"Transcendent Mystery and Wonder"

In a conversation with a friend, I mentioned I would begin as your Weekend Sabbatical Minister on September 11. Her immediate response was, "That's not a very auspicious day to begin!" That was earlier in the summer, long before the horrors of Hurricane Katrina.

I invite you to think with me for a few moments about how we may respond to these and other tragedies. Seems to me there is a difference between affective thinking and reactionary thinking. Affective thinking calls for reflection which includes not only reason but mystery. Reactionary thinking usually is long on emotion and short on reason.
Not long after September 11, 2001, Bill Moyers interviewed James Forbes, Minister of Riverside Church in New York City. When Moyers asked Forbes what should be done, Forbes responded by saying that the first thing people should do is "center themselves in quite, reflective thinking."

In other words, that old American "can-do" spirit epitomized in the saying, "Don't just stand there, do something!" is not useful when we are confronting humanity's inhumanity in terrorism or natural disasters. Rather I suggest, "Don't just do something, stand there and think."

Reflective or affective thinking has to do with "centering," with finding our core, with what may be called spiritual thinking or theological thinking. However, theological thinking takes many forms. For example, in the current issue of "Time" magazine, columnist Joe Klein gives an example of what seems to me to be faulty religious thinking. A group of pro-life Christians suggested that the hurricane was evidence of God's purpose to destroy the five abortion clinics in New Orleans. [Joe Klein, "Listen to What Katrina is Saying," "Time," September 12, 2005, p.27]

My understanding of affective or theological thinking combines both reason and mystery. I am talking about thinking which is informed by religion. Paul Tillich talked about this kind of thought. He used the word, "Revelation," which I equate with theology. Tillich wrote:

"Revelation . . . points to the mystery of existence and to our ultimate concern.
. . . reason is not destroyed by revelation, just as revelation is not emptied
by reason." [Paul Tillich, "Systematic Theology," Vol. I, p.130]

Perhaps Tillich is a bit much. My friend, Tom Owen-Towle says it better when he related both reason and theology to Unitarian Universalism:

"Unitarian Univeralism is not a religion of reason, where reason is the
noun, the substance. Rather Unitarian Universalism is a reasonable
religion . . . . We use our reason to the fullest to explore but not capture
life's inescapable mysteries." [Tom Owen-Towle, "Freethinking Mystics with Hands," pp.2-3]

I am talking about the ability to reflect on life's horrors - well, and life's joys, also - with knowledge and wisdom which is informed by Mystery. When we lose either reason or religion we will, as one writer put it, ". . . drift like dust in the wind of advertisers, politicians and religious zealots." [Nathianel Tripp, "Confluence: A River, the Environment, Politics and the Fate of All Humanity," quoted by William H. McNeill in "Ah, Wilderness!" a review of Tripp's book in "The New York Review of Books," September 22, 2005, p.40]

In other words, when we fail to combine both reason with religion or religion with reason, our thinking - our affective thinking - will be faulty. I am well aware that for some people the words "religion" and "spiritual" much less Tillich's word, "revelation" are red flags. So I choose a good Unitarian Universalist word instead - namely "Mystery."

The two readings for today deal with Mystery. I read earlier a few sentences from the recent novel, "Gilead," by Marilynn Robinson. I noticed in the Church Newsletter that the "Books R Us" group will be reading and discussing this novel later this month. So I will not give away the plot. Simply note that the sentences I read come from an encounter with an elderly minister and a young man who is struggling to believe.

Both have read the theologian Karl Barth. However, finally, as the old minister says, "When this old sanctuary is full of silence and prayer, every book by Karl Barth . . . would not be a feather in the scales against (mystery) from the point of view of profundity. . . ." What we Unitarian Universalists call "Transcendent Mystery" is more than theological insights. To be sure theology may inform, but finally we are dealing with the Infinite which defies finite thought.

In his play, "The Potting Shed," Graham Green tells the story of a family which has gathered at the death of the patriarch who was an academician famous for his out-spoken denial of the existence of God or anything which might be called "Transcendent." However, there is a skeleton in the family closet. At some previous time a young boy who had hanged himself in the potting shed was resuscitated "miraculously." In a brief conversation Sara and James talk about belief.

James asks Sara: "Is everyone who believes in God mad?"

Sara responds: "Of course not. I suppose I believe in God . . . in a
Way - on Sundays if the music's good. But James, I'm in such
a fog. I don't know what I think.

James then says: "I don't understand either, But I couldn't believe in
a god so simple I could understand him." [Graham Green, "The Potting Shed,"
Act 3]

When we think about the horrors of September 11, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the continuing war in Iraq, or any of the crises of life's irrationalities which we all face, I suggest our thinking be informed by "Transcendent Mystery."

These words are from what we call the Sources of the "Living Tradition." We read those sources a few minutes ago in the Responsive Reading. We UUs challenge one another to a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning." Each one of us as individuals may do our own search for truth. However our search may be informed by or enriched by these "Sources."

What do we mean by "sources?" Think of how a river is formed - melt water from glaciers, springs bubbling out of hillsides, small streams which in their confluence become a river. So, we Unitarian Universalists claim six sources which become in their confluence the "river" of Unitarian Universalism. The first source is:

"Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder,
affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the
spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life."

I understand "direct experience" to mean personal experience, not what someone once called "second-hand religion." Our experience of Transcending Mystery is personal not what some authority - creed or individual - told us to believe.

I understand "transcending mystery and wonder" to be a way to talk about that which one experiences as Divine or as God or as Absolute or as Higher Power or Infinite Mystery. In other words, whatever each one of us finds to be Holy.

I understand "affirmed in all cultures" to acknowledge that throughout all human history what is called the "religious impulse" has oriented people to some "transcendent power." Mystery does not mean irrational; certainly not anti-reasonable. Rather Mystery is "The Reality beyond the real;" a transrational experience.

The words, "which moves us to renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life" mean that one's experience of Mystery will shape one's response. That's why James Forbes told Bill Moyers the first thing to do is center; to reflect.

The immediate danger is that we will reduce "Mystery" to something we can easily understand. That's why Madeleine L'Engle warns about trying to ". . . make God comprehensible to the naked intellect" to "domesticate" the Holy. There are many - too many - religious zealots just ready to claiming to know more about
God than can be known. I believe UUs chose the words "Transcendent Mystery" as a way to acknowledge that the Infinite cannot be reduced to finite language.

I do not believe Mystery can be described or defined or analyzed. However that does not preclude reflective thinking, walking around the subject, catching glimpses but all the while knowing that each glimpse is only partial. Perhaps a helpful analogy would be looking at the facets of a diamond, each of which is beautiful but none of which is the whole diamond.

When I was here in August I mentioned that I have found help in thinking about Mystery in the words of Alfred North Whitehead. Transcendent Mystery is not a static, unchanging "god" somewhere out "out there," but a dynamic force present in all "energy events;" present, but not controlling; a caring, loving presence. Whitehead, a physicist and mathematician wrote a summary statement:

". . . God (is fashioned sometimes) in the image of an imperial ruler. . . .There
is however in the "Galilean origin" of Christianity (and I would add Judaism
and other world religions) yet another suggestion. It does not emphasize the
ruling Caesar or the ruthless moralist, or the unmoved mover. It dwells upon
the tender elements of the world, which slowly and in quietness operate by
love." [Alfred North Whitehead, "Process and Reality'" pp. 520-521]

Process theologians refer to the Infinite as "The Cosmic Lover" who is in, but not controlling all that happens.
For me the first Source, "Transcendent Mystery" is the love which Whitehead identified. I have found little benefit in looking for "Transcending mystery somewhere "out there" in some far-away heavenly experience. I do not discount that type experience for those for whom that gives meaning. However for me, experience of Mystery is more internal or intimate - deeply personal.

I think this is what Jesus meant when he said, "The Kingdom of God is within you." I think this is close to the Buddhist counsel, "If you see the Buddha coming down the road, run!" Namely do not become so enamored with exterior signs and symbols that you miss the interior Mystery.

For me, "Transcending Mystery and Wonder" is love, available at all times, whether terrorist attacks or natural disaster; love which is available when we are personally uncertain or afraid.

When I was here in August I merely touched on some lines from the conclusion of Archibald MacLeish's contemporary setting of the story of Job. Job is in despair. His wife says the only light available is in the "coal" of the heart. (Think of coal as the smoldering coals in a fireplace." She says to Job:

"Blow on the coal of the heart.
The candles in the churches are out;
The lights have gone out in the sky.
Blow on the coal of the heart and we'll see by and by.
Blow on the coal of the heart and we'll know. We'll know."
[Archibald MacLeish, "J.B.," p.153]

When faced with humanity's inhumanity, or with the wrath of nature, I find some hope for quiet reflection in personal experience of Transcendent Mystery. We encourage one another to "build your own theology" not with the easy answers of orthodox or creedal religion. Rather we may accept the nutrients flowing through the "Sources of the Living Tradition."

The Sources of the Living Tradition can inform and enrich, but cannot take the place of a personal search for truth and meaning. The mythological "quest for the Holy Grail" is always personal and always internal. More about these enriching sources in coming weeks.

Readings for the Service, September 11, 2005
"When this old sanctuary is full of silence and prayer, every book Karl Barth ever will write would not be a feather in the scales against it (mystery) from the point of view of profundity, and I would not believe in Barth's own authenticity if I did not also believe he would know and recognize the truth of that, and honor it, too." (Marilynne Robinson, "Gilead" p.173)

"I sense a wish in some professional religion-mongers to make God possible, to make him comprehensible to the naked intellect, domesticate him so that he's easy to believe in, . . . a comprehensible God is no more than an idol. I don't want that kid of God." [Madeleine L'Engle, "The Irrational Season"]