Forest Church is the Senior Minister of All Souls UU Church in New York City, renowned author and speaker. He has cancer and his days on earth are numbered. The title of his lecture, "Love and Death,” is also the title of his latest and probably last book.
Death is the religious response to life.
Death is one of the hinges of life
I became a minister when I preformed my first funeral
Life is like a stained glass window with different panes on the different aspects of our life
When one pane becomes cloudy or dark we focus on that to the exclusion of all the other aspects of life
Guiding themes for a successful life:
Do what you can
Want what you have
Be who you are
Accept the total package
Life lives us until we pay attention
We can't live life fully until we accept our death
Fear of death comes from unfinished business
“If only” are the two saddest words in the language
Salvation is here
Integrity: peace with ourselves
Reconciliation: peace with others
Redemption: peace with death
Death may come as thief in the night but it cannot steal the love you have given away
Crisis --don't ask why, ask where do we go from here. Know we must do it together
Don't ask what you did to deserve this fate--we did not earn the privilege of being here
Think about the choices of your ancestors and the infinite genetic possibilities that combined to create you
Infinite sequence of genetic accidents mean there are infinite odds against our being here
Remember this mantra:
Human-humility-humble-humus
Amen-I thank you-I love you and may God bless us
Quotes from his answers to questions:
Avoid the pain of grief and loss by closing your heart--love is grief's advance party
When we are disappointed in America we should not be less American but should hold the leaders to the vision the fore fathers dreamed.
More detail found at http://www.uua.org/events/generalassembly/2008/commonthreads/115714.shtml
