In view of the weather closing of First Unitarian Church, Alton on the first
Sunday of January, 1999, here is a mini-version of the message that was
planned for that Sunday.

To illustrate our mental and moral life, we draw illustrations from the world
around us. I often picture a great sailing ship, sails up, ready to leave
harbor, but going nowhere because anchor chains over the stern indicate that
the ship is still anchored - and I go on to say that that ship is us if we are
anchored by past regrets and resentments. Today the metaphor may be drawn from
the computer and we might say that if our screens and memory are cluttered
with unnecessary files, we need to move those files to the Recycle Bin. We
need to let go and to latch on.

LETTING GO
So let us look at some things we need to let go.

RESENTMENT. Someone did something to us in the past and we are still nursing
it inside us and tying up valuable energy. Spiritual masters have long pointed
out that hating does as much damage to the hater as to the hated. We are
letting the behavior of someone else define our thinking.

REGRET. Something happened in the past that was not to our liking. We were
denied a chance at something, or somehow missed the boat. An opportunity
passed us by, and now we live as if the rest of our life has to be defined in
terms of that road not taken. Nothing can change the past. What we can do is
find a different perspective on the past and learn a lesson and move on.

GUILT. In the case of guilt, we are the doers of the deed that is now
regretted. We can, of course, make reparations, if possible, but often the
situation has changed or the people involved have so moved on, that that is
not feasible. If one's religion offers it, we can seek forgiveness. But,
whichever way, we need to see guilt as a monitor that tells us that we have
strayed from the integrity of our course. Either get back on course, or
realize that we have changed our mind about where our course should take us.
But don't let guilt punish us forever.

FEAR. Experience often teaches us by hurting us. We touch the hot stove and we
learn from the pain not to go there again. But all too often a fear of a past
situation prevents us from revisiting such a situation again, and this
constricts our potentiality. We need to remember that when we were young there
were indeed situations where we were justifiably scared and weak and
vulnerable. We need also to realize that now we are grown, we have resources
to deal with such situations in new and promising ways.

In every one of the above situations, whether we are anchored by resentment,
regret, guilt, or fear, there is a letting go to be achieved. The lesson is:
Don't let the past hold the present to ransom.

LATCHING ON
Our appreciation of the passage of time is partly taken from the cycles of
nature and partly determined by the human artifact that we call the calendar.
It is a useful device that allows us to sum up a period in our life and move
on to another. With a New Year comes the opportunity to begin again. That's
why January is associated with making resolutions. These are the things that
we need to latch on to, to make the most of the opportunities that lie before
us. I would categorize them as physical, psychological, and spiritual.

PHYSICAL. Increasingly I am becoming aware that the body is the vehicle of all
that we not only do, but also think and feel. How in shape is that vehicle? My
wife and I gave each other gift memberships at a gym for 1999 in keeping with
this realization.

The American Medical Association got into the spirit and has published on the
Internet its "New Year's Resolutions for a Healthier America in 1999." To
summarize:

1.   Give up smoking or help someone else to stop. 400,000 Americans die each
year from smoking-related disease, and despite a general decline in smoking,
it still attracts adolescents and young adults, with a dramatic rise among
college-age smokers.

2.   Practice "safer" sex. If sexually active beyond a committed relationship
take precautions and avoid those who have multiple partners. 40,000 in the
U.S. contract HIV annually. 110,000 under the age of 29 have been diagnosed
with AIDS.

3.   Talk to your kids about alcohol and drugs. Average age a child begins
drinking is 12, and trying marijuana is 13. Role play with them how to say No
to drugs. And learn to listen, to relate to as much as to regulate your child.

4.   A happy new you - and exercise is the key. This is the most physically
inactive generation that has ever lived. Exercise reduces the risk of
contracting numerous diseases and prevents early death. Get a program going.

5.   Schedule a physical and start with a clean bill of health - or the
correctives needed.

PSYCHOLOGICAL.  Attitude plays a bigger part in health and well-being than we
often realize. Even medical studies are now underlining this. What Herbert
Benson calls "remembered wellness" (as a more fruitful name for the "placebo
effect") is being shown to be a powerful factor in keeping well and getting
well.

SPIRITUAL.  Religion and its optimism are also under study for their
contribution to human survival. To see life not simply as obligation
(morality) but as opportunity (grace) changes our whole outlook. However our
faith interprets "Lord", it is important to wake each day and say something
like: "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in
it." In that spirit, may 1999 find you more grounded in the good life.