This month’s theme question:  What does it mean to be a people of simplicity?

If you knew you were going to be stranded on a deserted island, and could bring only one book with you, what would it be?  Seriously … I’m asking.  Think about it for a minute.  If you had to choose only one book out of all the books you’ve ever read to be the only book you would ever read … what would it be?

I’ve played with this question over the years, and my answers have changed.  For a long time it was A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh.  It’s also been Ursula K.

LeGuin’s The Wizard of Earthsea.  The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence, has made the cut, as has a wonderful little book called Rule for a New Brother by H. Van Der Looy.  (And sometimes it’s the graphic novel Kingdom Come … which is awesome.)  By far the most frequent answer, and my answer for many years now, is the Stephen Mitchell translation of Lao Tzu’s Tao te Ching.

Some of the most profound wisdom I have ever encountered is contained within the 81 brief chapters that make up the Tao te Ching, and I have never read it without discovering new insights in its pages.  And with this month’s theme question – What does it mean to be a people of simplicity? – I can think of no better guide.

When I was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry – 21 years ago now! – my brother Paul read a chapter of the Tao during the ordination service.

Some say that my teaching is nonsense.

Others call it lofty but impractical.

But to those who have looked inside themselves, this nonsense makes perfect sense. And to those who put it into practice, this loftiness has roots that go deep.

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.

At the time I liked the idea that I was being ordained to be a preacher with the words, “Some say that my teaching is nonsense” ringing in my ears.  Today I especially appreciate, “I have just three things to teach:  simplicity, patience, compassion.”  (I’d quickly note that perhaps more importantly these are three things I really have to learn as well.)  “Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being.”

What does it mean to say that we Unitarian Universalists are a people “simple in actions and in thoughts?”  What could it mean (since I’m not all that sure that this describes us as we are)?  And should this be a goal?

Elsewhere in this Bulletin there are questions to help us engage more deeply with this concept of “simplicity,” and, of course, our Sunday sanctuary services this month will all touch on it in one way or another.  [And remember – we are on our summer schedule so there’s only one service each week, at 10:00 am.]

I have a friend who’s said that the one book she would bring would be a blank journal so that she could continue to explore the inner and outer worlds in which she lives.  May this month be for each of us an opportunity to do just that – and perhaps in our question to understand “simplicity” we will uncover some nonsense that makes perfect sense.

Pax tecum,

RevWik