Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Reflection: Celebrating Planet Earth

Dave Weber
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Palo Alto, CA

Some years ago, a UU friend of mine started attending the Unity church. Since I knew him to be no theist, I asked him why. He said that Unity stresses the positives, those warm fuzzies that make you feel good about life, so that everyone leaves their services happy. UU’s on the other hand hear constantly about what’s wrong with the world and are continually encouraged to do more to live up to their principles. If you haven’t given up all your comforts to go out and solve the world’s problems, you’ll walk away from our services with a deep sense of guilt and regret. Last Wednesday, as my Welcoming Congregation class launched into a meaty discussion of oppression, privilege, and the many “ism”s (sexism, racism, ageism, heterosexism, … ), and what we can do about them, his comments hit home.

To my friend, taking Jesus as his personal savior seemed a small price to pay for escaping into the sunshine of eternal happiness. So in the interest of not losing more of you to conservative Christianity, today’s service will be a celebration of what’s right and beautiful with our world. And Beautiful it is. If you haven’t seen the recent BBC series “The Planet Earth”, I strongly encourage you to do so. It will carry you to the most incredible and distant reaches of our globe, showing the wonders of our planet, with footage of rarely seen endangered species, such as the Snow Leopard, in their native habitats. Viewing this expands the senses, allowing the imagination to encompass the whole magnificent range of creation, stressing the miracle of life and how it copes with the hardship of existence. The series does address what we are losing because of unbridled human population growth and global warming, but in a context of what remains that is wondrous.

I considered my own favorite places on earth: Moraine Lake in Banff, surrounded by jagged snow-capped peaks, Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii where I have swum with dolphins and colorful tropical fish, Santorini, a volcanic island with towering views high above the blue Aegean sea, and Glacier Bay awash in sunshine. I recall close encounters with wolves and moose in Wyoming, with puffins and otters in Alaska, and with rattlers and coyotes right here in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

However, you need not denounce all human society and consider all human traces upon the world perverse. There is much of human creation that engenders pride and wonder, that could indeed also be called beautiful. Consider the imaginative technologies used in assembling the Planet Earth series, the vibration cancellation digital photography, the space exploration that enabled views from high above the earth of an interconnected planet without borders, the wondrous understanding of the ecological whole and the interdependence of nature that goes into the dialogue, the DVD’s, players, and displays that hold and transfer the experiences to millions. There is for me the beauty and simplicity of Maxwell’s equations and of Einstein’s theories. There is the human genome project and the connection of all life through Darwin’s theory. There is the inexplicable magic of Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Leonardo di Vinci, of Mozart and Beethoven. My personal musical favorites include Rodrigo’s Concierto de Arunez, Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, and Vivaldi’s “From the New World” symphony. Who can look upon such human creation and not feel awe. There is also the achievement of giving to others and bringing people together exemplified for me most recently in “Three Cups of Tea”, a book I would recommend to all. It is a story of sacrifice, love, and commitment to peace through education and inter-cultural connection, a celebration of love. And there are the architectural achievements of the ages, Pompeii and Ephasis, the Taj Ma Hal, and the Acropolis that put time in perspective, and speak to what is common among all people and to what is ephemeral and insignificant.

All of this leads inexorably to the questions that matter most — Who am I? What does it mean to be human and what in this life is truly important? Now, if like me you are a disciple of Douglas Adams, author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, the answer to the meaning of life is of course 42. Unfortunately, I have to admit I don’t feel that his answer really does it for me. I guess I’ll have to confess that I don’t actually have the answers to the big questions. Disappointed? I suppose you’ll have to demand your money back at the door. (Did I really want to say that just before the Annual meeting?)

Each of us must answer the big questions of life for her or him self. I do know this: any answer worth finding will involve an appreciation of the incredible natural beauty of earth’s landscape, flora, and fauna, of the scope of human knowledge and accomplishment, of the miracle of consciousness, of the joy felt in a task well done, and, in the warm glow of connecting with others. Oh and by the way, Unity isn’t the answer for me. I’m sticking with the UU’s!

Sermon: This Day on the Earth by Rev. Kurt Kuhwald