Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church

You Bet Your Life

Rev. Tony Perrino

April 22, 2007

The Dictionary defines the word “gamble” as “a game of chance involving money.” It also offers a second definition: “any course of action involving risk and uncertainty.” Well, my purpose today is to suggest that, by either of those definitions, life is a gamble!

Just getting up in the morning is a gamble that the day will be worth getting up for, and, when the odds seem long against that bet, getting up is a slow process. BUT, when you’ve got something exciting to look forward to, awakening is prompt with energy.

You’re eager to “bet” that day!

The reality is that we bet our lives--- with every hour we spend, every choice we make, every check we write--- gambling that they will bring us what we want out of life. And anyone who tries to avoid the risks inherent in this game of chance--- fails to live.

Nathaniel Hawthorne once made an entry into his Journal which said, “Subject for a novel: a story in which the main character never appears.” To my knowledge, Hawthorne never translated that interesting idea into fiction. But, to my sadness, I’ve seen human beings translate that fictional idea into fact. In the poignant language of Oliver Wendell Holmes, “They died with all their music in them.”

This past week we witnessed the terrible tragedy of many lives being cut short by a troubled assassin, and we appropriately mourned. Premature death is always tragic, and as the poet, Nikki Giovanni, said at the Memorial Service, premature death must also be mourned when it happens in Darfur, or Iraq. But an even grater tragedy that premature death—is never to have lived at all. That is not only a tragic waste, it is, if there is such a thing, “the unpardonable sin.” What could be more unforgivable than never rendering the music in you, never really living—because of an unwillingness to risk being hurt? Choosing—a premature death.

John Ciardi once wrote a poem reflecting such a judgment on the timid souls who thus forfeit the game of life. At the next vacancy for God, if I am elected

I shall forgive last the delicately wounded

who, having been slugged no harder than anyone else,

never get up again, neither to fight back,

nor to finger their jaws in painful admiration.

They who are truly broken, and they in whom

Mercy is understanding, I shall embrace at once

and lead to pillows in heaven. But they who are

meek by trade, baiting the best of their betters

with extortions of mock helplessness—

I shall take last to love... and never wholly.

Let them all into heaven—I abolish Hell—

But let it read over them as they enter:

“Beware the calculations of the meek, who gambled nothing,

Gave nothing, and could never receive enough.”

The matter may be more palatably presented (if not as poetically) in the Pogo cartoon where that furry philosopher observes a duck migrating north on a kiddie car and comments, “Hmph! He’s afeard to fly, he might fall; he’s afeard to swim, he might drown; when he decided to be a duck, he picked the wrong business?”

By the same token, any human being who thinks he or she can live in this world without risk and uncertainty—

“picked the wrong business.” Living – IS choosing: facing what are called “forced options,” decisions we cannot postpone or avoid. And every choice we make—precludes its opposite, with the risk that we may have chosen unwisely.

So, we bet our lives—either way: the days go by, the unavoidable wagers are made, the life is spent, and the question becomes, “How can we bet our lives in ways that will result in maximum, meaningful gain?” I offer three suggestions:

I- The first is “DON’T HEDGE YOUR BETS” by always trying to “play it safe.”

You can’t win big unless you bet big! Of course, that means that you might lose big, but, as someone said, “If you want a place in the sun, you must expect to get blistered, at least occasionally. And, if you play so prudently that there’s little chance of losing, you might as well sit out the game—as a kibitzer.

That is not to suggest reckless irresponsibility, wild and wanton wagering. But it does mean, at least occasionally, “playing the long shot,” “letting it all ride,” “swinging from the heels and going for the long ball!” The baseball reference reminds me that the Major League baseball record for the most strikeouts is held by Babe Ruth! That’s right “the Great Bambino” went down swinging 1330 times! But very few people remember that. What they remember, of course, are his 714 home runs. He bet big… and won big!

There are no guarantees that you will always win—whatever you bet. But there is no way to win big—other than betting big. And “playing it safe” carries no guarantees either, as illustrated in this story: in 1940 a man saw the war clouds engulfing Europe and realized that they would soon reach our land. So, he scanned the globe to find a safe place for his family, and they moved—to a remote island in the Pacific named—Guadalcanal! So, “playing it safe” carries no guarantees either, but one thing IS sure: you can’t win big—unless you bet big. The first rule in the game of life is, “Don’t hedge your bets.”

II- The second suggestion: BET ON THE THINGS WHICH MATTER.

So many people spend their time and talent, the substance of their lives, betting on things which don’t cost much, or won’t change much, and aren’t really worth much! Gambling for money, for example, is not immoral—unless someone’s being hurt by it; it’s just petty wagering—when all around us—there are great and momentous matters—awaiting the courageous betting of our lives: wagers which are worthy of our taking some risks.

Think about it. What really matters most in life? Which are the wagers that are most likely to bring you—not just fleeting pleasure but the enduring joys of accomplishment and caring relationship, of contributing to a world in which justice and peace prevail? The fact is that we are all going to lose the “biggest bet”; we’re going to die eventually. But to die without benefit of cause! To spend our lives without making them matter some way, THAT is the great and ignominious defeat, a forfeit—of the biggest bet!

So, bet your life on the values that give meaning to your days, In the haunting words of Horace Mann: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity!”

III- The third suggestion is that you: BET ON THE POSITIVE SIDE OF LIFE’S UNCERTAINTIES—so that, win or lose, you have the satisfaction of having gambled on behalf of the nobler possibilities of existence.

For example, you can habitually bet, and frequently win the wager, on the fact that there is some bad in the best of us. But the return on such and investment of cynicism is, of course, only a compounded pessimism. OR you can regularly bet on the equally valid fact that there is some good—in the worst of us… which is a wager you will sometimes lose, BUT, when you win, brings rewards greater than its risks—for it places you on the creative side of the universe.

Woodrow Wilson reflected that awareness when, literally, having bet his life on the ideal of The League of Nations, only to see his own nation reject it, he said, “I would rather fail in such a worthy cause—that will someday succeed—because it must, than succeed in a lesser endeavor.”

He was expressing a profound insight: success and suffering go together. If we succeed in some great endeavor, without suffering, it’s because others before us suffered for that cause. And, if we suffer, in some worthy endeavor, without success, it is so others, who come after us, may succeed.

The philosopher, Nietsche, wrote “Whoever has a WHY to live—can bear almost any how.” I would add, “Whoever wagers on the side of the creative process of life—can bear, almost any loss with grace and a clear conscience.” So, bet your life on the positive side of life’s uncertainties—and enjoy an enduring sense of satisfaction—and value.

What’s the immediate relevance of all this? I want to relate my remarks to our Congregation’s Annual fund Drive and “the gambling habits of religious liberals.” When we commit ourselves to this, or any institution, we are saying, “I bet a significant portion of my life, my time, and talent, and treasure to this enterprise—because it serves the ideals and values which are important to me.”

I won’t elaborate upon the ways in which this Church, and the Unitarian Universalist Movement represent “the things which matter most” and “the positive side of life’s uncertainties.” You must be aware of them, or you wouldn’t be here. Today our world is being torn apart by militant, religious fundamentalisms, and it is so urgently obvious that our heritage—of respect for diversity of thought—is desperately needed and worthy of your wholehearted commitment.

What I want to focus on this morning, because it baffles me, is the propensity of religious liberals to “hedge our bets:” to be unwilling to “bet big” on the things we believe in. such timidity seems oddly incongruous with the “liberal” temperament.

There’s an old story about a preacher who told his congregation, “Brothers and Sisters, there’s work to be done; let’s rise up and walk.” And the people replied, “Amen. Let’s walk.” He then said, “Time’s awasting; we’ve got to rise up and run!” The congregation responded, “Amen. Let’s run.” The minister then shouted, “The kingdom is acomin’. We’ve gotta rise up and fly!” “Amen. Let’s fly!” they replied. Then the preacher observed, “But it takes money to fly.” There was a long, awkward silence, then someone in the back row said, “Amen. Let’s walk.”

That seems to be the mood of the UU’s except that we don’t even want to talk about money. Indeed, we lean over backwards to avoid sounding like those churches which are always talking about money, and we ignore the subject altogether. We’ll talk about sex and politics, and everything else, but the subject of money is our one “taboo.”

The consequence of this phobia is clear. Research indicates, “Most fundamentalist tithe 10% of their annual income and give it to their churches. Conservative Protestants give approximately 6 % of their income; Catholics, Jews, and mainline Protestants 4%, and UU’s last giving on average of 1½% of their income to their churches. It seems the more conservative you are, theologically, the more liberal you are with your money!

I know that there are some valid reasons for the gap. Many of us also support other worthy causes, and, of course, we are not motivated to “buy real estate in heaven or fire insurance from hell!” But, for a denomination that is near the top in terms of per capital annual earnings, it is disgraceful that we are to tight-fisted in our giving to the Church.

A joke that made the rounds of UU newsletters reported that Billy Graham was going to buy the UUA—because his profits were so high, he needed a tax loss! But it’s really not a joking matter. Liberal religion will never be the force for good that it ought to be in our world—until those who profess to believe in it—bet generously on its importance.

Life is “a game of chance… in which money is involved. We do bet our lives with every check we write—because what we do with our money is what we do with our lives. So, I urge you to make a commitment commensurate with your capacity, no less, no more.

There are so many worthwhile goals that could be achieved if, those of us can afford to, pledged at least 2% of our annual income to this religious community. I ask you to consider doing so. The stakes are high, the odds are long, but I can’t think of any enterprise that is more worthy of “the betting of our lives” in wholehearted commitment.