| September 21, 2008 | Celebrating Peace, Equality and Balance Reverend Jane Bramadat |
SECTION ONE Gathering the Community
SECTION TWO Peace
Today is a day with many things to celebrate It is a day designated by the United Nations as an International Day of Peace. This was established in 1981 by the General Assembly of the UN to commemorate and strengthen the ideals of peace both within and among all nations of the world,. The present Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon’s comment on the web about this day of peace states that we must make peace not just a priority but a passion. He noted that this particular day of peace has special significance because it also marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There can not be peace without human rights.....actually, rights for all species... And, as have previous Secretary Generals, Ban Ki-Moon asked that there be a 24 hour cease-fire of all hostilities to demonstrate that peace is possible.
It is obvious to everyone, I am sure, that we do not yet have peace in all parts of earth and it can be hard not to feel overwhelmed with how much there still is to do.
In fact while working towards peace in the world we need to take some time to examine ourselves, individually and collectively. Are we at peace within ourselves?
Have we come to terms with what we do well and with what needs to be improved? Are we still holding resentments and disappointments towards others that get in the way of moving forward peacefully?
Yesterday I was here at First Unitarian where a good number of members and friends were cheerfully clearing away much of the debris around the property. It required much bending and raking and lifting, with the sure knowledge that it would all have to be done again next year. But there was a sense of purpose and even pleasure in working to create some order out of chaos.
And then I went to Sidney where Unitarians and others were participating in a protest about the possibility of the moratorium on oil tankers coming into the inner straits being lifted. The Raging Grannies were also there (two of whom were Unitarians!). This was also a cheerful yet determined group that took time out of their busy lives to stand up and be counted in this matter.
Politicians of most of the political parties were there to listen to the concerns of the people. “1,2,3,4, No oil tankers on our shore. 5,6,7,8, when they leak it’s too darn late!” (contributed by our own Farrell Boyce)
Peace needs to be more than an intellectual, objective and philosophical construct; it must be something real and tangible. Peace in its fullness is noisy and messy and vibrant and joyful. It needs to be woven into all that we do. Peace brings in its wake friendships, collaborative creations, laughter, respectful disagreements, and cooperation..
So whether we are working together raking and hauling away, walking with others companionably to make our points of view known, singing, or helping to organise a needed committee - let us do so in an attitude of peace. Nowhere do our religious principles suggest that these acts should be done grimly or humourlessly. And since one of the definitions of passion is “boundless enthusiasm” I suggest that we approach as many of our acts of social responsibility as possible with passion!
At the United Nations on this International Day of Peace, a peace bell is rung at noon and a minute of silence is invoked to allow time to direct our hearts and minds towards this essential way of being. So now I ring a bell of peace and invite you to join me in a minute of silence for peace.
(Take a minute of silence now to commemorate the day of peace...)
The event I am using to start my comments about equality, is the day (in the western hemisphere) 183 years ago this past week, that the first woman was ordained to be a minister. It happened in 1853 in the United States and her name was Antoinette Brown Blackwell. Antoinette started out a Congregationalist and then became a Unitarian. She worked unstintingly for equality for women in politics as well as in religion. Somehow, following her marriage to a man who was completely supportive of reforms for women, she bore seven children and raised the five that survived - continuing to study privately and wrote many books on science and philosophy (http://www.winningthevote.org/ABBlackwell.html) She was instrumental in establishing and serving a Unitarian church in New Jersey and then became their minister emeriti.
She was one of the few pioneer suffragists who actually were able to taste the fruit of their labours - that is, in November, 1920 she cast her vote in an election - she was 95 years old. Antoinette Blackwell had what it takes to bring about equality - determination, the willingness to keep going in spite of taunts and unfair treatment, and the belief that equality with men was the right of every woman.
It is hard to keep on working for any reform when the status quo is constantly letting you know that you are an upstart, a troublemaker,. but she did.
Think of all the remaining inequalities still existing in our world. And yes, I am well aware that in most parts of this planet the equality of men and women is still definitely not the status quo. And whenever you are wondering if what you are doing can make a difference to the particular inequality you are struggling to change (sexism, racism, ageism, classism, homophobia, the appalling disparities of wealth and lack of equal access to economic opportunities, etc., etc,) remember Antoinette Blackwell and promise yourself that you will keep trying as long as she did - until she was 96.
To be a Unitarian or a Universalist means to live all your life with grace and courage, determination and purpose....at least until you’re 96!
Meditation
The reading I will share with you now is, in my opinion, about both equality and balance. It is an essay, from one viewpoint, that acknowledges just how hard it can be to be a Unitarian or a Universalist and be expected to create your own theology from your own experience and thought. On the one hand, it’s exhilarating, but on the other hand it is nigh on impossible....unless you are like Antoinette Blackwell and just refuse to give up, in spite of the difficulties...I should tell you that pictures of Antoinette show her with a little smile (almost Mona Lisa-like that suggests that a good dose of humour may be what makes the difference...)
Reading for Meditation: from Walking Toward Morning: Who Do You Think You Are? by Victoria Safford (2003)
“So last Saturday, when we were all singing “Amazing Grace,” and we got to that bizarre moment in the first verse where our Unitarian Universalist hymnbook slaps down an asterisk and a choice, what did you do? Which did you choose to sing: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me” . . . or “that saved a soul like me”?
It probably depends on how you were feeling that day, how particularly wretched or soulful. I know of no other hymnal in print that virtually stops the singing in mid-measure to poll the congregation, to call for a theological debate within the mind and heart of every singer. And right there, quickly, because the pianist isn’t going to wait for you, the congregation isn’t going to wait for you, Sunday rolling on its way to Monday isn’t going to wait for you, you have to stake your claim, make your mark, testify -- all the while wondering if the person singing next to you will take offence if you confess at the top of your voice your own wretchedness and even our common condition as a fallen, faulty species. Or will your neighbour be annoyed, or maybe shocked, if you stand there warbling on about what a pleasant soul you are, what a nice, well-rounded, fully individuated, sin-free, guilt-free humanist soul? There you stand, frozen in time, and the music plays on while you hastily cobble a theology.
We sing our song in different keys and cadences. We are on our own to make a faith out of nothing, which is to say, out of everything we have. That is daunting, lonely work, demanding and relentless work, the work of a lifetime, and I suspect it is the very scope of it that keeps our tiny movement small. Not everyone wants to stop singing in the middle of the song and consider once again and all alone the nature of the human soul and God, infinity without and infinity within.
“...Gifts of Gladness richly bringing,
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