particularly love the American west with its mountains, lakes, forests, and spectacular scenery.  To tromp along a trail, or sit and look at an amazing view, is transcendent for me.  I often leave behind the concerns of normal life to instead feel happier and more alive.  

The late singer John Denver said it best with the lyrics to his song “Rocky Mountain High.”  He opened the song by singing,  “Going into the mountains is to leave yesterday behind and be born again.”  And then he continued, “When he first came to the mountains, his life was far away…but the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky…he climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below, he saw everything as far as you can see.” 

I relate to John Denver’s mountain highs.  I found several of them over those ten days – time spent with Keith, time laughing with and enjoying my daughters, time amidst jagged peaks, time alone with my thoughts beside an alpine lake.

I also felt some valley lows during the trip.  The biggest one was standing with my sister beside the Gallatin River in southwestern Montana as we poured my dad’s final remains into the rushing water. 

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  That was what my dad’s life seemed to have come to.  And I pondered that a lot during my trip.  My dad had his own lifetime collection of figurative mountain highs – as well as valley lows.  Did those highs and lows end in that stream?  

To end in such a place could certainly be considered a high point.  But, it also bothered me and seemed also a valley low.  We live for a time and then we don’t.  We collect our share of happy moments punctuated by challenges and heartaches.  But is the sum of our lives defined by the peaks and valley’s we experience?

Like many people, I seek mountain peak moments – through travel, quality time with family, doing my best at work, and finding modest entertainment in good food, an interesting book, or a meaningful movie.  In other words, I pursue moments of pleasure – times when I feel happy, at peace, and, most importantly, loved.  

I don’t seek, but nevertheless still experience, many lows.  Friendships that don’t last, dear ones who get sick and pass away, job frustrations, and everyday boredoms of same old / same old living patterns.  And one day I’ll walk through the ultimate valley – the one darkened with shadows of my death.  A few people may express sadness at my demise.  My daughters will conjure memories of my times with them, they’ll bury or scatter my remains – and that will be it. 

And as I thought about all of that during my vacation, I couldn’t escape a sadness that fought against the peak times I also experienced.

You’ve heard me say in many Sunday messages that the pursuit of pleasure, or so called mountain highs, is NOT all there is to life.  Each life has purpose and meaning – and the definition of any life does not come from a collection of selfish pleasures.  Life is instead about consistently loving, serving, and making a difference.

I truly believe that, but I’ve also realized those words can be ministerial “blah, blah, blah” – forgettable Hallmark card cliches.  What, ultimately, does a life consist of?

In some ways, I feel I must apologize for pushing spiritual cliches from this pulpit.  Indeed, my own pursuit of life pleasures – what could be called mountain highs – may well be the opposite of what I often encourage here to serve others more than oneself.  Many of my messages may therefore smack of hypocrisy – a big sin for any minister.

Even if that is so, I can’t forsake what I believe.  To live a meaningful life is to create legacies of kindness, service, and love.  Nobody impacts the world for good because of vacations they’ve taken, the material treasures they acquired, or the pleasures they pursued.  Those do not last into the distant future.

The mountain peak experiences we do seek, however, need not be all about satisfying selfish needs.  What I felt with my girls, with Keith, and in the midst of forests and mountains, was hopefully not selfish pleasures of the flesh.  

I love my daughters more than anything.  To be around them, to recall past times together, to laugh at inside family jokes, and to see them as accomplished young women – is my way to give and receive love.   So too is my time spent with Keith.  I often think in amazement how giving he is – to put up with me, my family, and all that I like to do.  Enjoying family and the dearest of friends in good times is, however, not something to feel guilty about.  Such moments are the glue that binds people and generations to one another – all so that humanity will continue to survive and prosper.  It’s not selfish, therefore, to find mountain highs in the love we share.   

Tromping through a forest, or climbing a trail to an alpine lake was also not a mere pleasure to feed my selfish desires.  Time spent in nature is often a sublime experience for me – one where I feel most at one with creation and the creator.  I’m humbled when I’m outdoors.  I sense nature’s greatness and my own insignificance.       

The famed naturalist John Muir said that in mountains he found a practical sort of immortality.  He understood the interdependence of all things and humanity’s primal link to the universe.  At times, Muir said that felt he was completely at one with nature – someone who had simply melted into the surroundings.  And mountains were for him extra special.  They are, he said, fountains where the transcendent spews out of the earth.

To venture into forests, Muir also said, is to escape one’s thoughts and find, instead, one’s soul.  Holiness and divinity is within nature, he believed.  If someone wants to find whatever it is that God is, she or he should step into the woods.

As odd as it may sound, that’s what I sometimes felt during my vacation when I was in the midst of the mountains.  Even though Keith and I experienced what might be called valley lows as we were assaulted by hordes of biting flies on several hikes, we still were awestruck seeing peaks towering upward to the sky much like church spires – or the pointed roofline of this sanctuary.  It’s as if mountains are nature’s temples in which plants, animals and humans all worship together.  It seemed as they called out to me to climb their heights and bask in their glory – all the better to drive away any valley lows I felt.   

It was also very cold on the nights we camped.  Our bodies were unwashed and smelled of campfire smoke. But the implicit satisfaction of cooking, eating, sleeping, and even using the restroom in the wilderness surpassed any hardship.  So too was campfire camaraderie a high point.  Gathering around flickering flames in the dark of night is something we’ve all likely experienced.  Perhaps it subconsciously brings us back to times when fire and hearth meant communal safety, warmth, and togetherness against a frightening world.  Campfires were the same to me.   I was with my girls and Keith, in the mountains,  and deep in a forest.  The concerns and stresses of life seemed far away in those moments.  I was huddled around light in the middle of total darkness – and yet I felt content and at peace.

In many ways, my recent vacation mirrors my overall life.  Mountain highs were mixed with some valley lows.  Like some people, that mixture troubled me.  I don’t believe in pursuing self-focused mountain highs, but I also don’t believe in avoiding valley lows.  And yet, I too often do the opposite of what I believe.  I seek pleasure and I avoid pain.

Part of my trip was planned with my sister so we could spend quality time together and more importantly spread my dad’s ashes in a place he loved.  We did so and it was a poignant and emotional moment for us.  For me, as much as my beliefs about how our bodies continue onward in another natural form, spreading my dad’s ashes was a valley low for me – and one that continues even now.

As I said earlier, I’ve thought even more about the meaning of life and I’ve pondered the stark finality of my dad’s remains scattered into unfeeling water.  I felt his life journey ending at that moment as I watched his ashes drift away.  That feeling comes despite that is what he wanted – to rest forever in a place he loved.  Nevertheless, I’ve asked myself, “How can I feel so low about what I believe should be a joyous event?”

I can’t fully answer that question but I know it has a lot to do about sensing my own mortality.  I turn 60 in six weeks.  I faced a cancer scare two years ago.  As I contemplate my future demise, I wonder how I’ll fill my remaining years.  Will I pursue self-focused pursuit of meaningLESS mountain highs, or will they be mostly filled with an others focused pursuit of meaningFUL mountain highs?  I believe in the latter as much as my flesh calls me to selfishly pursue the former.  That war within me bothers me, and causes me added sadness.

And so my message today, as relatively short and less researched than normal, is not intended to offer answers.  I don’t know them myself.  Instead, my recent journey ended, but it continues on in my mind.  What role will mountain highs and valley lows play in my life?  Can I pursue high moments that have lasting and good impact on others and the world?  And, can I better understand the times when I’m in a valley low, in a so-called funk or sad time, so that I cognitively change my thoughts and thereby see the useful purpose behind them?

It’s a fact we can plainly observe: a mountain cannot exist without a valley.  Otherwise, we have only flat, level ground that’s safe but quite boring.  And the same is true of life…and of vacations.

In that regard, I needed my vacation – as much to rest and enjoy as to also reflect and feel some sadness.  The high of being in the mountains and spending good times with my daughters and Keith felt extra special because they came with the lows I’ve described.

And so those valley lows were equally necessary for me – and perhaps an important part of being able to enjoy my vacation and to now remember it fondly.  As I indicated earlier, I don’t believe there is anything in life – even the worst of valley lows – that we cannot learn and grow from.

As you’ve listened to my reflections this morning, perhaps you’ll initiate your own.  On water communion Sunday when we add to years and years of the so-called holy water that we save, I wish you each many mountain highs, but I also wish for you some valley lows – all the better to reflect and answer your own questions about life and how to purposefully live it.  As many people say, a vacation is never about the destination.  It’s about the journey.  And the same is true for life.  I hope for us all life journeys of meaning, purpose, challenges to learn from, peace, and meaningful joy.

(c) Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering at Northern Hills, All Rights Reserved

Click here to listen to the message. Please see below to read it.

In the 1976 International Special Olympics held in Spokane, Washington, eight racers lined up for the final 100 yard dash – the race that would determine the gold medal winner.  Shortly after the starting gun went off, one youth stumbled, fell to the ground, and was clearly hurt.

Two of the other racers, hearing one of their competitors fall and cry out, slowed down and turned to see what had happened.   Both of them, without prompting from the other, then ran the other way – back to the fallen racer.  They helped that racer stand up and the three began to walk to the finish line, arm in arm.

Five of the racers had already finished the race, with one of them winning the gold medal.  But when the other three racers crossed the finish line, the crowd in the stadium stood and wildly cheered for several minutes.  Three young people, each with different physical or mental abilities, and each from different backgrounds and cultures, showed what unity and compassion mean.  They exemplified the sixth Unitarian Universalist principle: the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.

For me, those three runners also lived out the truth that when any person stumbles or is held back – for any reason – all of humanity has equally been held back.  In other words, we each are part of the One Human Family.  We collectively fall or rise together. 

I love that this principle is a Unitarian Universalist ethic.  It’s one we boldly state and one we pledge to help achieve.  But that does not mean that I, or anyone else, is perfect at practicing it.  

I can too often be like the five runners who continued onward in that race – sympathetic to the one who fell, but not necessarily willing to sacrifice for a stranger in distress.  The challenge for me is to act as if every person, every group of people, no matter how different, is a member of my family deserving of concern and sacrifice.  That, for me, represents the high ideal of living within and serving the world community.

Despite concerns that our nation and world is becoming more divided, however, demographic experts paint a different picture.  The driving force behind the continuing trend toward a world community of peace, liberty and justice is coming from youth and young adults.

In 1990, back when I and many of us here were young adults, 73% of Americans between 15 and 35 were white.  Today, the percentage is much lower – only 55% of persons is in that age range are white.  And the trend is projected to steadily fall until in less than ten years, youth in our nation will be majority non-white.  That’s because even today the average person of color in our nation is much younger than the average white person.  The average age for all US citizens of color is 19.  The average age for white citizens is 43.  These numbers speak for themselves.  Demographics point to a future America with a majority-minority population.

Even more than numbers, though, attitudes about diversity and world community in today’s youth are dramatically different from their elders.  A majority of millennials value diversity far above individual merit in their job searches and in their relationships.  While including different races is an important goal, today’s youth seek overall diversity – one they call “cognitive diversity”.  They value being surrounded by people who think differently because they are from different backgrounds, lifestyles, and ethnicities – more women, more people of color, more other abled persons, more LGBTQ persons, more immigrants, more people with different spiritual beliefs, more people from economically challenged beginnings.

That view comes both from their beliefs, and because they have already lived a multi-cultural life.  Today’s teens and young adults are the most diverse generation in history.  They see the ideal of world community not only as a coming reality, but as one that will determine the future well-being of humanity.

Using the running story I opened with, two of the runners believed what today’s youth believe – that it was important for all of them to finish.  Better that everyone succeed instead of just some.  Experts say this is a new and unique attitude for any generation.  They believe in the “All for one, and one for all” ethos – which is the foundation of a world community. 

This has already transformed workplaces in the US and around the world.  Open work spaces, a focus on teamwork, and a strong push for employee diversity are the hallmarks of today’s employment – ones driven by millennial demands.  In a recent poll, 71% of millennials say teamwork and team success should be the organizing principle in government and in business.  That represents a profound difference from the idea that individualism should be the hallmark and strength of America.  The poll validates what demographic numbers predict – today’s youth are a pivot-point generation that will help usher in a world community attitude.

Studies also show that millennials value their differences and hold onto them far more than did their parents.  In the past, US success was believed to result from being a melting pot – one where different people come together and then blend into a single American culture.  Youth mostly reject that model.

Instead, young adults value being and staying different.  Their view of America has been labeled a “salad bowl.”  Many different ingredients don’t change or combine to become a bland mixture.  Instead, many ingredients retain their identity such that the whole achieves a variety of flavors –  a sweet tomato here, some earthy arugula lettuce there, a spicy crouton elsewhere.  A “salad bowl” seems a simplistic analogy, but it is exactly how youth today want their lives and their workplaces to be – a true representation of one human family with many unique cultures and backgrounds all retaining their different identities while collaborating to achieve goals for everyone.

For many of us who are baby boomers, the idea of world community is one we helped originate.  Sadly, however, it seems my generation lost its way by pursuing individual instead of communal goals.  

This coming Friday is the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock music festival.  It stands as a defining moment for the baby boomer generation – one that came of age with high ideals for no war, communal lifestyles, and full equality.  But with all of the free love, advocacy of peace, no greed and no religion too, also came self-indulgence.  Woodstock despoiled a huge area of pristine New York meadowland.  Mountains of trash, sewage, and ruined fields were the result – perhaps foreshadowing the greed oriented 1980’s and today’s climate change crisis.

Every generation begins with high minded ideals only to often lose some of them in the reality of middle age.  And that could be the future outcome for today’s youth.  One of the gifts older generations can give today’s youth, however, is to encourage and celebrate their innovative diversity ideals.

Baby boomers say they want world community, but its ability to make that happen is rapidly fading.  Today’s youth, however, are poised to actually make world community a reality.

The video we earlier saw asked us to be the change we want to see.  Remarkably, youth today already ARE that change.   And so as older world citizens, many of us can acknowledge the unique power and possibility today’s youth generation represents in the history of humanity.  Technology, social media, globalization, and much higher rates of interracial marriage and child bearing have all helped create the most diverse youth generation ever.  That trend will continue.  And so elders must not fight against that fact as some do, or begrudgingly accept it as others do.  Instead, I believe baby boomers should champion it and promote it.  I don’t say that lightly.  We must allow the most diverse generation ever to begin to take hold of all reigns of power and influence.

Some respondents to our recent congregation survey said that since these Coffeehouse services are not attracting hordes of young attenders, we should stop doing them.  To them I say a very respectful and very empathetic, “I hear you, but…I disagree.”  

I cannot be committed to the future of all children without doing something tangible for that.  One service a month that hopefully relates to all members – but especially to youth – is something I’ll do as long as I’m here.  Our Unison Affirmation states that the future of youth is a major concern, so I encourage that it be one important strategic focus in all we do – in our volunteering, giving, Sunday services, and responsiveness to the world.  The question all our teams can ask is, “how are we helping to enhance the well-being of youth?”  Doing so will, as I’ve said, thereby promote world community.  Today’s youth generations will be the ones to make it happen.  

        As a gray haired, almost 60 year old white man, I want to do what I can to help youth achieve what older generations have not – the goal of one human family, a world community with peace, liberty and justice for all – and do that in here and outside our walls too.  I hope many others will join me in this effort.  

I wish you much peace and joy.

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(c) Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering at Northern Hills, All Rights Reserved

Hear a partial recording of the message by clicking here (early parts of the message are not included.)

As we just saw in the video, exactly fifty years and one day ago, three men entered orbit around the moon 62 miles above it.  Two of them then entered a fragile landing craft to descend to its surface.  What the video does not show is that the descent to the lunar surface nearly ended in calamity.

When that landing craft was just over a mile above the moon, its guidance computer, one that was hundreds of times less powerful than a modern smartphone, sounded an alarm.  It could no longer handle the mass of data it was being asked to process.  The captain, Neil Armstrong, manually took control of the craft and continued its descent without computer guidance.

As he did so, communication with earth went out.  So too did the landing radar which reported height above the surface.  After a seemingly agonizing time, communication and radar was reestablished – but those instruments continued to lose and regain earth contact. 

There were more tense moments.  At one hundred feet above the moon, the craft was down to less than 60 seconds of fuel.  Some controllers on earth thought the landing should be immediately aborted.  If the fuel level reached zero, there was no reserve.  The craft would violently crash into the surface. 

At that moment shortly before landing, Armstrong realized the craft was heading toward a spot on the slope of a crater covered with truck sized boulders.   He quickly peered through a small triangular window for a flat place to land.  There was little fuel to spare but he calmly revved the engines to pilot the craft toward safety. 

At ten feet above the surface, fuel was precariously low.  And then dust kicked up, the landing probes appeared as shadows on the surface, and the lunar module gently settled to the ground.  Creatures from earth –  human beings – were on the surface of another world for the first time ever.

Modern humans are a relatively young species – about 200,000 years old.  We can only imagine, however, what it would have been like 130,000 years ago when modern humans set foot on the island of Crete – the first island in the middle of an ocean to be visited by people.

Imagine what that journey to Crete must have been like – the first human journey across water hundreds of miles beyond sight of land.  A few daring people, venturing onto a dangerous sea – with no idea where to aim for  – sought other ground.  Using technology available at the time, they likely lashed together logs on which to travel.  They would have needed animal skins to hold water and food – since heat fired clay pots had yet to be invented.  Stone tools to cut and kill would have been required.  Amazingly, those ancient people journeyed onto seemingly limitless water – much like interstellar space – not knowing where or if other land existed and, if it did, whether they could survive there.   But they went anyway.

Anthropologists say that human history is actually one of non-stop  exploration.  From the very first person who came across a cave and bravely went into it, to those who today plan for a 9 month one-way journey to Mars, the impulse to explore and discover is a human one.  

Some experts say it is our minds that motivate us to explore.  We do not like the unknown – and so we seek answers.  Importantly, however, we  don’t rely on made up answers to define the unknown.  Humanity has invented myths to imagine how certain things happened, but those were usually not intended to be factual answers, but instead imaginations of what might have happened.   Our species wants verifiable evidence of truth – something confirmed by sight, touch and experience.  We don’t want to rely on imagination or faith for what is true.  We want to personally experience it.  To do that, humans therefore explore.

The ancient Greek philosopher Cicero said that human curiosity comes from an innate passion to learn.  Our brains are hardwired to want knowledge.  We use facts to better understand the universe around us.  

While all creatures instinctively eat, reproduce and fight to live, only humans seek knowledge that has little to do with basic survival.  Indeed, curiosity often puts humans in danger of survival – much as it did for early humans who ventured onto the high seas, or for the astronauts who journeyed two hundred and forty thousand miles from earth.

For me, the yearning to explore and thus understand is a spiritual one.  When we sit on the shore of an ocean and look out across its expanse, we want to know what’s just over the horizon.   The same is true when we stare at the night sky and ponder the nature of other suns and planets.  Those yearnings to know what’s out there are not just our intellectual minds at work, but also our realization of things far greater than us.   We see the vastness of oceans, or the infinite depths of space, and we’re often awestruck.  We want to better understand such beautiful  complexity.

If we think about it, musing about life after death, and the existence of gods and goddesses are also forms of exploration.  Spirituality is contemplation of things beyond factual knowledge.  We seek what we don’t know, and so we philosophically explore religious ideas, ancient myths, and spiritual wisdom. 

An article in the Harvard Business Review says that even though modern humans now explore many things unknown to us, our impulse to explore is the same as it was for the very earliest humans.

Stone age people, in other words, had the same discovery psychology we have today.  What that means is that humans evolved as explorers.  The impulse to discover is imprinted on our genes.

This instinctual desire, the Harvard Business Review says, is not something we can switch off.  Critics have often said that humanity should focus on the well-being of its members, instead of on risky and expensive exploration.  The Apollo program cost over 130 billion in today’s dollars.  We can only imagine the schools, meals, and houses for the needy such money could have provided.

Besides being wasteful of precious resources, critics also say exploration has historically been very risky.  Countless ships lost at sea, land explorers who starved to death, and astronauts killed in fiery rocket explosions are all evidence that exploration is dangerous and seems to make little sense.  Why venture to unknown places when the risk of death is so high?  If we consider exploration from a purely survival psychology, people throughout history should have mostly stayed put. 

Had that impulse to play it safe predominated, however, humanity might still be huddled on the African continent and completely unaware of lands, creatures, and things removed from it.  Humanity might have been safe, but it would be a very primitive safety.

Exploration, therefore, has historically returned rewards far greater than its cost.  New materials, new knowledge, and new land areas were obtained that enabled humanity to improve itself – developing medicines and scientific knowledge that benefited life for all.

Beyond practical rewards, however, exploration offers something more profound.  We explore and seek to understand to satisfy our curiosity and thus enlarge our souls.  We explore to figuratively come face to face with what I believe is god – that being capital ’T’ Truth.   For me, knowing what is verifiably true is far more useful than reading and memorizing ancient myths that creatively imagine reality.  We seek Truth that because that is the highest and most spiritual reality in the universe.

        The first ancient human to set foot on land across an ocean, the first person to understand and explain how life is conceived, or Neil Armstrong who placed the first footprint on another celestial body, these explorers opened up amazing realms of new awareness.  If that is not getting a glimpse of what might be called the god of the universe, then I don’t know what is.

Walter Cronkite, during his live TV broadcast of the lunar landing, broke down in tears when Neil Armstrong said his famous words, “Houston, Tranquility Base here.  The Eagle has landed.”  Cronkite felt what millions of people around the world felt.  We, you, me, all humanity – felt awestruck and in the presence of something much bigger than us.

The lunar landing has been called the greatest achievement of the 20th century.  I suggest it is one of the greatest achievements of all time.  While some Americans boast that it proved America’s superiority, that is nationalistic arrogance.  As with all science, the culmination of putting a human on another celestial body rests on the shoulders of countless explorers throughout history.  It exemplified the power of both the human mind and spirit. 

For us as Unitarians, it was an expression of several of our principles.  Humanity freely and responsibly sought truth and meaning, our 4th principle.  By seeking new truth, humanity also showed its respect for the interdependence of all existence – the 7th UU principle.  People are not a species unto themselves, nor is the earth the center of the universe.  When we venture outward into the cosmos, we confront the humble reality that our planet is a speck of dust in the totality of space and we humans are even smaller.

Most significantly, the mission to the moon was an encouragement to spiritual growth, the 3rd UU principle.  For us as Unitarians, in ways that are both good and bad, we value a search for knowledge that has a spiritual dimension to it.  We commit to the third principle with high-minded purpose and goodness – something exemplified by the plaque, signed by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, that now rests on the moon.  “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D.  We came in peace for all mankind.”

That last sentence implies the theme I offer today.  Humanity may have sometimes explored distant lands to gain power and money.  Or, they’ve done so to boast of military, economic and intellectual superiority.  As with all good things, people are prone to cheapen their highest ambitions.

To the contrary, however, John F. Kennedy said that we seek to go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard.  The lure of finding new discoveries is a challenge similar to why we read, learn, and come to places likes this church.  We want to expand ourselves.  We have questions.  We seek answers.  And so we go.  Along the way, we see all the better who we are – creatures who want to know truths about life, death, and all existence.  

Fifty years ago, over half the world’s population – three billion people – gathered around TV’s to watch blurry images of Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepping foot on the moon.  That was an amazing moment of human togetherness.  Far more significant, it was a moment when the human species figuratively bowed at the altar of Truth in amazement and reverence.  As we remember and honor the Apollo 11 exploration of the moon, may we commit to explorations of our own – ones delving into our souls, into nature, and outward to new frontiers.

I wish you much peace and joy. 

(c) Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering at Northern Hills, All Rights Reserved

On the second Sunday of every month, we hold a Coffeehouse family service for everyone to enjoy but these services are especially targeted to young families and youth. The video at the below URL relates to the message topic of “Young Voices.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZZZQ1sZqH0

Please click here to listen to Rev. Doug’s message, Please see below to read it.

My messages this month relate to important events in a history of July’s – and what they can still mean to us.   Today, I call us to reflect on the brief but significant life of thirteen year old Anne Frank.  She epitomizes the title of my message this morning “Young Voices” because of the immense impact she’s had with her diary.  Anne and her family went into hiding from the Nazi’s on July 5, 1942.

Anne’s father Otto had moved his family ten years earlier from Germany to Amsterdam – to escape the newly elected Nazi government.  The escape was successful only until 1940 when the Germans invaded and occupied Denmark.  Life for Danish Jews became increasingly frightening.  When Anne Frank’s sister Margot was ordered to report to a work camp for Jewish teens, Otto made plans to hide his family in a secret annex on the third floor of his business.

For the next two years the Franks lived in almost perpetual quiet.  It was a silence shaped by their fear of being heard and discovered.  To pass the time, the Franks and several friends who had joined them read constantly.  Young Anne read too – but she also wrote extensively in her diary.

The Franks lived in their hiding place until it was betrayed by some unknown person and they were arrested.  All of the Franks were immediately sent to Auschwitz where they were forcibly separated.  Otto was put to work at Auschwitz.  Mrs. Frank is presumed to have died in the camp gas chambers.  Anne and her sister Margot were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where they lived until March 1945 when they both died from a typhus epidemic.  Only four weeks later, the camp was liberated by British soldiers.

Otto was the only member of his family to survive the war.  When he returned to Amsterdam and searched the hiding annex, he discovered Anne’s diary which filled several notebooks.  In 1947, the diary was published and it was an instant best seller.  

Today, The Diary of Anne Frank is required reading in thousands of high schools.  It is one of the most widely read books around the world not just for its details about the Holocaust, but also for the insights young Anne had on life, people, relationships, and being happy in the midst of suffering.

What is especially remarkable is Anne’s youth at the time she wrote her diary.  She was 13, 14 and 15 years old.  One of her first diary entries said this,  “Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me.  Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl.”

Anne often questioned the value of what she wrote.  Early on, she thought of herself as too young and immature to be able to write anything meaningful.  As time went on, however, she gained increasing confidence not only in what she wrote, but also with the opinions she shared with others in the small group of folks hiding with her.  

Her family and the others often did not take Anne seriously and yet she persisted.  She realized she had opinions that were important and wise.  She not only discovered an inner reservoir of self-confidence, she found her so-called “voice”.  

As a teenager enduring hardships most of us will never experience, Anne arrived at, and then beautifully communicated, insights that influenced both her family and the larger world.

How she communicated her perceptive views have made her the greatest diarist of all time.  Her young voice – and her willingness to share it – gave her greatness.   But that is something possible for any of us – and especially teenagers and young adults.  Far too many people, myself included, often believe we have nothing worthwhile to say, stand for, or strive to achieve.  Anne struggled against thinking that way when she wrote, “Who would ever think that so much went on in the soul of a young girl?”  But a lot did go on in her soul – and a lot goes on in each of our souls too – no matter how young, or old, we are.  By thinking we have nothing to say of value, we silence our unique voices.  We don’t share ourselves – and our ideals – so that we, too, achieve a figurative life after death that impacts others for good.  And while I say this to everyone here, I especially mean it for those who are chronologically young – those between 13 and 40:  find your “voice” and then share it.  We each have a gift of ourselves to offer the world.

Only a year before she died, Anne wrote in her diary,  “I don’t want to live in vain like most people.  I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death!”

Anne, however, had already written down pieces of wisdom in her diary that give her the lasting life she desired.

Among her profound thoughts, she wrote, “We have many reasons to hope for great happiness, but . . . we have to earn it.  And that’s something you can’t achieve by taking the easy way out.  Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy.”

And here’s another, “Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.  I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”

And another, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

And another, “No one has ever become poor by giving.”

And another,“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”  That is an eloquent analogy for how any one person can be a light of goodness in a world of hate.

And finally her most famous and frequently quoted statement, “It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical.  Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”

Anne Frank’s voice is one of charming idealism but also one with deep perceptions on how best to live a joyful and useful life even in the midst of pain and challenge.  

I admire her wisdom at such a young age – and especially her ability to articulate her ideas in writing.  I didn’t truly find my voice until I was fifty when I became the minister at the Gathering.  Because that congregation was willing to see if I could be a half-way decent speaker, and I mustered the courage to take on the role of a regular Sunday speaker, I finally found my voice.  It’s not perfect, or great in any way, but it’s mine, and I use it to promote values important to me – ones like empathy, humility, serving others, and kindness.

I lament that it took so long for me to discover my voice.  I don’t recommend that for any young person.  From my own hard won experience, I encourage youth to be bold like Anne Frank – and many other people who found their voices in their youth – ones like Emma Gonzalez who was a student at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School during the mass shooting there.  She’s now a famous gun control advocate who has testified to Congress, given speeches to large rallies, and influenced gun laws.  

There is also the Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai who survived a terrorist attempt to kill her because she encouraged girls to get an education.  She’s now given speeches around the world, raised millions of dollars for her cause, and is the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.   Or, there is Lillian Lennon, a 19 year old transgender activist who, with her bright pink hair, was primarily responsible for the defeat of Proposition 1 – a so-called bathroom law in Alaska that would have required persons to only use a restroom designated for the gender of their birth.

To find your voice, like these amazing youth, I suggest four steps:  

First, be authentic.  Be real.  Be you.  We all try to please the largest number of people possible, but the most important person to please is ourselves – and we can only do that if we live true to who we really are.  Be proud of what makes you special.  Be proud of your thoughts and opinions.

Second, I suggest that before one learns to speak their voice, one must learn to listen.  Be willing to hear what others have to say.  Absorb their advice and learn from them.  Be open minded and extend to others the same respect and listening that you seek for yourself.

Third, figure out what makes you compassionately angry.  What are the things you see in this world that upset you because others suffer from them?  What makes you feel especially compassionate because someone endures an injustice?

Fourth and finally, after you’ve determined things that make you compassionately angry, what are the changes you’d like to see that will fix them?

Once you’ve taken these steps, you’ll likely feel empowered to be part of the solution – to influence your family, your friends, the groups you belong to, and your wider community.  Speak, write, advocate, and above all serve.  Not all of us are activist types but even with a quiet voice, a diary, letter to the editor, or an example of helping, we can speak our unique voices loud and clear.

As a young teen, forced to hide in a small, dark space 77 years ago this July, Anne Frank found her voice and through her diary spoke to hundreds of millions of people of hope, laughter, joy, and human decency.   All young people, like Anne, have tremendous wisdom to share.  I encourage everyone to find our voices and then use them.

(c) Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering at Northern Hills, All Rights Reserved

Click here to listen, see below to read:

July is a fascinating month.  Whether by coincidence or because of the summer season, this month has witnessed some of the most significant events in human rights history.  America celebrates its founding on principles of human rights in July.  France remembers its embrace of the same ideals this month.  The women’s rights movement began in July, and President Johnson signed into law, in July, a sweeping enactment of Civil Rights that helped end the worst of Jim Crow racial discrimination.

Whatever reasons that make July such a monumental month in the  advancement of human rights, I believe Americans in particular should pause to reflect on these events and what they mean to us today.  

In the midst of summer vacations, fireworks, and picnics, time spent thinking about our rights and how they were derived can give summertime increased significance.  In other words, July means more than playtime.  In American history especially, July is when we’ve grown as a people.   July marks events when America became even truer to the spiritual ideals of freedom, dignity and equal opportunity.

In that sense, July is rightfully a human rights month not just for America – but for all people.  As imperfect as this nation has been and still is, America has often set the benchmark for human rights.  It has done so not from a political standpoint, but from what I claim is a spiritual one.  America has implicitly declared human rights as something that all must enjoy based on the sacredness of every person.

And yet, as we know, America has yet to fully implement that ideal.  Two-hundred and forty-three years after this nation was founded, we cannot say discrimination of any kind no longer exists in America.  But just because America does not perfectly practice all that it says it believes, that does not mean its human rights ideals are any less important.  Americans may be hypocrites about some of our values, but most of us we know we are, and so we continue the struggle to be better.  In my mind, our flaws and our ongoing effort to fix them is what makes us great.

The Declaration of Independence famously says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Who, one might ask, comprises “all men”?  It’s quite likely many founders believed the phrase to literally mean males, and only white men at that.  But the phrase was purposefully NOT limited by its writer Thomas Jefferson to say only males are equal.  “All men” has thus been able to evolve to indicate “all humanity.”

And that phrase has a profoundly spiritual meaning.  Without naming who or what our Creator is, Thomas Jefferson and the founders clearly intended to say that our rights come from the gift of humanness offered by some force bigger than us.   We have intrinsic worth because we are human.

If we think about it, that’s a belief found in the Bible and in numerous other religious Scriptures as well.  It’s also the ideal stated in the first Unitarian Universalist principle.  People have dignity and worth because as humans we are able to reason, feel, and innovate in ways far beyond other species.  For whatever reasons, we are special, we have unique responsibilities to care for our planet, and we thus have value.

As Thomas Paine wrote in his famous revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense, America opposed the British King not for political reasons, but for spiritual ones.  Paine said that King George’s insistence on his divine right – that he was appointed by God to rule over others – that this was an affront to human reason, common sense, and the created order of things.  Everybody, Paine implied, is equal before God, or whatever it is that created us.

James Madison, another founder, said the assertions of human rights in the Declaration of Independence were NOT new discoveries.  Instead, they were merely declarations of already existing natural rights.  We were born into the one human family and by that biological specialness, we each have rights nobody can take away.

As I earlier said, many historians have noted the seeming hypocrisy of the founders.  Many of them never contemplated the full meaning of the Declaration’s statement of unalienable rights for all men.  But many founders perceived their hypocrisy such that American imperfections were known even then.  Abigail Adams, the famed wife of founder John Adams, wrote to her husband when he served in the Continental Congress, “Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them.” 

Thomas Jefferson, who wrote most of the Declaration and was a slave owner, pointedly included in his original draft an accusation that the King “waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere…”  As a slave owner, he has rightly been accused of  hypocrisy for writing “all men are created equal”, but the truth is that, like America itself, he was complicated and flawed but nevertheless one who consistently fought for human rights.  

His passage stating that sacred rights of life and liberty applied to slaves was angrily opposed by delegates from Georgia and South Carolina.  Their opposition threatened the colonial unity that had been carefully nurtured.  And so his first draft statement in favor of human rights for slaves was deleted from the final Declaration of Independence as a compromise to preserve the rebellion against Britain.

Most historians note the flaws in the Declaration of Independence but they also claim they do not diminish the moral significance of the document.  Philosophers going back to ancient Greece have asserted similar human rights, but never before had a large set of people, and their government, claimed equal rights for all humanity.  Governments do not give people those rights the Declaration said.  Whatever created humanity did that.  

While we usually celebrate July 4th as the anniversary of our nation’s founding, what the founders did was vastly more significant.  They declared a human rights revolution that still resounds today.

Less than fifteen years after the Declaration of Independence, the French Revolution shook the foundations of Kingdoms and aristocratic systems everywhere.  It owed its impulses to America and its human rights revolution.  

On July 14, 1879, a huge crowd stormed the infamous Bastille fortress in Paris.  It was the headquarters of the French army which protected the King and the French economic system of feudal inequality.

The Bastille was taken over by the protestors leading to the overthrow of King Louis the 15th.  Barely a month later, a legislative assembly of French common people published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.  Its writers intentionally capitalized the word ‘Man’ to signify all humanity.  Thomas Jefferson was a consultant in its writing.

The document declared that all people are born free and equal in the rights they possess.  People have the right to vote for their leaders, the right of free speech, religion, and press.  Leaders are to be chosen according to their merit – and not their wealth or social status. 

Once again, a July date led to a major assertion of human rights – ones that are granted not by a King, but by the simple virtue of being born.  The French Revolution specifically stated humans have natural rights which many people equate to belief in a little ‘g’ god of nature.  The Declaration of Rights of Man was thus a spiritual statement much like the Declaration of Independence.

Sixty years later in 1848, once again in July and taking place on the 18th and 19th of the month, multiple American women assembled in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss the rights and social conditions of women.  Led by Quakers, who had long supported the equality of genders, the Seneca Falls convention was the first of its kind in history. 

Common law at the time did not allow women to inherit property, sign contracts, serve on juries, or vote.  Few jobs were available to women and those that were available paid them less than half that of men.   Fathers and husbands controlled the destiny of women – deciding if they could be educated, when and to whom they could marry, and whether or not they could divorce an abusive husband.

The Seneca Falls convention adopted a Declaration of Sentiments, purposefully written to be similar to the Declaration of Independence.  It was another spiritual statement of human rights.  It emphatically stated that God created men and women as fully equal – but that men had selfishly contradicted God’s intentions by denying women their rights.

While women are still fighting for full equality with men, Seneca Falls is a landmark event in history.  Like all other human rights efforts, it appealed to spiritual ethics of equal treatment, justice, and opportunity for all.

A final significant July date in human rights history took place on July 2nd, 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act which rendered illegal almost all forms of Jim Crow segregation.  Initiated by President Kennedy before his death, the Civil Rights Act made it illegal to use race as a reason to discriminate in employment, housing and education.  Of greatest significance, it made it illegal for any business to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, or religion.

  Passage of the Civil Rights Act required the Senate to break the longest filibuster in US history – one conducted by 11 southern Senators who took turns speaking non-stop for over 75 days .  Hubert Humphrey, the liberal lion from Minnesota, proposed a compromise on a few provisions of the Act in order to win the votes of three filibustering Senators.  The Act then passed Congress and was signed into law on July 2nd – a date significant for its nearness to the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.  (Pause)

I imagine most of us recently saw the picture of a young El Salvadoran father, and his 23 month old daughter, drowned and lying on the banks of the Rio Grande river.  Oscar Martinez fled El Salvador with his wife and daughter 4 months ago.  They left in order to come to America and realize what the Declaration of Independence promises – the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  

After waiting for three months in the Mexican border town of Matamoros for an appointment to seek asylum in the US, Oscar and his family were finally given a date and time.  They arrived at the US border station as scheduled only to find it closed.  They were told to make another appointment.  In desperation, after living in hellish homeless conditions with temperatures regularly over 110 degrees, Oscar decided to swim his family into the US.

He and daughter safely made it across the river to Texas.  He then  patiently instructed his small daughter to sit on the shore and wait there while he returned to Mexico to help his wife swim across.  Soon after he began swimming back to other side, his daughter panicked and jumped into the river after him.  She was carried away in a strong current and Oscar swam after her.  With his wife watching in horror from the  Mexican shore, he reached his daughter but then he too was caught in the swift current.  With the toddler panicking, Oscar flailed to stay afloat.  While still clutching his daughter, he soon went under the muddy waves.  Their bodies washed ashore the next day.

This horrific tragedy prompts many of us to consider just what America is doing at its southern border.  For me, the US must insure it acts in loving concern for those who simply want to enjoy the rights we too often take for granted.

This tragedy also causes me to ponder the amazing human rights I enjoy – and yet how fragile they are.  Tyranny, I realize, can snatch my rights away at any moment.  Tyranny can also look indifferently at those who risk their lives to gain the rights I have.  Tyranny cruelly denies different people the basic human worth every person is owed.

And so this July should remind us what America represents to millions of people around the world.  America is not great because of its wealth, or its powerful military.  America is great precisely because it has fought a long history of Julys to insist that everybody has the right to be  treated equal, and to live with the freedom to pursue their basic well-being.

Oscar Martinez was not a criminal.  He was not illegal in any way.  He was a human being, a loving and tragically desperate dad, who yearned to be free so he could assure he, his wife, and his daughter could live in simple dignity.

And yet I so often take for granted the rights Oscar Martinez died trying to gain.  May we remember all those like Oscar, and may we also remember, honor, understand, and never take for granted the human rights we each have – all of them due to a history of July efforts to win for every person equality, freedom, and opportunity.  

Wherever and whatever god is, she weeps for Oscar Martinez and his small daughter.   More ominously, she also weeps for an America that has forgotten the many July struggles for human rights – all while this  nation steadily diminishes its ethical and spiritual values.  We must work very hard to stop that.

Peace to each of you.

(c) Rev. Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering at Northern Hills, All Rights Reserved

The name “Lucifer,” which most people associate with the devil, comes from the Hebrew word “helel” which translated means “brightness”.  That translation is appropriate for how the myth in the Old Testament says evil, and the devil, came to exist.

Jewish Scripture, what we know as the Old Testament, says that God created multiple angels to be with her and to help with her work.  All of this happened, according to the myth, before God created the physical universe.  Of all the angels God created, she made only one to exemplify beauty and intelligence.  This angel would be as close to God’s perfection as possible.  God named this angel Lucifer or, as I said earlier, “brightness.”

And according to the myth, Lucifer was and is beautiful, brilliant and shining.  Contrary to how he is often depicted – like the scary image on your programs – the Old Testament myth says the devil is not sinister appearing.  He’s very appealing and covered with sparkling rubies, diamonds and sapphires.

That’s also consistent with the Hebrew translation of the word “serpent” found in the myth of Adam and Eve – the one who tempted them.  The actual ancient Hebrew word that early English translators rendered as “serpent” actually means “shining one.”  In other words, the first authors of the creation myth, and devil mythology, described the devil as a beautiful and attractive creature.

The Old Testament says, however, the devil became so enamored, narcissistic and arrogant about his beauty and intelligence, that he began to not only think of himself as equal to God, but even superior to her.  And once Lucifer began thinking of himself in that way, God forever banished the devil from her presence in heaven.  Implied in the myth, at the moment God turned her back on Lucifer, the timeless battle of good versus evil began.  

That is why the beautiful devil seduced Adam and Eve.  Lucifer was jealous of God’s created beings so he sought to destroy them by infecting humanity with evil.  Lucifer used his cunning and his attractiveness to persuade Adam and Eve to disobey God and eat forbidden fruit from the tree of ultimate knowledge.  He appealed to their egos by asking why shouldn’t they know what God know’s.  Evil, the myth says, infected people not just because of their disobedience – but because of their egos.  Adam and Eve, man and woman, believed they too could be equal to God.

The takeaway from the overall myths about the devil and Adam and Eve, is something that we can apply in our lives.  The root cause of all evil, the motivation for anything bad and hateful that humans do, is arrogance.  It was Lucifer’s sinful pride that caused his fall away from goodness, and it was the same sinful pride that led man and woman to also fall from grace and learn the ways of selfishness and hate.  

Such pride is the negativity I believe every human must battle within themselves – the inclination to put oneself first above all others.  My needs, my opinions, my thoughts, my beauty, my desires are all superior to yours.  Everything I think and do, this voice inside my head seductively whispers, must revolve around me, me, me!  And so I lie, cheat, hate, judge and attack you all in order to put me above you.   Sinful pride motivates everything bad that humans do and say.

         A funny story describes a man who was given a new title as Vice President by his small company.  This man then boasted and bragged about it non-stop for many weeks – to anyone he encountered.  Finally, his wife could not stand his arrogance any longer.  “You do know,” she said to her husband, “companies call lots of employees Vice-Presidents.  Even the local grocery store has a Vice-President of peas.”  The man was of course deflated with this news but after he thought about it, he was sure his wife exaggerated.  So he called the local grocery and asked the clerk who answered the phone, “I’d like to speak to the Vice-President of peas, please.”  To which the clerk immediately asked, “Fresh or frozen?”

One of the great things about Unitarian Universalism is its openness to wisdom found in ALL world religions.  And regarding pride being the source of every human failing, I believe the Biblical myths I earlier related  are on to something.  With our willingness to learn from all religions, we should therefore heed the lessons from Jewish and Christian devil myths – without needing to believe the actual stories.

Every misdeed that humans commit come from them thinking they are more important and more deserving than anyone else.  Greed, envy, anger, violence, and hate are always due to someone thinking their feelings or their needs are the best and must take precedence over another’s.  Actions or words that hurt are always caused by a focus on the self.  And such a focus comes from sinful pride.

Indeed, just as all religions define real goodness by the Golden Rule – to treat others equal to or better than how one wishes to be treated, evil can be defined as doing the opposite of the Golden Rule – to treat others worse than how one wishes to be treated.

And so my message series this month of June, in which we rightfully celebrate the ideal of Pride, must include a proper understanding of what is good pride and what is sinful pride.  That’s the purpose of my message this morning.

I believe good pride is an honest awareness of oneself – one’s core truth which includes his or her strengths and weaknesses.  This kind of pride does not think of oneself as greater than others, but instead as skilled in some areas, weak in others.  Good pride believes everybody is worthy of the same dignity, justice, and basic needs of life.  Good pride does not put the self above others, it simply puts the self equal to all others.

LGBTQ or rainbow Pride, that I discussed last Sunday, is therefore not a way to proclaim gays, lesbians and the transgendered are superior.  Rather, June Pride asserts that LGBTQ persons are as worthy and good as anyone else.  

Homophobia, sexism, white supremacy, religious intolerance, and any other form of discrimination are examples, on the other hand, of sinful pride.  A group of people presume to believe they are superior, more enlightened, or more virtuous than the targets of their hate.

The antidote to sinful pride is obviously to replace it with good pride.  And that involves adopting and learning attitudes of humility.  Indeed, I believe good pride and honest humility are one and the same. 

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Shambhala Buddhist monk, once said that true humility is simply “genuineness.”  And that echoes what I said last week about rainbow pride – or what I today specifically define as good pride.  Good pride means being authentic to who you really are – not perfect or superior, but simply a flawed but still very worthy human like everyone else.

Thich Nhat Hanh, the famous Buddhist teacher, said that sinful pride is, “An obstacle to developing our understanding, compassion, and boundless love.  When we are humble we have nothing to fear, nothing to lose.”

He echoes exactly what Jesus taught and practiced.  To be a humble servant is one of the greatest things to be, he said.  It’s why, at his final meal on the night before he was executed, stories say Jesus washed the feet of his followers – who were embarrassed he would do such a lowly thing.  Feet, in those times, were considered the nastiest part of a person since people walked barefoot, or in mere sandals, through dirt streets often filled with sewage and trash.  Washing his follower’s feet, one of the grossest and demeaning things a person could do for another, was a way for Jesus to teach and model humility and do just what Thich Nhat Hanh said – to love, serve and be compassionate.

Just as Christianity and Judaism teach, Buddhism and Hinduism teach the same.  The ultimate goal in life, for both Buddhists and Hindus, is to diminish the self.  Humility is thus a foundational virtue for those forms of spirituality.   Arrogance and sinful pride are human failures that prevent harmony in our minds and peace in our hearts, they believe.  When we pridefully seek and desire things for ourselves, we will never be happy.  Contentment comes not from getting what we want – because if we get what we desire, we will always want more.  Contentment comes from letting go of wanting – to instead be at peace with what one already has.  

For Hindus and Buddhists, sinful pride is connected to the ego – something every person has.  Buddhists define the human ego as something that, “At all costs pursues what is pleasant, and at all costs avoids what is unpleasant.”

Humility, or healthy pride, however is to work toward reducing our egos and not feeling the demands they make.  Whether it be boredom, feeling inadequate, dealing with a hardship, or being attacked by others, healthy pride means we stop feeling hurt, or in need.  Indeed, we all know a fact of life is that bad things happen.  Sinful pride, however, tells me that even though everyone else suffers, I should not.  I, my ego seductively tells me, deserve only luxury, adoration, and perfect health!

As I said last week, LGBTQ pride is a way to be proud of who one is no matter the attacks that come from others.  This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. taught with his appeals for non-violence and his practice of it during the Selma, Alabama marches.  White supremacists said and did horrible things against King and the black marchers, but they had the kind of good pride in themselves that knew they were worthy and fully equal with anyone.  That enabled them to confront hate with non-violence.  King and his followers let go of their egos precisely as a way to elevate themselves in a humble and profound way.

And we must do the same when we suffer, feel attacked, or are diminished.  If we know who we are, if we know we are good, worthy, and beautiful – all moderated with a dose of healthy humility, nothing can truly harm us.  

In many ways, that is why many people of color have turned to Jesus and Christianity as their spiritual path.  They see in Jesus a poor man of color who willingly allowed himself to be mocked and executed in the most painful and humiliating way possible – all to show that serving, sacrificing, loving, and caring are far more powerful than arrogance and hate.  

Dr. King and his many black admirers saw themselves in a similar way.  While white supremacists thought they had won, goodness nevertheless prevailed.  The KKK and other haters will be relegated to the margins of history.  Jesus, Dr. King, Mahatma Gandhi, and the gay prophet Harvey Milk – all people who taught good pride and humble non-violence – they will be championed and remembered forever.

The path to peace in our hearts, the path to love and empathy, is one paved with good pride and  healthy humility.  Instead of being inwardly insecure but outwardly arrogant about our looks, intelligence, or things we do or do not have, let us instead be humbly proud – and at peace – with who we are – good people who are nevertheless no better and no worse than anyone else.  Let us be genuine, self-aware and “ego-less.”  Let us be proud in such a way that we want for others what we want for ourselves – to be loved, to enjoy equal justice, to have the essential needs of life met, and to live with peace and joy.  

I wish that kind of good pride for all of you, as I pray to learn it myself.