HOMILY

Live Like It's Heaven On Earth

delivered May 20, 2007

Flynn's image of searching, under a night sky,for a God counting, next to Orion, reminded me of my freshman college advisor. HE was an astronomy professor. He tried, as hard as he could, to get me to enroll in just one astronomy class.

I think I smiled, politely. But what I felt, inside, was frustration and disappointment, remembering low numbers and grades on tests in high school math and science classes. Been there, done that. I decided then and there what I needed was a new advisor---ASAP.

Looking back, it would've helped to have been told to take an astronomy class and risk a marginal grade---to study the stars like they were the origin and destination of human beings---because they are.

Instead, one risk I took in college was to explore a familiar interest from high school: theater. While I was never comfortable, like Angela, dancing like no one was watching--

I did enjoy acting.

Another risk I took was to pursue a familiar subject, French, through a junior year abroad in France. Like Melanie, I knew that Unitarian Universalism was very important to me and that I might want to pursue ministry. So during my junior year abroad, I enrolled in a course in a local seminary on the 12 enigmas of the Hebrew Bible. To this day, they remain an enigma.

But, like Scott, I did not lose my cosmic vision of wanting to help others, and, like Anne, I still value the power of a religious community to transform lives.

I was reminded of this at 3:15 on Friday. The phone rang and caller ID said "unknown caller." I braced myself for a request for money or sales pitch. When the voice asked, with a foreign accent, if he could speak with me, I became even more curt. Then he identified himself.

Mark had been a fellow student in the 12 enigmas of the Hebrew Bible class 26 years ago. We had not been in touch for 24 years. He had seen my name on an old calendar, googled me, found this congregation's website,

and picked up the phone. When I knew Mark 26 years ago,

he, too, was spending a year abroad--- from Germany---where he was studying to be a Lutheran pastor.

He related that as a result of meeting someone at the French seminary from Africa, he'd gone on to spend seven years in sub-Saharan Africa serving as a missionary. During that time, the Berlin wall fell. He was amazed to return to a united Germany. He pursued a PhD in the science of religion before serving as an educator of foreign ministerial students. For the past seven years, he's been the pastor of a 2000 member Lutheran congregation in East Germany. The town in which he serves once had 15,000 residents.

Since the fall of the Berlin wall, half the population has left for the West. He reported, with a sigh, that he does lots of funerals. He and his wife are hoping to move, soon, with their three children under the age of seven, back to their families of origin in what was once West Germany.

As he had done as a student in the 12 enigmas course,

Mark wanted to talk about issues. Like Brandon, the first issue on his mind was war, specifically the war in Iraq; then he discussed conflicts in Africa. He also raised the problems of poverty, and the environment and global climate change.

He asked if I had done any traveling recently. I said I'd been to Seville. He reported that he was planning a trip for a religious conference to Taipei and that he was eager to see more of the world. I asked if I would need to change denominational affiliation to join the conference.

My conversation with Mark reminded me of Soren Kierkegaard's observation that "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." For our graduating seniors, their yearbooks will provide plenty of opportunities to look back at what has been. My hope as they live forwards is that they will take appropriate risks to fulfill THEIR cosmic vision: be it a class they hadn't considered; an extracurricular activity they've always wanted to try; an opportunity to live in a different part of the world;

or a job that not only gives them money but also meaning. Oh, and I hope they will come back to visit us at the holidays

or whenever they are home.

And for all of us, senior recognition affords us the opportunity to look back with gratitude on our own lives and consider what new risk WE might want to take to fulfill our OWN cosmic vision, be it taking a class or volunteering to teach Sunday school, be it working on the environmentally friendly Habitat home or setting up a soup kitchen.

In so doing, may we dance as though no one is watching us, love as though we've never been hurt before, sing as though no one can hear us, and live as though heaven is on earth. For it is.