New Year’s Housekeeping

a sermon preached by Rev. Khleber Van Zandt at First Unitarian Church of Alton on January 3^rd, 2010

after a reading from T.D. Jakes

 

Sometimes I feel so weighed down.  Now I didn’t mean this first sermon of the New Year to be one of those heavy messages that leave you feeling like you can’t get out of bed tomorrow morning.  I know you have burdens galore already and you don’t need me to add my sorrows to your carry-on luggage.  You don’t need me keeping you down and holding you back from all the things you have to get done in this New Year.  You don’t come to church because you want to feel more ‘blah’ when you leave than when you got here.  I know all that.  I appreciate all that.  But still, sometimes I just feel so weighed down - my mind cluttered, my muscles achy, my back sore from carrying on and on and on.  And who better to share such a thing with than you?

I got to thinking, if I’m tired and feeling weighed down this time of year, maybe you are, too.  If I’m feeling the need to jettison some of my load, maybe you could stand to put a few things aside as well.  So maybe there’s a way to ritually rid ourselves of some of this excess baggage we’re carrying with us today. 

Here’s my idea.  Right now, we’ll pass out these strips of paper and some pencils and I’m going to ask you to sit for a few moments and consider what it is that’s sitting heavily on your shoulders today.  I’m talking specifically about the kinds of things that you’re carrying with you today and many other days that you really don’t need to be schlepping back and forth and all around and all over the place, the kinds of things that are keeping you from living fully in the present, the kinds of things that because you’re still carrying them keep the future from unfolding as brightly as it might.  I’m going to ask you to write down those things you’re carrying that you don’t need to be carrying.  Then I’ll ask you to bring those strips of paper that hold all the things you’re gonna let go of today up here and put them in a basket with everybody else’s things that they’re letting go of.  Now, listen up: if you would like, I’ll read what you’re getting rid of out loud for you, because I think that might be an effective way to help you let them go.  So if you want me to read something you’ve written, please don’t fold that paper at all, just bring it or send it up here flat and I’ll read as many as we have time for. 

But you might also write some things that you DON’T want anyone to see or hear, and I want to give you that opportunity, too.  So if you have things to write that you don’t want anyone else to see or hear, just fold your paper once or twice and we’ll get rid of that, too, without sharing it at all.

When we get all the little strips of paper together, we’ll have a communal pile of all the things we’re getting rid of today.  And then we’ll let them all go once and for all:  we’ll burn them in a funeral pier of paper strips and, by us doing so, all that stuff we don’t need to be carrying around with us will go up in smoke and the yoke will be lifted from our shoulders by the universe.  And potentially we’ll be able to walk away today feeling lighter of heart, no longer weighed down by excess baggage we don’t need to be lugging with us.

As the paper and pencils are being handed out, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve identified that I need to let go of.  I have a laundry list of ill feelings and unhelpful behaviors that I need to absolve myself of, and you’re welcome to borrow liberally from my list, so here goes:

- Sometimes I have been angry with some of my family members for not listening or ignoring the needs of others.  I need to let those things go.

- Sometimes I have been angry with family members for not growing up fast enough and not taking care of the things I think they could and should be taking care of for themselves.  I need to let that anger go;  I need to let my expectations of others go.

- Sometimes I have wanted to crawl into a hole and pull the dirt in over me when confronted with the pain of the world.  But that pain is real, and the more of us that carry it, the less of a burden it is on all of us.  I need at times to remain more open and be more available, and I need to let go of my desire to run away.

- And here’s a standard New Years resolution:  Sometimes I have found it too easy to put off exercising even when I know that I feel better when I’m more physically healthy.  I need to let go of my excuses that keep me from doing what I need to do for myself.

- Here’s a big one, as far as physical and spiritual housekeeping is concerned:  Sometimes I leave messes behind me in my workspace and in my living space, and that clutter could be a sign of mental and emotional clutter that I need to get straightened up.  I need to straighten up the smaller world around me so I can deal with the mess of the larger world around me.

Are any of these helping you with ideas of what you need to get rid of?  I hope you’ll take this seriously and really think about the things that are holding you back as you write them down so you’ll really get rid of some stuff today.  A few more of mine while you’re finishing yours up:

- Sometimes I find myself not paying enough attention to the other people around me, not noticing when I could reach out and lend a hand or offer a word of encouragement that might make a huge difference in someone’s life.  I need to forgive myself for such lapses, and I need to let go of whatever it is that holds me back from doing better.

- Sometimes I pay more attention to others than I pay to myself and I get too exhausted and wound down to be of much good to myself or my family or to anyone.  I have sometimes found it too easy to put off the kinds of things I need to do for self-care in the face of a busy day and a busy life.  I sometimes find excuses not to take a break and to rest myself mentally and physically and emotionally, and I need to put aside those excuses and take care of myself from time to time.

- Last but not least:  Sometimes I get bogged down in the immediacy of the moment and don’t take the time to consider the longer view of events or ethics.  Sometimes I am so concerned with the future and with the bigger picture that I forget to pay attention to the present and to what’s right there in front of my face.  Sometimes I don’t get the balance right between what is ‘important but not urgent’ and what feels ‘urgent but is really not important.’

 

Now I’ll invite you to bring your strips of paper forward and place them in the basket, or place them in the basket that comes around.  While you do that, I’ll share my own take on the earlier reading from Pastor T.D. Jakes:

If you are holding on to past hurts and pains, then you need to...  LET IT GO!!!

If someone has angered you, then you need to...    LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to thoughts of evil and revenge, then you need to...    LET IT GO!!!

If you’re feeling stressed out or depressed, then you need to...    LET IT GO!!!

If you have a bad attitude...  LET IT GO!!!

If you are involved in a bad relationship or addiction...  LET IT GO!!!

If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship...  LET IT GO!!!

If you keep trying to help someone who isn’t trying to help themselves...  LET IT GO!!!

If you’re trying to make yourself feel better by judging others...  LET IT GO!!!

If you’re stuck in the past...  LET IT GO!!!

If you’re stuck in the future...  LET IT GO!!!

Let the past be the past…  LET IT GO!!!

Forget the former things…  LET IT GO!!!

 

Ashes to ashes.  We seek healing as we watch old emotions and behaviors and events being burned away and eliminated by fire, literally going up in smoke.  We cleanse ourselves in the flame of our burning chalice.  We communally purge ourselves of our feelings of loss, depression, anger, sadness, denial - all those things that hold us back from living fully in the present and facing the future with an open heart and an open mind. 

As we begin the New Year, we let go of the past year’s old baggage.

(Gather the paper, burn it in foil-lined chalice…)

And here are the last ones:  special ones for the whole community today.

“We let go of all the negativity that holds us back from affirming life in the New Year.”

 

Here’s a plan:  We’re doing something new for 2010.  We’ve done some housekeeping together and gotten rid of the old things, the unhelpful things.  In the process, we’ve purified ourselves and cleansed our lives of the stuff that holds us back.  Now we can move into the future as people who seek to change the world through the force of our own lives well lived.

We may face a hard year this year, anyway - the world is an unstable place, the economy continues to bear down on many of us, we’ll have medical issues and family issues and our personal lives may be in flux most of the time. Such is life.

But today we start out anew, free of the baggage of the past.  The flame of the chalice has done its work for us.  It has consumed our expressions of the negative in our lives.  And now it’s up to us.  The world needs us to be the best we can be.  The world needs us to live and act positively rather than to be negatively reactive.  The way we can be who we need to be and do what we need to do in the coming year is to pay attention to what’s going on in our heads and hearts, to let go of those feelings and reactions that hold us back, to find new ways to connect with each other deeply, and to act close at hand in ways that may help open the farther-flung world to a new future.

So may it be.