So much is changing, so rapidly.  In the last few weeks, the coronavirus has altered every aspect of our lives, personally and socially:  the way we live, work, worship, our health system, our economy and more. What we must protect and cling to is who we are:  our human essence, our humanity.

In the last two weeks, like a lot of you, I’ve spent a lot of time at home.

In fact, I counted.
I’ve been out of the house exactly 4 times.

Two weeks ago, Sunday, we had worship via facebook live, from Wylder Hall.
That Tuesday, I came into church for the Board meeting
Which is also the last time I drove my car anywhere
(lots of social distancing)
Yesterday, I realized that if I didn’t drive my car the battery would die
So I started my car, and as long as I had my car, drove to church
Picked up my stole – a few other things.

And the fourth time I got out of the house was earlier this week when I took a walk around downtown.
Jim was working.
I just had to get out of the house.
I walked by muelf up Main Street to City Hall.  Through the park.  And back home.
Beautiful Day
I noticed the same thing when I drove to church yesterday.

I felt..

People were dangerous
I didn’t speak to anyone.
I avoided eye contact.

A Buddhist Teacher once pointed out to me that our most common feeling about other people is to think of them as obstacles.
That is, other people are in my way.
I have to wait for them to get served before me in line
I have to drive around their cars.
And we should shift our thinking to remember that other people have their own goals and purposes in life that are as important as our own.

But if I used to think of my fellow humans as “obstacles” in my life
Now I was seeing them as “dangerous” to my life.

That felt icky

After the terrorist incidents of 9/11
A lot of people realized that if our society changed
To where we became permanently frightened and suspicious of each other
Hateful of innocent people
Merely because of their religion or national origin
Sacrificing all our freedoms in pursuit of the fantasy of perfect security.
That the terrorists would have “won”
That is, that we would have voluntarily done to ourselves
Exactly what the terrorists hoped to do

And so the response, as much as possible, was to try and keep doing exactly what we had done before.
Not to change our society
Not to change our personal behavior

In the current crisis
Some people foolishly said the same thing and refused to make any changes to social behavior
Saying, “The virus wins, if I don’t pack the bar on St. Patrick’s Day, or we don’t pack the beach on Spring Break.”

Actually what the virus “wants”
(Although, it’s weird to talk about a string of protein wrapped in fat as “wanting” anything”)
What the virus wants is to multiply and spread, and bringing people together in bars or beaches is not an act of defiance but actually the best possible scenario for the virus.
In this case the virus “wins” when as many people as possible are infected.
And humanity “wins” when as few people as possible are infected.
And that means not going about business as usual
But fundamentally changing our personal behavior
Changing our society

So here we are
Worshipping on Zoom
Physical distancing
Learning to work for home – some of us
Closing school
Canceling trips
Canceling concerts, and sports
Thursday should have been Opening Day for the Baseball Season.
Instead it was “Nopening Day”

So that’s tough to do
But it is the right thing to do
We have to learn to keep our distance from each other, for awhile

But what we can’t do,
Is start to think of each other as dangerous
As enemies

We have to change a lot
But what we can’t change is the imperative that we continue to see other people as human beings with goals and purposes in their lives at least as important as our own.

Two weeks ago, for worship
You might have heard me say how difficult it was to find appropriate words in our hymnal for Opening Words
Because so many of the readings reference coming together physically

If this goes on too long we’re going to have to have a whole new hymnal.

But when I thought about all the things that this crisis is forcing us to change
And what we cannot let this crisis change in us.
I reflected on our UU seven principles and realized they are absolutely as appropriate and essential to this time as to any other time.
No change required

In person or via Zoom room:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person

Close enough to touch or six feet distant:
Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations

People I love and strangers on the sidewalk
Acceptance of one another, and encouragement to spiritual growth

For me, for you:
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning

On Super Tuesday when we last voted in person, or virtual congregational meetings in May
The right of conscious and the use of the democratic process

Even during a worldwide health crisis our goal hasn’t changed:
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all

And with new found relevance but always true humility, knowing that human beings and viruses both have their place
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

I want nothing more than to be past this crisis
I pray
for a good treatment
For an effective vaccine
For us to gather in person again
Sharing handshakes and hugs not simply waving at video screens

We will get there
But to get there, safely,
Much of how we live, now, must change

But what need not change
And must not change
Is the core of our faith:
The worth we see in every person
The care we show in every relationship
The principle of justice
The goal of community

And a humble reminder that none of us
Is the privileged center of the system the universe revolves around
But we are each of us and all of us
a valued part of a vast network of creation
That includes each and embraces all.