Rev. Babcock's sermons in 1998

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12/13/98	The Ghosts of Christmas Past	Unitarian Universalists (along with a lot of Christians) have long denied the literal truth of the stories of Jesus' birth. We prefer to read the birth narratives as fictional, or as myth. Does this mean that there is no "truth" to the Christmas story? Or is myth itself a way of getting at the truth? Is myth a different kind of truth? The sermon will investigate.
12/6/98	The Most Important Gift	My message this morning is about gifts,--more specifically, it is about the most important gift: not your presents, but your presence. In this pre-holiday season, caught in the frenzy of gift-giving, it is good to remember that people are the greatest gifts.
11/22/98	Perpetual Thanksgiving	My sermon title is taken from words of Henry David Thoreau: "My Thanksgiving is perpetual."
11/15/98	Reconsidering the American Dream	Ever elusive, the old idea of "the American Dream" still has a strong hold on the American imagination. What is the content of that dream? Is it still realistic? Or is it already behind us, lost somewhere in an irrevocable past? The sermon will investigate the old American Dream and point toward a possible new one.
11/8/98	God and Country	Eighty years ago this coming Wednesday on Nov. 11, 1918, the Armistice concluding "the war to end all wars" was signed in a railway car in France. The sermon will explore the nature of another of those sacred cows, "God and Country." Can one legitimately be for both? What is the nature of true patriotism? Is there any substance to this old slogan?
10/25/98	Make a Joyful Noise	If any be afflicted, let him pray, and if any be merry, let him sing psalms, wrote the author of the biblical epistle of James. Many of us practice our spirituality through music. Unitarian Universalist theologian and ethicist James Luther Adams called music "a means of Grace." And cellist Pablo Casals claimed to "find God" in music. The sermon will investigate the place of music in the church.
10/18/98	Sheer Mortality	The meaning of life, wrote Franz Kafka, "is that it ends." And religion, my colleague Forrester Church has written, is "our human response to the dual reality of being alive and having to die." Still, many people refuse to acknowledge the reality of their own ends. The sermon will investigate our "sheer mortality."
10/11/98	Hope and Courage Along the Way	My sermon this morning will look at the life of John Murray, founder of American Universalism, who once told his followers, "Give the people something of your new vision. You may possess only a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. Give them, not Hell, but hope and courage."
9/27/98	Votary of Truth: Mohandas K. Gandhi	Oct. 2nd will mark the 129th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi. The sermon will focus on what seems to me to be some of the major and lasting contributions of Gandhi to 20th century thought. Unique among the political leaders of our century, Gandhi's accomplishments and influence have had far-reaching ramifications. His religious views were refreshingly open and tolerant. This simple and yet complex man deserves to be remembered.
9/20/98	The Precious, Incommunicable Past	Whatever we had missed, wrote Willer Cather at the end of her great novel, My Antonia, "we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past." The sermon will reflect upon the importance of memory, in recognition of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Ha-Shanah, and yet another impending birthday.
9/13/98	FIRST PRINCIPLES	Whenever I find myself struggling with moral issues, issues of right and wrong--which I do most every day, both in my personal and my professional life--I find it helpful to return to some of what I call my "first principles."
7/12/98	SYMPTOMS OF INNER PEACE	Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could be a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.
6/21/98	MESSENGERS OF FELLOWSHIP	As we close our regular church year, we will celebrate the Flower Communion, a ritual created in 1923 by the Rev. Norbert Capek, founder of the Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia. It is a way to celebrate the diversity of our gifts and knowledge. As each flower is different, so we are different from each other, yet we become a community of caring. I will reflect upon the life of Norbert Capek and upon the ending of another successful church year.
6/7/98	THE DISCOVERY OF IGNORANCE	Lewis Thomas once wrote, "The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th-century science has been the discovery of human ignorance." It seems to me that the discovery of ignorance might be extended into the religious realm as well. As Boston Globe science writer Chet Rogers muses in a recent column, "The discovery of our ignorance should not be conceived as a negative thing. Ignorance is a vessel waiting to be filled, permission for growth, a foundation for the electrifying encounter with mystery." The sermon will investigate his claim from a religious perspective.
5/31/98	STEALING CHICKENS	My sermon will investigate the relationship between prophecy and social action, religion and "good works."
5/24/98	MEMORY AND HOPE	We live between the poles of the remembrance of things past and the hope for things to come. It is important, indeed necessary, to remember, but it is also important to have hope for the future. In between, there is the present moment, the "here and now." The past, history, can be a way of giving perspective to the present. Having perspective in the present can help us to overcome despair. Overcoming despair can free us to hope for the future. The sermon will look at the importance of memory to a healthy hopefulness.
5/10/98	HOLDING BACK AND GIVING FORTH	Are you holding back or giving forth? asks my colleague, Roy D. Phillips. "Are you holding back? Are you saving it up, waiting to see how it all turns out before you make your move, before you open yourself, before you give forth what is in you-what is yours-to give?" My Mother's Day sermon will investigate Roy's question.
5/3/98	A CITY UPON A HILL	My sermon topic this morning is taken from John Winthrop's sermon " A Modell of Christian Charity," preached in 1630 aboard the ship Arabella during passage to New England. Winthrop's sermon is a reminder that for the early Puritans, behavior was as important as theology. Over 350 years later, the image of "a city upon a hill" continues to challenge us, particularly those of us in the church.
4/26/98	MOVING DAY	As many of you know, my family and I will be moving to a new home in Newburyport this week. After a brief stint with the Madden family, we have been living in a rented home in Newbury since our arrival here in the fall of 1995. Needless to say, we are ready for this move and excited by it. But like all moves, this one brings its share of mixed emotions. Moving is an opportunity both to look forward and to look backward; it gathers both the new and the nostalgic.
4/12/98	ROLL AWAY THE STONE	My colleague, Sara Moores Campbell, writes that "whether it is escape or comfort, the time comes for us to roll away the stone and come out." Easter, signaling as does the end of winter and the beginning of spring, can also be a time for considering the "deadness" that afflicts us, and the "rebirth" and renewal that we so desperately desire. Let us roll away the stone!
4/5/98	MUST WE CRUCIFY HIM?	The Christian holiday of Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week and recounts Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, his public teaching there, and his eventual arrest and brutal execution (remembered on "Good Friday") by the Roman authorities. The death penalty has been much in the news of late. Perhaps, as I have, you have struggled over this controversial issue. Unitarian Universalism has a long history of opposition to capital punishment. Palm Sunday seems as good a time as any to ask the question, "must we crucify him?"
3/29/98	AS BEAUTIFUL AS ROSES	This morning we kick-off our annual pledge canvass, our major fundraising effort of the church year. This event provides an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of "church" and to suggest some of the reasons we might want to support it. Emerson once wrote, "Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses."
3/15/98	PETS AND LOSS	As some of you know, my family's pet dog was hit by a car and killed on March 1. "Clover" was a five-year-old golden retriever with a sweet and loving temperament who brightened our lives and filled our home with her gentle presence. Many of you have had similar experiences of losing a beloved animal. The sermon will investigate pets and loss.
3/9/98	LAKE WOEBEGONE REVISITED	For over 20 years, Garrison Keillor's "Lake Woebegone" has attracted an avid following of (especially urban) listeners and readers. Keillor captivates with a combination of whim, nostalgia, humor, and (surprise!) religion. Indeed, Keillor is one of the few contemporary writers and humorists actually to take religion seriously. The sermon will revisit "the town that time forgot" and consider Keillor as a type of "folk theologian."
3/1/98	FLIGHT FROM THE SHADOW	My sermon title this morning is taken from a Taoist passage about a man who tries to escape from his shadow. This little story speaks to our late 20th century tendency toward busy-ness and our seeming inability to relax and be quiet. We have even coined a term for this ailment: "workaholism." A thriving industry, "time management," has grown up to help us cope with it. The sermon will investigate our occasional need to do nothing at all.
2/8/98	THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS	My sermon title this morning is taken from Parker Palmer's 1981 book of the same title. In his book, Palmer writes, "Through the stranger our view of self, of world, of God is deepened and expanded. Through the stranger we are given a chance to find ourselves." The sermon will reflect on "the company of strangers."
2/1/98	COMPUNCTION	In the language of medieval asceticism, the clear-sighted recognition and mature acceptance of our limitations is called `compunction,' writes Thomas Merton. Compunction has to do with the "pricking or stinging of the conscience or heart." Against the backdrop of allegations and rumors surrounding our nation's President, the sermon will investigate our individual and corporate need for "compunction."
1/25/98	COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS: A UU'S MEZZUZA	This is it! At the November Service Auction one of the items I offered for sale was a sermon on a "topic of your choice." Jim Dyer, the eventual high bidder, provides the following excellent suggestion: "I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and voice on the idea of a daily reminder of one's higher ideals. My life is so full of interesting, challenging and/or important diversions that Sunday's sensible, worthy realizations are regularly trampled. It's hard not to feel like a rolling stone. And a `foolish consistency' would, at times, be of relief.... If you could summon just a little something about a visible sign to remind us to dedicate ourselves to our highest ideals again today, I'd appreciate it." I will certainly give it my best shot!
1/11/98	TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE	One of Unitarian Universalism's foremost tenets is freedom of belief and freedom from coercion. Freedom, however, has its costs, particularly in regard to decision-making. Being free to choose can sometimes seem more of a curse than a blessing. How difficult it can be to obey "the counsel of thine own heart." A sermon about making decisions.
1/4/98	NO REGRETS?	Is it really possible to live our lives "with no regrets"? How often have you heard someone say, "If only I'd known then what I know now?" The sermon will focus on some of the negative and positive aspects of having or not having regrets. A topic worthy, I trust, of the New Year.