Pastor Bud's Buzz 2007   Pastpr Bud's Buzz 2006

2008

July 1 2008
Pastor Bud’s Buzz

There once was a pastor who looked for truth and meaning in his life. When he thought he had found something truthful and meaningful he shared it with the loving community he served, in the hope that it would help them find truth and meaning as well.

Now this pastor appreciated that his truth and meaning would not necessarily be anyone else’s truth and meaning. He realized that truth and meaning were very personal things. He also appreciated that some very smart people had gone to great efforts to share with anyone who would pay attention to them that there was no such thing as truth and meaning. These very smart people made very convincing arguments that before there were humans, before humans started thinking about truth and meaning the world was just there and didn’t mean anything because there was no one there for whom it could mean something. Sort of like that tree that falls in the forest and there are no humans anywhere, so it doesn’t make a sound, at least not for human ears, and it has no truth or meaning because no humans are there to wonder, did it fall due to a strong wind or because in an attempt to reach the sun it was leaning away from a larger tree and its roots were not deep enough to keep it securely standing up. No one was there to have the thought that sometimes when a tree is torn loose, roots and all, the tree dies and like a tree, people need to have roots in order to be healthy and sometimes they risk injury and illness when they are torn up from where they have formed attachments and moved to another place where they don’t have those attachments. No one was there to appreciate that sometimes whole stands of Aspen trees share the same roots and are really one very large and complex living organism and the wind cannot blow any of the trees down because all the roots hold each tree up.

This pastor asked himself, “What if there is no truth or meaning to find? If I’m supposed to find truth and meaning and when I find it, share it, when I share something that I think is truth, am I creating truth and meaning out of nothing?” Then he decided that truth and meaning don’t have to exist out there. Truth and meaning exist in people and he remembered that everyone’s truth and meaning is unique to them and he realized that the best way to share truth and meaning is to share stories, so that each person that reads the stories finds their own truth and meaning and he felt relieved.

He thought to himself, “I can tell a story and it doesn’t even have to be factual to be true. I can tell a story and its valuable not because it accurately reports the past, but because it invites a future that’s desirable and sustainable.

And he lived happily ever after in a loving community where members told each other wonderful stories and everyone was filled with truth and meaning that grew deeper and richer every day and they helped build a wonderful world filled with loving partnerships.
Stay tuned.

June 1, 2008
Pastor Bud’s Buzz,

As we head into summer it is natural for us to instinctively slow down. After all we don’t want to experience heat stroke. On the other hand we can still be the best we can be. Our local UU Community is in need of our unique talents year round and if we are successful in “we’ving” our talents together we will create the type of community that invites each of us to new levels of being for one another.

The Apostle James writes in one of his epistles “…As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” James Luther Adams agrees, it is not our faith that saves us. But he goes a step further. He says it is not even our actions that save us. He stresses that our salvation comes through our collective actions to bring about justice and redeem or remake the world.

James Luther Adams indicts his liberal religion and Unitarian Universalists. He concludes that we Unitarian Universalists find collective action a special challenge. We find compliance repugnant. Being part of a consensus can make us uncomfortable. James Luther Adams looks back in history and says that as a liberal movement we were generally ineffective in the face of dictators and fascist régimes, primarily because we failed to act effectively as a collective. The same could be said today. Very often our tendency toward liberal views emphasizes personal freedoms and individuality leaving the ability to act collectively severely hampered. We need to be mindful of our tendency toward “cocooning,” insulating ourselves whether geographical, intellectual, or emotional, and how it can leave us out of touch with the struggle taken place in the world around us. Those suffering from oppression and injustice that have no voice need our support. The forces at work will even take our voice away from us if we do not effectively and collectively resist. Do nothing and our indifference will allow us to be swept away by a wave of neo-fascism.

Our collective action attending the Action Assembly of FAITH (fighting against injustice toward harmony) is evidence that we can overcome our individualism and make a collective statement for justice. We can do so much more together than we can as individuals.

As we move through the summer months and slow our pace for our survival, let’s continue to move toward more effective ways to act in community so that having survived the summer we can contribute to the struggle that must be won if any of us are going to survive the onslaught of fascism and the many other challenges that threaten the future of us all.
Stay Tuned

May 1, 2008
Pastor Bud’s Buzz,

All things are connected. If you’ve attended our services you may have heard our choir sing a beautiful song entitled “All Things Are Connected.” Reading #550 in our hymnal entitled “We Belong to the Earth” contains that same refrain, “All things are connected.” It continues, “Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man does not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” When we talk about the law of karma there are differing opinions about the mechanisms of that law. Do good and good things will happen to you! Some say an all-seeing; all-knowing God makes sure that each and every one of us gets back what we give out. According to this “Golden Rule on Steroids” it is not just a matter of doing onto others, as you would have them do onto you. It is a law of cause and effect what you do unto others is what they will do onto you. If its true, what can we say about the future of those rich and powerful individuals who lead lives of indifference to the plight of the masses, will the masses be indifferent to their plight or will they defy the law of karma and will money buy them everything they need to lead long happy lives indulging every whim perhaps in artificial environments insulated from the masses struggling for their diseased existence in an environment poisoned by the waste products of their own struggle for survival and by the pollution and exploitation of the very rich.

On April 28 a whole lot of us gathered to exercise the power of numbers. F.A.I.T.H. a local community organizing group made up of many different churches in Volusia County, came together to declare their right to reasonably priced housing. We were not looking for a handout just the simple acknowledgment that builders and community planning boards can response to the needs of the average income earner and build housing they can afford to buy. We know from experience that building affordable housing benefits everyone from the rich to the poor and everyone in between. Time will tell whether we were successful in getting an inclusionary zoning ordinance in the City of Daytona Beach that will mandate certain levels of affordable housing. If we do not succeed this time we will not give up. “All things are connected” and eventually even the rich will understand “what we do to the web we do to ourselves.”

We are a community that acts on that belief that “all things are connected.” “What we do to the web we do to ourselves.” May we make the web of life strong here in our caring community and in doing so strengthen the web of all existence of which we are a part. Some might call that belief in the future a blind faith. I choose to call it enlightened.
Stay tuned

April 2008
Pastor Bud’s Buzz,

“My karma ran over my dogma” a cute, somewhat irreverent phrase comes to mind as we wade into April and deal with the consequences of our actions. Did we meet our canvass goal? Did our fundamental beliefs, speak louder than our actions? Did we walk our talk? Karma literally means “deed” or “act” and more broadly names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction that governs all life. Karma is not fate; we are free to create our own destiny. The law of karma says, “If we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil and the conquest of karma lies in intelligent action and dispassionate response.” I remember a management book that said that our success is less a consequence of the decisions we make and more a consequence of how we manage the consequences of the decisions we make. Surely decisions have consequences, but practically speaking our success depends on how we deal with the consequences of our previous choices.

I do not vote but I invite you to make decisions that will move us forward using our resources in a way that strengthens us as a uniquely liberal force in our world. Now is the time to strengthen our resolve. Do not allow our spirit of tolerance to be interpreted as a spirit of indifference. Ours is not a religion of convenience but of conviction. In this world of flux there is no standing still. If there is a tipping point approaching will we be the difference that changes the direction of the future? During times of challenge we have a unique opportunity to clarify our values and take action. May our dogma, drive our karma to a better future for all! Stay tuned

March 1, 2008
Pastor Bud's Buzz

In like a lion out like a lamb, a remembered phrase comes to mind as I think about a message for the March Jotter. On the other hand your time is valuable. You can research all those potentially interesting tidbits about the history of this month. I suppose I don’t even have to talk about this year’s early celebration of Easter or the fact that St. Patrick’s Day falls in the middle of March.

Many of my Jotter messages deal with global issues with seemingly overwhelming dimensions that can leave us all feeling helpless. This message is very local and has to do with how each of us engages in the wonderfully complex dance of our loving community. March is the 3rd month of our calendar year and is also the word used to describe the orderly movement of troops. The diversity of our community includes diversity about how orderly our movement needs to be. Some of us are comforted by a lot of order. Some of us are comforted by a relaxed casual style where order is not a high priority. We have the challenge of being in community, often in the same physical space. It is in the here-and-now of community that we experience what someone expressed when they said “I love humanity, its people I can’t stand.” We need to find a level of orderliness that works well for all of us, balancing the need to be orderly with the effort required, so that orderliness does not become overly burdensome. As a self governed community we have a lot to say about our direction. As a mostly volunteer community we have a lot to do to make our direction happen. Through the years individuals and groups have taken the time to develop steps that need to be taken, policies and procedures that can guide us and keep us moving in an orderly fashion. Over time we stop following some of those procedures. The procedures no longer fit our changing circumstances or the individuals performing them change and the procedures do not get passed along. Given the complexity of the tasks and the many changes that occur in our circumstances, it is the strength of our compassion for one another that allows us to get along with each other through it all. There are a number of initiatives taking place to help us define procedures and to engage those who are willing to complete the many tasks that keep us moving forward as a loving community.

Part of the canvass effort currently underway is designed to 1) clarify our desired direction, 2) define how we plan to get there and to 3) invite each of us to deepen our connection with our community through acts of service. This March as new life surges all around us, I urge you in the words of Kenneth Patton to "stand on the thrusting edge of creation, stand on the edge of knowledge and dreaming, stand on the brink of being in this moment now, look down the long hill of the past upon the wonder of all that has been and looking forward into the unformed fire of the future, thrust your hand forward into the flame and shape..." our shared vision of what community can be.

Stay tuned

February 1, 2008
Pastor Bud’s Buzz

As I am writing this, the sub prime mortgage fiasco continues to spiral out of control, the stock market is tanking, and the Military/Industrial/Congressional Complex mired in scandal seems satisfied with the worn out mantra of, “Trust us.”

It’s against this backdrop that 20 or so of our congregation under the leadership of E.D. Mann have volunteered to ask the Members and Friends of our Society to pledge financial support for this coming fiscal year, to become financial stewards of our future.

Many of us are retired and considered to be on “fixed” incomes. At times like this a truly “fixed” income would be a blessing. Most of us are watching our limited assets shrink as our net worth is sucked into the black hole of economic recession, depression, inflation, stagflation, or any other name that is given to the increasing concentrations of wealth and power that has been occurring since World War II with accelerating velocity. Everyone condemns dictatorial regimes that perpetrate genocide. Everyone disapproves of prisoner abuse and consider such tactics as death marches, inhumane atrocities.

Yet, economic genocide, economic abuse and economic death marches are perpetrated on helpless masses all across the Earth and we are unwitting, unwilling collaborators in this systemic injustice and oppression. We feel helpless in distancing ourselves from the wrong doing. Joining the victims by relinquishing our tenuous hold on the middle class strikes us as an empty and pointless gesture; one we are unwilling to take.

What we can do is support a united effort to speak truth to power. We can support local efforts to change the systemby uniting with F.A.I.T.H. which holds local leaders accountable, we can unite with the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Florida working toward finding solutions for Climate Change and Homelessness. We can add our voice to that of the Unitarian Universalists Association of Congregation speaking out with a prophetic condemnation of unjust exploitation of legal and illegal immigrant and migrant workforces. Those who knowingly condone the increasing concentration of wealth and power because they benefit from it will change only if we unite and give voice to their victims.

I attended an Alliance luncheon a while back at which Gaia Davies said these words of Edward Everett Hale as she lit the chalice:,
I am only one
But still I am one
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Such determination is essential in the face of overwhelming odds and our unity gives us hope that we can truly make a difference. I am grateful to be a part of this marvelous community. I plan on making a generous financial pledge in its support. I plan on continuing to do “that something that I can do.” Please join me and;

Stay Tuned

January 1, 2008
Pastor Bud’s Buzz
Happy New Year
We Unitarian Universalists celebrate the fact that our living tradition, draws from many sources. The most recent of those sources to be formally recognized by the Unitarian Universalist Association is the spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature. As Unitarian Universalist we emphasize the primacy of reason. We pride ourselves on our search for the unvarnished truth. But sadly it took many years for the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations to formally acknowledge earth-centered traditions, a designation that includes the religions of many indigenous peoples all over the world as well as traditions that are often called Pagan. Those with a deeper understanding and appreciation of diversity distinguish mong the many groups that often are lumped under the term Pagan. While these ancient traditions often predate Jewish, Christian and Protestant traditions they suffer from discrimination and bigotry as a result of the struggles for power and the literal demonizing of them by some mainline denominations.

Our principles and purposes invite us to respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person. We are challenged to go beyond tolerance for diversity and to seek out and embrace the value that diversity represents.

When I first read a description of people practicing animism by apologizing to a tree before cutting it down for their use, I was charmed by it, but at the same time I felt patronizing of their simple mindedness. They had ascribed personhood to a tree. Through the years I have witnessed the ravaging of natural resources, the clear cutting of old growth forests, the slaughter of whales and other animals to the point of extinction, the pollution of our air and water. I am inclined to believe that if the governments of modern industrialized nations and powerful international corporations had ascribed personhood to these natural entities we might have mustered more compassionate treatment. On the other hand I have seen what human organizations have done to other humans and over and over the results are gruesome, horrific. If there is any point I would make it is this, we must bring our very best reasoning to bear as we discern what primitive impulses are worth preserving and which are to be harnessed and controlled before we obliterate the human species and many other life forms from our precious oasis in the vast lifeless void of space.

We need all the wisdom we can get. WE certainly cannot afford to dismiss the spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions but rather join them in celebrating the sacred circle of life and learn to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

Stay Tuned

The complete Bud's Buzz for the years 2006 and 2007 may be read by clicking on one of the links at the top of the page.