“Let’s Don’t Get Lost in The Forest of Solutions”

A sermon by Betty Kornitzer

delivered on Sunday, April 14, 2002

at The First Parish in Bedford, Massachusetts

 

 

As the struggle in the Middle East persists, it is everywhere with us, seemingly in the very air we breathe. And we are each affected, personally. Some of you have spoken with me about feelings of frustration, fear, confusion and powerlessness. We are all in this together, and so this morning let us together explore how we, as Unitarian Universalists, can best live with integrity in these troubled times. We begin with two readings: There’s a wonderful little book of essays about our Unitarian Universalist principles entitled With Purpose and Principle. I read from the essay by the Rev. Marilyn Sewell:

 

“We are called upon to reject the easy answers and to struggle with the values and conflicts inherent in human life. We must study and reflect, and think and write, and get beneath the surface of things, or else we will become facile with regard to these significant moral and ethical issues.”

 

And from the poetry of Alice Walker:

 

Love is not concerned with whom you pray

Or where you slept when you ran away from home.

Love is concerned that the beating of your heart

Should kill no one.

 

I believe that the dreadful hostilities in the Middle East are a very personal matter for each one of us. With sleeplessness, depression, anxiety and dread, our very bodies seem to be grieving the present tragedy in what many call the Holy Land. The pain is all about us, seemingly in the very air we breathe.

 

Together, this morning, we hope to be empowered to look at our lives and our beliefs and to bring them more fully into alignment. That is the work of religious community. So let us roll up our sleeves.

 

There is something fundamentally wrong in the world, something that calls us each to exercise our role as spiritual and moral persons. But how? These are such troubling times. We desperately seek solutions to what Newsweek called a “War Without End.” The media constantly bombards us with increasingly horrifying news, political and military sands seem to shift by the hour. Our hearts and minds are torn, weeping for ALL the victims on ALL sides of this tragedy. Many feel frustrated by our inability to envision a political solution as more blood is spilled on sacred soil.

 

And as the news assaults us, we are stunned, like a deer caught in the headlight, we are paralyzed. And like the deer, we know that we can’t stop there, so we press on. We want this all to stop, we want to know “The Solution.” And searching, soon, we find ourselves lost in the confusing forest of possible political solutions. In this forest, the terrain is very rough and dark shadows fall across our path, we are disoriented and stumble around trying to find our way, trying desperately to find “The Solution.”

 

Maybe the basic problem is that most of us never belonged in that forest to begin with. Let us not become lost among the daily political maneuverings of the combatants, and the seemingly unending political judgements that are made by the hour. Let us not be reactive, but rather proactive in trying to address root causes. We, as individuals, do have an important role to play here.

 

As a Unitarian Universalist, as a moral and spiritual people, it IS our role to go inside to find our moral compass and discern our moral stance. As our first reading put it: “to study and reflect and think and write and get beneath the surface of things.”

 

As a nation, our “solutions” have most often been to treat symptoms, ignoring the root causes of the problem. But, as with disease, treating symptoms alone, provides only a temporary respite, it does not get beneath the surface of things.

 

After September 11th, when American troops were mobilized to fight in Afghanistan, I received an interesting e-mail, the subject caption read: “Bomb Them With Butter.” The message suggested that to bring about real change in that region of the world, we would have to address the root causes of the people’s boundless suffering. We would have to address the grinding poverty, aching starvation and cruel oppression that had destroyed all hope among the people. We would have to recognize that, at its root, armed conflict is a people problem. And we would have to try to lift the people out of their desperation. The e-mail suggested that we bombard the territory with butter and blanket and rations and shoes and medical equipment and clothing. At its root, armed conflict is a people problem. Missiles cannot remedy the people problem, they eradicate only symptoms. We live in a time when teen-agers and even young mothers are strapping explosives to their tender bodies and hurling themselves into the maelstrom as human grenades. What tragic desperation could lead to such an act? The Roman philosopher Seneca expressed the roots of such despair when he wrote: “There are times when even to live is an act of great bravery.”

 

Today in the Middle East and elsewhere, many find themselves living in a time of such abysmal desperation and desolation, that even to live is an act of great bravery. The pain is everywhere with us, seemingly in the very air we breathe. I say: Get to the root cause of the people problem, Bomb them with butter, the enemy will be disarmed when the people’s desperation is alleviated.

 

We live in a nation that often does not model moral leadership for us as citizens. As a nation we must continually question our role in world events. We must ask whether it is our role to police the world, or rather to provide moral leadership for the world. We must ask how, as a nation, we justify enjoying the financial rewards of being the major munitions merchant for the world. And we must question in what ways we exercise our responsibility for humanity.

 

This is a time when the political has to become personal and the personal has to become political. We all have to start with where we are, and with who we are. As Unitarian Universalists we have articulated principles and purposes which help to guide our thinking. I’m going to read them to you, to focus on the depth and breadth of moral direction that these principles offer to us:

 

The member congregations of the UUA covenant to affirm and promote:

 

-The inherent dignity and worth of every person.

 

-Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

 

-Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.

 

-A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

 

-The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.

 

-The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.

 

-Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

 

They never loose their freshness, do they? I wasn’t planning to read all seven principles. And then on Friday when I was leading a UU discussion over at Carlton-Willard Village, they asked me to read the principles. You know, it felt good. These principles represent not only a proud heritage, but they are also a very real source of spiritual and moral guidance. We can each use them well in establishing our own personal moral answers to the present crisis.

 

While within our hearts, the personal becomes political and the political becomes personal, we have to frame the salient questions in a deeply personal way. Reflecting on the meaning of the first principle, we might ask ourselves: “Do I want to be the kind of person who silently assents as blood stains the ground at the Church of the Nativity?” In fact, if all people have dignity and worth, “Do I want to be the kind of person who differentiates between Palestinian and Israeli, Do I want to be part of the people problem? Or can I choose to see it differently?

 

I want to show you a stunning visual that so boldly expresses the horror of this human tragedy. It is the cover of the current Newsweek magazine. It pictures Ayat, a 16-year-old Palestinian suicide bomber, and Rachel, a 17 year old Israeli girl and a casualty of her attack. They seem almost indistinguishable, two young women, both victims of decades of racial hatred.

 

I came across a powerful anonymous prayer on the internet, it is a fitting piece to accompany this picture.

 

Pray not for Arab or Jew, Palestinian or Israeli,

Pray rather for yourself, that you may not divide them in your prayers.

But keep them both together in your heart.

 

For me, this prayer reflects the radical acceptance of one another that our third principle articulates. While such acceptance is not the norm, it is an essential part of the remedy for the people problem that is tearing our world asunder.

 

If, as Unitarian Universalists, we affirm justice, equity and compassion in human relations, We must ask ourselves the question: “Do I want to be the kind of person who silently assents, I repeat, silently assents while some people face each day with no food, no shelter and no hope?” This Spring’s issue of Amnesty Now, The Amnesty International journal, contains a brief column on silent assent. The column is headed with a quote from Dr, Martin Luther King Jr. It reads, “We will have to repent in this generation not only for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people…the appalling silence of the good people.”

 

As Unitarian Universalists are we not called to act upon our moral principles, and to break the silence of assent? Again from the book, With Purpose and Principle, Richard Gilbert writes:

 

“As Unitarian Universalists with a proud history of repairing the world, we cannot be content to be mere occupants of time and space. We want our time on earth to mean something; we want the space in which we live and move and have our being to be in good repair. We are ill-content to wear our religion only in our heads and hearts ; we want it to be expressed with our hands. Social justice work is not simply another option on the spiritual menu, an “add-on” extracurricular activity, but part and parcel of what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist.”

 

My friends, may we individually and in community express our religion with our hands and through our very lives. May we live always in a spirit that extends comfort and sustenance to the desperate among us. A spirit so powerfully expressed in these words of the poet Rumi:

 

A dragon was pulling a bear into its terrible mouth.

A courageous man went and rescued the bear.

There are such helpers in the world who rush

To save anyone who cries out.

Like mercy itself, they run

toward the screaming.

And they cannot be bought off.

If you were to ask one of those,

“Why did you come so quickly?” he or she would say:

“Because I heard your helplessness.”

Where lowland is. That’s where the water goes,

All medicine wants is pain to cure.

 

May we take care to evade the easy seduction of the “ silence of the good people,” a silence so deafening that it could wake us from our sleep. And may we choose instead that way which expresses our principles through our very lives.

 

Silence and denial are deadly. Silence and denial can perpetuate a deep and dark harm as our friends in the Catholic Church are learning so painfully today. Silence is a closing of the heart, and a turning away from the cries of human agony. Silence kills. And Love, source of mystery and force for good, Love is concerned that the beating of your heart should kill no one. Be not silent. By breaking silence we may create a clear stream of change within the dark sea of human desperation. Be not silent.

 

It is my hope that we might all return to our homes today and talk with one another about how the conflict in the Middle East is affecting us. It is my hope today that we may focus our minds and hearts and beings on making the political personal and the personal political, and that we might ask ourselves some difficult and searching questions. And then, may we take action. I hope that we will all work with our families to determine what that action will be. I urge you all to contact your elected officials, and tell them what’s in your heart. Hell, suggest we bomb them with butter.

 

My friends, may our lives and our ideals come more fully into alignment, for in this way we exercise our roles as spiritual and moral beings. This is the business of religion, and it is very important work. Like Mercy itself, may we run toward the screaming.

 

My Friends, Pray not for Arab or Jew,

Palestinian or Israeli.

Pray rather for yourselves

That you may not divide them in your prayers

But keep them both together in your hearts.

 

Shalom, Allay Salam Allay Koom and Amen