Rev. Babcock's sermons in 2003

Synopses for 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007

DATE	SERMON TITLE	Notes
12/14/2003	Getting What We Wanted, Wanting What We've Got	It's nice to get what we want, at Christmas or at any other time of year. But common sense and experience tell us that we won't always. The real trick in life, it seems to me, is wanting what we actually have, whether we have gotten what we want or not. For as Garrison Keillor once put it with truthful convolution, "Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted, but in getting what you have, which once you have it you may be smart enough to see is what you have wanted had you known." The sermon will investigate.
11/30/2003	The Commonplace Miracle	We are now entering upon Advent, Solstice, Hanukkah, and Christmas, a season commemorating miracles and the miraculous; yet, in poet Wislawa Szymborska's words, the greatest miracle is probably "the commonplace miracle:/ that so many common miracles take place." Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose work we have been studying in our adult education groups, also believed in the commonplace miracle. He said, in a sentiment I well understand, "You name the good Jesus until I hate the sound of him." He said, "[Jesus] spoke of miracles; for he felt that man's life was a miracle, and all that man doth, and he knew that this daily miracle shines, as the character ascends. But the word Miracle, as pronounced by Christian churches, gives a false impression; it is Monster. It is not one with the blowing clover and the falling rain." The sermon will investigate "the commonplace miracle."
11/23/2003	The Five Grains of Corn	It used to be customary among some old New England families at Thanksgiving to place five grains of corn at each plate. According to one tradition this practice was started " . . . as a reminder of those stern days (during one of the early winters) when the corn supply of the Pilgrims was so depleted that only five grains . . . were rationed to each individual at a time. The Pilgrims wanted their children to remember the sacrifices, the sufferings, the hardships, which made possible the settlement . . . They did not want their descendents to forget. . . . The use of five grains of corn placed by each plate was a fitting reminder of a heroic past." What things do we need to remember and be grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day, which might be symbolized by such a ritual? The sermon will investigate.
11/9/2003	Community and Conflict	This morning we will once again welcome new members-those who have decided to become legal voting members of the congregation and who have submitted an Application for Membership-into the fellowship of the First Religious Society in a Ceremony of New Member Recognition. Jean Vanier has written that "In community we discover the conflicts that exist within each one of us." The sermon will investigate "community and conflict."
11/2/2003	A Place of Meeting	This Sunday we shall dedicate the newly renovated space below our historic meeting house. Following the service, you will have an opportunity to see the fruits of our labors over the last ten months. Participating in the service along with me will be members of our Renovation Steering Committee and our Minister Emeritus, Bert Steeves. We will recognize those who have been involved in the renovation process. In the afternoon there will be an open house to welcome members of the community to see what we have accomplished.
10/19/2003	Autumnal Longing	In a recent column in the Boston Globe, author James Carroll writes that "Human life is a snap of the fingers, a flash of green-into-gold, a handful of rotations of the earth, even fewer rotations around the sun. And that's it. But human life is equally the refusal to be reduced to a mere cycle of nature. As the leaves turn to humus, human beings insist on something more. The ancient intuition is that autumnal longing does not go unrequited." The sermon will investigate this idea.
10/12/2003	How to be a Good Person	Consider this sermon as an updated, liberal religious version of the old Puritan question, "What shall I do to be saved?" I am thinking especially of the young people who will be present this morning. Some of the characteristics we will consider are empathy ("feeling with others"), generosity, tolerance, courage, justice, confidence, and religiosity. There will be no Young Church classes this morning, but there will be childcare.
10/5/2003	Confession and Forgiveness	October 6 marks the beginning of the High Holy Days of Judaism, the so-called "Days of Awe" or Yom Kippur. Central to the observation of Yorn Kippur are rituals of confession and forgiveness. I believe confession to be useful but easily trivialized. Forgiveness, however, is a necessity for living. The sermon will investigate confession and forgiveness within a liberal religious context.
9/21/2003	Living for Others	"It is of supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others," wrote Thomas Merton. "When we do this we will be able first of all to face and accept our own limitations." Autumn reminds us of our mortality. As I turn another year older, I am more convinced than ever that we need to make good use of our "brief and shining moment" here on earth, and of the truth of Merton's words. The sermon will investigate "living for others."
9/14/2003	Travel as Pilgimage	This summer, eight members of the First Religious Society and I traveled to Transylvania to visit our Partner Church. Travel needn't have a purpose, but it is more meaningful when it does. Pilgrimage is a ritual found in every religious tradition. It is, by definition, "purposeful" travel, though pilgrims are often mystified about why they do it. In my sermon I want to explore the idea of travel as pilgrimage. I will reflect on our trip to Transylvania and other journeys.
9/7/2003	Bird by Bird	In her book Bird by Bird, writer Anne Lamott has written, "Thirty years ago, my older brother who was ten years old at the time was trying to get a report on birds done that he'd had three months to write. [It] was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and unopened books on birds. Immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird." This is good advice for all of us, particularly at the beginning of a new church year. This Sunday we will re-gather our worshipping community from the summer hiatus with an intergenerational family service.
8/24/2003	Still Waters	Hampton Falls, NH
7/27/2003	The Three Minute Sermon and Other Summer Reflections	Yankee Homecoming service
6/15/2003	And Now We Go Out . . .	In my final sermon of the year, I will reflect on the year just passed and the year to come, on the spiritual uses of summer, and on some goals for the future.
5/25/2003	The Future of Nostalgia	My sermon title is taken from Svetlana Boym's book of the same, which I read during my sabbatical visit to Eastern Europe. In her study, Boym gives a brief history of nostalgia, starting with its origins as a "disease" among Swiss soldiers stationed far from home, down to its manifestations in the present day, particularly in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Boym makes a distinction between what she calls "restorative" and "reflective" nostalgia. Restorative nostalgia attempts a re-creation of an (usually) idealized past. As we have seen in the case of the former Yugoslavia, restorative nostalgia can have extremely destructive consequences. Reflective nostalgia, on the other hand -- the kind that most of us experience -- has the potential to be more creative. Most of us suffer from nostalgia from time to time: so what are we going to do about it? The sermon will investigate "the future of nostalgia."
5/11/2003	The Strength of Mothers	As part of a community-wide celebration of women’s strength, sponsored by the YWCA of Greater Newburyport, this morning’s worship service will focus on the theme of "mothers’ strength." I will try not to embarrass mine too much! I would like to invite you to share the name of your mother or of a woman in your life who epitomizes strength, and any particular definitions or brief experiences of mothers’ strength. (You can mail these to me or send them via e-mail to hebabcock@yahoo.com no later than May 7 for inclusion in the service) I will incorporate as many of these into the worship service and my sermon as I can.
5/4/2003	Religion and Superstition	Today’s sermon topic was requested by Pat Skibbee and Michael Fosburg, who successfully bid for the privilege to request a sermon of me at the church auction. The sermon will take a look at the differences and/or similarities between superstition and religion. Of course, it makes a big difference what definition of religion you choose!
4/27/2003	Money and Meaning	Today is the first of two major fundraising events (the second will take place on May 3) and the beginning of our annual pledge canvass to support the work of the First Religious Society This year we are trying something different: instead of our usual "every member" canvass with home visits, we have two community-wide events where you will be invited to make a pledge to next year's operating budget. The first is this Sunday immediately after church. The idea is not only to rest our canvassers and make their job easier but also to make it more convenient for you to make a pledge. Of course, the new approach will be successful only if you make the effort to attend one of these events and commit to making the most generous pledge of which you are capable.
4/20/2003	Deliverance	It is no accident that both the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Christian holiday of Easter fall at the vernal equinox, the beginning of spring. Both holidays are about deliverance: Passover about the deliverance of the Israelite people from bondage in Egypt, and Easter about the deliverance from bondage to death. After the winter we have just experienced (and continue, at this writing, to experience!), we are all in need of deliverance. The sermon will investigate this great theme. This morning's Easter Intergenerational Service will include special music and singing by the Teen Choir. There will be a special moment for the children. This service is an opportunity for adults and children to worship together as one church family.
4/13/2003	Virtue by Association	The late Unitarian Universalist minister Donald Lothrop once wrote, "I have given aid and comfort to all kinds of people, Black and white, Jew and gentile, Catholic and Protestant, Mohammedan and Buddhist, rich and poor, capitalist and Communist, democrat and anarchist. My exemplar is one Jesus of Nazereth, who feared not to associate with and minister to prostitutes, thieves and tax gatherers. He believed in virtue by association, not guilt by association." The sermon will investigate "virtue by association." The Young Church Choir will sing. I look forward to seeing you in church!
3/30/2003	Living with Imperfection	Emerson once said, "There is a crack in everything that God hath made." It is a truth that often evades us in our quest for perfection. We continually "miss the mark": literally, the definition of sin. Unitarian Universalists don't dwell a lot on sin, but perhaps we should reconsider our perfectionism. The sermon will investigate.
3/23/2003	Strength to Love	My sermon title is taken from a sermon collection by Martin Luther King, Jr., and speaks to the uncertain times in which we find ourselves. By the time you read this, the United States may already have gone to war in Iraq. I continue to hope that war can be avoided, but if it cannot, I pray that we can still find the strength to love each other whatever our views on such a war may be. Perhaps most important, I hope that we can find the strength to love even those who are strangers to us and who may be perceived to be our enemies. The biblical witness of our religious heritage is clear, if difficult: we are called to care for the strangers among us, and even to love our enemies. Somewhere and sometime, the cycle of violence must be ended, for as Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind."
3/9/2003	Civility	My colleague Suzanne R. Spencer writes, "While civility is important to private life, among those with whom we share intimacy, it is indispensable to public life, where strangers meet." The sermon will consider civility and attempt a definition. We will take a look at the contemporary scene-road rage, talk/shock radio, poor sportsmanship, etc.-as well as glance back at George Washington's rules of civility, written when he was only 16 years old.
3/2/2003	Ashes to Ashes	On the Christian calendar, Wednesday, March 5, is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of the season of Lent, a traditional time of penitence. The imposition of a cross of ashes on the forehead of the believer reminds us of our mortality and of our journey, as it is said in the familiar words of the funeral service, "from ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Christians are asked to give something up during Lent, but often this request is trivialized. In my sermon, I want to investigate our need for some kind of penitence in a world, which, too often seems to be on a tragic journey from ashes to ashes.
2/9/2003	. . . But the Greatest of These is Love	My sermon title for this morning is taken from the famous "love hymn" in I Corinthians 13, which ends, "So faith, hope, love abide, these three: but the greatest of these is love." What is love, anyway? What did St. Paul (the author of I Corinthians) have in mind when he wrote that love is the greatest of the so-called "great" virtues? The sermon will investigate love.
2/2/2003	Living with Loss	For many in our community and our congregation, including myself, the last few weeks and months have been a season of loss. How do we go on living when death and grief have touched our lives? I do not believe that grief can be totally overcome. Rather, I believe that we learn to live with it. We have no choice. The grief becomes part of our lives. But I also believe that, amazingly, we can fashion from our grief "a song of gladness" for all the gifts of life. The sermon will investigate living with loss.
1/12/2003	The Beauty of the Beastly	My sermon title is taken from Natalie Angier's book of the same, subtitled "New Views of the Nature of Life." Angier's book is a fascinating reminder that we share the creation with a vast number of other creatures, some attractive, some not so, but all important to the whole. It is important to remember that we are not alone, but in Emerson's words, "part and particle" of all we see. We have more in common than you might think. The sermon will investigate.
1/5/2003	What Shall We Do?