My Dad once told me about a time, as a young man, he was feeling acute despair and meaningless about his life. He happened to be alone in the bathroom of his apartment, wrestling with this despair, when, suddenly, he was surrounded by light. Light with at capital “L” kind of Light.

In that Light – *snap* – clear as a bell, the knowledge dawned that everything, that each and every thing is ringing out with meaning. Everything in the cosmos is imbued with meaning and expresses meaning. Everything, everything, everything.

Then the Light left, and he was back in the bathroom.

He said, “Wow … Thank You … Thank You … Wow …”

And, the way he told me the story he said that he was also left with this feeling of, “Well, that settles that … aaaand … would you mind being a little more specific?” (That gives you a sense of my Dad’s sense of humor) Meaning something like, Okay, this is truly great, I now know that everything is shot through with meaning … but what’s the meaning, specifically, of my life?

I think from that point forward, Arden Mahlberg very purposefully lived out that question. As I see it, this led him to dedicating himself to working for peace, and living in a compassionate way, living in way that was deeply respectful of the fact that each and every person is imbued with ultimate meaning, and has value and worth and dignity. This then led him to become a mental health therapist. He figured that given his gifts, as a psychologist he could help the world become a little more peaceful by helping people become a little healthier, a little sounder and saner in heart, mind, body, and soul. That’s how he put it. I can say that he truly did that, in the course of his life, for countless people.

When my Dad shared with me the story about the bathroom revelation, I had the strong sense that the message of his experience wasn’t just for him. We may not all receive the gift of such a remarkably clear experience, as my Dad had. But I trust that his experience was about more than only him alone, and that it was for more than only him alone. The answer he received is the answer: Each and every thing, each and every one is imbued with meaning. That’s a glimpse into something of a – you could say – God’s eye view of things.

This means that your life has meaning, and your life has meaning, and your life has meaning, and his and hers and theirs, and on and on, billions of times over. Aaaand … what that specifically means for you and you and each of us is something for you and for us to explore and to discover and to live out through the course of our lives and lives together.

It’s up to each of us to discover and to live out the meaningfulness of our lives and lives together. What that looks like may change over time. It’s important that we also respect that other peoples’ lives are meaningful, their lives can also be blessings from God.

We need each other’s help with all this. We need God’s help with this. We can help each other see what is special and needed about each other. And through prayer, we can ask God to give us guidance about our lives and how we are living.

Some good guidance on this comes from the Benedictine Monk Brother Steindl-Rast, who said, “It is through wholehearted living that meaning flows into our lives.”

Now, that’s not easy to do all the time, but that’s okay. What is it like to live as if each and all of our lives are deeply meaningful, endowed with inherent meaning? That kind of wholeheartedness is a practice, and it takes practice. It changes and evolves at different stages of our lives. Through prayer, through community, through consulting the wisdom of our religious tradition, we can receive help and guidance for our meaningful lives.

One important challenge and opportunity here is in the ethical implications. If every-one and every-thing is shot through with meaning, in a deep and true and sacred way, it means we need to honor that in how we treat each other. Everyone deserves respect and dignity. If someone acts as if their life is more meaningful than someone else’s, they’re wrong. This is the foundation for peace. This is the foundation for human rights.

What sin and evil does is try to obliterate meaning and meaningfulness for the targets of its wrath or neglect. We are confronted with the challenge of this. Here we are living through a time of war – of multiple wars – and of widespread abuse of human rights, in our country and many others. If you’re not a citizen you don’t have rights and we can lock you up and throw away the key.

A faithful response is to reassert meaning and meaningfulness in a superabundant way, however that looks like in our lives and the lives we impact. This has been the faithful sacred strategy among the wise for generations. Our Way of Jesus is founded on it.

Many folks have discovered this through their struggles to find meaning in their lives in response to tragic or traumatic experiences. “This terrible thing happened to me, I now dedicate my life to helping to prevent it from happening to others, helping to get to the root of why and what can be done about it, helping to walk alongside others who are also suffering in this way.” I am going to find my meaning through the antidote, I am going to embody Love.

For this we need the help of a higher holy power. We need God’s help. For that, Jesus is a trustworthy guide, who embodied the superabundant meaning of God’s universal live-giving love even through crucifixion only to shine all the more brightly for the sake of the sacred meaningfulness of each and all in this broken and beautiful and beloved world.

Thanks be to God.

Delivered Sunday, October 4th, 2026, by Rev. Nathaniel Mahlberg, at the United Church of Christ at Valley Forge