Taking our Chances

I’ve been thinking that there is no better time than a New Year to start taking our chances.

Sure some people start the new years with fireworks some with resolutions.

I began the New Year by ringing our church bell at midnight.

But we are only seven days into 2008 and I don’t know about you but I am longing for dramatic change. And so to get off on the right foot I thought I might just take this opportunity to encourage us all to take more risks.

I don’t mean the type of risks that can land you in the hospital. Although I wouldn’t rule out sky diving if you have a fear of heights.

I am simply suggesting that we use this New Year to confront and overcome our fears.

Through caution to the wind and take our chances.

Besides making some noise on New Years Eve I too have made some resolutions and I have been taking risks all week in an attempt at achieving them.

Hoping to have a good story to tell all of you.

But here we are and it is Sunday six days since the blast off of 2008 and I feel fully unprepared.

Nothing I have done has gotten me closer to accomplishing my resolutions for the new year and there is no story I can tell to illustrate the importance of risk taking in accomplishing our goals.

Because despite all of my resolutions, and despite everything I have given up and done differently in the past 6 days, I have accomplished absolutely nothing. Despite the dramatic start up to the New Year, despite al the clarity of my resolutions and the sincerity of my efforts

I have not yet gotten any thinner.

or wiser.

I haven’t made any new friends.

Or learned to play the saxophone.

Truth is that achieving our resolutions takes time and planning and intention and persistence. There is a place for resolutions. But real change, real accomplishment, and real innovation in our lives-- well that that requires an element of chance of risk of mistakes and setbacks and track changes.

As I said before-I am not simply urging physical risk here-- But I am reminding us all that there is rarely success without some element of at least emotional or spiritual risk and there is always some failure before we reach our goals and this is what we must prepare for if we are ever to create something new in this new year.

The other reason I believe today is a great opportunity to talk about this need for risk is because it is Epiphany Sunday. Most churches in our neighborhood today will acknowledge either the shining forth of God in human form, in the person Jesus or the revelation of Jesus as King to the gentiles as represented by the three kings, the Magi, appearing at the birth of the Son of Man.

Epiphany is the last of the celebrations of Christmas acknowledging in full the brightness of the birth of a savior. But whether or not you accept the need for a savior-- such bright saving moments of clarity are rare in life and I would argue that without the mistakes and errors and wilderness there would be no bright moments at all and we would never get to the Promised Land.

Getting lost before you are found is an essential element of reaching an Epiphany.

If we were a lectionary church the two prescribed bible passages for the day describe both the Magi following a star to find a king that they were not sure of-- and the Genesis tale of the earth starting out in nothingness- a formless void without a blueprint.

It makes you wonder how long the earth remained a formless void before God said let there be light? What mistakes might God have make in darkness before the earth was formed and what false starts were necessary before all was right with the world?

Separate from the Christian understanding-- epiphany can be our reminder of the point when everything shifts to clarity. It is a reminder that the epiphany is here for each of us at the end of our journeys through all of the mistakes and errors and losses of life.

Today instead of focusing on the light my good Unitarian conscience wants to remind us of the risks we must take to get there.

Every great success story requires an element of error and making mistakes.

And risk is a necessary building block to growth.

Charles DuBois an American author living from 1803-1882 is famous for saying “The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”

This is the reason I encouraged us to do the Buddhist meditation about fear today -- because it is our fears that prohibit us from taking the risks required to reach our goals.

Sitting each day and meditating upon your fears and consciously letting them go can be one tool to help you move beyond them.

As I mentioned earlier one of my life long goals (and new year’s resolutions) is to play the Saxophone. But in order to play I must overcome my fear of failure and be willing to be the worst saxophone player you ever heard before I can be the best.

Becoming the best will take practice. And in order to incorporate that practice I must change my routine.

Letting go of the fear failure the fear of being a fool and being open to changes are important steps in accomplishing any goal.

And persistence. Every success story talks about persistence. If you can’t get it right the first time try try again. Without persistence we would quit after every failure and never accomplish anything.

I recognize that this is getting less and less like a sermon and more and more like a pep talk today, So I want us to end by having us imagine for a moment the possibilities could be created if we each confronted our fears in this new year? Which of us might find by the end of 2008 that their relationships with friends are stronger? Which of us might find ourselves in a new job? Which of us might find ourselves going back to school, or learning something new? If we confront our fears which of us might be healthier by the end of 2008 and which of us might be taking time to relax and put our own needs first?

If we let go of our institutional fears what risks might we take? If we could let go of the fear of dying as an institution what liberating risks might we be able to take? If we release our fear of shrinking how might we grow in spirit instead? Imagine if we were to release our individual fears of propriety and talking to strangers, and asking for what we need, how might our already deep relationships become deeper and more connected.

None of these changes I have mentioned will come easily they will all create discomfort but I assure you if we take our chances and we stick with it we will eventually find the clarity we need to spurn us onward to the promised land.

Happy New Year.