“Widening the Circle”

For some reason my mind is still reflecting on some of the great losses of the past two months: bell hooks, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joan Didion, to name a few. These people have made incalculable positive contributions to our culture, and I find myself wondering how I and we may continue their legacies. As I write this, freezing rain is hitting the roof of our house, and the roads are slick with slippery ice. Libraries and universities are closed, and I hope that people are warm and happy, safe at home. Joan Didion, bell hooks, and Thich Nhat Hanh shared a precise presence of their surrounding environment. They took in all they could: their breath, their grief, the contents of their mind, and the ways the environment both complicated and added to their sense of what the world is. All of these three were willing to be surprised and changed by their environment, but were wary of changes that would cause them to become bitter or despairing. Again and again, they explored the question of what it meant to be alive, to be open to life without being defeated by it.

As we approach the theme of “Widening the Circle” at UUYO, I think it is less about widening, as it is realizing the ways we constrict ourselves, the ways we seek to make our worlds manageable. Too often in communities, we only know who we are, in opposition to what or who we are not. This is a good starting point, but I think widening the circle requires another level of maturity. It demands to reckon with the experience that if we are honest with ourselves, the world does not align with our understanding. Depending on our personality, we may be cynical and be surprised by acts of kindness and selflessness. Or if we expect kindness and selfless action at all times, we may be disturbed that there are also acts of inattention and greed that surround us. Allowing ourselves to be present to both our highest ideals and our current realities is the main purpose of a church community like ours.

it may seem insignificant on the surface to merely be present or pay attention to what surrounds us, but it is the key to widening the circle. Attention shows us that our world is as big or small as we dare to notice. It’s really that simple. If we only pay attention to a small sphere of reality, we are in fact paying attention to the whole of reality, because everything depends on everything else. When we notice this, every small moment we notice contains the whole universe. A dog playing in the snow is the whole universe. Tying our shoes and putting on our jackets is the whole universe.

We really are powerful – you and I. When we can take the time to notice and appreciate how our world is connected to a much larger world, a world that can only grow wider, freedom is the result.

I look forward to engaging in worship and in our daily lives, through all the wonderful ministries we are doing together this month: how our life is also the life of our neighbor, the life of our grandparents, and the life of the next generation. In this Winter month, I’m looking forward to settling into a freedom found in realizing that our world and the world are not two, but one.