Minister’s Reflections Rev. Rod Debs, pastor
June, 2009
Our home is blessed with a puppy, fortunately now, almost grown. What I am learning is that training a puppy is really about the whole family learning. Seuss has us trained to walk every evening. He has trained us not to leave flower pots or lawn furniture with straps or garden hoses or kayak handles within chewing range. I am learning that losing my temper does absolutely no good. We’ve learned that Seuss needs to be with us in the house (with “the pack”) when we’re home.
Dog-training is not really about the pup’s education alone. It’s about all our growth in caring and wisdom and responsivity—including our neighbors who deserve a bark-free community.
Spiritual growth is not just a private affair. Raising children we learn that in order to be effective, we parents must learn what works and what doesn’t. We learn gentle restraint of our children and of ourselves when we’re angry. We learn to listen to children’s needs and their “acting-out” without judging and punishment: No child is “bad” for being hungry or having a dirty diaper. No teen is bad for wanting to be with friends or for being bored or intimidated by school-work. We ourselves must learn not to “act out” with verbal or physical violence, nor to judge ourselves for being exasperated! Spiritual growth is something we all do together.
Congregations mature as well. When fellowships are small, volunteers are appreciated for taking initiative and doing what needs to be done. Then we start to butt heads. Those who “take the bull by the horns” are greatly appreciated, while at the same time we learn to respect others’ creative input in getting things done. We’re better together than we are alone. As a community, we learn to bring our individual genius and passion to those authorized by the Board to focus on various aspects of our ministry with one another: committees for Children’s Religious Exploration, Religious Services, Membership, Facilities, Finance. The congregation as a whole grows to affirm the democratic Principle (#5 in our covenant) as we learn to trust and participate in collaborative processes.
National politics involves the same collective spiritual growth. Government officials are elected, but not to be independent operators, elected dictators. They and we must obey the laws and support the Constitution—which, by the way, does not enshrine capitalist accumulation of wealth, but is instituted to serve the common good, “the general welfare.” Let me be so bold as to say that private accumulation of wealth at the expense of the common good is unpatriotic and un-American!
When politicians serve private gain or private ideological purposes, it is not simply for us to blame them for their undemocratic “acting-out.” All of us, the whole nation needs to grow into caring and wisdom and responsivity for “the general welfare,” the common good. Spiritual growth is not private.
Finally, religion is not a private matter. Private spirituality, private salvation and private wealth lead to self-righteous judgment and brokenness (as opposed to wholeness). The “umma” (community) in Islam, the Buddhist “sangha,” the Christian “kingdom of God” and the “beloved community” of Unitarian Universalists, all involve collective spiritual growth, collaborative caring and wisdom and responsivity. May we engage in “service, spiritual growth and caring fellowship” together.
“Let us be united,
let us be filled with hope,
let us be those who respect one another.
Liberation is costly.
We must hold hands and refuse to be divided.”
–Desmond Tutu
Blessings! Rev. Rod Debs, pastor