Bohemian Rhapsody: An Exploration of Relationships, Life, and Death

Bohemian Rhapsody was written by Queen’s lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury.  It’s a strange yet wonderful song that is mysterious in its meaning.  When Freddie was asked to explain the meaning – he simply responded that it was about relationships, with a bunch of nonsense in the middle of it.  He also shared that it was originally being created as three separate songs –but he couldn’t really find a way to move forward on any of them and decided to put them all together.  And as you listen, you can sort of hear where one ends and another begins, yet they are all tied together marvelously.  In fact, it’s really his masterpiece, though he wrote a lot of other good music.

 

In trying to draw meaning from this music, I felt I first had to have a better understanding of the man, Freddie Mercury.  So, I read what I could and watched documentaries and the movie entitled Bohemian Rhapsody.  I know a whole lot now – and I thought I should begin by sharing a short summary of the life of this poet, musician, flamboyant performer, the great pretender – Freddie Mercury.

Freddie was born in 1946 in Zanzibar (off the coast of African) to Parsi-Indian parents.  They had fled there from India where the Parsi – Zoroastrians were persecuted.  Freddie, whose birth name was Farrokh Bulsara, attended English boarding schools in India from the age of eight. It was here that his friends nicknamed him Freddie and he adopted that name. At the age of 12, he formed a school rock-and-roll band. He returned to Zanzibar for secondary school. 

In 1964, his family fled the Zanzibar Revolution, moving to Middlesex, England.  Freddie studied art in college but continued an interest in music and singing.  He held several different kinds of jobs and played in some bands before presenting himself as an alternate for lead singer in the band called – The Smile – after their original lead singer left.  They changed their name to Queen at Freddie’s suggestion – and he legally changed his to Freddie Mercury.

Whether Mercury was for the element that goes up and down in the thermometer, the smallest planet, or the god – I’ll let you decide.

And the rest is the musical history that many of us know and love. Freddie fell in love with Mary Austin, but she knew before he did that he was not a straight man.  They remained very close all his life.  He had many lovers before settling down with Jim Hutton about 1985. He referred to Jim as his husband and they wore wedding bands.  On November 24, 1991, Mercury died of pneumonia resulting from AIDS at the age of 45.

Now - When you listen to Bohemian Rhapsody, you feel the message.  You may not be able to articulate it, but if you are like me, you feel the connection.  Many – including his lover Jim Hutton – believed it was a message of his coming out – before he felt he could really come out.  Listen again to these lyrics:

Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow

Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters

Many say that the man he was killing was his old self – not his authentic self.  And he’s crying out for and with his Mama.  Because his Mama would surely be disappointed.  Mercury’s family was a very tradition Zoroastrian family – and the life he wished to live authentically did not match their hopes and dreams for him.

 I do not know if that is the message that Mercury wanted to share.  But it’s a message that I deeply identify with – and I know some of you do as well. Like Freddie Mercury, I LOVE my Mama.  But I cannot be the person that she would have wanted me to be.  I think I embarrass her.  I’ve lost her trust, and maybe – I’m not sure – her love. But, like many of you, I have to be me. Much of this song is a struggle between staying and going.  He wants to go – but feels pulled to stay. Many of us can identify with that emotion.

The second part of the song is the part that he said was “a bunch of nonsense in the middle.”  I imagine he chose the words carefully, though.  Why has he chosen to lift up the words Scaramouch, Galileo and Bismillah? Is it nonsense?  I can feel something powerful in these words as well. Scaramouch is a term used in Italian opera – and Mercury was a great fan of the opera. This character was basically a cowardly buffoon. Is that how Mercury saw himself for not being able to be honest and truthful.  Of course, Galileo tried to tell the truth using science and a refracting telescope to determine what the universe was like, but the truth he advocated for did not match the teachings of the Catholic Church, so he was imprisoned by the Roman Inquisition for life.  What would be the results of Mercury sharing his truth?  And finally, the repeated phrase, “Bismillah” – which is Arabic for “in the name of God.” Is this song also a Psalm or a prayer? 

The third act of the operetta or song seems to come back to a refrain offered early in the song – “It doesn’t matter,” and “Anyway the wind blows.”  Sadly, this is often how our own struggles conclude –with us realizing that we are not in control – and must just follow the wind.  I know that many of us have felt this in recent years with the pandemic and with the storms we’ve suffered through –both weather events as well as personal life storms.  It can be a useful coping mechanism.

I remember an old Bill Murray Comedy called Meatballs. His boys camp team consistently loses to another camp – whose mascot is The Mohawk.  The Mohawk team members have wonderful uniforms and lots of money and talent. And Bill’s campers are about to play again and are discouraged.  It’s up to him as counselor and coach to give them some motivation –

 or at least make them feel better.  So, he shares this speech with the team. 

 

Sure, Mohawk has beaten us twelve years in a row. Sure, they're terrific athletes. They've got the best equipment that money can buy. Hell, every team they're sending over here has their own personal masseuse, not masseur, masseuse. But it doesn't matter. Do you know that every Mohawk competitor has an electrocardiogram, blood and urine tests every 48 hours to see if there's any change in his physical condition? Do you know that they use the most sophisticated training methods from the Soviet Union, East and West Germany, and the newest Olympic power Trinidad and Tobago? But it doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER. I tell you; IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!

And the team – (that’s you folks) join in – “It just doesn’t matter, it just doesn’t matter, it just doesn’t matter.” 

During my 40’s, I would recall that movie and that refrain when I felt my life was out of control – which was often. I had teenage sons and a husband who was continuously cheating on me and lying about it while hypocritically shaming our sons for not being perfect and constantly arguing with me for not agreeing with him on things like interracial and same-gender relationships.  Sorry – Fred-Ex, but I need to make a point here.  And because I was committed to the marriage and I loved him, I felt there was nothing I could do.  So, I used the Bill Murray method – and would march around the kitchen late at night while he was out with his lovers chanting, “It just doesn’t matter, It just doesn’t matter, It just doesn’t matter.” 

But Beloveds – it DID matter.  I do so regret that I did not end my marriage 10 years earlier.  It would have made a difference in my life and that of my sons.  I’m so sorry that I was blind to the power that I had to make that difference in all of our lives.  In fact, Fred-Ex would have been better off as well. 

We can’t change the past though.  What we can do is realize that – though there is much in life that we have no control over, we can make a difference.  Quantum Physics reveals that everything we do does make a difference.  It does matter - very much.

Freddie Mercury finally began to take some control of his life in the mid-80’s when he left his frenzied life in Munich and came back to England – rejoining Queen – and performing with excellence at Live Aid in Wimberly stadium. They stole the show. 

In the next few years, he did live more lovingly and authentically –perhaps because he knew that time was running out.  Now Freddie had a fatal diagnosis that made that really evident to him, but folks, time is running out for all of us.  And we need to not only live authentically – but try to make a positive difference in this world while we are in it. 

Those of us living in Georgia have a special responsibility to do that right now.  Our Vote MATTERS – every one of them.  And getting others who perhaps don’t usually vote – out and voting matters as well.  I don’t have to tell this congregation how important this election is. 

And this congregation matters – so this stewardship campaign – is an especially important one.  Do we want to be here for folks in the future in this community who need us?  Do we want to continue to have some form of professional ministry when I’m no longer here for the congregation and community?   For that to happen, we must be more supportive.   

YES!  Your votes matter!  Your support for this congregation matters!  Our children and grandchildren matter.  Their future matters.  You MATTER – every single one of you!

Folks - The wind does blow – but we don’t have to go “anywhere the wind blows” as the song says. We need to lift our sails and set our rudders to navigate toward a better world for all of us.  As Michelle Obama said –let’s “Do Something.”

May it be so!!

Flowers and Showers

 

Today’s lesson is entitled flowers and showers!  Hey – it’s April when we have April showers.  And we are also celebrating our flower communion today.  Plus that title rhymes and that’s always nice.  It’s also a nice way to think about the interconnection of all of nature and how one aspect – the flowers – needs both the sunshine and the showers, and we do too. 

Weather changes used to be a little more seasonal – but now it seems we can have almost any kind of weather any time of year.  When I was up at the mountain for just four days – we seemed to experience four seasons.  We started out with it feeling like spring or fall, then it warmed up to summer, and on our last morning there – it was snowing.  Though changing weather seems to be a constant, we also have lots of natural weather disasters that catch our attention as well as interesting changes in the earth and sky.  We watch the moon and even the sun during an eclipse.  And sometimes some of these events cause us to worry – which reminds me of another Clearance Clearwater song

It goes like this: (Rev. Jane plays piano and sings)

I see the bad moon arising.

I see trouble on the way.

I see earthquakes and lightnin'.

I see bad times today.

CHORUS:

Don't go around tonight,

Well, it's bound to take your life,

There's a bad moon on the rise.

 

I hear hurricanes a-blowing.

I know the end is coming soon.

I fear rivers over flowing.

I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

(CHORUS)

Hope you got your things together.

Hope you are quite prepared to die.

Looks like we're in for nasty weather.

One eye is taken for an eye.

(CHORUS)

 

Yeah – if you watch the news, seems like there is always a bad moon rising.

 

But you know --- weather happens! You’ve probably heard the old saying:

 

“Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the whether, Whether we like it or not.”

 

Fortunately, we live in a pretty good climate here in South Georgia – and we’ve had to face few natural disasters.   Now many of you have lived other places and have weathered some difficult storms. I had the opportunity to spend four Januarys in Chicago when I was in seminary. They required us to go for what they called the “J-term” just to make sure we were committed. One year, we had what I would term an outright blizzard while I was there. And it was a Saturday. We had class scheduled that Saturday because we had Monday off for the MLK holiday. And I had to cross over that midway at the University of Chicago – where the wind comes sweeping up from the Lake. Since it was Saturday, no one was about – and the sidewalks and roads were not cleared. So there I was trudging through this snowstorm – all by myself – (and this is before I had a cell phone) when it occurred to me ---- “Jane, you could slip down and hurt yourself – and be covered by snow really soon – and freeze to death – and no one would know it. Your classmates would think you just didn’t come. Jane – you could DIE out here.” That was scary. I made it to class and shared that I would just stay in that building overnight rather than go back out into the storm. Fortunately a group of hardy seminarians agreed to walk back with me and keep me safe. I’m sure you all have some similar scary weather stories. But for the most part, we weather the weather, whether we like it or not.

 

More recently, though, we’ve seen situations where folks have not been able to weather the weather and other natural events. You can’t blame Mother Nature – she’s just doing her thing – rocking and rolling, stretching and blowing, raining and pouring, temperatures soaring, at least she’s not boring, for sure.

Now please know that I’m not one of those climate change skeptics that say nothing is different than it has always been.  Climate change is real – and this change is at least partially our fault. That “our” fault by the way – is not some generic pronoun standing for humanity--- it means – ME and YOU too; especially me and you because we live in the United States of America. I’m not using the projector today – but I’m sure you’ve seen the maps and the graphs that demonstrate how much of the carbon footprint comes from OUR big boot.

But what about all these natural disasters – some weather related and other geological? Are there really more of them? Saundra Schimmlpfennig, who is the founding director of the charity rater, does a pretty good job of responding to that question. Here’s what she says in a Huffington Post article:

 

“1. Some disasters are no more frequent nor severe than before but appear that way because they receive more news coverage. Earthquakes may seem more frequent because there are more stations set up to monitor earthquakes, and because we are now able to quickly receive news from all over the world. This creates the impression that there are more earthquakes than ever before. According to the U.S. Geological Survey …’earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant throughout this century.

 

“2. Some natural disasters are no more frequent nor severe than before, but cause far more damage due to population growth and urban migration. The more people who are in the area, the larger the number of people that will be affected by a disaster. Overpopulation as well as urban migration may force people to live in marginal areas such as on unstable hillsides, in flood plains, on top of fault lines, or in shabbily constructed buildings. All of these factors increase the odds that more lives and livelihoods will be severely affected by a natural disaster.

 

“3. Some natural disasters are more frequent and more severe than ever before due to environmental degradation and climate change. Deforestation, over-grazing, river channelization, hardscaping (covering large swaths of landscape with asphalt and concrete), and many other activities impact the frequency and severity of natural disasters. Although the tsunamis like they have in places like Thailand are caused by earthquakes, they can cause more destruction now because the mangrove swamps have been destroyed.  Mangroves act as a sponge absorbing much of the force of the waves. In Thailand, the places with the greatest destruction in the huge Tsunami they had several years ago were those with sandy beaches where the waves could travel kilometers inland, unimpeded.

 

“Also, climate change is of course raising sea levels and changing weather patterns in many parts of the world. As sea levels continue to rise, low-lying coastal areas become more prone to damage by wave surges, tropical storms and other coastal issues. Areas with increased rainfall risk flooding and landslides, while areas with decreased rainfall face crop failure, desertification, wild fires and other serious issues.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saundra-schimmelpfennig/why-are-there-so-many-nat_b_520992.html) Some of the larger and older UU churches that are near the coast have lost their insurance coverage with Church Mutual because of this and they are scrambling to find companies that will cover them. 

 

I also paid a visit to the Environmental Protection Agency site for some more verification.

Here is what they report.

“Since 1950, the number of heat waves has increased and widespread increases have occurred in the numbers of warm nights. The extent of regions affected by droughts has also increased as precipitation over land has marginally decreased while evaporation has increased due to warmer conditions. Generally, numbers of heavy daily precipitation events that lead to flooding have increased, but not everywhere. Tropical storm and hurricane frequencies vary considerably from year to year, but evidence suggests substantial increases in intensity and duration since the 1970s.”

 

They further caution us that: “It is important to understand that directly linking any one specific extreme event (e.g., a severe hurricane) to human-caused climate change is not possible. However, climate change may increase the probability of some ordinary weather events reaching extreme levels or of some extreme events becoming more extreme. For example, …it is probable that heat waves will become more likely and progressively more intense over the course of decades under current climate change scenarios.” (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/extreme.html)

 

Now – you can go read any number of scientific reports to understand the connection of carbon dioxide output to climate change – and I’m sure you’ve seen many of these. But here’s a quick summary from Environmentalist Bill McGibbin of 350.org of the increase.

 

“In 1750, at the dawn of the industrial revolution, people lived in communities that were largely self sustaining. Populations were more or less stable, and people pretty much lived their whole lives not far from where they were born. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 279 parts per million (PPM). Today, after centuries of improvements in public health, with vastly larger populations working in carbon-powered economies and driving many millions of cars, carbon dioxide measures 389 PPM, at least 39 PPM more than the outside limits of what has assured life as we know it. Keeping in mind that one must not confuse weather, which is immediate, with climate, which is long-range, and that perturbations in trends can and do occur, still it is painfully clear which way the wind is blowing, to borrow from Bob Dylan.” (http://www.350.org/)

 

Some folks say they feel so sorry for our Earth and what we are doing to her. But I say, the Earth WILL win in the end – until the sun dies out or some huge meteor implodes it into smaller pieces. The earth will survive for a very long time. But humanity and other living things on earth may not if we make it an impossible, unlivable, environment.

 

As Unitarian Universalists, we’ve stood for years with the environment – and we stood up early in this debate to say that we were going to do better. In 2006, we formalized our intent with a “Statement of Conscience” passed by our General Assembly. This statement is too long for me to share in this sermon. You can look this up on UUA’s web page. But I do want to read the 11 statements of personal practices that are included in the Call to Action. I share these in hopes that we can re-commit to these today. Yes, this is your altar call – if you will. I have been to Mount UUA.org and received these 11 commandments – or “calls to action.” After each statement, I invite you to say “Amen” as your commitment. Now, I know we can’t be perfect, but your hardy AMEN will indicate your commitment to focus on doing better than you have been doing in the past.

1. Reduce our use of energy and our consumption of manufactured goods that become waste;

2. Use alternative sources of energy to reduce global warming/climate change and to encourage the development of such sources;

3. Choose the most energy-efficient transportation means that meet our needs and abilities (e.g., walk, bike, carpool, use mass transit and communication technologies, and limit travel);

4. Determine our personal energy consumption and pledge to reduce our use of energy and carbon emissions by at least 20 percent by 2010 or sooner and into the future;

5. Reuse, recycle, and reduce waste;

6. Plant and preserve trees and native plants and choose sustainably harvested wood and wood products;

7. Eat and serve energy-efficient food that is locally produced and low on the food chain;

8. Use financial resources to encourage corporate social responsibility with reference to global warming/climate change;

9. Model these practices by committing to a life of simplicity and Earth stewardship;

10. Consume less, choose appliances that are rated energy-efficient (e.g., by the EPA Energy Star Program), and choose products and materials that are made from renewable resources and can be recycled at the end of their usefulness; and

11. Commit to continue to learn about the science, impact, and mitigation of global warming/climate change and communicate this knowledge by teaching about and discussing the problems and dangers of, and actions to address, climate change.

 

Now since I have been to the Mountain – I feel called to issue you and additional challenge. Here it is!

 

ENJOY this WONDERFUL Spring weather that we are having. This is a BEAUTIFUL time of year in Coastal Georgia. Do not take it for granted. Not only are the days beautiful—but the nights are too. Rainy Nights in Georgia – never get me down. Enjoy the sunshine and enjoy the rain – and know that our flowers need both and  it takes both to make a rainbow. And enjoy the wondrous moon. When the moon is low in the sky, it looks bigger to our brain, though no one knows why. I often see beautiful big moons here – but when I try to take a picture, my phone camera doesn’t have a human brain that somehow sees that moon as bigger. But oh, it’s glorious when it’s big in our brain. It’s a not quite full moon now – but I love it at every phase. I don’t see a BAD MOON Rising. I SEE a GOOD MOON Rising.

 

And I hereby take the liberty in this pulpit to change the lyrics (with apologies to John Fogerty) for a different verse to that Old Creedance song.

 

I see a good moon arising.

I see blessings on the way.

I see rainbows and flowers.

I see good times today.

Come on out tonight – and have the time of your life.

There’s a good moon on the rise.

Come on out tonight – and have the time of your life.

There’s a good moon on the rise.

 

May it be so!