"As Unitarian Universalists we believe that revelation is ever-present. The Spirit of Life, God, The Universe, by whatever name you call it is whispering to us each and every day urging us to wake up to our lives, to pay attention, to consider what we will do with our one wild and precious life." -- Cindy Thoman-Terlazzo
What does it mean to walk in this world fully awake?
This was the message Cindy Terlazzo, a longtime UUCY member, brought to UUCY on Aug. 28.
She began by reading Mary Oliver's "The Summer Day," and launched into her personal revelation.
"One afternoon I was lying on the grass gazing all around me, drinking deeply of the beauty that surrounded me. I was particularly entranced by watching a string of prayer flags that had been suspended between some trees fluttering in the breeze. Now maybe the events of the weekend had primed me, but for just a moment – time stood still. And I knew that I had been witness to something divine. For a few brief moments, this simple occurrence pierced through all my layers of ordinary assumptions of how the world is constructed. This seemingly ordinary event resonated with something deep inside me. I felt whole, content, connected to all that was around me. It was as if the inter-connected web of life, to which we often refer, was revealed to me in those few brief moments. I knew that I was as much a part of this web as every single thing that surrounded me."
You can listen to the Mary Oliver poem that Cindy read during the service below. A poem that captures what it feels like to be fully aware and present in this life.
Read her entire sermon below, or listen.
This was the message Cindy Terlazzo, a longtime UUCY member, brought to UUCY on Aug. 28.
She began by reading Mary Oliver's "The Summer Day," and launched into her personal revelation.
"One afternoon I was lying on the grass gazing all around me, drinking deeply of the beauty that surrounded me. I was particularly entranced by watching a string of prayer flags that had been suspended between some trees fluttering in the breeze. Now maybe the events of the weekend had primed me, but for just a moment – time stood still. And I knew that I had been witness to something divine. For a few brief moments, this simple occurrence pierced through all my layers of ordinary assumptions of how the world is constructed. This seemingly ordinary event resonated with something deep inside me. I felt whole, content, connected to all that was around me. It was as if the inter-connected web of life, to which we often refer, was revealed to me in those few brief moments. I knew that I was as much a part of this web as every single thing that surrounded me."
You can listen to the Mary Oliver poem that Cindy read during the service below. A poem that captures what it feels like to be fully aware and present in this life.
Read her entire sermon below, or listen.
Sermon by Cindy Terlazzo
Revelation
Sunday, August 21, 2016
UUCY
As we move more deeply into this time of worship, I’d like share this poem by Mary Oliver entitled:
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
I took part in a Sufi retreat this spring. The retreat was held in a stunningly beautiful location near Charlottlesville, VA. Everything about the weekend – the location, music, the dances, teachings and conversations – was conducive to a renewal of the spirit. One afternoon I was lying on the grass gazing all around me, drinking deeply of the beauty that surrounded me. I was particularly entranced by watching a string of prayer flags that had been suspended between some trees fluttering in the breeze.
Now maybe the events of the weekend had primed me, but for just a moment – time stood still. And I knew that I had been witness to something divine. For a few brief moments, this simple occurrence pierced through all my layers of ordinary assumptions of how the world is constructed. This seemingly ordinary event resonated with something deep inside me. I felt whole, content, connected to all that was around me. It was as if the inter-connected web of life, to which we often refer, was revealed to me in those few brief moments. I knew that I was as much a part of this web as every single thing that surrounded me.
Now the dictionary tells us that a revelation is something that is disclosed, especially a striking disclosure, as something not before realized.
And this simple occurrence – the fluttering of a breeze through a string of prayer flags – was indeed a striking disclosure – a reminder of things I can forget when I assume that my life, that any life, is simply ordinary.
UU minister, James Luther Adams, stated, "We cannot properly place our confidence in our own creations; we must depend upon a transforming reality that breaks through encrusted forms of life and thought to create new forms. We put our faith in a creative reality that is re-creative. Revelation is continuous.”
How often do we find that our thoughts, that our very lives, have become encrusted. What an image. I picture our spirits at times like parched earth, cracked and crusted over, seemingly devoid of life – yet given the proper conditions – enough transforming rain – new life, new forms emerge.
As Unitarian Universalists we believe that revelation is ever-present. The Spirit of Life, God, The Universe, by whatever name you call it is whispering to us each and every day urging us to wake up to our lives, to pay attention, to consider what we will do with our one wild and precious life.
So if we are immersed in continuous revelation with the source of all life it seems that revelation will make itself known in many forms. My encounter with the prayer flags invoked in me a sense of unity and oneness with all that was around me but let me now contrast this with another time, another place several years ago. It was a lovely summer day. I lived with my family on a property in northern Maryland. To all outward appearances I had a good and happy life.
On this particular day, the lawn needed to be mowed so I went about this task as I usually did. My actions were somewhat absentminded. I was doing something I had done many times before – random thoughts flitting through my head while I went about my work. Suddenly, I became intensely aware of the specificity of my thoughts. It was like an amplifier had been hooked up and every random thought was now broadcast in such a way that I had to pay attention. I was shocked by what I heard. A litany of complaints – one after another played in an endless loop in my head. One discontented grievance after another about money, my kids, my job, my self-worth – on and on. Not one uplifting or positive thought in the lot.
Even though I was astonished by this peek into my psyche, I realized that I had received an unexpected gift – another divine revelation. I didn’t like the flotsam of thought that I had become so very aware of but I did realize that such awareness, as uncomfortable as it was, gave me the opportunity to pay attention to how such thoughts might be manifesting in my life – through self-care, my words, my interactions with others and the world around me.
Perhaps there was no real connection, but a few months later I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In retrospection, I had to wonder if my subterranean discontent with life, in some way provided fertile ground for a weakened immune system. In any event, this awareness, this light bulb moment of revelation, allowed me to make a conscious choice to change – or not – but the possibility for new and creative forms of being were more solidly within my grasp.
UU theologian, Rebecca Parker says that “Revelation comes to those who are radically hospitable to what they don’t know.” I am going to say this one more time. “Revelation comes to those who are radically hospitable to what they don’t know.” I am both challenged and intrigued by this statement. Perhaps it is similar to the idea that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. Her statement does suggest to me that those moments of revelation and insight arrive because on some level we are ready to become aware of what we don’t know. In our deepest beings we are hard-wired for awakening.
And while it is obvious to so many of us that, in this country, we are long overdue for a change regarding how we value life, could it be that the tragedies of Orlando, of the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille, the Dallas police officers, and too many others, has finally revealed to us that the status quo is not working…could this finally be the tipping point, the events, tragic as they are, that will serve as the striking disclosure that shakes us out of our stupor, our polarized and encrusted thinking?
Every day, every moment holds the potential for awakening. Revelation is continuous. Out of the deepest darkness, out of the most ordinary and extraordinary occurrences may come that bolt of awareness that illuminates our clouded vision – making room for real change.
Revelation is continuous.
Revelation can show up any time, any place. Maybe you have found this to be so in your life. Maybe you have been engaged in something quite everyday – making dinner, taking out the trash, flossing your teeth, listening to the daily news and for just a brief moment, some larger awareness tapped you on the shoulder and you were able to see your life in a new, a different fashion. A striking disclosure urging you to wake up.
In a season rife with fear mongering and political posturing and more sorrow than we know what to do with, may we be ready to catch those moments of revelation when they arrive. May we be open to the holy voices that speak to us in many ways every day. May we be open to this presence whether it arrives in the fluttering of wind-caressed prayer flags, in the litany of thoughts that flood our heads when we least expect it or in the tragic announcement of yet another act of violence. May we be primed to find this presence in the faces of those we see passing on the street. Walt Whitman says:
“I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least, Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself. Why should I wish to see God better than this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass, I find letters from God dropped in the street, and everyone is signed by God's name, And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come for ever and ever.”
Oft times it seems we think about revelation as something mystical or otherworldly but, really, revelation – the universal urging to pay attention to our lives – is present everywhere. I found that this following, unattributed reflection, captures the idea of the mystical within the ordinary quite well:
“I am a devout skeptic. I don’t believe in ESP or heaven or a zillion other unverifiable things. And yet after returning from an extended trip to Argentina, where people tend to be intensely sociable, I had a powerful vision during waking hours for six straight days. As I went through my day, I saw every person literally connected to every other person in the vicinity via umbilical-type cords. If the interaction between persons was positive, a golden, amber liquid flowed between them in this cord; if it was negative, the fluid looked blackish-green. No one else showed any awareness of these cords, which also stretched between people not obviously interacting in the moment.
The message was clear to me: We are all connected, whether we realize it or not; furthermore, I want to generate amber, not bile. I told no one for six months because I was concerned that they’d have me locked up as crazy. When I finally shared it with a colleague (a history professor well versed in religion), he had this insightful comment: “If you had been a Catholic, you’d have seen the Virgin Mary. You, however, are a Unitarian Universalist—so naturally you saw the interconnected web!” Fifteen years later, I am still committed to caring for the web, aiming to inspire interpersonal harmony wherever I go.” ~ Soul Matters Leader
All of life is a continual revelation. Everywhere we turn amidst all the joy and rapture, the sorrow and the pain. Everything whispers in our ear calling us to wake up, pay attention, to notice our lives. The challenge extended to you, to me, to all of us is to decide what action will we take? How will we transform revelation into re-creation? What exactly will you do with your one wild and precious life that is so intimately linked with all others?
May we all go forth in good faith. May we all trust in life.
In the end – All Will Be Revealed.
Closing words:
Sting of a wasp.
Rip of a nail.
A razor’s slice.
The needle’s plunge.
A piercing word.
A stab of betrayal.
The boundary crossed.
A trust broken.
In this lacerating moment,
Pain is all you know.
Life is tattooing scripture into your flesh,
Scribing incandescence in your nerves.
Right here,
In this single searing point
Of intolerable concentration,
Wound become portal.
Brokenness surrenders to
Crystalline brilliance of Being.
~ Translated by Lorin Roche from The Radiance Sutras
Revelation
Sunday, August 21, 2016
UUCY
As we move more deeply into this time of worship, I’d like share this poem by Mary Oliver entitled:
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
I took part in a Sufi retreat this spring. The retreat was held in a stunningly beautiful location near Charlottlesville, VA. Everything about the weekend – the location, music, the dances, teachings and conversations – was conducive to a renewal of the spirit. One afternoon I was lying on the grass gazing all around me, drinking deeply of the beauty that surrounded me. I was particularly entranced by watching a string of prayer flags that had been suspended between some trees fluttering in the breeze.
Now maybe the events of the weekend had primed me, but for just a moment – time stood still. And I knew that I had been witness to something divine. For a few brief moments, this simple occurrence pierced through all my layers of ordinary assumptions of how the world is constructed. This seemingly ordinary event resonated with something deep inside me. I felt whole, content, connected to all that was around me. It was as if the inter-connected web of life, to which we often refer, was revealed to me in those few brief moments. I knew that I was as much a part of this web as every single thing that surrounded me.
Now the dictionary tells us that a revelation is something that is disclosed, especially a striking disclosure, as something not before realized.
And this simple occurrence – the fluttering of a breeze through a string of prayer flags – was indeed a striking disclosure – a reminder of things I can forget when I assume that my life, that any life, is simply ordinary.
UU minister, James Luther Adams, stated, "We cannot properly place our confidence in our own creations; we must depend upon a transforming reality that breaks through encrusted forms of life and thought to create new forms. We put our faith in a creative reality that is re-creative. Revelation is continuous.”
How often do we find that our thoughts, that our very lives, have become encrusted. What an image. I picture our spirits at times like parched earth, cracked and crusted over, seemingly devoid of life – yet given the proper conditions – enough transforming rain – new life, new forms emerge.
As Unitarian Universalists we believe that revelation is ever-present. The Spirit of Life, God, The Universe, by whatever name you call it is whispering to us each and every day urging us to wake up to our lives, to pay attention, to consider what we will do with our one wild and precious life.
So if we are immersed in continuous revelation with the source of all life it seems that revelation will make itself known in many forms. My encounter with the prayer flags invoked in me a sense of unity and oneness with all that was around me but let me now contrast this with another time, another place several years ago. It was a lovely summer day. I lived with my family on a property in northern Maryland. To all outward appearances I had a good and happy life.
On this particular day, the lawn needed to be mowed so I went about this task as I usually did. My actions were somewhat absentminded. I was doing something I had done many times before – random thoughts flitting through my head while I went about my work. Suddenly, I became intensely aware of the specificity of my thoughts. It was like an amplifier had been hooked up and every random thought was now broadcast in such a way that I had to pay attention. I was shocked by what I heard. A litany of complaints – one after another played in an endless loop in my head. One discontented grievance after another about money, my kids, my job, my self-worth – on and on. Not one uplifting or positive thought in the lot.
Even though I was astonished by this peek into my psyche, I realized that I had received an unexpected gift – another divine revelation. I didn’t like the flotsam of thought that I had become so very aware of but I did realize that such awareness, as uncomfortable as it was, gave me the opportunity to pay attention to how such thoughts might be manifesting in my life – through self-care, my words, my interactions with others and the world around me.
Perhaps there was no real connection, but a few months later I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In retrospection, I had to wonder if my subterranean discontent with life, in some way provided fertile ground for a weakened immune system. In any event, this awareness, this light bulb moment of revelation, allowed me to make a conscious choice to change – or not – but the possibility for new and creative forms of being were more solidly within my grasp.
UU theologian, Rebecca Parker says that “Revelation comes to those who are radically hospitable to what they don’t know.” I am going to say this one more time. “Revelation comes to those who are radically hospitable to what they don’t know.” I am both challenged and intrigued by this statement. Perhaps it is similar to the idea that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. Her statement does suggest to me that those moments of revelation and insight arrive because on some level we are ready to become aware of what we don’t know. In our deepest beings we are hard-wired for awakening.
And while it is obvious to so many of us that, in this country, we are long overdue for a change regarding how we value life, could it be that the tragedies of Orlando, of the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille, the Dallas police officers, and too many others, has finally revealed to us that the status quo is not working…could this finally be the tipping point, the events, tragic as they are, that will serve as the striking disclosure that shakes us out of our stupor, our polarized and encrusted thinking?
Every day, every moment holds the potential for awakening. Revelation is continuous. Out of the deepest darkness, out of the most ordinary and extraordinary occurrences may come that bolt of awareness that illuminates our clouded vision – making room for real change.
Revelation is continuous.
Revelation can show up any time, any place. Maybe you have found this to be so in your life. Maybe you have been engaged in something quite everyday – making dinner, taking out the trash, flossing your teeth, listening to the daily news and for just a brief moment, some larger awareness tapped you on the shoulder and you were able to see your life in a new, a different fashion. A striking disclosure urging you to wake up.
In a season rife with fear mongering and political posturing and more sorrow than we know what to do with, may we be ready to catch those moments of revelation when they arrive. May we be open to the holy voices that speak to us in many ways every day. May we be open to this presence whether it arrives in the fluttering of wind-caressed prayer flags, in the litany of thoughts that flood our heads when we least expect it or in the tragic announcement of yet another act of violence. May we be primed to find this presence in the faces of those we see passing on the street. Walt Whitman says:
“I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least, Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself. Why should I wish to see God better than this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass, I find letters from God dropped in the street, and everyone is signed by God's name, And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come for ever and ever.”
Oft times it seems we think about revelation as something mystical or otherworldly but, really, revelation – the universal urging to pay attention to our lives – is present everywhere. I found that this following, unattributed reflection, captures the idea of the mystical within the ordinary quite well:
“I am a devout skeptic. I don’t believe in ESP or heaven or a zillion other unverifiable things. And yet after returning from an extended trip to Argentina, where people tend to be intensely sociable, I had a powerful vision during waking hours for six straight days. As I went through my day, I saw every person literally connected to every other person in the vicinity via umbilical-type cords. If the interaction between persons was positive, a golden, amber liquid flowed between them in this cord; if it was negative, the fluid looked blackish-green. No one else showed any awareness of these cords, which also stretched between people not obviously interacting in the moment.
The message was clear to me: We are all connected, whether we realize it or not; furthermore, I want to generate amber, not bile. I told no one for six months because I was concerned that they’d have me locked up as crazy. When I finally shared it with a colleague (a history professor well versed in religion), he had this insightful comment: “If you had been a Catholic, you’d have seen the Virgin Mary. You, however, are a Unitarian Universalist—so naturally you saw the interconnected web!” Fifteen years later, I am still committed to caring for the web, aiming to inspire interpersonal harmony wherever I go.” ~ Soul Matters Leader
All of life is a continual revelation. Everywhere we turn amidst all the joy and rapture, the sorrow and the pain. Everything whispers in our ear calling us to wake up, pay attention, to notice our lives. The challenge extended to you, to me, to all of us is to decide what action will we take? How will we transform revelation into re-creation? What exactly will you do with your one wild and precious life that is so intimately linked with all others?
May we all go forth in good faith. May we all trust in life.
In the end – All Will Be Revealed.
Closing words:
Sting of a wasp.
Rip of a nail.
A razor’s slice.
The needle’s plunge.
A piercing word.
A stab of betrayal.
The boundary crossed.
A trust broken.
In this lacerating moment,
Pain is all you know.
Life is tattooing scripture into your flesh,
Scribing incandescence in your nerves.
Right here,
In this single searing point
Of intolerable concentration,
Wound become portal.
Brokenness surrenders to
Crystalline brilliance of Being.
~ Translated by Lorin Roche from The Radiance Sutras
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