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June 2008

FROM YOUR MINISTER

BY  JANE RZEPKA, SENIOR MINISTER, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP

On the phone the other day, talking with a colleague about some small denominational matter, I could hear her toddler in the background, and her newborn baby. And the doorbell and the dog barking at the doorbell and her dryer signaling that if she wanted to avoid wrinkles, she’d best get her clothes out immediately and fold them. When I asked my friend how things were going, she said, “Actually, they’re a little hectic—I’m going to New York tomorrow to lead a four-day retreat.” “Oh—on what?” I asked. “On ‘Living the Balanced Spiritual Life,’” she said, and then she added, “Isn’t that the joke of the century?”

The pressure is on. The pressure is on to take the pressure off. Racing around, feeling overwhelmed and stretched, the plate too full, the day too short—all of that has gone completely out of style. Those inclined to brag talk of calm hours of meditation and massage; the folks who work overtime feel a little sheepish.

Times change. Horatio Alger, my father’s hero (whom he knew only as the “rags to riches” dime novelist), would be laughed out of the spirituality group today—so would my dad, for that matter. The point at that time was hard work, courage, and determination. Dad wouldn’t have related to people striking an early morning Yoga pose, where a balanced life is the order of the day.

Maybe you fall somewhere in the middle in your search for balance. You’ll be happy if you can eat a little healthier and listen to more of the music that you love. Get the birdhouse up and see who appears. Make it over to the lake before the bugs set in at dusk. Write letters, climb the mountain in record time, repair the cuckoo clock—concentrating with all intensity on the tiny mechanical parts. Not all of us need to slow down; some of us need to move faster and get a few things done. And others of us do need the discipline of a daily practice to keep us grounded and breathing easy. Some of us want to call this kind of focus “spirituality;” some of us don’t.

However, it seems to me that each one of us understands the lines by the nineteenth century writer George Croly, who said,

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.

Croly is willing to settle. Sure, wouldn’t it be grand to know a perfect peace, to embrace a life of balance that never gets out of hand, to check in on a regular basis with, as Croly puts it, the angels? In this instance, I vote with Croly for the smaller scale. Wouldn’t simple zest for life, its loves and loveliness, unfettered by dull fatigue or inattention, be a great gift indeed? As Garrison Keillor describes it, “Left to our own devices, we Woebegonians go straight for the small potatoes. Majestic doesn’t appeal to us; we like the Grand Canyon better with Clarence and Arlene parked in front of it, smiling.” For many of us, it doesn’t get better than that, and we don’t really need it to.

So for me the topic becomes, “The Dim Soul and What to Do About It.” How is it that on a particular day during an average hour you are struck dumb by one of life’s wonders? What is that? Surely there’s a recipe, a series of steps, a chant or something! And actually, there may be. Popular books, magazines, Web sites, religious publications—suggestions are available for the asking—and every one of them works for somebody. Gratitude returns, and perspective, and we are lighter on our feet.

The Universalist minister Max Kapp, wrote,

Often I have felt that I must praise my world
For what my eyes have seen these many years,
And what my heart has loved.
And often I have tried to start my lines:
"Dear Earth," I say,
And then I pause
To look once more.
Soon I am bemused
And far away in wonder.
So I never get beyond "Dear Earth."

Unitarian Universalists run the gamut. From Clarence and Arlene in front of the Grand Canyon to “Dear Earth”...and the subsequent spiritual drift. Our souls brighten in so many contexts and in so many manifestations that it’s a minister’s folly to drill down very deep into strategic detail. Heaven knows that lots of folks are more or less content with the equilibrium they’ve found in life. But still.

If you are casting about for the balance we hear so much about, the spiffing up of a dim soul, try focusing on some of the time-tested classics: Gratitude. Love. Perspective. Attention. Meditate on them, pray, or think them over. Put them into play; embody them, dance them. Google for them and see if you find anything you like. Make yourself some promises or add reflections to your blog. Breathe them in and out. Brighten up your soul.

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Last updated November 4, 2008