Sermon on Sacred Activism at St Johnsbury UU Church
The heart of the UU service I led last Sunday was a sermon I gave about Sacred Activism which its founder, mystic and religious scholar Andrew Harvey, defines it as “a transforming force of compassion-in-action that is born of a fusion of deep spiritual knowledge, courage, love, and passion, with wise radical action in the world.” It is about connecting deep within to heal, to awaken, to transform, and cultivate a profound and FIERCE spiritual love, a reverence and holiness for all that exists, and then to take that love into the world, to heal and transform it, and to serve others by addressing the myriad of human needs and aspirations.
We’re talking about personal transformation and transformation of the world, either one of which is a big undertaking. But the truly radical part of all this is the MARRIAGE between those two, between the inner work within ourselves (spiritual development and personal healing) and the outer work in the world, locally and globally (climate change, Syria war, water quality and neglected children in our own communities). Andrew is saying that we need to do both, aligned with each other and anchored in love, because one reinforces and sustains the other. From my own experience, I know that a sole focus on one can undermine the other.