This I Believe

From April 6, 2008 service at the Unitarian Church. It was a service entitled This I Believe, based on the NPR program. I shared my statement, at least my statement for today!

This I Believe

I believe in jazz.
Structure and improv. Call and response.

I believe in healing.
I have seen it so often—among many of you, in my own life.

I believe in story. Once upon a time.
I believe everything you ever needed to know could be found in a parable.

I believe with the psalmist that we—you and I and all of us--can know the beauty of the lord in the land of the living.

I believe in dreams. I believe in dreamers.

I believe in something bigger than me, call it god if you’d like. I will. I believe in a god the name of which is many and never to be known but one that I call: love that will not let us go. Fellow sufferer who understands. Holy spirit. Spirit of life. The inner voice of wisdom. The still, small voice. The center who listens and knows.
The god who can be found in the creative moment. Who calls us to our best self.

I believe, more than anything, in people. People who grow. People who snore. People who curse. People who build and give. People who fail. People who love, and love again. People who know wisdom, occasionally.

I believe in the Chesapeake bay. And the sea. I believe in the rising sun. And my children’s smiles. And I believe in you, in thou. In life.

I believe that anyone at anytime can know the holy way, the good way in life. That each life is holy for its own sake. We are what we’ve got, and I believe that we have more power and beauty and love and compassion than we realize.