On our worst days, it is important to remind ourselves of what endures, what brings us hope.  On those days it can feel like we are the only ones who are suffering, and it can feel like our suffering will last forever.  At such times it is really hard to remember that everyone goes through hard times, and that they pass.

Hard times pass, and so do the good times.  In 1841, Unitarian minister Theodore Parker gave a sermon on what stays the same and what changes in liberal religion.  He says what stays the same, and can give us hope even on the worst of days, is love. He says love is the bedrock, the heart of all religion – loving one another, all human beings, and also loving something bigger than ourselves.

Theodore Parker called that something bigger, “God” but if that word doesn’t work for you, it could be life, truth, beauty, family, friendship, kindness – whatever you consider most important.  Those things last, even through hard times.  They are what endures, that upon which we can build our lives.

Here’s a little bit of what Theodore Parker write, over 170 years ago.  Like most people back then, he wrote as if all God and all people are men.  I hate changing other people’s words so let’s try to let it bother us…
“He that loves God and man, and lives in accordance with that love, needs not fear what man can do to him.  His Religion comes to him in his hour of sadness, it lays its hand on him when he has fallen among thieves, and raises him up, heals, and comforts him.”

Theodore Parker says that in addition to love, what matters is doing the best we can, in the best way we can, and with the best reasons for doing it.  Now matter how hard a day we have, we can love.  No matter how hard a day we’re having we can be kind. Later, looking back, if we see that even on terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, we have done our best to act in kind, loving, hopeful ways, that can bring us peace.  After all, that is all we can control – our own actions, our own thoughts and deeds.

There’s a prayer, adapted from the Blue Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, that I find helpful to say every day.

“For the next 24 hours I pray for knowledge of your will for me only, and the power to carry that through. Please free my thinking of self-will, self-seeking, dishonesty, and wrong motives. Send me the right thought, word, or action.  Show me what my next step should be.  In times of doubt and indecision, please send your inspiration and guidance.  I pray that you help me work through all my problems to your glory and honor.”

What I like that this prayer is that does not ask that my will be done.  I recognize that my will is not always the best thing for the world around me.  However, I am not sure that my higher power has a will for me.  So I am working on a version that holds to the simplicity and intention of the prayer without watering it down.  To do that, I borrow a phrase from Howard Thurman, one of my favorite theologians.  He wrote, “keep fresh before the moments of my high resolve.”

Here’s my adaptation of the original prayer, using Howard Thurman's phrase.

Spirit of Life, for the next 24 hours, keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve.  May I find the power to carry that resolve through.  May my thinking be clear of self-will, self-seeking, dishonesty, and wrong motives. May I find the right thought, word, or action.  May I see what my next step should be.  In times of doubt and indecision, may I find sources of inspiration and guidance. Spirit of love and wisdom, help me work through all my problems for the best unfolding of my life, and for the interdependent web connecting all creation.

Another historic Unitarian, Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen.” In times of trouble, if we can hold onto the best that is within us, to our moments of high resolve, to the love that overcomes all obstacles, then like a tree with roots strong around the bedrock of love, we can let stormy times pass.  We can enjoy the serene beauty of peace, returning.

Recently we have heard stories of people standing up to institutions that misuse and abuse power.  We have seen those institutions put down such protests.  The news is both heartening and disheartening. We wonder how it will all turn out. Nearly two thousand years ago, Paul wrote to assure church leaders that the sufferings of their time were labor pains of something coming to birth.  This may be true in our day, as well.

Like many religious liberals, I tend to distrust institutions, partly because of the power they hold.  My uneasy relationship with power is rooted in childhood experiences of authority figures who misused and abused it.  As an adult, at times my conflicted feelings about power manifest as trying to control others, and at others as giving power over my life to someone else.  At times my unease with power leads me not to speak up when I should, and at others it leads me to push my agenda when I shouldn’t.  Finding the right balance between those extremes has been a difficult and often painful process of making mistakes, making amends, and trying again.

Mae West once said, “Marriage is a fine institution, but I’m not ready for an institution yet!”  Many of us may feel the same way about the institutions of organized religion.  There’s good reason for that.  Institutions are made of human beings and subject to the weaknesses of the human character. Deep down I don’t think religion per se is to blame for this. I think the core problem is a human tendency to “draw power to ourselves in the name of things that cannot be questioned,” as children’s author Phillip Pullman puts it.  Humans have used different excuses to misuse power, including nationalism, racial pride, and religion.

The best human institutions, and I rank the Unitarian Universalist Association among them, build in ways to point out, correct and balance power.  This is exactly what is happening in demonstrations around the world.  Protesters are speaking the truth that some of the world’s leaders are abusing power. Protesters are demanding institutions that are humble and responsive, that serve rather than rule, that exercise power with others rather than power over others.

Every Unitarian Universalist shares power with others.  We each have the power to rectify our religious institutions, from our congregations to our national organization.  As religious liberals with issues about power, we must be careful not to distrust institutions and authority figures simply because they are institutions and authority figures, without reference to their actions or intentions. We need to balance individuality with community, and trust with skepticism, in order not to become mired into cynical isolation. We are not and should not each be in this for ourselves.  We are deeply connected to one another in power-full ways.

A few years ago my son did a report on String Theory.  This theory holds that everything in the universe, including solid objects, is made up of tiny strands of energy.  It’s all energy, all around.  Everything is energy, and another word for energy is power.  So perhaps everything in the universe is power - us, our institutions, the way we interact.  It’s all power, all connected, woven into the fabric of our existence.

If in fact we channel and express power in everything we do, it is really important to make our hearts, spirits, and institutions as free as possible of internal obstacles that misdirect and distort power.  That way, when power flows through us and through our institutions, it can move in positive ways.  One way we unite spirituality to ethics (an important function of religious institutions) is to strive to become better channels of power in a deeply interconnected global community.

There is so much amiss in our world.  It can feel overwhelming.  We gather in faithful institutions to watch the events of our day unfold and to seek ways to respond. When we come together, knowing we are deeply connected, and strive together to become better, clearer channels of power, we give birth to something new.  We give birth to faithful institutions through which power moves in ways that affirm, include, heal, and create justice.  May it be that the struggles of our times are the labor pains of the births of institutions of justice, the serve the common good.