Have you ever worked hard to finish a really difficult puzzle, maybe one that was an abstract design or a single color - like red, only to find that you were missing the last piece. Sometimes our lives seem like that - like something is missing.

I don't know what you did on Thanksgiving, but most of us probably ate too much - so much that we felt stuffed. And yet, we still may have felt that something was missing. Today, after the service, we will be given the opportunity to buy the bowls that were made during our service last week and then eat a typical third world meal - a scoop of rice, a scoop, of beans, and a tortilla - for some of us the only meal that we will have today - and yet we may feel full - like the puzzle has been completed. How could that be?

I'd like to share some words that I recently received on the internet that I think speak to that reality. They were attributed to George Carlin. Now, I don't know if they were really written by him or not. There seems to be some question about that. They certainly seem a little out of character for him with his usually ribald humor, but they touched a chord with me, anyway. I hope that they do with you too - and that you haven't already seen them multiple times. But I think they are worth repeating. They begin by saying:

• "The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
• We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy less.
• We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgement; more experts, yet more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.
• We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
• We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years.
• We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space, but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less.
• We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; big men and small character; steep profits and shallow relationships.These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce; fancier houses, but broken homes.
• These are the days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this (e-mail) to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or just to hit delete."

Now, maybe none of those things applies to you; but I think that they speak to a soul hunger that is deep within many of us. We are looking for a more profound meaning than what we see on the surface. We are looking for a spiritual connection - a deeper connection with other people - a need for our lives to make a difference beyond the everyday provision for our basic needs.

We have a missing soul-shaped piece or
a missing heart-shaped piece or
a missing hand - shaped piece in the puzzle the we call life.

In fact, I believe that many of us have a a spiritual hunger that no amount of Thanksgiving dinner can fill. And part of our problem may be that we seem to believe spirituality is some special thing that we can only have in quiet times of meditation of prayer (and I don't want to put down either of those two things) when, in fact it can be a part of everything that we do and are. The poet, Allen Ginsberg compares it to singing in the bathtub - spontaneous - unselfconscious - accessible by anyone. It can be experienced standing in the rain, driving down the freeway, walking down the sidewalk, being present to our own breathing and the heartbeats of the person next to us. Maybe it is, as our Buddhist sisters and brothers say - that we are already enlightened, but we just don't know it.

We think somehow that we need to grasp spiritual life as something to be achieved. We are like the monkeys India who can be caught in a simple trap. As they do, we reach into a jug to grasp a banana (what we perceive to be a spiritual life) and then find that we can't hold onto it and bring it out through the narrow neck of the jug - and so we are trapped - feeling our loss. We think that we can only grasp the banana or leave emptyhanded.

So how can we avoid that trap? Easy - in the words of Zen master - D.T. Suzuki - You have to be present to win. - just like singing in the bathtub (or shower). - But, you may say, I don't sing in the bathtub. In fact, I don't sing anywhere. Well, perhaps you should try it.

Or maybe, for you, the puzzle metaphor works better.

Maybe what we need to find is the Soul-shaped piece - to be in touch with our deeper selves - like the monk who found himself walking across a field and discovered that he was being stalked by a large a ferocious tiger. He began running and was dismayed to discover that he was at the edge of a cliff. Seeing a vine hanging down from the cliff, he quickly grabbed onto it and jumped over the edge. There, he sighed in relief - safe at last. Unfortunately, his relief was short lived because then he saw below him that there were two more tigers, waiting for him to lose his grip, and that there were two mice gnawing on the vine above him. But, just as he was about to lose heart, he noticed a delicious looking strawberry growing from the wall of the cliff. Reaching for it and putting the luscious fruit in his mouth he discovered that it was delicious.

We may find our soul piece in a spiritual practice such as music, ritual, movement, poetry, yoga, T'ai chi, chanting, fasting, journal keeping, or meditation.

But maybe we find it in just walking down the street in mindfulness - coming into harmony with our own divinity - or in eating the juicy strawberry that us right in front of our eyes.

What would that be for you?

Or we can find our Heart-shaped puzzle piece, getting in touch with our human connections. Is there someone from whom you are estranged, some connection that is strained by harsh words that have been said?

I heard recently of a woman who had somehow lost touch with her sister over some long ago slight and, in the realization that she didn't have long to live, wanted to regain that connection - only to discover that her sister had died the month before. It was too late for her, but it may not be for us.

Maybe, as the George Carlin writing says, we need to: "Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart, and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember to say 'I Love You' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend a hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment, for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love. give time to speak and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind."

That's a spiritual practice that we can all do with very little effort - one that we can start today - so what are we waiting for?

But perhaps what we need to find is the Hand shaped piece that can motivate us to act for good in the world.

As Martin Luther King is quoted as saying, "Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of people and is not concerned with the slums that damn them and the social conditions that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion." I believe that social action and spirituality are inextricably bound together. Whether it is our contributions to Manna and the Pictsweet mushroom workers each week, our meals for the homeless on the first Tuesday of each month, the bowls that we are buying today to contribute money to the local food share - we are engaged in a spiritual enterprise.

There is a story of a man who happened into a Quaker gathering on a Sunday morning. Seeing all the people sitting quietly, he took a seat and waited. When the people continued to just sit there, saying and doing nothing, the man became impatient and whispered to his nearest neighbor "When does the service begin?" The neighbor replied," As soon as the meeting is over."

Action in the world is not just something that grows out of spiritual practice. It can be a spiritual practice. What will yours be?

Each of these missing pieces - the soul - the heart - the hand names a part of our spiritual hunger that needs to be fed. Jacob Trapp called spirituality a place "where the window of the moment open[s] to the sky of the eternal." And that place can be wherever we find it. As you leave this gathering today, I encourage you to look for the ways that your spiritual hunger can be filled. I hope that this service has given a place to fill some of your spiritual hunger and has given you some other ways to feed yourself and complete the puzzle of your spiritual life.

I would like to close by reading a portion of the responsive reading that we read together earlier in the service.

"From the harvest of the soil, we are given occasion to garner a harvest of the heart and mind: A harvest of resolve to be careful stewards of all life's gifts and opportunities. A harvest of reverence for the wondrous power and life at work in things that grow and in the soul."

Happy harvesting!