Change

Photo by Anna Tarazevich, Pexels.com

It is sometimes said that the only certain things in life are death and taxes. Well – perhaps so but I would add another – and that is “change.” Everything in the universe and the universe itself is in constant change. There are no exceptions because everything in the universe had a beginning and everything will have an end. The only thing unchanging is change itself as our congregational reading noted.

One of the things that separates human beings from other animals, at least as far as we know, is that we know change will come – to ourselves and to our bodies and that we will one day pass from this world. But human beings haven’t always known that everything in the world and the universe is in constant change. Ancient Egypt, for example, was a remarkably changeless civilization.

For more than 2000 years, the ebb and flow of the Nile River created an agricultural paradise along a narrow strip of land on the banks of this great river. The certainty of the cycle of annual flooding produced a wealthy and conservative civilization that treasured constancy and changelessness. To the ancient Egyptians, harmony meant a world that did not change – but, of course, it eventually did, and foreign invaders destroyed the culture of ancient Egypt and replaced it many times with other cultures over the ensuring centuries. The rise and fall of great empires and nations has continued throughout all of human civilization and it will continue beyond today.

I have had the great pleasure of visiting many of the capitals of empires and nations of the past. In walking among the ancient ruins of once great civilizations, I have often been struck by their ephemeral nature. I often consider that important political and bureaucratic and military leaders in these ancient empires believed their life and work and their empire would last forever. But they didn’t. They never do. And the same is true today.

Before the rise of science, human beings thought the changes they perceived in the world were the acts of gods and other supernatural forces that lurked in unknown places and acted sometimes randomly, in ways human beings could not understand and rarely could control. Sacrifices and worship were used to mollify the gods and seek special favors that would influence positive change in a person’s life.

As the European enlightenment brought forth the Age of Science in the 18th century, the forces of nature and the forces that brought change began to be understood in scientific terms and in ways that brought with it more predictability. Curiously though, with the rise of science - at least at first - the earth was seen to change but the universe was perceived in more changeless terms. There was no beginning to the universe and there would be no end it was once thought.

This culminated in what was called the “Steady State Theory” which was the leading astronomical theory in most of the early and mid-twentieth century. The Steady State Theory held that the universe had no moment of creation - no beginning point. It had always existed. According to this theory, new matter arose in the universe automatically but essentially the universe had not only order but a certain steady changelessness. There just wasn’t much happening in the vastness of time and space. It was a “steady state.”

I find it interesting that the rise of agnosticism and humanism in both the Unitarian and Universalist movements were largely tied to the Steady State Theory. If science held that there was no beginning and no end; no change in the universe then it made little sense that there was a divine force of creation or a creator god. We now know, of course, that the Steady State Theory is completely false. The universe did have a moment of creation, and the universe is an extremely dynamic and changing thing – really profoundly so.

I think most Americans understand that the world today is in constant change. We are bombarded by all kinds of media that tells us this. Again – this wasn’t always the case. Although there were great changes in America in the 19th century, for example, many Americans simply accepted the way things were and did not expect change to inevitably come. Slavery existed for most of the century as it had for all of human history. Women had few rights and could not vote. This was simply the way it was. The concept of different sexual orientation was so remote it wasn’t even on the table for discussion.

In the 1870’s, after the Civil War, Clara Barton (a Universalist) had spent time in Europe and discovered the international Red Cross which was an organization dedicated to serving the wounded in wars. She was very impressed and lobbied congress to create the American Red Cross, but the President and the Congress told her there would be no more wars in America, so we didn’t need a Red Cross. (She then had an epiphany and changed her lobbying tactics and proclaimed that the organization could provide disaster relief. This idea was accepted so hence, the American Red Cross was created but not, it was thought, because America would ever participate in another war.)

In the 1890’s the head of the U.S. Patent Office testified in Congress that the Patent Office should be closed because as he said, “everything that could be invented had been invented.” There would be no more technological change.

But of course, the world, in every way, has changed profoundly during the past hundred and fifty year and it will continue to do so. We have come to expect change. We even hear people say, “Oh I am not going to buy the current model because a newer one will be coming out soon and I’ll wait for that.”

When I started going to sea in the 1970’s the primary method of deep-sea navigation was celestial navigation with the use of a sextant. My own sextant, which is now a museum piece in my living room, has nearly a million sea miles on it. Today, of course, all navigation globally is done with the use of GPS which is readily available on any cell phone and on any ship. I look with a certain sadness at the art of navigation which is slowly disappearing but there is no stopping this. (Just the other day I heard the Coast Guard will begin removing many coastal aids to navigation such as buoys). Change is relentless.

Of course, not everybody is happy about change. It can be scary. It can produce fear, and it can make one feel a sense of powerlessness. I remember well the fear my grandparents had during the 1960’s. It was as though their entire world was being destroyed by the forces of change.

My grandparents were born well over a hundred years ago. They lived through two horrible world wars and the depression. Of course, they witnessed all the technical changes in the world and welcomed most of them. They saw the rise of flight and they saw humans travel into space. They even saw the beginning of the computer age. But along with these changes, society was also changing and the 1960’s unleashed a revolution in social values and ethics. The “establishment” meaning the government itself was challenged and defied.

The antiwar movement; the sexual revolution; the rise of the women’s movement; the hippie movement; the way people dressed; the long hair; the advent of rock and roll; the riots on the streets of America’s cities – all these things bewildered my grandparents. I remember my grandfather likening all that was happening to the fall of Rome. He was convinced all was lost and it would not be long before our American civilization was destroyed.

But, of course, this did not happen and by the 1980’s my grandparents felt that the world was somehow returning to order. With difficulty they accepted at least some of the changes in society – changes such as civil rights and women’s rights.

I find it interesting to see how some people who embraced the changes of the 1960’s now have reservations about the social and societal changes we see in our world today. This is, I think, the fundamental cause of the political tension in our world today – and this is not just in America.

We see how change affects everything even in the business world. There are some businesses that refuse to change with the times, and they ultimately disappear as a result. I can remember years ago going into a variety store in Washington DC. It was a store like Woolworths or a Five and Dime. The name of the store was “G.C. Murphy.” Entering the store was like a time warp. The store had not changed in appearance or style or what they sold since the 1940’s. Obviously, the management believed that what they created in the 1940’s was still appropriate half a century later. It was not and the store chain filed for bankruptcy and went out of business a few years later. Look what is happening today to shopping malls. They are being replaced by online shopping. And what happened to Radio Shack, Bed Bath and Beyond, Blockbuster, Toys R Us, KMART and countless other businesses?

Whole nations resist change. I mentioned ancient Egypt but there are many others. In the early 15th century, the great Chinese eunuch Admiral Zheng He (Jeng Hey) built a huge fleet of sailing vessels for the purpose of exploring the world. We know for a fact, that Admiral He “discovered” south and east Africa and all the lands of the Indian Ocean. There is speculation – although far from proven – that he even discovered the west coast of North America. But the Ming Dynasty – rather than capitalizing on these discoveries were fearful they would bring too much change to the Chinese Empire, so they ordered the fleet and all of Admiral He’s logs and records burned. China, rather than change, turned inward, while the west soon caught up with China’s sailing and navigational technology and later in the 15th century began a centuries long period of exploration and exploitation – the results of which were disastrous for China.

The leaders of modern China are all too aware of this and they have consciously embraced change – even promoted it.

One of the very typical responses to change is fear. There is a conservative nature in most people to avoid change; avoid the unknown; and to stay with the familiar. This is true with people, with nations, and with businesses. It is true in many organizations. It is true with the use of technology. It can be true with societal changes and with personal change as well. The natural tendency with most people and with the organizations they are a part of is to resist change, of any kind, in their world.

This resistance is not healthy, in fact, it can be disastrous. It can easily prevent an organization from succeeding and a person from growing in wisdom and spirit – because the universe, by its very nature, changes and it is important to embrace change. Change is how the world and people can get better.

Some people don’t even accept the changes in their bodies. There is no one here who has not changed physically with the passing years. It is a fact and a reality we must accept. This is not to say that we should not take pride in our bodies. We should. Our bodies are sacred repositories of the universe. No matter how you believe that you came to be – our lives are a great gift. So, I believe we should take care of ourselves as much as possible but not to the point where we allow vanity to rule our lives. Who here has not seen an older person wearing clothes and acting like a young person decades younger than themselves? This is not healthy and, of course, it is impossible to grow younger in any case. We will all grow older. Accepting this is part of maturity and wisdom.

There is also the fact that in order for personal growth to happen, we must inevitably change our attitudes, our lifestyle, perhaps even our beliefs as we grow older. The experiences of life can help us to do this. This too is how we will grow in wisdom and spirit. The person who will not change, will not grow becomes trapped in their yesterdays. Most often this leads a person to become rigid, vain, and even hostile. It can lead to an unwillingness to consider new ways of thinking. It can also result in destroying relationships with those we love because as the world changes, people change. If we remain trapped in the thinking of bygone days we will grow distant from others whom we were once close to.

I can remember while attending seminary in the 1990’s in Berkeley, when walking through town and across campus, I was often struck by the number of older people in their fifties and sixties who were dressed and groomed like a 20-year -old hippie of the 1960’s. Apparently these folks had never moved on in life. They never changed with the passing decades, and they remained stuck in their past lives.

Conversely, I know people in their 80’s who continually reinvent themselves with the passing decades. As always, it is difficult and often inappropriate to judge people but being stuck in the past is not healthy. People who change with the times are most often the ones who have more wisdom and are spiritually healthy.

Then, of course, there is the person who says, “I not going to change. I am the way I am, and you can accept this or not, but I am not going to change.” This attitude too is really unhealthy, and it is a huge roadblock to personnel and spiritual growth. It can also be a way to destroy a relationship. In the counseling that I have done with many couples over the years, a frequent cause of strain in relationships is that one person has grown and changed with the years. This person has embraced new ideas and new ways of thinking and acting while the other person has not. If two people cannot grow together, their relationship is at risk.

Positive change in a person is a way to become a better person. Every one of us has faults but simply acknowledging our faults and refusing to change them is selfish and it is an impediment to personal and spiritual growth. The person who is short tempered and does not try to control their temper; the person who often puts down other people and hurts them; the person who carries an overt prejudice against a specific group of people. All of these people who act in these ways most often know they should not, but many refuse to change. These people lack the courage, the compassion and the strength and wisdom to grow in mind and spirit.

No one ever said that change is easy. Often it can be very difficult. Listening to others, embracing and implementing change can be exceedingly onerous for a person – but it is critical that all of us try. I have found that one of the most difficult areas to accept change is in the spiritual and religious realm. Religious fundamentalism is nothing more than a reaction and fear to change. We see this everyday throughout the world.

Religion, for many people, is their source of meaning and purpose. It gives people a sense of their life’s purpose and destiny and it is often a safeguard against the certainty of death. Fundamentalists, in any religion, heap scorn on those within the same religion who take a more liberal view toward the religion.

In the case of Christianity, for example, fundamentalists fanatically believe that the Christian Bible is the inerrant word of God – that God literally wrote the Bible through the various prophets. Liberal Christians generally take the view that the Bible is the work of human hands – perhaps inspired by God but written completely by humans. Fundamentalists are afraid to accept this idea because many perceive that this will weaken the foundation of their religious beliefs. In one sense, they are right because once you begin exploring the roots of any religion, you will find it is human made.

As you read any of the world’s religious scriptures, acknowledge their human origins and understand the world and the events that were going on when a particular scripture was written, it can become painfully apparent that religious beliefs are also human made – that a given religion is nothing more than a human creation. Understanding this can be deeply distressing. But rather than seeking other spiritual truths and changing one’s views, fundamentalists recoil with fear because they are afraid they will lose a sense of meaning and purpose in their life.

Even changing religious rituals can cause resistance. In the 1960’s, following the Vatican II Council, the Catholic Church changed some of the rituals of the mass. It was no longer said in Latin but in the local language. The altar was turned to face the people. Even these changes were resisted by many then and even now, nearly a century later. There have been similar occurrences in other world religions. The growth of fundamentalism in Islam is largely a reaction to the many changes in society, the availability of mass communication which spreads knowledge and new ways of thinking. In the same way, this phenomena has occurred in the lives of many Americans creating a resistance to change. We see this very plainly today.

One of the very special attributes of Unitarian Universalism is that it encourages the exploration and acceptance of change. It calls upon all of us to constantly seek truth and meaning. In so doing, we are called to spiritually grow. We are asked to consider the transcending mystery and wonder affirmed in all cultures – the sacred – the force which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and to the forces which create and uphold life. And as we learn through science and through human exploration, we can change and broaden our views of this transcending mystery and wonder.

Willingness to change one’s ideas and beliefs; to change one’s habits to become a better person; to encourage positive change in society as a whole - these are at the core of what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist.

Let us all strive to consider and embrace positive change in ourselves and in the world around us. Let us all continue to challenge all that we believe to be true and all that we believe to be untrue.

Reverend Christopher McMahon

UUMH Chatham

Sunday, May 25, 2025