Unitarian Universalist Church, Springfield

One thing you learn early in life in my line of work is never disagree with the man who's got this body. Because he was telling me his wife, I don't know if she's here.

She said, she gave me a coffee mug. And thing says, Be careful, or you will end up with my seven.

I think that's,

of course, thank you very, very much, Jason for this wonderful

build up. I hope I remained and not dropped out.

Jason is a I think, a true friend. And the reason I say that is because the first time we met, I invited him to go on a walk with me and he came, we walked six miles. And then he came again, the second time in second time, he said, Can we go for a walk? So I said to myself, well, here is a guy who either he likes me, he's a good friend, or he likes punishment, I don't know which one.

So that's,

it's a wonderful thing. Before I go into my actual message, I want to say something off the hymn that we the prayer we began with, which is come one and all and this reminds me of a passage in the Quran, which is, you know, it's our reveal book into the actual speech of God as recorded on Earth. And so I will say to you in the language in which it was revealed, which is Arabic, and then I will translate it for you, which I think

really speaks about the spirit of what that's beautiful. Prayer In Him was Allah subhanaw taala God Almighty, our Creator

he says, Oh, we love him, you know, share it on everybody. Bismillah R Rahman Al Rahim, call Leah Eva the lady Now Surah four I foresee him lead corner to lotta Cornetto mera Murthy.

In Elia will Feroz going on by Jeremy in a hole or four or he

this is how you recite the Quran is called reciting it sounds like singing It's not singing It's called reciting.

It's a direct command to the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, he says say

all people who have transgressed against yourselves

is God Almighty talking to us, people who commit sins in our lives. And he's saying to His Messenger, Muhammad, peace be upon him, say and it's a direct command call say to those who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah.

Verily, Allah will forgive all sins. And truly, He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful. And as I was listening to that, I think this ties in very nicely with that, today I want to teach you farming.

Think about this,

what you hold in your hand

is the seed.

If you hold it,

that is all that you will have.

But if you plant it,

you will have a harvest that will feed you and your family and many others

all around you.

If you go to India, this actually happened to me once southern India late May, is the peak of summer.

Temperatures are in Fahrenheit 125 Plus

is like standing in front of a furnace. Quite literally without without it without exaggeration. The soil is split. It looks like a jigsaw puzzle. Because it's cracked with the heat. It's been baking in the heat for three months solid.

If you go into the heart of a farmer

you will find two things.

One

you will not find

In the adults at home, the mother and the father are not there is aware of the god. They've gone to the town nearby and they're working on a construction site getting construction material up and out in that heat.

But in the

house, you will find a sack of grain.

So you ask what was there there? Why have they gone there because we have no food to eat.

We are surviving on one roti per day roti to give you an idea that pita bread, one per day in 24 hours.

So, they're going to answer money so they can afford this one piece of bread.

So you might say, well, that is strange, because you have a whole sack of grain in your house.

Why don't you eat that grim grind and make you notice.

The monsoon which is when the rains come once in a year, the monsoons round the corner.

This sack of grain is enough to take you and your family to the monsoon, there is no need for you to suffer the hardship.

That is why we need to learn farming. The farmer will say it's not about eating for this period. It's about eating for the whole year.

Is we ate this green now. We start for the rest of the year.

But if we see ourselves through this difficulty now and plant that grain, then we eat and others eat for the whole year.

And that's why we should know farming.

Because farming is not the only place this applies is it.

This is life.

Only when our deeds leave our hands and go up into the sky. Do decisions about our lives descend.

We are all farmers. All of us

and just now you planted some seeds.

We are on farmers

we have been given the choice

of the kind of harvest we want to earn

the world is like a fertile field. A fertile field. It doesn't care what you planted but it will give you only that which you plant in it.

You plant rice you get rice you blonde wheat you get when you plant rice you want we do get

so if we

in this whole issue, we seem to have forgotten

that in our toxic self centered culture

that we are not alone.

And if we are going to have a culture which is based on what's good for me alone and the world can go to hell.

Remember, it doesn't work like that.

Because where the world goes, I go as well.

Allah subhanho data God Almighty told us in the Quran about the effect of our actions.

And he says are all facade Oh Phil burry will Buhari be Mirka summer ad Nursey Luzi combat Allah the army Lula Allah homeodomain he said the trials and tribulation, the difficulties and the calamities and the diseases and so on which you find spread on this on the sea and the land are the result of what people's hands have earned.

And God allows that to happen. So to give you a taste

of that, so you may change and you may return to Him.

So the next time somebody says to you, and talks about some terrible thing that is happening in the world, and may Allah, may Allah help us there's no shortage of that.

And somebody says to you, well, you know, if there is a God, why didn't you do something?

I'm sure many of us have heard this statement, right? If there is a God, why don't you do something?

You know what? Next time somebody tells you that, tell them he did.

You already did. So what's that? He made you.

He created you.

To give you an example,

supposing

I'm a police officer sitting in my cruiser on duty.

And I see a robbery happening.

And I said, you know something? If there is a government, why don't you do something?

Right? You get the analogy Right?

Or the government is appointed, you gave you the equipment to do what's right or wrong, and you want to see her cruiser and blame the government Go ahead.

Now, therefore, I say,

on the subject of generosity, it's not even a choice.

It is absolutely critically essential. Because if anyone thinks that our society that is based

on the single minded pursuit of profit at any costs, can be free from the consequences of this philosophy, then surprise, surprise,

we can only live surrounded by crime and misery and depression and despair and fear and pit.

So what can we do?

Change our vocabulary?

I want to submit you please erase the word charity from your minds?

Do you know what concerti

you don't you used to you're not

your.in its place put in the word investment.

All right.

Charity is a zero sum game, charities net loss, what is charity? Charity is I give something for nothing.

How much can I give?

Hypothetically speaking, if I give everything away,

then what?

My charity has to stop there is some point at which all charity will stop at

some point for some made is less for some it is more. But hypothetically speaking, if I sold everything I owned, and I even gave you away, this Moroccan thought, and this is from the Sahara Desert, to our eggs, the turbo and so on, so forth.

And I stand before you and I don't want to talk about that, but

it ends. But investment

is investment and

go as Wall Street.

Investment never ends. Why? Because investment gives you a return.

When there is a return,

whatever we put in, we get to return, the more you voted, the bigger the return. So change the word.

Which brings me to the point

that today we live in a society. And I'm taking up this and putting on a business hat. In the business world. We talk about ROI, return on investment. So if you bring for me a deal, I will ask you, and you ask me, Is this a good deal or not? And then me as I'll ask you, what's your ROI on this deal? What's the return on your investment?

Right? Guess which business today has the highest ROI

the business of manufacture and sale of weapons of mass destruction?

What do you need for that business to succeed? Once

was when President John F Kennedy was short.

That anniversary was a few days ago. I remember in India and I was

How old was I think I was seven eight years old.

Seeing in the newspaper, the picture of a gun.

And the caption said this is made for one reason only.

Weapons of Mass Destruction are made for one reason only. And if you have a society that is based on the return on that

then surprise surprise one

is permanent

is that the society you and I want to live in? That's the choice we need to make. And therefore what you do invest in the right things

all of this

investment in Islam,

Allah subhanaw taala tells us to invest

and he promises a return

how much return I lost around $1 says mythology and I own vehicle owner Ambala home V Sebelius ecommerce well you have but the number that I'm better at Saba Asana we love equally so Mulethi mere to have

Wallah who will die if only my Masha Allah who was the owner I leave a lot of our data says the example of those who spend their wealth

in the path of Allah in the path of God to help people to do like what you did.

There example is like that grain which is sown and it sprouts and produces seven years.

Years have gone seven years, each of which has 100 grains. So you plant one grain and you get how many 700 700% 700 times and then Allah is Allah

He doesn't count and give. So he says will allow you life will you measure and Allah will increase that as he wishes.

The count is for us too, because we like numbers.

Well, he doesn't count on you he just gives Take,

take as much as you want. Let us see how much you can take. That is a challenge.

And who is guaranteeing this

the one who guaranteed this said about himself. Call Hola Hola. Hola.

Hola. Hola. Salama, that lemonade Amala. Mueller. Then while I'm here co lo CO for one.

He said, Say oh Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon you. He is Allah. One unique, indivisible, He is Allah, the Sustainer which all Creation needs, but he doesn't need anything from creation. He has no offspring, nor was he born from anywhere. Allah, there is none comparable.

That is as close to Unitarian theology as I can get.

The big secret I want to share with you before I end

is that to get you must give.

To get we must give

what you give. So you will get

the more you give, the more you get.

Without giving. You can never get

how much you give as much as you want to get

as much as you want to receive.

So therefore forget charity, and start thinking investment.

Invest in God, invest in Allah,

whose return never fails.

I want to end with a little poem that I wrote many years ago. And the title of that poem is give me happiness. Give me happiness,

from the tear which turned into a smile, because of you

from the hope that arose from despair, because of you.

From the pain taken away because of you.

companionship, in loneliness, one phone call away

knowing that someone cares because of you.

Hopes turn to aspirations, plans, strategies, success, fears, combated. There's stronger now full of hope.

He said I worked from home that stuff.

I said

It means you have a home and you have work.

So where is happiness, in gratitude?

Being thankful for what I have? Because I have that, which for others is only a dream.

Because I can give an I don't need to take

because I can help and don't need to seek help for myself.

Because I received the generosity of the most generous

to share with those for home he gave it to me.

I can't give you happiness. It's yours. Goodness. Thank you