"Ithaca."

Rev. Dr. Morris Hudgins.
June 3, 2001.

Introduction
The memory of Ric Masten's visit and his poems is still with me. One of my favorites of his short and humorous poems says in another way what I am going to say in this sermon today. It goes like this:

Once upon a time
A warty frog
Had a princess come along
And kiss
          Nothing happened
But when another frog
Hopped up
          Something did

And for those of you
Wondering what to do
While waiting
For your prince to come
I say
          Enjoy the frog

It is that time of year when we attend graduation ceremonies, and watch our youth leave home, go off to the next stage of their lives, to further their education, or begin work. For some youth it is a time of searching. Many, it seems, do not know what they want to do with their lives.

My message this morning is mainly to parents, but I also hope you will pass on some of my thoughts to your youth. Better yet, share your own thoughts. Give them a gift of your values in life along with the other gifts you will share. Tell them a story of a crisis in your life, a struggle that you had, and how you dealt with it.

I like to share with youth books for graduation. Sometimes a dictionary, very functional but not very poetic. I also like to give books of poetry or essays-books by Emerson or Gibran. If there is one poem I would share it is the poem "Ithaca" by C. P. Cavafy. This poem was one of those significant events in my life. I first read it in 1977 when I worked hard on a political campaign for the President of the UUA. My candidate lost by 30 votes. I was very disappointed. Did I not do enough? Could I have helped him win? Then I read this poem and it helped me to put things in perspective.

Ithaca gave me some lessons about life that I would like to share with you this morning. Maybe it will speak to you. It goes like this:

When you start on your journey to Ithaca,
Then pray that the road is long
Full of adventure, full of knowledge.
Do not fear the Lestrygonians
And the Cyclopes and the angry Poseidon.
You will never meet such as these on your path,
If your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
Emotion touches your body and your spirit.
You will never meet the Lestrygonians,
The Cyclopes and the fierce Poseidon,
If you do not carry them within your soul,
If your soul does not raise them up before you.

Then pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many,
That you will enter ports seen for the first time
With such pleasure, with such joy!
Stop at Phonecian markets,
And purchase fine merchandise,
Mother-of-pearl and corals, amber and ebony,
And pleasurable perfumes of all kinds,
But as many pleasurable perfumes as you can;
Visit hosts of Egyptian cities,
To learn and learn from those who have knowledge.

Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind,
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for long years;
And even to anchor at the isle when you are old,
Rich with all that you have gained on the way,
Not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage
Without her you would never have taken the road.
But she has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.
With the great wisdom you have gained, with so much experiences,
You must surely have understood by then what Ithacas mean.

Cavafy was a homosexual who wrote candidly erotic poems of nostalgic and reminiscence depicting the guilts, neuroses, anxieties, as well as pleasures of illicit love. But his poems are also of historical events. One author says,

his poems are neither emotional nor lyrical, but narrative, dramatic, objective, realistic, learned and witty, a recounting of events and episodes with subtlety in a tone of voice that is precise, dry and deliberately prosaic. (p. 26, Friar)

I don't agree with the lack of emotionality but I do see Cavafy's poems as dramatic, realistic, and historical. They are also ironic and indicative of the complexities and contradiction of life. I suppose this is why I like them. But it is not why I was attracted to him. I liked him in the beginning because of "Ithaca" that reminded me to live in the present, stop to smell the roses, and don't fret about tomorrow or look back to yesterday.

Surprisingly, I was excited by much more than this in Cavafy's poetry. I learned that his message of living in the present was grounded in history. Much of his poetry centers around the Greek world of the Hellenistic period, and the Greco-Roman and Byzantine ages, the centuries before Chrit and during the early centuries of Christianity when Jews were Hellenized and the Greco-Romans were being Christianized. His poetry reflects the conflicts of transitional periods of history, as he picks up small details in the transitions and not necessarily the significant events.

A major significant event, however, that is reflected in Cavafy's poetry is the conflict between the pagans and the Christians around the fourth century A.D. It is here that we found the pagans, those mostly who lived in villages and supposedly not reached by the Christian missionaries. It was during this time you will remember that the Christians were considered to be the atheists, because of their belief in a different God.

The Christians considered the common gods demonic, not worthy of their respect. They were thought to be anarchists who would not follow the dictates of the majority. The early Christian apologists asked that society be as tolerant of the Christian beliefs as they were about other religious beliefs. They tried to show the similarity between Christianity and the best in pagan thought.

But there was always a difference between pagan and Christian thought, and one could say it is the difference between those who are part of the ruling society and those who are outside. The Christians not only rejected the religious beliefs of the Greco-Roman world, but they also rejected worldliness in general. Worldly prosperity was to be rejected, and concern was to be given to the life in other transcendent worlds. Enjoyment and sexual pleasure are especially to be rejected for more spiritual rewards. On the other hand, the pagans sought success for their personal lives and peace for their state.

These differences in pagan and Christian thought point to the tensions that exist today between those who have Christian leanings in our movement today and those who prefer paganism. It will not be an easy transition for our movement from its Christian roots to a movement that is open and tolerant of all that paganism brings with it.

I personally try to ride the fence between the two. In some ways I am more pagan and in other ways I am more Christian. I prefer the worldliness of paganism but also like the emphasis on love, sacrifice and forgiveness of Christianity.

Cavafy wrote poems about these basic conflicts that all of us face in the modern world. Even though he writes of the contradictions of life, he also emphasizes the need to live life in the present and get the most pleasure possible. Some would say he is a true heathen. Cavafy also writes of human who are frail, cynical, cowardly, bewildered and worldly and he does so with amusement, sympathy and understanding. (Friar, pp. 25-26)

I guess the dilemmas of the fourth centuries is one we must also face in the 21st centurity. How much do we wish to go along with society as we set our values, our priorities, our goals for life? How much is worldly success going to be a part of our lives? Are we going to plan for the future or live for the moment? Are we going to gather greater riches or remember great experiences of our past, gather knowledge, crete beauty, indulge in the present?

It is here that the journey to Ithaca is set. Cavafy then gives us the answers. He says as we start the journey, wish that it will be long, full of adventure, full of knowledge. Taking a swipe at all views of gods, or at least evil forces, he says you should not fear the Lestregonians, the Cyclopes and the angry Poseidon, because they will not be found in your soul if you do not raise them up before you.

In Greek mythology we find Odysseus traveling to Ithaca after the sack of Troy. On the journey he had to kill a one-eyed Cyclops, the son of Poseidon, and thus incurred the sea god's wrath. Later, the Lestregonians, giant cannibals, destroyed eleven of Odysseus' twelve ships. Almost twenty years after he had left to fight at Troy, and after almost ten years of adventures on the way, he finally reaches Ithaca.

Using this journey, Cavafy prays that our road will be long, that we will enter ports for the first time, purchase fine merchandise, perfumes, stones, but also learn from those who have knowledge. Then here is the irony: We are to keep the goal fixed on our mind, but do not hurry the voyage at all. The riches are not the possessions we have gathered, or the goals we have reached, but the beautiful voyage on the way.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would nave never taken the road.
But she has nothing more to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.
With the great wisdom you have gained,
With so much experience,
You have surely understood by then what Ithacas mean.

Let us apply this message to all of life. Question whether or not we are expecting too much out of life, depending too much on the end and forgetting to smell the roses. We stress the gaining of wealth, the collection of possessions, but do not enjoy what we have.

I found Cavafy's message to be balanced because he wanted us to keep the goal in mind. I see so many people who are frustrated with life because they refuse to set new goals or they don't set any goals at all. They may be the most frustrated of all. If you don't have the flowers it is difficult to enjoy any fragrance. We need to continually set goals and re-evaluate, both in our personal lives and in our organizations. If we don't set new goals we sit passively accepting our fate.

I also look around me to see people who keep looking for that new goal, who can't seem to find a goal, work to accomplish it and enjoy the journey along the way. They are continually looking for that new city where everything to going to be happier. Cavafy has a meaningful response in a poem titled, "The City":

You said, "I will go to another land, I will go to another sea.
Another city will be found, a better one than this.
Every effort of mine is a condemnation of fate;
And my heart is-like a corpse-buried.
How long will my mind remain in this wasteland.
Wherever I turn my eyes, wherever I may look
I see black ruins of my life here,
Where I spent so many years destroying and wasting.

You will find no new lands, you will find no other seas.
The city will follow you. You will roam the same streets.
And you will age in the same neighborhoods;
And you will grow gray in these same houses.
Always you will arrive in this city. Do not hope for any other-
There is no ship for you, there is no road.
As you have destroyed your life here
In this little corner, you have ruined it in the entire world.

Cavafy reminds us that we cannot run from our life. What we do today will be with us forever. To a certain extent that is so, but what about forgiveness and change? All of us make mistakes. We must move on. Cavafy is too rough on us. His point is well taken, however: Some of us live too much for our own success and forget to consider the results on others.

Remember the balance. Don't live too much in the present. Don't look too much toward the future. Consider others that you cross along the way. What we cannot do is retreat from this world. We must enjoy it and try to change it. This is our challenge.

Yesterday, I made the trip to Cincinnati to participate in the March for Justice. I heard some angry voices. I heard the voice of a grieving mother who had lost her child because he made the mistake of running from the police. Others asked, "Do the police have the right to take a life?" "Is there no justice in the world?"

As I walked down the street as part of the demonstration I looked to the side of the road and saw the police standing by at a distance, not too close, watching and listening. They must have heard the chants, "No more racist police." "Where there is no justice, there is no peace." "No justice, no peace." "No justice, no peace." I wondered what they were thinking.

One of the speakers was a police officer from New Jersey who is fighting racism from within and outside the police department. He is an outspoken African-American who wants to see the end of racism in our society. He has been here before and warned us of the problems that exist. These problems are not easy problems to address. There are no simple answers.

In closing, please tell your children to enjoy their journey, smell the roses, but live in the present, have some goals, consider the lives of others, be proud of what you accomplish, be thankful for the gifts you have received. Give so that others may benefit from what you have been given.

Once upon a time
A warty frog
Had a princess come along
And kiss it
          And nothing happened

But when another frog
Hopped up
          Something did

And for those of you
Wondering what to do
While waiting
For your prince to come
I say
          Enjoy the frog