tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42596058074453419492024-03-06T01:18:52.564-08:00Tidepool: Reflections and sermonsby Rev. Dr. Gaye W. Ortiz,
Unitarian Universalist Church of AugustaGaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-58523485456276939672016-03-23T12:58:00.000-07:002016-03-23T12:58:20.297-07:00Black Lives Still Matter<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">March 20, 2016</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Black Lives Still Matter</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Sorrow Songs<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“[These songs] are the music of an unhappy people, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">of the children of disappointment; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">they tell of death and suffering <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">and unvoiced longing toward a truer world, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">of misty wanderings and hidden ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Our song, our toil, our cheer, and warning have been given <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">to this nation in blood-brotherhood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Are not these gifts worth the giving? Is not this work and
striving? Would America have been America without her Negro people?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">These are the words of WEB DuBois, writing in 1903, yet they
could apply today to the music that is coming out of the Black Lives Matter
movement, such as Janelle Monnae’s "Hell You Talmbout" and "Cry No More" from Rhiannon
Giddens. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Black lives matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">DuBois </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Souls of Black Folk</i> 40 years after
the Emancipation Proclamation; in the book he wrote about the sacred music of
spirituals, which he called “Sorrow Songs”: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">“They
that walked in darkness sang songs in the olden days – Sorrow Songs – for they
were weary at heart…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">by
fateful chance, the Negro folk-song – the rhythmic cry <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">of
the slaves – stands today not simply as the sole American music, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">but
as the most beautiful expression of human experience <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">born
this side of seas…the singular spiritual heritage <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">of
the nation and the greatest gift of the Negro people.” (Crouch and Benjamin,121)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">DuBois was a young academic who spent years studying in Germany,
influenced by German philosophers and sociologists, before coming back to the
US. His early work </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">was a series of
monographs on the status and condition of African-Americans in cities, the
first generation of freedmen in Philadelphia in particular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">His
scientific studies of African-American life did not have the positive effect on
public opinion and social policy he had expected, as the promise of the
Reconstruction faded during this period of American history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">So
his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Souls of Black Folk</i> – a
misleading title because he was a secular humanist – went much further than
statistics and surveys, to investigate what he called </span><span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">“the problem of the Twentieth Century
- the problem of the color-line.” Here we are in the 21<sup>st</sup> century
and the ‘color-line’ still is a problem. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Black lives still matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">DuBois set out “to show to the reader ‘the strange meaning of
being black in the dawning of the Twentieth Century,’ by explaining the meaning
of the emancipation, and its effect, and his views on the role of the leaders
of his race.”(Bartleby.com) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">He
observed that white Americans professed the creed ‘all men are created equal’
but showed hypocrisy on race matters; he argued that few white Americans have
ever believed in the universal humanism voiced in the Declaration of
Independence (Crouch and Benjamin, 53).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Prophetic rise of Teutonic Hero<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Years
earlier, his 1890 Baccalaureate speech at Harvard was entitled “Jefferson Davis
as a Representation of Civilization.” His thesis: that Jefferson Davis, the
Confederate president, was a typical Teutonic hero; (DuBois said that) the
history of civilization during the last millennium had been based upon the
development of the idea of the Strong Man, of which Davis was the embodiment.
The Anglo-Saxon loves a soldier, he said – and Jefferson Davis was a soldier. (Crouch
and Benjamin, 55) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">DuBois
predicted then that the desire for a Strong Man, whose attraction rested on the
combination of “Individualism [and] the rule of might,” would give rise to “a
system of human culture whose principle is the rise of one race on the ruins of
another.” This is the type of civilization which Jefferson Davis represented…a
field for stalwart manhood and heroic character, and at the same time for moral
obtuseness and refined brutality.” (Crouch and Benjamin, 56)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">In
1890 this was extremely prophetic for the rise of Nazism a few decades later, but
unfortunately it is still prophetic today with the rise of the modern-day
Teutonic hero, Donald Trump. Black lives still matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">On
the 100<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the publication of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Souls of Black Folk</i>, Stanley Crouch and Playthell Benjamin
revisited DuBois’ legacy in their book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reconsidering
the Souls of Black Folk</i> (2002). Benjamin claims that the “persistent source
of conflict since 1903 has been the attempt by African-Americans to live out
the universal human values and vision articulated in the traditions of
Shakespeare, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, …[they have] simply
[engaged in] a quest to become more fully human. (And the conflict comes)
because it [has] placed them in opposition to the American racial caste system
of white over black. (213)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Black Lives Matter – a response to All
Lives Matter<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Which brings me to Black Lives Matter, a
provocative title for a movement that is naming this conflict, this deadly
racial caste conflict , which has manifested itself, in part, in the deaths of
those names shouted out in Hell You Talmbout.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Walter
Scott. Jermaine Reid. Philip White. Eric Garner. Trayvon Martin. Sean Bell.
Freddie Gray. Aiyana Jones. Sandra Bland. Kimani Gray. John Crawford. Michael
Brown. Miriam Carey. Sharonda Singleton. Emmett Till. Tommy Yancy. Jordan
Baker. Amadou Diallo.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Most of these people so remembered died at the
hands of the American public servants we know as the police. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">“If you try to tell the people in
most Negro communities that the police are their friends, they just laugh at
you. Obviously, something desperately needs to be done to correct this. I have
been particularly impressed by the fact that even in the state of Mississippi,
where the FBI did a significant training job with the Mississippi police, the
police are much more courteous to Negroes than they are in Chicago or New York.
Our police forces simply must develop an attitude of courtesy and respect for
the ordinary citizen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">If we can just stop policemen from
using profanity in their encounters with black people, we will have
accomplished a lot. In the larger sense, police must cease being occupation
troops in the ghetto and start protecting its residents. Yet very few cities
have really faced up to this problem and tried to do something about it. It is
the most abrasive element in Negro-white relations, but it is the last to be
scientifically and objectively appraised.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">This is a quote from the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">essa<i>y A
Testament of Hope </i>by<b><i> </i></b></span>Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and it
is, again, as true today as it was when he wrote it in 1969. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Black lives still
matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">How Allies Help<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #303030; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Merriweather-Regular; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">At last year’s Living
Legacy conference on the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Selma marches Opal
Tometi, one of the founding members of Black Lives Matter, spoke there. There
has been a growing interest in our faith tradition in joining with this
organization, and our General Assembly in June will focus on interfaith and
black lives matter themes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But there is significant pushback for UU
congregations that take up the Black Lives Matter cause. </span><span style="color: #303030; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Merriweather-Regular; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Black Lives Matter signs
at four Annapolis, Maryland-area churches, including the Unitarian Universalist
Church of Annapolis, continue to be stolen or damaged, frustrating those
congregations and local police alike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/ph-ac-cn-black-lives-matter-signs-0302-20160305-story.html"><i><span style="color: #0e6d7e; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Merriweather-Italic; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Capital Gazette</span></i></a></span><span style="color: #303030; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Merriweather-Regular; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> – 3.5.16)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #303030; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Merriweather-Regular; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">And
in the media there is much criticism of Black Lives Matter; </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">in late August 2015, Fox and Friends co-host </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.thewrap.com/elisabeth-hasselbeck-wonders-why-blacklivesmatter-isnt-labeled-as-hate-group/"><span style="color: #ea8718; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Elisabeth Hasselbeck
asks</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"> “Why has the Black Lives
Matter movement not been classified yet as a hate group?” (Loss)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">One
of the most common responses to the statement ‘Black Lives Matter’ is ‘All
Lives Matter’; here's a series of
tweets posted by Austin Channing on “Why ‘All Lives Matter’ is not a Christian
Response to ‘Black Lives Matter’:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The more popular </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#blacklivesmatter</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> became, the more white people in
particular started to negate that statement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Furthermore, the "Christian" version has sought to
"shut down" statements that </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#blacklivesmatter</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> by appearing more spiritual.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The implication is that no good Christian would say anything
other than all lives matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">But this implication ignores the reasons </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#blacklivesmatter</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> was created in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#blacklivesmatter</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> was created to make clear racial
disparities black bodies face in [the] USA, particularly around police
brutality.</span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#blacklivesmatter</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> was not created to proclaim that
God only cares about black lives.</span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#blacklivesmatter</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> is purposeful in bringing to the
forefront the ways black lives haven’t mattered in [the] USA</span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">So, when the response is ‘all lives matter’, the specific
purpose of proclaiming </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#blacklivesmatter</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> is erased.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Christians who believe all lives matter equally to God are
sickened by the specific ways black lives are treated violently & there is
no hesitation to join in the proclamation that </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#blacklivesmatter</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">White Christian responses to anti-black violence tend to be (if
not outright dismissive) that we need make everyone Christian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/weexpectmore?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#weexpectmore</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> from those who believe Jesus:
"He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released... that
oppressed will be set free"</span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeExpectMore?src=hash"><span style="color: #2366aa; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span><span style="color: #2366aa; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">#WeExpectMore</span></a></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> because Xns talk so eagerly of a
culture of life, yet we have tolerated—even cultivated—a culture of death.</span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><a href="https://storify.com/prestonyancey/why-alllivesmatter-is-not-a-christian-response-to-">https://storify.com/prestonyancey/why-alllivesmatter-is-not-a-christian-response-to-</a></span></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Kevin Roose’s blog on Fusion website says in part: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">“Imagine
that you’re sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else
gets a serving of the meal, you don’t get any. So you say “I should get my fair
share.” And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, “everyone
should get their fair share.” Now, that’s a wonderful sentiment — indeed,
everyone should, and that was kinda your point in the first place: that you
should be a part of everyone, and you should get your fair share also. However,
dad’s smart-ass comment just dismissed you and didn’t solve the problem that
you still haven’t gotten any!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia;">The
problem is that the statement “I should get my fair share” had an implicit “too”
at the end: “I should get my fair share, too, just like everyone else.” But
your dad’s response treated your statement as though you meant “only I should
get my fair share”, which clearly was not your intention. As a result, his
statement that “everyone should get their fair share,” while true, only served
to ignore the problem you were trying to point out.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia;">That’s
the situation of the “black lives matter” movement. Culture, laws, the arts,
religion, and everyone else repeatedly suggest that all lives should matter.
Clearly, that message already abounds in our society.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia;">The
problem is that, in practice, the world doesn’t work that way…there is a news
bias toward stories that the majority of the audience (who are white) can
identify with. So when a young black man gets killed…it’s generally not
considered “news”, while a middle-aged white woman being killed is treated as
news. And to a large degree, that is accurate — young black men are killed in
significantly disproportionate numbers, which is why we don’t treat it as
anything new. But the result is that, societally, we don’t pay as much
attention to certain people’s deaths as we do to others. So, currently, we don’t
treat all lives as though they matter equally.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia;">Just like asking dad for your
fair share, the phrase “black lives matter” also has an implicit “too” at the
end: it’s saying that black lives should also matter.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">But responding to this by saying “all
lives matter” is willfully going back to ignoring the problem. It’s a way of
dismissing the statement by falsely suggesting that it means “only black lives
matter,” when that is obviously not the case. And so saying “all lives matter”
as a direct response to “black lives matter” is essentially saying that we
should just go back to ignoring the problem.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Now,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> race accounts for
only .012 % difference in our genetic material – Paul Hoffman (Crouch & Benjamin,
91) says that ‘modern science has liberated us from the idea of race’. So there
is much more involved in the prejudice that manifests itself in oppression of a
person of a different color…and I differ with people who say the problem is
simple racism, as well as with those who say the problem is so complex that we
are helpless to solve it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But
I assert that as Unitarian Universalists, as people who proclaim a free liberal
religion, we have a vital role to play as prophets and as allies in challenging
racism and oppression. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">As
allies, we need to understand that our … social justice work is religious work,
as UU theologian Paul Rasor says ( in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reclaiming
Prophetic Witness</i>, 97).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
means that we don’t have a choice in saying Black Lives Matter, it is a
religious statement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">We
need to be clear about who we are, and the issue of religious identity has
never been easy for liberals. Rasor writes: “Our commitment to religious
freedom, our openness to new ideas, our insistence that religion should live in
the present and not in the past, our healthy theological pluralism – these very
things that make us liberal mean that it’s difficult to pin down our collective
religious identity. While many Americans find comfort in dogmatic or
fundamentalist faith, this option is off the table for religious liberals.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But
Rasor argues that we liberals do share a set of religious values and
principles, and the core theological insight he points to is what he calls
human liberation – liberation rooted in a commitment to radical human equality
(102). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Our
Universalist theology is “radically inclusive – we’re all in this together, and
wherever we are headed, we will all share in it.” This is a prophetic and
transformative theology. We can bring a message of healing in a hurting world
and we celebrate diversity instead of fearing it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Mark
Morrison-Reed says that the dynamic that we can bring to bear as allies is
three-fold: spirituality provides the motivation, intellectualism provides the
tools, and politics is the method. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black
Pioneers in a White Denomination, </i>174) And we have UUs from the past to
help us see how to do that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Don’t
forget that in 1965 a quarter of the total active UU ministry went to Selma or
Montgomery – being there “taught them how to step out of individualism and
think about community first…swept up by a power and a cause greater than
themselves” (MM Reed, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Selma Awakening</i>,
215). And more than 50 years on, black lives still matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">We
must support Black Lives Matter because it is a cause greater than ourselves,
and we owe it to those UUs who many years ago gave their energy, their passion,
and – in the cases of Viola Liuzzo and Rev. James Reeb, their lives – to take
up the cause of justice alongside those who suffered oppression. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The
writer Omid Safi says, </span><span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">"When
we allow hatred and venom towards one of us — be it Muslims, Jews, Hispanic,
gays/lesbians, poor people, undocumented people, African-Americans, combination
of the above, or others — we all go down together. As Martin Luther King used
to tell us, either we go up together or we go down together. But either way, we
are together."</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #10131a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Each
name we heard said in ‘Hell You Talmbout’ has a story behind it – a tragic,
heart-breaking story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark
Morrison-Reed writes, “Story puts us into someone else’s world. It holds up
their struggles and thereby heightens our awareness of our assumptions, the
assumptions of the middle class, of the white…In this process…one can see
beyond our differences to the true depth of one’s relationship to others.” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Pioneers in a White Denomination</i>,
181)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Relationship
– interconnection – interdependence: this is why for us, Black Lives Still
Matter. We forget our connection human to human at our peril. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">WEB
DuBois concluded his book with these words: “And herein lies the tragedy of the
age: not that men are poor – all men know something of poverty; not that men
are wicked; - who is good? Not that men are ignorant – what Is Truth? Nay, but
that men know so little of men.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(DuBois, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Souls of Black Folk</i>.
In Crouch & Benjamin, 256)</span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Two days ago I visited Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston,
where last June “</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">nine parishioners
including Clementa Pinckney, a pastor and state senator, were </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2015/06/us/south-carolina-shooting-victims/"><span style="color: #ea8718; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">gunned down</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"> by Dylann Roof in an attempt to start a race
war</span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">” (Loss). It is the place
where Rhiannon Giddens performed the song “Cry No More” you are about to see
and hear. Its story ranges </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">from
slavery to the “the bedrock of this nation… laid with these brown hands” to the
“acts of terror” committed today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">As
the writer Robert Loss says, “Silencing the truth is easy. Speaking it is hard.
You have to make people listen. The drums have to be loud. The names have to be
shouted.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Black
Lives Still Matter.</span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: OpenSans; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Blessed be.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Sources:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia;">Janelle Monnae, "Hell You Talmbout" </span>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fumaCsQ9wKw </div>
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<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia;">Rhiannon Giddens, </span><span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia;">"Cry No More" </span>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU3cGLtULeI </div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Reconsidering the Souls of Black Folk</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> (S Crouch and P Benjamin)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Bartleby.com: “for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the
problem of the color-line”—a prescient statement. Setting out to show to the
reader “the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth
Century,” Du Bois explains the meaning of the emancipation, and its effect, and
his views on the role of the leaders of his race.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #000018; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Black Pioneers in a White Denomination (</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">M Morrison-Reed<i>)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Selma Awakening (</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">M Morrison-Reed)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Reclaiming Prophetic Witness (</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Paul Rasor )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Robert
Loss, “Sound is Our Weapon” <i>Pop Matters</i>,
<a href="http://www.popmatters.com/column/196989-sound-is-our-weapon-protest-music-and-black-lives-matter/">http://www.popmatters.com/column/196989-sound-is-our-weapon-protest-music-and-black-lives-matter/</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">SURJ
link <a href="http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/faith_action_kit">http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/faith_action_kit</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><a href="https://storify.com/prestonyancey/why-alllivesmatter-is-not-a-christian-response-to-">https://storify.com/prestonyancey/why-alllivesmatter-is-not-a-christian-response-to-</a></span></span><span style="color: #16181a; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Kevin
Roose, <a href="http://fusion.net/story/170591/the-next-time-someone-says-all-lives-matter-show-them-these-5-paragraphs/">http://fusion.net/story/170591/the-next-time-someone-says-all-lives-matter-show-them-these-5-paragraphs/</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-45584745126637933092016-01-26T13:35:00.002-08:002016-01-26T13:35:11.542-08:00Art & Spirituality: “The Promise of Inner Wholeness”<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3igwSX4fe7dpE32FcK2OqavbBfJKdCUj2fZRUIRaybmUMSq-Zp733NHOxXcfWXMM9fZHlFDsXG4iiJpC2GJOUd7Buk8DNvQgcy-VVvyAnvKd10uvk1Skd6gwmy78GqUT9Sxf831eYHzKM/s1600/the-silent-fisherman.jpg%2521Blog.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3igwSX4fe7dpE32FcK2OqavbBfJKdCUj2fZRUIRaybmUMSq-Zp733NHOxXcfWXMM9fZHlFDsXG4iiJpC2GJOUd7Buk8DNvQgcy-VVvyAnvKd10uvk1Skd6gwmy78GqUT9Sxf831eYHzKM/s320/the-silent-fisherman.jpg%2521Blog.jpeg" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">colourlovers.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So far this month
we have had a variety of art and artists leading us into deeper reflection on
spirituality. But today I’d like to delve more deeply into the way in which art
can be therapeutic for both the artist and the spectator.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I was moved to
consider this angle by a quote from Thomas Kelly, who has been called a Quaker
mystic. But his was no comfortable contemplative life; he sought academic
respectability in the early 1930s but had a crushing failure when he suffered
an anxiety attack while defending his PhD dissertation at Harvard. He was
denied another chance and sank to a low, almost suicidal level before having a
spiritual experience. His reflections on the mindset of trying to ‘have it all’
still apply to us in the 21<sup>st</sup> century:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Kelly compares the voices within that pull us
in multiple directions to a variety of selves that simultaneously reside within
us. As Kelly describes it, "There is the civic self, the parental self,
the financial self, the religious self, the society self, the professional
self, the literary self." (</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">Strained, Breathless, and Hurried: Learning from the Life
of Thomas R. Kelly. </span><a href="http://www.friendsjournal.org/?s=%5Bacf%20field="><span style="color: #757575; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Chad Thralls</span></a><span style="color: #878787; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> May 1, 2011 </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">http://www.friendsjournal.org/3011052/</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And what is worse, is that these different voices never cooperate and so
we are pushed to exhaustion by trying to reconcile the various demands of our
voices:</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #313131; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.75pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We are not integrated. We are distraught. We feel honestly the pull of
many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy,
strained, oppressed and fearful we shall be shallow. For over the margins of
life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we
know we are passing by. Strained by the mad pace of our daily outer burdens, we
are further strained by an inward uneasiness, because we have hints that there
is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a
life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into
that Center!” </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">(</span><a href="http://inwardoutward.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=838944ee48d7a9d35dcce6d60&id=ec09187c1c&e=8f0d79be1f"><span style="color: #8e6176; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Thomas
Kelly</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">, Source: </span><a href="http://inwardoutward.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=838944ee48d7a9d35dcce6d60&id=9078b61a23&e=8f0d79be1f"><span style="color: #8e6176; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">A
Testament of Devotion</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Creating joy in
our lives – as in the meditation words we heard a few minutes ago – can help us
to find a richer, deeper life. And many artists do just that, they listen to
that whisper, that faint call…and for many of them, this is a leap of faith. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">As Grace Paley observed about the art of
writing, “You write from what you know, but you write into what you don’t
know.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">And I suppose that goes along with the quote from the artist Terry
Lee Getz: </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">“I will risk
plumbing unknown depths that release and fulfill my spirit, and I’ve arrived at
a point in my life, creative or otherwise, where the ‘unknown’ is my preferred
orientation.” (“Embracing the Unknown” in </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Siminaitis, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Kaleidoscope, 2007, 126)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One definition of spirituality is “when </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">we open ourselves up to the goodness of the universe and
respond to it with awe and wonder and love.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">And Veronica Brady also uses
that term ‘open’ when she says that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Genuine spirituality, like art, is open and
dynamic...both are the hope of a world so badly in need of transformation” (</span></span><a href="http://www.ru.org/81brady.html"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">http://www.ru.org/81brady.html</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I’ve quoted artists
about how they make themselves vulnerable and open, but of course there are two
sides to any piece of art, the one who creates it and the one who beholds it.
It can be transformative for both artist and spectator.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">Oscar Wilde affirms the place of openness for
both when he says, </span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">“The temperament to which Art appeals … is the temperament of
receptivity. That is all. </span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">If [one] approaches a work of
art with any desire to exercise authority over it and the artist, [they]
approach it in such a spirit that [they] cannot receive any artistic impression
from it at all. And the more completely [they] can suppress [their] own silly
views, [their] own foolish prejudices, [their] own absurd ideas of what Art
should be, or should not be, the more likely [they are] to understand and
appreciate the work of art in question.” (</span><a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/08/27/oscar-wilde-on-art/"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/08/27/oscar-wilde-on-art/</span></a><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">I was searching for a few
examples of artists through whose work we could explore receptivity today, and
I have found three very different ones who come from our own faith tradition.
In many ways, perhaps incidentally or deliberately, our fourth principle – a
free and responsible search for truth and meaning – and our seventh principle –
our part in the interdependent web of all existence – play significant roles in
their creative genius.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><span style="color: #262626;"><i>Nathaniel Currier</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">First, the very successful work
in the 1830s of a lithographer whose name is usually linked with another – </span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Unitarian </span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Nathaniel Currier, who along
with James Merritt Ives produced the kinds of pictures that come to mind in the
song “Sleigh Bells”, where the lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with
you is like a picture print of Currier and Ives.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">But what made Currier so
popular across the nation was not bucolic winter scenes, but disaster pictures!
His prints depicting dramatic and newsworthy incidents resonated with
American’s growing middle class of the 1830s and both fed and reflected the
anxieties and sensibilities of that time…as scholar Genoa Shepley says, “</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">in a way that attended to the
expectations, hopes, and fears of a newly minted audience of consumers of
visual culture.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">(By Which Melancholy Occurrence: The Disaster Prints of Nathaniel
Currier, 1835–1840<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Fall 2015, Genoa Shepley, Independent Scholar </span><a href="http://journalpanorama.org/by-which-melancholy-occurrence-the-disaster-prints-of-nathaniel-currier-1835-1840/"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">http://journalpanorama.org/by-which-melancholy-occurrence-the-disaster-prints-of-nathaniel-currier-1835-1840/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Shepley observes that </span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">“</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Nathaniel Currier lived in
tumultuous times. His own life trajectory…arced across one of the most
economically, socially, and politically volatile periods in American
history—one marked by financial downturns, military conflicts, and massive
physical and class dislocations as the tottering republic found its balance and
matured into a modern industrial society. </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Currier’s seventy-five years on
this earth also witnessed the advent of technological marvels—steam-powered
ships and railroads—that remodeled the topography of the country and radically
altered the flow of people within it. Such transformations brought with them
the possibility of catastrophic conflict and sudden, grisly death on a grand
scale.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifwSs3bQcQeCwdjoVU8IAOBtjwp7wIW__BCrHJmfWxY9VcD7Hl2u-lPLSkyzCoTiED24htPeGpuRosTV0bGGLHydxHVc8h5al5KWANNbN9oTanlNxl3JGfJVvi1AJU2SnJ6Cp5pu6YwyWv/s1600/Exchange+fire+Currier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifwSs3bQcQeCwdjoVU8IAOBtjwp7wIW__BCrHJmfWxY9VcD7Hl2u-lPLSkyzCoTiED24htPeGpuRosTV0bGGLHydxHVc8h5al5KWANNbN9oTanlNxl3JGfJVvi1AJU2SnJ6Cp5pu6YwyWv/s320/Exchange+fire+Currier.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">springfieldmuseums.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">And so one of his first
pictures which drew the American people’s attention to life in an urban
environment – as people flocked to fast-growing cities – is “<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Ruins of the Merchant’s Exchange N.Y. after
the Destructive Conflagration of Dec</span></span><sup><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">br</span></sup><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">. 16
& 17, 1835." This</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"> lithograph was issued initially in black and white and later in
a hand-colored version—and appeared within days of the fire, selling thousands
of copies”. Shepley says that one message to which the spectator of this image
might be receptive is one of self-discipline, in the depiction of sober, proper
behavior by onlookers and workers in the face of crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many young people in particular, who
were noew to city life, would see this picture and understand and internalize
the norms of reaction to such disasters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BpgzxjpEvKfLitEHhBsGmpHTNUCiKTj4I6xpvgICkXuHdne0-CBptkYqvMErFhsLXfeUaWk8fugAPqMwm7T_EG7C_u0V3OKOT0PU9YSBLKJRp-CYKW0Ro8GArfiLjysY8_DvMZXeoTF_/s1600/Lexington+Currier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BpgzxjpEvKfLitEHhBsGmpHTNUCiKTj4I6xpvgICkXuHdne0-CBptkYqvMErFhsLXfeUaWk8fugAPqMwm7T_EG7C_u0V3OKOT0PU9YSBLKJRp-CYKW0Ro8GArfiLjysY8_DvMZXeoTF_/s320/Lexington+Currier.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">springfieldmuseums.org<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">“Five years later Nathaniel
Currier’s lithographic print <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Awful
Conflagration of the Steam Boat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Eve</span></span><sup><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">g</span></sup><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">,
Jan</span><sup><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">y</span></sup><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> 13</span><sup><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">th</span></sup><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">
1840, by which Melancholy Occurrence, over 100 Persons Perished," "</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">appeared in record time after the
disaster and was delivered through the uncommon distribution mode of a news
extra.” Its appeal to the spectator is one we all can identify with, the desire
to see a sensational event safely from a distance. It puts the spectator
farther away from the ship and closer to the desperate passengers who are in
the water. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Shepley explains that attraction
to sensationalism of spectators at the time was "due to Victorian attitudes
toward death and dying. Americans were preoccupied with their bodies and their
souls in this period, as shown by many songs, poems, sermons, and novels about
death and how to deal with it" that flooded the consumer market.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Maybe rising mortality rates
help to explain this preoccupation; but "an awareness of the consequences of
pandemics, natural disasters, and large-scale accidents resulting from new
transportation technologies may have dominated the public mind: the density of
city life made large-scale death from a common source, like fires, trainwrecks,
or ship sinkings, more possible.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">And so </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Currier’s picture of the wreck
of the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Lexington</span> , and that of
an earlier shipwreck, "The <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Dreadful
Wreck of the Mexico on Hempstead Beach. Jany. 2nd 1837," </span>may have served
as an image for "<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">remembering</span> not
only the life and death of its victims, but the life and death of the viewer." The nation was changing at such a rapid rate that the insecurities Americans
faced were stoked by these images. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">However, Shepley says that
“These same Americans evinced a stubborn faith in progress and oft-professed
determination to overcome adversity”, and the images from his lithographs gave
voice to their</span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"> “fears,
ideals, and even secret pleasures.” </span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">This statement made me think
about those voices that Thomas Kelly described as competing for our
attention…the receptivity of those Americans who viewed those disaster scenes
with curiosity, fear, horror, who were living in times they’d never imagined,
where change came fast and furious – kind of like ours in the 21</span><sup style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial;">st</sup><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">
century. And this example made me wonder about what we now use art for and I
think we have the same need as those people moving into cities and trying to
comprehend this new landscape; when we use – and create - social media images,
the new art on Instagram and the photos we post, where we color in or insert
our faces into another background, or post yet another video of cats – are we
not in some way trying to make sense of our lives? Somewhat in awe of how
amazing life is and trying to keep up and learn to adapt.</span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Not so different from Currier’s devoted
spectators.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrh4NAxSzjxrCh69lT9MG_4bb9BWp9KBQTj0TvOijZikUu6QLJh3y5iLi-8a7SmOVnl6Z667ZL7yYPVjuSzYdZxsr_JQ8CkdVHtqLZMYL7vpb3oScQxPqQfIw0q6o8h3rcmWqYmx6o8UXn/s1600/02_deerslayer_wyeth_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrh4NAxSzjxrCh69lT9MG_4bb9BWp9KBQTj0TvOijZikUu6QLJh3y5iLi-8a7SmOVnl6Z667ZL7yYPVjuSzYdZxsr_JQ8CkdVHtqLZMYL7vpb3oScQxPqQfIw0q6o8h3rcmWqYmx6o8UXn/s320/02_deerslayer_wyeth_cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">brightok.net</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #262626;"><i>N.C. Wyeth</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">And now on to the patriarch
of an amazing family of artists, the Wyeths. N.C. Wyeth described himself as </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">‘unconventional, democratic, free and careless of
formalities, contemptuous of restraint, and with a wayward enthusiasm.’ His
many illustrations and beautifully detailed oil paintings made him one of the
best-known artists of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. The family were members of
the First Unitarian Society of Wilmington Delaware. </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">(Thoreau and Wyeth: Born Under the Same Sign</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span><a href="http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/thoreau-wyeth-born-sign/"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/thoreau-wyeth-born-sign/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">His son Andrew Wyeth was born exactly 100 years to the
day after the birth of Henry David Thoreau, who N.C. Wyeth considered his hero.
It’s said that his wife Carolyn caused him to reassess Thoreau, who he
initially described as just another ‘amateur naturalist’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">"His long-held wish to publish an anthology of Thoreau’s
writings finally came true </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">in 1936 as the illustrated <u>Men of Concord and Some Others, as
Portrayed in the Journal of Henry David Thoreau</u>, edited by Francis H.
Allen."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxcjWRp-Qhz4nBA7JLSOhCWNwzHb6Q8hx9ur0NlLPKQHDFZEm0qzkByjOYEjSKPQ2j3mVCAU7Z6wNdOPOmgn1BXaJEdZc-Id-cF_iJ9UFLdHiocScieZw2mHxZmzbCiHpE6hXSzyCHNfV/s1600/Men+of+Concord+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxcjWRp-Qhz4nBA7JLSOhCWNwzHb6Q8hx9ur0NlLPKQHDFZEm0qzkByjOYEjSKPQ2j3mVCAU7Z6wNdOPOmgn1BXaJEdZc-Id-cF_iJ9UFLdHiocScieZw2mHxZmzbCiHpE6hXSzyCHNfV/s1600/Men+of+Concord+1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiHCyWjNJjrrG6Nxt6dKT2HUaKRM12yvlk6B6VhUtOus4vMdSJNcw3K7ezrQHST4JyhXdK2O7cYdNq54G5vtVR3l9zvMRpIbeb4V6FPLu1XoatxIh8Wh6X0kX99m0xQoYCBOobrRfTI7Wq/s1600/men+of+concord+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiHCyWjNJjrrG6Nxt6dKT2HUaKRM12yvlk6B6VhUtOus4vMdSJNcw3K7ezrQHST4JyhXdK2O7cYdNq54G5vtVR3l9zvMRpIbeb4V6FPLu1XoatxIh8Wh6X0kX99m0xQoYCBOobrRfTI7Wq/s320/men+of+concord+2.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the picture above, Thoreau is the youngster in the bowler and
Emerson the middle-aged man in the top hat. </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The preface of the book says:</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> “Wyeth was a lifelong admirer of Thoreau, whose spirit has become a
part of him. His work for this book, therefore, is a tribute from an
intellectual disciple to an author who has had an important formative influence
on his character and work.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">“NC taught Andrew to love Thoreau’s writings, and his own
work displays his love of nature</span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">." You can hear this particularly in his written
description of what he saw looking out of a window: “</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My imagination is suddenly
whipped into an almost exalted appreciation of the magnificence of the little
isolated and unrelated scene before me, and I am astounded at its vast beauty
and its sublime importance, and am made to realize, in one poignant spasm, that
before my eyes exists the profoundest beauty, the greatest glamour and
magnificence possible for human sight and spiritual pleasure. “</span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">(Thoreau and Wyeth: Born Under the Same Sign</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><a href="http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/thoreau-wyeth-born-sign/"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/thoreau-wyeth-born-sign/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAGCuC32M-MNNwzPMovQN8PrYEwQsUkZ5LXoa3jttROLPbDlPgYUy5xrRkiwZMn2PJw2rHYkvLiNUWHnl0WfZoilwbWjrVWglmp-y2VVbyLruZYl4stBD-PLC-3wbxQJkmUfh6Ry_HxrDW/s1600/walden+pond+revisited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAGCuC32M-MNNwzPMovQN8PrYEwQsUkZ5LXoa3jttROLPbDlPgYUy5xrRkiwZMn2PJw2rHYkvLiNUWHnl0WfZoilwbWjrVWglmp-y2VVbyLruZYl4stBD-PLC-3wbxQJkmUfh6Ry_HxrDW/s320/walden+pond+revisited.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Wyeth's admiration for Thoreau is most
visible in this painting from 1933, "Walden Pond revisited," so unlike his other
lifelike illustrations. Its details include Thoreau’s beanfield, the pond, the
railroad, the Unitarian Church steeple, and the town of Concord. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkc3V-8Bqen3QKRBhO3kDcGwcvEy5ibjATjhyphenhyphenUsHlcsnmVebMq2quiAp4cngp6NZbbi1nzPAEPA4DJPauNG766ho_T9eY4hOZAsFz5dit-M68RCqSv0a8FnahqNXhGMrvJRpI5q-GBMWq/s1600/wyeth8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkc3V-8Bqen3QKRBhO3kDcGwcvEy5ibjATjhyphenhyphenUsHlcsnmVebMq2quiAp4cngp6NZbbi1nzPAEPA4DJPauNG766ho_T9eY4hOZAsFz5dit-M68RCqSv0a8FnahqNXhGMrvJRpI5q-GBMWq/s320/wyeth8.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">trackstar.4teachers.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Anyone who grew up looking at wonderful illustrations
from <i>The Deerslayer, Kidnapped</i> or <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> will no doubt remember
the awe those pictures inspired, and how they helped to imprint the images of
those stories in our memories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIk5IQo5W40oA1W8qBuKaukzfAj8qZpvyV4HeH9-6GElFlcZ89amOQwO2rht1xDYYXgr1AuNxNR90wgRc5G3ult-ZdX1M-VJVU03-SE1szOwhaodDozccqLyXtFlD882Rt2tp_2IZQt2oA/s1600/fishbowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIk5IQo5W40oA1W8qBuKaukzfAj8qZpvyV4HeH9-6GElFlcZ89amOQwO2rht1xDYYXgr1AuNxNR90wgRc5G3ult-ZdX1M-VJVU03-SE1szOwhaodDozccqLyXtFlD882Rt2tp_2IZQt2oA/s1600/fishbowl.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">seussville.com</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>Dr. Seuss</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And finally we come to another illustrator of children’s books who is
much beloved in the memories of adults, and who, like Wyeth, cares about the
natural world and also what we humans do to it: </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Theodore
Geisel (DR Seuss).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This congregation has
benefitted from the sermons of Dr Greg Brock about Dr Seuss, and the messages
of his art and stories which resonate with the Unitarian Universalist
imagination and reflect its values. His art is concerned with human behavior
but through the weirdest non-human characters!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Sneetches, which we saw
earlier, tells us that “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">race
and ethnicity need not be dividing lines in our society, and that we can
coexist peacefully, regardless of our external differences.” (www. seussville.com) It was published
in 1961 and its message is still as needed as ever.</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBRweVk-9-N2J69OaiS1bM5ozsWCdHXtApsi3M76yXTG-8utp0hZ-4AoU9WRJBxF3FIbevF20OCaBl8RGqe9CJ-eDXUPMMDH0hx6Ae-V_rHthxeG2iW04ISvShLC64ToSFhWXtw1sNTylU/s1600/the+lorax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBRweVk-9-N2J69OaiS1bM5ozsWCdHXtApsi3M76yXTG-8utp0hZ-4AoU9WRJBxF3FIbevF20OCaBl8RGqe9CJ-eDXUPMMDH0hx6Ae-V_rHthxeG2iW04ISvShLC64ToSFhWXtw1sNTylU/s320/the+lorax.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">seussville.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One of the
favorite stories is </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The Lorax, which Dr Seuss</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> called a cautionary tale, about </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">the interconnectedness of the things that
live in an ecosystem.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> We can
pretty much sum up its moral in this warning from the Lorax himself:
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get
better. It's not." </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Geisel never claimed to know what inspired him in
the creation of his stories and characters – just like the quote earlier, he
plumbed the unknown depths of his imagination – but he did base 2 of his
characters on himself: the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch. </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">And it is his explanation of the origin of How
the Grinch Stole Christmas that I’d like to share with you.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ug5xBB_uKV8UGifxrnzvRgjhJq1U8B8C4YTinngbs8GcAs_1b3GXWhTHqmKoNki2ZLnVj2F1kuVH-fkWs-VSC1y0U-4qz_DqGr450muTeXz-Zz_6cV6-Y5x2taa1N17XmmWmajr7HLLk/s1600/The_grinch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ug5xBB_uKV8UGifxrnzvRgjhJq1U8B8C4YTinngbs8GcAs_1b3GXWhTHqmKoNki2ZLnVj2F1kuVH-fkWs-VSC1y0U-4qz_DqGr450muTeXz-Zz_6cV6-Y5x2taa1N17XmmWmajr7HLLk/s320/The_grinch.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">seussville.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In December 1957, just after
<i>How the Grinch Stole Christmas!</i> appeared, Seuss explained the origins of the
story to <i>Redbook</i> magazine: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTIPDL1xn0EgcSzT9nLWUESwEsAtou9sgUe75-G7qGmvSOixWZr2gQsC7Sf1f3xLyaG8tYLM0F2NE0HNHnt2F3IO5SXTb_CxthSZOYr6rd9ZESR1MbSjTbyx_YEwfTXIR9xufcLdjwMKy/s1600/grinch+stole+christmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTIPDL1xn0EgcSzT9nLWUESwEsAtou9sgUe75-G7qGmvSOixWZr2gQsC7Sf1f3xLyaG8tYLM0F2NE0HNHnt2F3IO5SXTb_CxthSZOYr6rd9ZESR1MbSjTbyx_YEwfTXIR9xufcLdjwMKy/s1600/grinch+stole+christmas.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">seussville.com</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“I was brushing my teeth on
the morning of the 26th of last December when I noted a very Grinchish
countenance in the mirror. It was Seuss! Something had gone wrong with
Christmas, I realized, or more likely with me. So I wrote the story about my
sour friend, the Grinch, to see if I could rediscover something about Christmas
that obviously I’d lost.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Ts-2Q27XnnYmOSyxROBlIANRyO62LfDMtnVd4z2n4qzKwuz4xdvNhnNVkUlAlPMJUzXHwpIN1olsWgKXcl-4WrW2C1Tfwj-sNhfYGEnTaTpCMqlw-qhk-cHn7nXthZsU_iE2-OsHWRB8/s1600/seussasgrinch1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Ts-2Q27XnnYmOSyxROBlIANRyO62LfDMtnVd4z2n4qzKwuz4xdvNhnNVkUlAlPMJUzXHwpIN1olsWgKXcl-4WrW2C1Tfwj-sNhfYGEnTaTpCMqlw-qhk-cHn7nXthZsU_iE2-OsHWRB8/s320/seussasgrinch1.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bashobananatree.wordpress.com/tag/christmas<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This article was
accompanied by the self-portrait you see here, of “Geisel looking into his
bathroom mirror and the Grinch looking back. Seuss told many variations on this
story, but he always mentions his identification with the Grinch, once
describing him as a “nasty anti-Christmas character that was really myself.” </span><a href="http://www.seussville.com/?section=home&isbn=&catalogID=&eventID=#/author"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">http://www.seussville.com/?section=home&isbn=&catalogID=&eventID=#/author</span></a><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Dr Seuss once wrote,
“Children’s reading and children’s thinking are the rock-bottom base upon which
this country will rise. Or not rise. In these days of tension and confusion,
writers are beginning to realize that books for children have a greater potential
for good or evil than any other form of literature on earth.” (www.seussville.com)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">writer
and broadcaster John Berger: “every image embodies a way of seeing…the more
imaginative the work, the more profoundly it allows us to share the artist’s
experience of the visible.” (<i>Ways of Seeing</i>, 1972, 10)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">We can see in these examples today how the mysteries of the human
condition, both good and bad, inspire artists in their work, and give us
greater insight into what it means to be human and what we can learn from being
human. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">In doing this as Erna Cooper says, "</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Art is an equalizer of the high and low in society, a medium through
which all of us </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">may
share the same subjective sphere, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">linking
what was formerly the ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’ and erasing the boundaries
between us."</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">The philosopher Alain de Boton
writes: </span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">“Art can teach us to be more just towards ourselves as we endeavor to
make the best of our circumstances: a job we do not always love, the
imperfections of middle age, our frustrated ambitions and our attempts to stay
loyal to irritable but loved spouses. Art can do the opposite of glamorizing
the unattainable; it can reawaken us to the genuine merit of life as we’re
forced to lead it. </span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">In art…base and unimpressive
experiences are converted into something noble and fine. </span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">We hunger for artworks that
will compensate for our inner fragilities and help return us to a viable
mean... “</span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;">(https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/10/25/art-as-therapy-alain-de-botton-john-armstrong)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">A final quote from Veronica
Brady: "</span><span style="font-family: Geneva; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Art reminds us
that life is stranger, more beautiful, demanding, joyous and painful than
common sense knows." </span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">In a world that so badly needs
transformation, needs the freedom to search for truth and meaning, needs to
embrace the interconnectedness of all existence, I believe that </span><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">“Art holds out the promise of
inner wholeness.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> Gaye W. Ortiz</span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-35522202806411289362015-12-15T18:17:00.003-08:002015-12-15T18:19:15.674-08:00A Season of Peace<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I look forward to Christmas partly because I
get to hear Handel’s Messiah a lot; it’s one of my favorite pieces of classical
music. In it we hear what is written</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> in the Hebrew
scriptures about the child that will be born; Jesus the Messiah is hailed by
many titles: “wonderful, Counselor” and, in Isaiah ch 9:6: “…his name shall be
called…The Prince of Peace.” And so we hear Christmas described as the season
of peace – we aspire to this, rather than it being a reality…and maybe this
Christmas season it seems further away than ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Congregational <b>Study</b>/<b>Action Issues</b>
(CSAIs) are issues selected at our General Assembly by Unitarian Universalist
member congregations for four years of study, reflection and action. </span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">The 2006-2010 Study/Action
Issue for the Unitarian Universalist Association asked this question: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>"Should
the Unitarian Universalist Association reject the use of any and
all kinds of violence and war to resolve disputes between peoples
and nations and adopt a principle of seeking just peace through nonviolent
means?" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">This Study/Action Issue was proposed as an effort to
develop an alternative to both just war theory and pacifism. Unitarian
Universalist ethicist Sharon Welch suggests that "a third way" exists
that includes "joint efforts to prevent war, stop genocide, and repair the
damage caused by armed conflict." She calls this third way peacemaking,
and identifies 3 components: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Peacekeeping — early intervention to stop genocide and
prevent large scale war. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Peacemaking —bringing hostile parties to agreement,
negotiating equitable and sustainable peace agreements that include attention
to the pressing need for post conflict restoration and reconciliation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Peacebuilding – the creation of long term structures for redressing
injustice and resolving ongoing conflict as well as addressing the root causes
of armed conflict, economic exploitation, and political marginalization. (</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Rev.
Lt. Seanan Holland, Gail Forsyth-Vail, Rev. Dr. Monica L. Cummings,</span><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">The
Military Ministry Toolkit for Congregations</span></i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">, UUA, 2014)</span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Just war means that waging war is justified in some
instances, and in the Greco-Roman world Aristotle outlined acceptable
categories of warfare. Early Christianity developed its own version of this
theory, and we see in the time of the Crusades the divinely justified war with
Christ as a warrior-hero. Pacifism is a political or religious stance rejecting
all forms of violence against people, and we can also trace this back to early
Christianity to theologians such as Origen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">At times during the history of this country, Unitarian
and Universalist sentiment has supported just war, and also at times, has
advocated for peace. Modern pacifism in this country dates back to the
abolitionist movement, in which of course many Unitarians and Universalists
played key roles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Most Unitarians opposed the War of 1812. The Re. Edmund Hamilton Sears wrote the
Christmas carol “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” as a peace hymn in response to
the Mexican American War. But Unitarians overwhelmingly supported the Union
cause during the Civil War, in which 30 ministers served as chaplains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poet Julia Ward Howe wrote the
<i>Battle Hymn of the Republic</i> as an anthem for the Union Army. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">A decade later, however,
appalled by the slaughter of the Franco-Prussian War, she issued a proclamation
calling to establish Mother’s Day in the name of peace: “Say firmly: Our
husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to
teach them of charity, mercy, and patience.” (MMT)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Many Unitarians supported World War I as making
the world safe for democracy, and also World War II; as we know the UU Service
Committee saved many people from Nazi persecution, and Unitarians collected war
relief funds. </span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The Church of the Larger Fellowship began
during World War II, as a way for Unitarian Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and
Marines to stay connected to their faith while they were serving overseas. (</span><a href="http://uumm.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-does-it-mean-to-be-uu-who-serves.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">David Pyle, </span>http://uumm.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-does-it-mean-to-be-uu-who-serves.html</a>)</div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The country split over
the Vietnam War and so did UU congregations. </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Many clergy, as well as many people
in the pews, strongly opposed the war on moral grounds and took public stances
against the war. Some questioned the morality of war itself and moved toward or
into a pacifist position. Others in the pews did not agree, believing that the
Vietnam War was a justified use of United States military; many of them simply
left Unitarian Universalism. (MMT)</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Within the recent past,
three Unitarian Universalists have served as U.S. secretary of defense—Elliott
Richardson in the Nixon administration, and William J. Perry and William S.
Cohen in the Clinton years. (MMT)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">And most recently, </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">a</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">ttitudes to the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan have been more nuanced. Religious leaders and people in the pews
expressed support, opposition, or ambivalence about them, while expressing
agreement on all sides that we must support those who are serving in the
military and fighting in the wars. (MMT)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">What is more, our understanding of the intersection of
culture and experience, class and privilege, gender, race and ethnicity has problematized
wholesale condemnation of those who fight our wars. During the Civil War, men
with money could pay a substitute to fight for them. During the Vietnam War, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">those with connections could avoid combat by
securing positions in the National Guard, or, like Dick Cheney, avoid service
altogether with college and graduate school deferments. (MMT)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In 1973 the military became
an all-volunteer force, and that began a change in the kinds of people who
joined and why they joined. Why do people choose to enlist? Besides family
history with the military, and one’s personal opinions about it, other factors
might be race and ethnicity, age, gender, and class. Just this week all combat
jobs have been opened to women, so will that mean that more females will enlist?
The GI Bill made military service worth it for those who wanted to go into
higher education and get a degree. And many people join because they can get
out of the disadvantaged environments they come from, they can improve their
lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The demographics from 2011
show us that almost one third of active duty members </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">identity
themselves as a minority; the majority (over 80%) of officers have a
Batchelor’s degree or higher. Just over 5% of enlisted members have a
Batchelors degree. Nearly one-half of Active Duty enlisted personnel are 25
years old or younger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Georgia has
one of the highest active duty populations, and of course we know that Ft
Gordon is growing in numbers. (MMT) And that brings me to ask:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">If we were to have a discussion about military service
and our congregation, how would it go? How does our congregation approach and
welcome military personnel and veterans? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Although I believe that our
congregation is one that does welcome our military, the lived experience of UU
families in some of our congregations suggests that we are falling short of
being welcoming places for all. In particular, families have reported treatment
that seems to be unfairly based on stereotypes of people in the military and
their families. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">There are also other issues
for the military families that we don’t think about. Most active duty personnel
return home without serious injury, but at least 15% of those who have spent
time in war zones have post traumatic stress disorder (MMT). Most of us are
never confronted with having to shoot or be shot at, kill or be killed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Such an experience is bound
to have repercussions in one's spiritual life, understanding of oneself, and
the limits of what one can endure. Ironically, in fact, that makes UUs who have
served in a war zone much more likely to have given much more thought and
reflection on deep issues of faith than some of our members who have never come
face to face with imminent death or serious injury.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">An active duty member who attended a UU
Leadership School a couple of years ago casually mentioned during a
conversation with one member that he was a Marine. She then introduced him as a
Marine the whole day until he felt he had to tell everyone later that night. He
asked people not to think of him as a Marine during the week, but only as Greg.
Later during social time, a gay man told him that it was fascinating that as a
military person, Greg had to "come out," and deal with other people's
responses, whereas the gay man was fully accepted without question. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Welcoming Veterans and Military Families in
Our Congregations and Communities</i>, </span><span style="font-family: "geneva";"><a href="http://www.uua.org/international/action/conflict/iraq/32678.shtml">http://www.uua.org/international/action/conflict/iraq/32678.shtml</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Despite the Principles we affirm that we respect the inherent worth and
dignity of every person, and that we promote freedom of conscience, “Members of
the military have sometimes felt they must hide a crucial piece of their
identity and life experience for fear that it will not be well received or accepted
by Unitarian Universalists. “ (MMT) Maybe </span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">we should be
seeking to learn from the experience of these military veteran UUs in our
congregations, while at the same time realizing that many of these veterans
still carry spiritual and physical wounds from their time in military service.
To me the challenge is to learn to better minister to these veterans as part of
our mission to build the Beloved Community. (</span><span style="font-family: "geneva";"><a href="http://uumm.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-does-it-mean-to-be-uu-who-serves.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Pyle, </span>http://uumm.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-does-it-mean-to-be-uu-who-serves.html</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">Going back to Sharon Welch’s Third Way, can we view
military action through a ‘peacemaking lens’? Let me offer two quotes from the
UUA Statement of Conscience document that came out of that CSAI issue “Creating
Peace”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The first quote is this: </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">For Unitarian
Universalists, the exercise of individual conscience is<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>holy work.
Conscientious discernment leads us to engage in the<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>creation of peace in
different ways. We affirm a range of individual choices, including
military service and conscientious objection (whether
to all wars or particular wars), as fully compatible with Unitarian
Universalism. For those among us who make a formal commitment to
military service, we will honor their commitment, <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>welcome them home,
and offer pastoral support. For those among us
who make a formal commitment as conscientious objectors, we will…
honor their commitment, and offer pastoral support. (MMT)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">This even-handed respect for individual choice was also important to
those who founded our congregation back in the 1950s; they were mostly people
who worked as nuclear engineers at the Savannah River Plant. They went through
the period of American history when Ban the Bomb demonstrators were opposing the
work of the nuclear industry, with the bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 fresh in
the country’s memory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Don Hostetler told me that he used to think a lot about his choice of
career as a nuclear engineer. He remembers a time </span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">back
in 1982, at a UU meeting in Charlotte, when he was enjoying the home
hospitality of local church members. </span><span style="font-family: "geneva";">When they found that he worked at the Bomb Plant someone asked, How do
you justify that?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">It made him think so much, that l</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">ater in the year he gave
a sermon entitled:</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">“How Do You Justify That?”</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">By a strange coincidence, present in the congregation were some Buddhist
peace marchers who were joining</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> g</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">roups picketing outside
the fence at the Savannah River Plant.</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">So during the week he said, he was inside the fence.</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">On Sunday, he was with many who were gathering outside the fence.</span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Don says, “I learned something interesting. </span><span style="font-family: "geneva";">Those inside the fence
loved their children and believed what they are doing is in their children’s
best interest. </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">Those
outside the fence loved their children and believed what they are doing is in
their children’s best interest.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And the second quote from
the Statement of Conscience:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Our faith calls us
to create peace, yet we confess that we have not done all we could to
prevent the spread of armed conflict<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>throughout
the world. At times we have lacked the courage to speak and act
against violence and injustice; at times we have lacked the
creativity to speak and act in constructive ways; at times we have
condemned the violence of others without acknowledging
our own complicity in violence… This Statement of Conscience
challenges individual Unitarian Universalists, as well as<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>our
congregations and Association, to engage with more depth, persistence,
and creativity in the complex task of creating peace. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(MMT)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">I draw your attention to the sentence: “…<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">at times we have condemned the violence of
others without acknowledging our own complicity in violence”. It’s been pointed
out to me that (interview with a minister, name withheld)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“ </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">If
anyone in America goes to </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";"><a href="http://globalrichlist.com/"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">globalrichlist.com</span></a></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> and
enters their<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>household
income, they'll realize they're among the global 1%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>escaping
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That inequity we enjoy, which
affords us historically<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>unprecedented
safety, comfort, and wealth, is held in place by violence, of many
kinds, at all levels. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">If
we're going to live in unjust excess, we need to be honest about<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>how
it's sustained—for example, how African countries are kept<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>poor
and robbed by the IMF.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All institutions
are complicit in this<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>violation,
including universities, funded to research how to maintain<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>empire
(whether it's called economics or business studies). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">But
as part of sustaining the injustice we enjoy, we ask some people
to more explicitly commit violence in our name--soldiers and cops.
So, whether or not we believe they're "defending our freedom"
or upholding empire, they serve, kill, and die in our name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
fail to see how our lives are complicit with the violence of empire,
any more than most white people see their white privilege,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or
men theirs.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Those who protest against the military-industrial
complex might be surprised to know that many active service members and
veterans are also against the way it has perpetuated a society where
politicians make bad legislation and skew our domestic spending on
‘pork-barrel’ projects that even the military leaders have not asked for!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Dave Thut, writing
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quest for Meaning</i>, says, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There
is not a strong Unitarian Universalist military tradition to be sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we do have a strong tradition
of—and faith in—the democratic
process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this country, we need
people to carry out orders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must have no illusion about the fact
that those orders are,
in fact, ours. We should not allow ourselves to hide behind a <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“not
in my name” ethos that assumes that we are individually without culpability
in what the society we live in asks of its military. While the soldier’s
duty is to follow our orders (and they will do so),<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>our job is…to “build
a land where sisters and brothers anointed by<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God
create peace.” …and one way to do this is to elect leaders who make
war rare. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(“Duty
and Service,” <a href="http://www.questformeaning.org/quest-article/duty-service/">http://www.questformeaning.org/quest-article/duty-service/</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;">We can aspire to that but we still are dealing with
military members who are deployed to, and who return from, war. </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">It’s worth hearing what UU Military Chaplain Rev.
Cynthia Kane says:</span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“Returning from… war
are people—especially young people—with a<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>crisis
of faith, hurting and wounded to the core. For many of the service
members, all they thought they believed about God and<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>goodness is
destroyed; they are looking for a way to make sense of their experiences
and their lives. </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The question for UU
congregations is this: will we be the communities
that can open our arms to these hurting people? Can we model how to move
beyond assumptions about military<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>members
and their reasons for serving, and reach out to souls<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>searching for
another way of thinking, another way of being in the world?” </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Then she answers her
own question: “I believe we can. I believe we<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>have
the sensitivity and open-mindedness – especially to people with
differing views and practices. After all, is this not the essence <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
Unitarian Universalism? Freedom, reason, and tolerance…I believe we
have the awareness of our own struggles and our own biases.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“Most of all,” she
concludes, </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">“I believe we have
the understanding that we who have made the </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">choice
to serve in the military have done so for our own particular</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";"> </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">reasons.
Though initially my call to Navy chaplaincy did not make</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";"> </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">sense
to me, it does now. Since conflict and fighting have been a</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";"> </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">part
of human history since the beginning of time, then for me to </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">do
the work of peace is more than just practicing peace, I must </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";">understand
the making of war.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Whatever we decide about
our personal attitudes toward war and peace, as Unitarian Universalists we can
be guided by our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and
in the need for compassion in human relations. Marya Mannes writes, “</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">All wars derive from lack of empathy: the incapacity of one
to understand and accept the likeness or difference of another”. Those </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Unitarian Universalists who disagree on issues of war and
peace should at least agree that our faith supports all of those who serve, who
have served, and their families, otherwise they too are displaying the very
lack of empathy that causes war and all forms of violence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Paul Rasor, one of
the theologians who put forward supporting arguments for the Third Way, warned
against political correctness, saying “</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The
ostracism suffered by those who held minority positions during World War I and
the Vietnam War reflects an unfortunate streak of illiberal self-righteousness
that runs deep”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">He</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> hoped that by </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">drawing on the
commonalities between the just war and pacifist traditions and by emphasizing
our Unitarian Universalist theological principles, he might show that it is
possible to formulate a position that can be endorsed by pacifists and just war
advocates alike, but he admitted, “a question that haunts me is whether our
members who serve in the military would feel less welcome if my proposal were
adopted as a denominational stance. I truly hope not.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><a href="http://www.onbeing.org/column/courtney-e-martin"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><a href="http://www.onbeing.org/column/courtney-e-martin"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">COURTNEY E.
MARTIN</span></a>, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">reflecting in her
column for <i>On Being</i> this week on the Planned Parenthood shooting in her
hometown of </span>a Colorado Springs<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">,
writes: “</span></span><span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">What horror we manifest when we cloak ourselves in
abstract morality. What cruelty. My home has taught me many things, but first
and foremost, I think, it’s this: there is grave danger in becoming invested in
a simple moral story about anything or anyone. The next step is dehumanization.
And the step after that is, in fact, a full stop — violence.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What simple moral stories have we been telling ourselves about other
people, other peoples, in order to justify violence? What work do each of us
need to do to open our hearts, really open our hearts, to our first principle, and
respect the worth and dignity of each person, no matter who they are, what
their job is, what their skin color is, what their faith tradition is?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">In this season of
peace we must not allow the continuation of war, and the all-too-common acts of
violence in our cities, numb our passion for peace, or make us cynical about
humankind. Remember Margaret Mead’s famous quote: </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">"<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Never doubt</span> that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only
thing that ever has." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Unitarian theologian William Ellery Channing declared
that “</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">peace without can come only with
peace within”. And that is what I wish for each and every one of us here
today…to go in peace, believe in peace, create peace.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "geneva"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="DefaultCxSpLast">
<span style="font-family: "geneva";">Rev. Dr. Gaye Ortiz</span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-33206379576297342762015-11-30T18:37:00.000-08:002015-11-30T18:37:55.945-08:00Why Music Matters<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Many of
you will no doubt be stalking the aisles of local stores in the coming weeks, willing
Christmas shoppers or not, and you should pay attention to what the soundscape
around you is trying to do to you. Music matters because it is fundamental to
our brains, and marketing experts know that; they try to tap our ‘purchasing
instincts’ with music as we shop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">And you
may be frazzled after an hour – or 5 minutes – in the mall, and then get into
the car, turn on the engine, and crank up the radio…a little bit of Mozart or
Metallica – to each her own! – may soothe your nerves and help refresh you in
mind and body.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Music
matters; Ralph Waldo Emerson knew that; he said, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #131313; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">“Music
takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle out
wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto.” (http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/136523-music-takes-us-out-of-the-actual-and-whispers-to)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Many
ancient philosophers and theologians also knew that music matters: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“Qui bene
cantat bis orat” (They who sing pray twice.)—St. Augustine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“Without
music life would be a mistake.—Friedrich Nietzsche<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">“I write the songs that
make the whole world sing” - Barry Manilow (</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Yeah, he’s pretty
ancient!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">But music matters
because it can evoke strong emotions, and we can remember lyrics and chords
from music, and indeed musical experiences, that affected us a long time ago. I
remember the first time as a teenager I heard “Hey, Jude”; it was bedtime and I
had the radio on and the DJ announced the first play of the brand new Beatles
song. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">I remember kneeling down
next to the table and holding my speakers to the sides of my head so I could
hear every little note and every last sound of it. I’m sure that you have those
kinds of memories too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">Music matters because we
can express ourselves through singing, in the shower sometimes, or with
instruments, and when we do it together it can be wonderful. I took part in a
pulpit exchange last Sunday with the Rev Kevin Tarsa, and after the service in
the Beaufort church one of its members came up to me and said, we’re a church that
sings; and I almost replied, well the Augusta church is a church that sings, as
if there can only be one UU congregation to make that claim!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">But there is no doubt
that this is a congregation that sings, and a big part of that is because of
who is leading the music and shaping our love of music. Joe has such a
wonderful gift of artistry, and if left to itself, that talent could produce a
musician who is very precious about that gift. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">This week’s
On Being with Krista Tippett had a feature on the Indigo Girls, called “Music
and Finding God in Church and Smoky Bars” – what a perfect way to define Joe
Patchen’s life! </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The musicians are quoted as seeing “music
as a continuum of human existence, intertwined with spiritual life in a way
that can’t be pinned down”. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">We are indeed fortunate to have
someone who personifies this description, and who wants to share his love of
music with others; Joe is generous with people who want to dip their toes in
the music scene of UUCA. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">When I began coming to
this church 10 years ago, I think I could only stand it for 3 Sundays before I
approached him to ask if I could join the choir… and he was very gracious and
accepting, even though he didn’t know me or even if I could carry a tune. He
has composed music and recorded cds, which are for sale online, and Jerry and
Paula Goldman helped a few years ago to get some of his work published; he
teaches piano, and he plays with other local musicians all over the CSRA… you
could say that music is Joe’s life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">So when he was
commissioned to compose a piece of music to commemorate the 25<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of being our music director, he came up with such an interesting
idea: he put together the 19<sup>th</sup> century words of American Unitarian
and Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson with his own creation, a tune that
evokes American gospel music. This Thanksgiving holiday we have been acutely
aware of the legacy of this nation, which is built on the search for freedom
and the reality of diversity, and to me this new composition exemplifies this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">Since I’ve already told
you about the legend that is Joe Patchen, let me tell you a little bit about
the legend that is Emerson who, biographer </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Lawrence
Buell writes, </span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">was always ready "to stray
from paths of common wisdom into trains of thought that seem offbeat, bizarre,
and sometimes downright scandalous."</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;"> (</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia;"><i>Emerson</i> </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By Lawrence Buell, p.5) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">As a young man</span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">
entering the ministry, Emerson did so partly due to that career being one open to
intellectuals of his time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">But in 1832, at the age of
twenty-nine and grieving the death of his young wife Ellen, he gave a sermon
announcing that he could no longer in conscience administer Holy Communion,
because he did not believe Jesus meant for this to be an ongoing practice. This
effectively ended his career in the church, but allowed him to take on another
role to which intellectuals gravitated, and that was public speaking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">A good thing too, because in 1837
he gave another shocking performance, this time a Phi Beta Kappa address at his
alma mater, Harvard. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">It’s known as "The American
Scholar" speech, and he used it to trash intellectuals for their “reliance
on tradition, Europe, books, formalities, and secondhand ideas instead of on
creative intelligence operating upon the actual world of nature and society. Man’s
thinking must not be subdued by his instruments. Books are for the scholar's
idle times. When he can read God directly, the hour is too precious to be
wasted in other men's transcripts of their readings."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(</span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Harold </span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">Fromm, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.rwe.org/articles/373-overcoming-the-oversoul-emersons-evolutionary-existentialism.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">http://www.rwe.org/articles/373-overcoming-the-oversoul-emersons-evolutionary-existentialism.html</span></a></span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">And that was Emerson just getting
warmed up; even greater upheaval followed in 1838 when he gave an address to
the Harvard Divinity School. This time he criticized ministers for their use of
scripture, church traditions, their adherence to dead customs, and he accused
them of making “historical Christianity into a rigid myth of preposterous
supernaturalisms.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">He said, "Men have come to
speak of… revelation as [something] long ago given and done, as if God were
dead." But revelation, he believed, was not a one-off but a “permanent
aspect of human consciousness.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">Now some
of us may recall the ‘God is dead’ controversy of the late 1960s, and we may
think of Episcopalian Bishop John Spong as more recently championing revisionist
theology… Spong with writings such as his essay "Christ and the Body of
Christ: Is There a Future for the Christian Church?” He lists a few points that
define that future, such as <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">“1.
Theism, as a way of defining God is dead. God can no longer be understood with
credibility as Being supernatural in power, dwelling above the sky and prepared
to invade human history periodically to enforce the divine will. So most
theological God-talk is today meaningless unless we find a new way to speak of
God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">2. Since
God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to
seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the
Christology of the ages is bankrupt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">3. The
Biblical story of the perfect and finished creation from which human beings
fell into sin is pre-Darwinian mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">And so
on, until the twelfth and final point about bigotry and prejudice concluding
that “All human beings …must be respected for what each person is."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">Hearing this list, many of us will
say “there is not much new here that we hadn’t heard from Emerson one hundred
fifty years before.” (Fromm, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.rwe.org/articles/373-overcoming-the-oversoul-emersons-evolutionary-existentialism.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">http://www.rwe.org/articles/373-overcoming-the-oversoul-emersons-evolutionary-existentialism.html</span></a>)</span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">After burning his bridges with
academe and church by telling them what they should not think or believe, in
1841 Emerson wrote his essay on the Oversoul, which gives a real insight into
what he does believe. Along with a </span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">rejection of
dead traditions, as he saw them, he was drawn to ideas from European and Asian
thinkers that get away from traditional theism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Emerson describes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"a power / That works its will on
age and hour": this power he calls the "Over-Soul," a “force
that he feels is in every animate and inanimate object in the universe —
namely, the presence of God.” (</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/e/emersons-essays/summary-and-analysis-of-the-oversoul/about-the-oversoul"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/e/emersons-essays/summary-and-analysis-of-the-oversoul/about-the-oversoul</span></a>)</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">Is he espousing some
sort of pantheism? It’s worth exploring what this could possibly mean, and here
is how Emerson describes it: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">“We see the world piece
by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which
these are the shining parts, is the soul. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">All goes to show that
the soul in man is . . . the background of our being… an
immensity not possessed and that cannot be possessed. From within or from
behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are
nothing, but the light is all. A man is the facade of a temple wherein all
wisdom and all good abide. . . . When it breathes through his
intellect, it is genius; when it breathes through his will, it is virtue; when
it flows through his affection, it is love. . . .”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">(<a href="http://www.tm.org/blog/enlightenment/ralph-waldo-emerson/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">http://www.tm.org/blog/enlightenment/ralph-waldo-emerson/</span></a>)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">What this means then is that the Oversoul “is the
source of life itself. [Craig Pearson says that] This inner field of life has
been given many names throughout the centuries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">For </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.tm.org/blog/meditation/laozi-and-the-tao-te-ching-the-ancient-wisdom-of-china/"><span style="color: #0b3d7f; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Laozi it is the <i>Tao</i></span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">.
For Plato it is the <i>Good</i> and the <i>Beautiful</i>. Aristotle calls it <i>Being</i>,
Plotinus the <i>Infinite</i>, Jesus the <i>kingdom of Heaven within</i>. In
Judaism it is known as <i>Ein Sof, “the endless one”</i>. (</span><i><span style="color: #0b3d7f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Craig Pearson, Ph.D., </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.tm.org/blog/enlightenment/ralph-waldo-emerson/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">http://www.tm.org/blog/enlightenment/ralph-waldo-emerson/</span></a>)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">But while it differs in
name “it is the same universal, unbounded field of consciousness that rests
within each of us… and [that] which gives rise to nature itself.” (Pearson)
Just as Emerson says, there is “no ceiling between our heads and the heavens
above us”…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">In other words, Emerson saw human
beings as completely woven into the material web of the universe. He was
already excited by the “open-endedness of scientific discovery” that “coordinated
well with his sense of evolving life, that reality was ‘becoming’ rather than ‘being’.
His visit in 1833 to the Museum of Natural History in Paris was a powerful
moment molding his theology and spirituality, and he recorded his thoughts in
his notebook. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">There he saw specimens of insects,
birds, and animals artfully arranged to reveal their evolutionary history, which
was in his words "an occult relation between the very scorpions and
man." It seems that he sensed "the organizing idea which had created
them." (Fromm, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.rwe.org/articles/373-overcoming-the-oversoul-emersons-evolutionary-existentialism.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">http://www.rwe.org/articles/373-overcoming-the-oversoul-emersons-evolutionary-existentialism.html</span></a>)</span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">And so
in a lecture from 1858 we hear him expressing his appreciation of evolution and
his rejection of separating the spirit from the flesh:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">“If
there be but one substance or reality, and that is body, and it has the quality
of creating the sublime astronomy, of converting itself into brain, and
geometry, and reason; if it can reason in Newton, and sing in Homer and
Shakespeare, and love and serve as saints and angels, then I have no objection
to transfer to body all my wonder and allegiance.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Today Emerson might use
the term Oversoul to mean </span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">everything
human that comes from the biochemical stuff of which we’ve been made throughout
our evolutionary history. In the words of </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Harold Fromm, “</span></b><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">Nothing
comes simply from "outside" because consciousness mediates all
experience - and consciousness has evolved along with everything else. Nurture
is not outside. Everything experienced by a subject is ultimately immanent.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">And so
Joe has taken the magic of Emerson’s idea of the Oversoul – “the soul of the
whole” where there is no separation between us and God – and he’s made it
completely new through a context of Gospel music. Gospel means ‘good news’, and
that genre of music, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Palatino; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">while having a direct and vital link to
Africa, is</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Palatino; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">distinctly American music. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Palatino; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">Much of popular music
today</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Palatino; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">can be traced easily to
gospel music, thanks to Thomas A.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Palatino; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">Dorsey, a former
blues musician from Georgia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Palatino; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">After</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Palatino; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">World War II, Dorsey, the son of a preacher, turned his</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Palatino; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">talents to writing religious music, but his aim was to disassociate
his modern style of black religious music from the days of slavery. He wrote “Precious
Lord, Take My Hand” and “Peace in the Valley”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">(Michael Tanner, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.kusp.org/playlists/crosscurrents/history.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">http://www.kusp.org/playlists/crosscurrents/history.html</span></a>)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">Of course the Transcendentalists of
Emerson’s time would be, at the very least, startled by this mode of expression
for his Oversoul message, but as Joe told me, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">“</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The musical form
allows us to take the inspirational - but perhaps abstract and worn - words of
Emerson, and place them in a context where they are heard for what they are -
very good news indeed for Transcendentalists, if not all UUs. Old-fashioned
gospel is very much, in attitude and delivery, good news, and the placement of
Emerson's concepts in that musical form is meant to inspire and uplift, without
denying the dignity of Emerson or of traditional gospel music.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">Ironically perhaps, for someone who
popularized the idea of transcendence, Emerson came to believe that everything
experienced by a person is ultimately immanent: and he eloquently describes the
lack of any barrier between our consciousness and that of the source of life
itself: “when it breaks through our intellect it is genius, when it breathes
through our will it is virtue, when it breaks through our affections it is
love.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">Music matters right here this morning, bringing us
- </span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">through the skill of our music director -</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">
</span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">the beauty of these words of Emerson. They tell us that
because all human experience is mediated through “the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">universal,
unbounded field of</span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;"> consciousness”, “</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">an
immensity not possessed and that cannot be possessed”</span><span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">, “the background of our being” from which we can directly
access the transcendent nature of reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #2f2f2f; font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt;">There is no bar, no wall, no
ceiling to keep us from experiencing what we feel and name as Divine, the Holy,
the Endless One. This is good news, set to music that shares Emerson’s
heartfelt message that “</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">From within or from behind, a
light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing,
but the light is all.” </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-86423112384534518432015-11-22T14:12:00.001-08:002015-11-22T14:12:10.812-08:00WHEN PEOPLE DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU SAY<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship of Beaufort<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Rev. Dr.
Gaye Ortiz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">November 22
2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">May the door to this church be wide
enough<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">to receive all who hunger for love,
all who are lonely for fellowship.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">May it welcome all who have cares
to unburden,</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">thanks to express, hopes
to nurture.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">May the door of this church be narrow
enough</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">to shut out pettiness and pride, envy
and enmity.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">May its threshold be no
stumbling block</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">to young or straying feet.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">May it be too high to
admit complacency,</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">selfishness and harshness.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">May this church be, for all who enter,</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">the doorway to a richer and more
meaningful life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Come, let us worship together.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">“May this
synagogue be, for all who enter,</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">the doorway
to a richer and more meaningful life…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">- from the Mishkan
T’Filah</span></i><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Our opening words this morning are
adapted from a prayer from a Reformed Jewish prayer book, and they are
sentiments that we all have in our hearts as we gather together in worship.
After all, what would we be here for, if not to do as our 3<sup>rd</sup>
principle asks, to affirm and promote </span><span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth
in our congregations? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0in;">The last 3 words there - in our congregations - are important,
because anyone could follow their own spiritual path. One of the blessings of
membership is taking on the responsibility of encouraging our members to grow
spiritually alongside each other.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0in;">And as members we covenant with one another. Covenants began in
the ancient world as a way of contracting between rulers and their people, and
they are important in Judeo-Christian history and theology.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0in;">When our religious forebears settled in this country, they kept
the free church tradition alive by creating covenants such as the Cambridge
Platform of Church Discipline, which was written by the New England Puritans in
1648 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is a covenant of mutual promise.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Forrest Church paraphrased the Puritans' covenant like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">We pledge to walk together<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the ways of truth and affection,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">As best we know them now<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Or may learn them in the days to come,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">That we and our children may be fulfilled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">And that we may speak to the world<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">In words and actions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Of peace and goodwill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/river/workshop7/workshopplan/leaderresources/175913.shtml"><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/river/workshop7/workshopplan/leaderresources/175913.shtml</span></a></span><span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">When we UUs read our covenants I wonder if we reflect on the
obligation that we are asked to assume. After all, a covenant is a promise, and
it’s a tool that helps us to reconcile ourselves within the community when we
fall out of covenant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Assuming good intentions is hard for a lot of people; we
automatically think the worst when we hear things – usually from someone else –
that a person has done. When we don’t agree with what we’re hearing, we begin
to think negative or even awful things; we form assumptions that, if we were to
voice out loud to that person, would quickly prove to be false assumptions. The
covenant gives us a measuring stick; we can ask ourselves: when I am feeling
this way, is it going against what I promised to do? Can I give this person a break,
and stop assuming they are acting against my best interests or the church’s
best interests?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">So in our congregations, when we have a problem, when we don’t
like what someone says (or what we’ve heard that they’ve said), instead of
fuming silently, or expressing our anger to someone else in the parking lot, we
are urged to approach the person with whom we differ directly – assuming good
intentions – to ask them to speak with us about what is concerning us. Using
‘I’ statements, not interrupting people when they are trying to answer your
question, not judging others by what they say…these are familiar parts of a
behavioral covenant, heard in meetings of a committee or the board of trustees,
and many of us feel these guidelines are vital to ensuring respectful
communication in congregational life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wouldn’t it be grand if everyone everywhere lived more
intentionally by a covenant of right relationship? I am not saying that all UUs
abide fully by the covenants they affirm…but we at least have the ability to be
called back to our best selves, because a covenant exists, for us, as a living
document, as part of what makes us UU.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Unfortunately, today I am speaking to the topic of ‘when people
don’t like what you say’ because we as Unitarian Universalists need to reflect
on what we say and what we do, and how we deal with feelings that are evoked in
people who disagree with us. People who feel threatened by our tolerance, our
inclusivity, our liberal religious and creed-less faith tradition. Those who,
in contrast to our opening words, do <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">no</b>t
value our invitation to all who enter our church to see it as “</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">the doorway
to a richer and more meaningful life”. They may see our congregation, instead,
as a pathway to godlessness, to immorality, to false prophets, and of course,
to damnation and hell. You may well know people who think that about us; some
of you may have family members who think that, and this surely weighs heavily
upon your hearts this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">On a Sunday morning in mid-July last
year, “</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">something
pretty scary happened at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of New
Orleans. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Members of Operation Save America, a fundamentalist
anti-choice organization that is known for descending upon abortion clinics and
making life a living hell for anyone coming or going”, showed up as if to
attend the church service. During the service they began to verbally harass the
worshippers and to try to push anti-abortion pamphlets into their hands.
Imagine being in the sacred, silent space of meditation just as many of us do
every Sunday following Joys and Sorrows, and suddenly hearing shouts of </span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Abomination!” “You are going to
hell!” (</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-antiabortion-fanatics-invade-a-church-service-20140723-column.html#page=1"><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-antiabortion-fanatics-invade-a-church-service-20140723-column.html#page=1</span></a></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What happened next was probably not what they expected
to happen, because that Sunday the church was commissioning youth leaders of
the UU College of Social Justice. These young people immediately circled around
the protesters and began singing. The minister asked the protesters to respect
the worship space and take their protest outside, and at that church leaders
began guiding them out of the sanctuary. The police were called, and they
arrived ready to intervene should things turn violent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The director of religious education made sure the
children were safe; unfortunately the protesters had surrounded the church and
had identified the RE rooms. They pressed graphic pictures against the windows,
so the children were moved to an inner room. A note was left on the classroom
doors for parents so they would be aware of where the children had been taken. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The minister was able to continue with the service,
preaching “about how fundamentalism offers only one path of truth, whereas
liberal religion recognizes a diversity of paths, and that this offers us a
significant way to engage the challenges of our world.” Once the service
finished, Planned Parenthood members came to escort congregants safely back to
their cars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">As we know, especially from being in the Bible Belt, the
radicalized anti-choice movement is supported substantially by right-wing
politicians, and it feels empowered to threaten women’s reproductive rights
through legislation as well as public protest. Many of us UUs are members of
Planned Parenthood; some have been present to demonstrate on behalf of women’s
reproductive rights. We should all know that Planned Parenthood is in the front
line of protecting women’s rights and are publicly vilified for doing so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0in;">The Supreme Court has ruled against safe boundaries of protest,
so that anti-choice protesters can engage in intimidating behavior without
buffer zones, inciting violence against abortion providers and those women who
choose to use their services as they are entitled to do under the law.</span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0in;">“</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0in;">The
<i>LA Times</i> reported that eight months ago, “the man in charge of the group that
invaded the Unitarian church in New Orleans, a fundamentalist Christian
minister named Philip “Flip” Benham, was convicted of </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/02/phillip-flip-benham-guilty-stalking-abortion-doctor_n_889273.html"><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; text-decoration: none;">stalking a North
Carolina abortion doctor</span></a></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0in;">, even passing out “wanted” posters of the physician. He was
sentenced to 18 months of probation and ordered to stop the harassment.
Benham’s group, Operation Save America, has blockaded clinic entrances,
violated the privacy of doctors and abortion clinic workers, and harassed women
seeking abortions.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">But in spreading
their message of hate wider, in New Orleans they violated the sacred space of
sanctuary… “</span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">or as Benham described
it on his website, “presented the truth of the Gospel in this synagogue of
Satan.”” (<i>LA Times</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">As a writer for </span><i style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">UU World</i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">, Krista Taves, says, “This
protest was a violation of our sacred space, and when I say “our” I mean it.
We Unitarian Universalists are in sacred covenantal relationships of
mutuality. When one congregation is violated in this way, we are all
violated.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Not only that,
but the deep religious vein that runs through American civic life as a whole respects
the sanctity of the church sanctuary; I believe that Operation Save America did
itself and its cause no favors by invading a worship space, because many
Americans will be appalled at this display of disrespect for religious freedom
of worship.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">After all, we
reject the idea of Taliban fundamentalists enacting radical control of women in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, and even trying to stifle the right to women’s right
to education by nearly killing the schoolgirl Malala Yousafzi.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The minister who
led the service and kept her head was Deanna Vandiver; she calls the protesters
‘religious terrorists’ who have made us targets in the process of trying to
achieve their goals by violent means. At least the confrontation in the New
Orleans church that morning did not turn violent, due in large part to the
non-anxious reaction of those UUs present for the service. There was no yelling
or pushing back, but there was an affirmation through the actions and the
voices of the young people lifted up in song. There was a naming of what was
going on by the minister from the pulpit and a request to behave appropriately.
Then there was action to protect the children, secure the building, and call
for help.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Now, none of us
wants to think that our congregations need to be prepared for something like
the sanctuary invasion in New Orleans, but there are practical things we can
take away from that morning’s disruption.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The clergy of the
New Orleans churches were interviewed on the VUU, not the ABC show with Whoopi
Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell, but the web broadcast of the Church of the Larger
Fellowship, which you can find on You Tube; that VUU episode is entitled
‘Defending Sanctuary.’ In that interview it was noted that there was a strategy
employed in that sanctuary that morning that we need to be ready to use should
any type of disruption occur in ours.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">First, we need to
name what is happening. No matter who is in the pulpit, your Worship
coordinators also need to able to give clarity to the moment: the New Orleans
minister said, “What is happening at this moment is that someone is trying to
disrupt our service; please respect the sacred space of this sanctuary.” Rev.
Vandiver herself did not at first comprehend what was happening, and before she
heard the words they were using she thought the shouting was from </span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">someone who didn’t understand the
congregation’s tradition of silence during meditation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">So telling others clearly from the
pulpit also relieves the anxiety of those who cannot understand what is
happening, but this could be used at other times when there is a disruption in
the sanctuary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The First Unitarian Universalist
Church of Minneapolis has a script under the podium with several paragraphs for
the worship leader to read in case someone is having a medical emergency or
there is violence erupting. But with a violent disruption it is vital to be
vocal about who we are; we do not tolerate violence or disrespect of our
sanctuary and our congregants.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The second thing is to have a protocol
kicking in, for the church leaders – greeters or board members, who know they
are responsible for physically removing the people who are disturbing the
service; third is to make sure everyone is safe and secure. An important lesson
is the easy access to the RE classrooms – what is needed to secure the building
in an emergency?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">And the final step is a debrief
after all the activity is over. This helps to see what can be learned from the
experience, but also what we can do to respond what has happened. In the case
of the New Orleans disruption, they embarked on a media outreach campaign </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">that used “this awful
experience as a tool to continue changing the hearts of this nation” (Taves)</span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">You might have seen Rev Vandiver on
the MSNBC Rachel Maddow program soon after the sanctuary invasion. The message
the New Orleans UUs decided they want to pass on is “</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">that religious people have
diverse ways of being pro-child and pro-family, and that religious liberalism
might just be where we can find the clearest embodiment of what it means
to be…pro-life in its truest sense.” (Taves)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">New Orleans UUs
have said that this incident has not created a bunker mentality where they are
afraid of being under attack, but instead they feel it has driven them out even
more into the wider community. Their social justice committee is called the
community ministry team, and that name is proving to be quite accurate. They
said on the VUU that they are being seen as people of faith because of their
social justice stand, and that instead of ‘defending sanctuary’ they are now
focused on ‘expanding sanctuary’ to the disenfranchised and marginalized
elements of the wider community.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">About the
invasion itself, there was no outcry from conservative Christian groups, who
usually are very sensitive to restrictions on</span><i style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> their </i><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">religious freedom of expression…and you might have heard
that the Democratic mayor, Mitch Landrieu, had issued a proclamation praising
Operation Save American for its ‘outstanding service to the city of New Orleans,
before the mayor’s office backtracked and said that this had been done in error!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">As members of a
Unitarian Universalist congregation in the South, where sometimes we may feel
isolated, we do have support even though it may seem quite lonely at times. We
have a cluster of UU congregations, here in the eastern coastal area, one of
them of course being your sister congregation in Augusta. And the spirit of the
Cambridge Platform still lives on in the relationship that we can continue to
grow between our members. The relationship that we have with other area
communities of faith, is also a source of support. And we are of course a
source of support to them: in a meeting with the Interfaith Fellowship of
Augusta last fall, I heard the Imam of the Islamic Center talk about recent
threats phoned in to their center threatening on the eve of 9/11 to burn copies
of the Koran. We agreed that continuing our efforts together to educate the
community about faiths other than Christianity is the important work we need to
do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Our support for
religious freedom is crucial to our identity as Unitarian Universalists. The
price we pay for our dedication to our faith has always been the threat of
violence – from the early days when Michael Servetus and Francis David paid
with their lives, Joseph Priestley being burned out of his home, Rev. James
Reeb and Viola Liuzzo martyred during the civil rights struggle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">We know, in the
history of Unitarian Universalism in the South, that liberal religion poses a
threat to prejudice and intolerance. We know that standing on the side of love
with the LGBT community was not easy in our communities, but that the
celebration was sweet this summer when the Supreme Court ruled for marriage
equality. Now we need to keep standing on the side of love as we work for
anti-discrimination measures in our cities and states.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">And we know the
pushback, even among members of our own congregations, against those who dare
to say that Black Lives Matter. We know that at certain times on human history
lives of one segment of our population have not mattered, and we feel the need
to lift up our systemic bias, our ignorance and prejudice when it allows
violence with impugnity to go unchecked. And just this week we see legislators,
who should know better, or at least should know the US Constitution better,
attempting to bar Syrian refugees from coming to ‘our back yard’. Maybe they
need to remember as Thanksgiving approaches, as one person put it on Facebook
this week, that “just because white political refugees came to a new country
and massacred the natives doesn’t mean all political refugees will.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What else can we do but circle round for freedom?
Lindasusan Ulrich says that we need to bring our whole selves to the work of
liberation. Our task is to “relentlessly widen the circle for others, including
those who would shut us out.”</span><span style="color: white; font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">(</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.questformeaning.org/section/quest-blog/"><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">http://www.questformeaning.org/section/quest-blog/</span></a></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">We began this morning with the words of Edward Frost,
“It would be far worse for us if, in our fear, we doused the fire and ran,
alone, into the dark.” Let us pledge today to circle around the light of
freedom, inclusion, compassion, and love that our chosen faith provides for us. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">May it be so, Blessed Be, Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-37904640064066915762015-11-04T12:14:00.003-08:002015-11-04T12:40:01.466-08:00Mary Oliver and Spirituality<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";">The new Mary Oliver
book of poetry, <i>Felicity</i>, has just been published. This is one of the
highlights of my week, and even more so because my husband gifted me with a
copy. Oliver’s work is beloved by many, and I think our UUCA congregation has a
soft spot for her poetry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";">On October 31<sup>st</sup>
HuffPost Religion featured the new book with an article, “Seven Deeply
Spiritual Moments in Mary Oliver’s New Book of Poems”. I invite you to read the
article and see how Oliver’s spirituality is expressed in these quotes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mary-oliver-felicity_5633e40ee4b0c66bae5c8d1c" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mary-oliver-felicity_5633e40ee4b0c66bae5c8d1c</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";">My favorite is “Why
do people keep asking to see God’s identity papers when the darkness opening
into morning is more than enough?” It’s a question that seems rather indignant,
and to me it echoes the Transcendentalist strain of our faith tradition, which
sees Emerson insisting that “</span><span style="color: #131313; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Nature
always wears the colors of the spirit”.</span><span style="font-family: "book antiqua";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";">If you have never
read any of Oliver’s poems I urge you this week to look at some of the classics
as well as the newest. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";">I conclude with
this poem, called “When Death Comes”, which I recited this past Sunday during
our Dia de los Muertos service: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "book antiqua";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">When death comes </span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">like the hungry bear in autumn <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">when
death comes </span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">and takes all the bright coins from his purse<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">to
buy me, and snaps his purse shut; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">when
death comes</span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> like the measle-pox;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">when
death comes</span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I
want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">what
is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">And
therefore I look upon everything </span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">as a brotherhood and a sisterhood, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">and
I look upon time as no more than an idea, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">and
I consider eternity as another possibility,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">and
I think of each life as a flower, as common</span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> as a field daisy, and as singular,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">and
each name a comfortable music in the mouth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> tending
as all music does, toward silence,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">and
each body a lion of courage, and something</span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">precious to the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">When
it’s over, I want to say: all my life <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I
was a bride married to amazement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I
was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">When
it’s over, I don’t want to wonder <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">if
I have made of my life something particular, and real. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I
don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened </span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">or full of argument.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "book antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "book antiqua";">http://www.phys.unm.edu/~tw/fas/yits/archive/oliver_whendeathcomes.html<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-82970264833304207252015-10-29T10:19:00.002-07:002015-10-29T10:19:21.885-07:00Reformation Day...Our Faith Today<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Did you know that October 31<sup>st</sup>
is not only Halloween but Reformation Day? It was on that date in 1517 </span><span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">that Martin Luther famously is said to have nailed his 95 theses
to the door of the Catholic church in Wittenberg, Germany.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Reformation Day is a holiday in
Slovenia, Chile, and five of the German states. If you’d like to celebrate this
day that changed religious history then go to a website with a ‘Pin the Beard
on the Theologian’ game: </span><a href="http://churchhistoryabcs.com/Pin%20the%20Beard.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">http://churchhistoryabcs.com/Pin%20the%20Beard.pdf</span></a><span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">You can photocopy John Calvin’s face
and then, in a version of ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey’, blindfolded children
can try to pin a beard on it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Or you can go into the ‘Luther Maze’,
</span><a href="http://www.churchhistoryabcs.com/Luther-maze.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">http://www.churchhistoryabcs.com/Luther-maze.pdf</span></a><span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">, where Luther is looking for his hammer and you can trace
through the maze to help him find it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">In our Unitarian Universalist
tradition, Reformation Day is bittersweet. Unitarianism was a challenge to
Trinitarianism and Catholicism, and it was able to survive and travel
throughout Europe as the Reformation spread. But John Calvin himself was the
person who secured the death of one of our most important figures, Michael
Servetus, who was put to death on October 27, 1553. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqWEyFg34oKAnCyv3nPzGQqM-Zy7M4YyKUnGYV0pVyM19_KMLFgCaaBDqIInMD_IOOhReiptf17RQnX2oPkjO7KGXoXHsJQxEpzMtfFMUfsWWM80GM8gS3xpdlEzOAcWqNkQW7hGAPXw1X/s1600/michaelservetus1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqWEyFg34oKAnCyv3nPzGQqM-Zy7M4YyKUnGYV0pVyM19_KMLFgCaaBDqIInMD_IOOhReiptf17RQnX2oPkjO7KGXoXHsJQxEpzMtfFMUfsWWM80GM8gS3xpdlEzOAcWqNkQW7hGAPXw1X/s1600/michaelservetus1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Servetus was burned at the
stake in Geneva, Switzerland, after being captured while escaping to Italy from
France, where the Catholic Inquisition had briefly held him as a heretic. Servetus
wrote about the fact that the Bible has no Trinitarian doctrine to back up the
insistence of Christianity of the existence of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and his writings fueled dissatisfaction with Catholicism and threatened
the credibility of Trinitarian Protestantism. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">So Servetus had the dubious honor
of being wanted as a heretic by both factions of the Reformation, but his
horrible death made many people of faith call into question the punishment by
death of those who had different religious beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The right to
question and the importance of liberal religious freedom are values that come
from the struggles of Servetus, Francis David, John Biddle, and others, who
fought a valiant and often lonely battle against the religious status quo. So,
at this time of the year, rather than celebrate Luther’s hammer or Calvin’s
beard, I would rather mark the contribution of Servetus, which is summed up by
the inscription found on a monument to him in the vicinity of his execution: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #424242; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">“</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Michel Servet[us], . . . geographer, physician,
physiologist, contributed to the welfare of </span><a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Humanity"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">humanity</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">
by his </span><a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Scientific"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">scientific</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">
discoveries, his devotion to the sick and the poor, and the indomitable
independence of his </span><a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Intelligence"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">intelligence</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">
and his </span><a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Conscience"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">conscience</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">
… His convictions were invincible. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He
made a sacrifice of his life for the cause of the </span></span><a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Truth"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">truth</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.”
(https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Servetus#Quotes_about_Servetus)</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-44103412162914944652015-10-21T19:06:00.000-07:002015-10-21T19:06:36.095-07:00The Interfaith Connection<div class="MsoNormal">
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I returned yesterday from five amazing days at the
Parliament of the World’s Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah. Most people I told
about it here in Augusta wanted to know why it was being held in Salt Lake
City, maybe thinking that somehow the Mormons were hosting this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The answer I never had time to give is that the first
Parliament was held in Chicago in 1893, organized with the help of a Unitarian
minister, Jenkin Lloyd Jones. He was a promoter of Unitarianism in the Western
United States; he was a charter member of the Chicago Peace Society, and was a
supporter of women in ministry. There were 4000 attendees to the first
Parliament, which exposed many Americans for the first time to world religions.
The Parliament was re-established in 1993 in Chicago, and since then has been
held every five years in places like Barcelona, Spain and Melbourne, Australia.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dza9pOwzh1cKzKx4cxFmj5O9sbfJ6H1PLKYcCflXbJXyXBJVMsh2lsn1wrPe5wOq0b8JnhxMsAkjNExc0V08A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Parliament in Salt Lake City was organized very much in
the spirit of Rev. Jones, offering for the first time a Women’s Convocation,
featuring speakers such as Marianne Williamson and the dynamic Indigenous
Grandmothers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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As a UU minister who celebrates a faith that has ordained women
since the mid-19<sup>th</sup> century, I was able to be in solidarity with
Roman Catholic women who spoke up for women’s ordination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pagan priestesses, whose panel
presentation included the theologian Starhawk and the Rev. Selena Fox, spoke of
the value of pastoral presence and worship expertise that I strive for in my
ministry. And the passion of Mother Maya Tiwari and Dr. Vandana Shiva in
lifting up the nurturing and creative strength of women made me want to widen
the circle of opportunity for women in our community, who care for their
families against the odds of poverty and illiteracy, and in our world, where
women still are not afforded dignity.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Jones would have been amazed that over 10,000 people from 80
nations and 50 faiths attended. One of the most impressive achievements of the
Parliament was an act of selfless service. Sikhs from all over the world
converged to offer Langar, a free meal that is central to Sikh hospitality. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMpv1HirMn7atIvz13zPoJ0y8QzlnLS3r22Gyh0-0jrIr_CsKJHWuGmYRo5ftE2BOdrNfvAKdStXo1AsjgtGeNH2hk8HtcFTOPWO5bbXgWwQywWsZHDYUPJ5Un1s27z1kA_NGbeH5a7M6/s1600/Parliament+Langar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMpv1HirMn7atIvz13zPoJ0y8QzlnLS3r22Gyh0-0jrIr_CsKJHWuGmYRo5ftE2BOdrNfvAKdStXo1AsjgtGeNH2hk8HtcFTOPWO5bbXgWwQywWsZHDYUPJ5Un1s27z1kA_NGbeH5a7M6/s320/Parliament+Langar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Langar with Imam Jamal from the Augusta Islamic Center</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Hundreds lined up every day to go into the hall and get not only their fill of
wonderful food, but also conversation with people sitting beside and across
from them.</div>
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sikh-langar-parliament-of-world-religions_5622c61be4b02f6a900c9e68?utm_hp_ref=religion" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sikh-langar-parliament-of-world-religions_5622c61be4b02f6a900c9e68?utm_hp_ref=religion</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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Dialogue truly was a highlight of the Parliament. On my last
day there I went with another female UU minister to lunch and we ended up
sitting with a Mormon woman. We discussed our lives, our religion and what it
means to us in terms of our relationships and our lives. Each of us was moved
to tears when sharing things openly, and after lunch was over we exchanged warm
handshakes and a smile, wishing that we could have that kind of encounter
everywhere we go.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The challenge of the Parliament to the 10,000 who attended
came in the form of the theme: Reclaiming the Heart of Humanity. So many
speakers brought up the issue of climate change and how we must act so that
future generations can still inhabit this glorious planet. How we do that will
be determined by our ability to open our hearts to our fellow human beings and
reach out, despite - or perhaps because of - our diversity. </div>
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<br /></div>
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May we be the ones who make it so.</div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-25278579865978390642015-10-07T07:53:00.002-07:002015-10-07T07:53:50.561-07:00Deeds, Not Creeds<div class="MsoNormal">
At the end of last week I traveled to Statesboro for our
monthly UU Coastal Cluster clergy meeting. The ministers from Charleston down
the coast to Brunswick,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from
Columbia to Augusta to Statesboro, try to get together regularly to support
each other and get to know one another as people come and go in our area. We
move our meetings around so we can visit the churches and see the cities and
towns where we do ministry. It’s a time I treasure, to be with my colleagues in
fellowship.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This last meeting was a little uncertain for some of us who
were coming from the coast, but as of Friday the storm had not hit and we were
able to have a good meeting and return home safely. But since then, our coastal
UUs have had a rough time of it. The new interim minister in Columbia was
evacuated from her home, barely having unpacked from her move from Arkansas. As
we know from the news and from social media, a number of dams burst in South
Carolina and have made things much worse for the midland population than the
effects of the storm in the coastal towns of Savannah and Charleston.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Times like these make us aware of how little control we have
over our lives; many people inland, who watched the storm approaching the
coast, were thinking it wouldn’t affect them beyond heavy rain and maybe minor
flooding of roads. Now they have no power, no fresh water, they have left their
homes suddenly as dams burst and the gushing waters threaten to cut them off
from an escape route, or even to wash away their cars. How frightening to be
faced, especially if you are elderly and not as mobile, to have to evacuate and
not know how long you will be away from your home and from resuming life as
normal.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Now think of how that is true for all the refugees fleeing
Syria; the people displaced by the terrible mudslides in Guatemala; the storms
and flooding in the French Riviera…we truly are fortunate to be where we are,
secure in our homes, our lives, our family and friends close by or at least
able to be in touch by phone or email.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And finally, think about how you might be able to assist in
the rescue effort going on in these places. From donating water to folks in
South Carolina to sending off money to rescue organizations working in the
midst of the devastation of war, we can support one another as world citizens
and as human beings. We don’t know if one day we will be the ones in need of that
kind of support and compassion; the Golden Rule that Pope Francis so eloquently
evoked during his visit to this country still rings true for the way we can
model our faith: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” As UUs the
“Do” is emphasized: “Deeds, not creeds.” Living our faith means never standing
still in the face of injustice, cruelty, crisis, or despair. We are fortunate
and, yes, blessed, to have our religious community to help us widen our vision
and renew our strength, as Mark Morrison-Reed reminds us: </div>
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<br /></div>
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“The central task of
the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. There is
a connectedness, a relationship discovered amid the particulars of our own
lives and the lives of others. Once felt, it inspires us to act for justice.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
May we be the ones who make it so.</div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-12841873989987477552015-10-01T09:10:00.003-07:002015-10-01T09:10:19.799-07:00The Ultimate Justice of the People<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This year on Sept 11<sup>th</sup> Paul Simon sang “American Tune” to
close the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The song is, in my interpretation, an
epiphany of despair, a realization of the failings of this country: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“...</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">when I think of the road<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">We’re traveling on<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I wonder what went
wrong…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VpTcLUDorRI/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VpTcLUDorRI?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Paul Simon wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Tune</i>
in 1973. The year before that, I remember how excited I was to be able to vote
in my first election. I was a volunteer for the George McGovern campaign, one
of those young idealistic Democrats who didn’t trust President Nixon and who
were dismayed at the turn the Vietnam war was taking. I honed my political
rhetoric by arguing with my dad every night at suppertime, The CBS Evening News
with Walter Cronkite in the background. If we weren’t disagreeing over the war,
we were arguing about the Watergate burglary in June of 1972, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">which was intended to
steal documents, related to the Pentagon Papers leak, from Daniel Ellsberg's
psychiatrist's office</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">. I was sure it
would lose the election for Nixon… but he won by a landslide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKGDZ6e390cxhIjgxpDQ_BIzcA8t_iVr73mQnwDyb-8nnlmtBzbAsrWOjayby1teW6-TmGndsUQMKdJiMs_8-8ed-jJHjKOym2rbrMhTGqWUfXdChRs1ceF5z-G8WxYkaUvBYx6Oeh8xR/s1600/Watergate+Hearings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKGDZ6e390cxhIjgxpDQ_BIzcA8t_iVr73mQnwDyb-8nnlmtBzbAsrWOjayby1teW6-TmGndsUQMKdJiMs_8-8ed-jJHjKOym2rbrMhTGqWUfXdChRs1ceF5z-G8WxYkaUvBYx6Oeh8xR/s320/Watergate+Hearings.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Watergate Scandal: Congressional Hearings</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Before long, Congress began to hold hearings about the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">break-in. B</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">y 1973 the Watergate scandal was destroying
everything we thought we knew about Washington politics, and it got downright
scary in October with a full-blown constitutional crisis – on October 20<sup>th</sup>
1973, the president fired Watergate “</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">prosecutor Archibald Cox in what has become known
as ‘The Saturday Night Massacre’."</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">It was one of those moments in American
history when many Americans remember where they were when they heard the
announcement, and then the next breaking news, and the next, as events piled up
furiously on top of one another. John Chancellor reported on NBC news that
evening that “Because of the President's action, the attorney general resigned.
Elliott Richardson quit, saying he could not carry out Nixon's instructions.
Richardson's deputy, William Ruckelshaus, was fired because he, too, refused to
obey a presidential order to fire the special Watergate prosecutor. And half an
hour after the special Watergate prosecutor had been fired, agents of the FBI,
acting at the direction of the White House, sealed off the offices of the
special prosecutor, the offices of the attorney general and the offices of the
deputy attorney general. More than 50,000 telegrams poured in on Capitol Hill,
so many, Western Union was swamped. Most of them demanded impeaching the
president. The following Tuesday Congress filed 21 resolutions calling for
Nixon's impeachment.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">No wonder Paul Simon felt that he was a
long way from home…all of us watching this scandal unfold felt like the Statue
of Liberty <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">was</b> floating away, with
all the symbolism of the country being adrift in a crisis that no one had ever
experienced before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">I begin with this recollection because
the title of my sermon this morning, “The Ultimate Justice of the People”,
gives you an idea of what did in fact prevail in the Watergate scandal. Nixon
backed down an appointed a new special prosecutor and agreed to cooperate with
the investigation, which ultimately led to his impeachment and resignation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But that phrase comes from another time when the American nation was at
crisis point of a different kind: these are words written and spoken by Abraham
Lincoln in his first inaugural address on </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">March 4, 1861:</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<b>Why
should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people?
Is there any better or equal hope, in the world?...By the frame of the
government under which we live, this same people have wisely given their public
servants but little power for mischief; and have, with equal wisdom, provided
for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEJ4P2GPJchD-ufT4mnFcBDsQvubU0q9-xYu8ZdOZqjU7L84ihO3hEoSj58I4nTgoYvbAJu_MvwX84rpvcbs_s3RO5fgeQHuZ89TpvbFy27KzyWZ8tSbd-YRK665J9AaeKEAx-ZjZsB18A/s1600/gty_abraham_lincoln_1861_inauguration_ll_130118_wb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEJ4P2GPJchD-ufT4mnFcBDsQvubU0q9-xYu8ZdOZqjU7L84ihO3hEoSj58I4nTgoYvbAJu_MvwX84rpvcbs_s3RO5fgeQHuZ89TpvbFy27KzyWZ8tSbd-YRK665J9AaeKEAx-ZjZsB18A/s320/gty_abraham_lincoln_1861_inauguration_ll_130118_wb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Despite the reassurance
that he hoped to give to Southerners about his election as president,<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">the
speech did not dissuade them from starting the civil war the following month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Two major crises, just over a century apart, in
which the power given by the vote was challenged. But we are facing a
presidential election season this next year – in which we are already
knee-deep, with candidates, debates and campaign appearances – that may not
even allow large numbers of American citizens to cast a vote. And that is
because of restrictive legislation in many states that is a direct result of
the rollback of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court in June of 2013. And
what is more, this dismantling of the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act
was orchestrated deliberately over decades, according to an in-depth article by
Jim Rutenberg in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times
Magazine</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><i>The Voting Experiment</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">When, as Jill Lepore says, (</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 40.0pt;">Rock,
Paper, Scissors, </span><i><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">How we used to vote, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/13/rock-paper-scissors">http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/13/rock-paper-scissors</a>)</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 40.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">the
United States was founded as an experiment in eighteenth-century republicanism…
it was understood that only men with property would vote, and publicly, since
they were the only people who could be trusted to vote with the commonweal, and
not private gain, in mind.” “In the first Presidential election, only six per cent
of Americans were eligible to vote.”</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">But voting became a violent ordeal by the
mid-1800s, when all white men could vote; in 1859 “eighty-nine Americans were
killed at the polls during Election Day riots.” “…the nation’s founders could
scarcely have imagined that the population of the United States, less than four
million in 1790, would increase tenfold by 1870. The revolutionary step of
providing printed ballots that voters had to read made it much harder for
immigrants, former slaves, and the uneducated poor to vote.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">You may know about the Jim Crow era, which marked
the end of Reconstruction in the 1870s, and the difficulties it posed for black
Americans who wished to vote. If they were not physically attacked on their way
to the polls, they had poll taxes to pay; if they wanted to register to vote,
there were often civics or literacy tests to take, from which white voters were
exempt. Those of you who saw the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Selma</i>
recall that the Dallas County, Alabama registrar’s office was only open during
business hours on the first and third Monday of each month, and new registrants
needed to bring someone who could vouch for them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">If blacks tried to register, just that simple act
could lose them their jobs – like employees of a nursing home in Selma in 1963,
who lost their jobs when they tried to register to vote. If blacks tried to
register to vote, they might have a loan called in or might be evicted from
their residence. And the intimidation of having your name printed in the local
newspaper as a voter applicant also was meant to keep blacks from even trying. (<i>Teaching
Tolerance Viewer’s Guide</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2SWPjzt56ocg36H0S4gDj9LwKSbpTUQLMYRl6RyC7CFYDh-vNLUuCZT3E4h9lhng4NBWJFs-0TJGCNgi1w0rwBL6MdbzJsPbHCW25QBSSV4T3JRC_KnZIMAQluedpKVrdjGDMHg2B2vz/s1600/voting-rights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2SWPjzt56ocg36H0S4gDj9LwKSbpTUQLMYRl6RyC7CFYDh-vNLUuCZT3E4h9lhng4NBWJFs-0TJGCNgi1w0rwBL6MdbzJsPbHCW25QBSSV4T3JRC_KnZIMAQluedpKVrdjGDMHg2B2vz/s320/voting-rights.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, marching for voting rights</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Voting Rights Act of 1965 did away with these
practices that kept blacks from voting, and it contained special rules for
states and localities where discrimination was especially known to exist; these
places were not allowed to make any changes affecting voting without
‘preclearance’ from the Justice Department in Washington. Georgia was one of 9
entire states that qualified for this special treatment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><i>The Southern Strategy</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The South was under Democratic control following
Reconstruction but the Voting Rights act upended the status quo, making it
almost impossible for conservative democrats to win primary elections against
progressives. Nixon saw the opportunity of more black participation in
elections to appeal on the basis of race, so that white voters in the South
elected Republicans – that’s come to be called the Southern strategy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">One of his advisors is quoted by Jim Rutenberg as
saying, “The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner
the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans” (p 35).
Jesse Helms in North Carolina is one politician who benefitted by the Southern
strategy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">During the decades since the original act was
passed, Congress has voted several times to reauthorize it, but in the 1980s
John Roberts came to Washington as a court clerk and slowly began making his
way up the ladder until he became chief justice. His stance on voting rights
was that justice should be colorblind, which sounds good until you realize that
race-based decision-making is necessary when preceded by centuries of
segregation and discrimination. He argued that discrimination cases should be
hard to prove, a position that Republican senator Bob Dole disagreed with: “I
don’t know where we lost track after Abraham Lincoln” (Rutenberg, p 36) he
said, referring to the Reagan White House needing to show it cared about the
votes of Hispanics and African-Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">There were intentional political blocks to voter
accessibility: in 1990 President Bush vetoed the motor-voter bill which would
allow registration at other government agencies like the DMV, but Clinton
signed it when he took office; “following its passage, black registered voters
increased 10% by 1998” (38). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The next blocking tactic was to clean up voter
rolls, and the result was that many people were wrongly erased by being
mistakenly designated as felons. In Florida a disproportionate number were
black, more than 90% of whom voted for Al Gore in the 2000 election; of ballots
thrown out in the Florida election, 3 times as many came from black voting
precincts as from white precincts.” (39)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">In 2005 the Georgia voter-ID law was up for a vote
in the statehouse; the law diminished black voting, and “Rep Sue Burmeister
said that was because blacks were less likely to vote if they were not being
paid to do so” (46). The law was invalidated, although upheld by the Supreme
Court once revised to allow those without ID to cast provisional ballots. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">After 2010, a slew of new voter ID laws were passed
in 11 states, all almost identical, and by 2012, almost all suspended or
blocked by the state courts. Less than a year after President Obama’s
re-election the Shelby decision struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,
with Chief Justice Roberts saying that the section had served its purpose and
race was no longer an issue. Justice Ruth Ginsberg fiercely disagreed, citing
Department of Justice figures since 1982 of more discrimination cases than
between 1965 and 1982. She famously stated, “Hubris is a fit word for today’s
demolition of the VRA” (47).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><i>Our Fifth Principle</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Paul Simon sings that Americans came on the ship
they called the Mayflower…and the Pilgrims and Puritans who settled in New
England so longed for a place where they could have their voices heard, their
liberties exercised and protected. The creation of the 5th principle –the right
of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations
and in society at large -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>arises
from that experience, and yet the definition of citizenship that informed the
Declaration of Independence excluded so many people for the privileged few. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwVNgEs9dKHGvLI_iRqOsWluVaRliyMvWMvrkoKbGL_8_mQkpI_qCL8nAaOOuUjyJGpF9pmtTUEwRhyp9zVLTttHR9Rc5yDopf52kXgsWU7imIiDUDWH54hmtFiUlpjfyrq_C-8VSqxSp/s1600/jefferson-drafts-declaration-hero-A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwVNgEs9dKHGvLI_iRqOsWluVaRliyMvWMvrkoKbGL_8_mQkpI_qCL8nAaOOuUjyJGpF9pmtTUEwRhyp9zVLTttHR9Rc5yDopf52kXgsWU7imIiDUDWH54hmtFiUlpjfyrq_C-8VSqxSp/s320/jefferson-drafts-declaration-hero-A.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">It would have been a mystery to the founding
fathers, who wrote the immortal lines “all men are created equal” and “endowed
with certain inalienable rights”, that I was allowed to register to vote in
1972. And, as Parisa Parsa points out in her wonderful essay on the 5<sup>th</sup>
Principle (Brandenburg), our Puritan forebears, “credited with forming our
Unitarian polity, would not have envisioned the level of inclusiveness or low
threshold for membership that we do today.” They were determined to “resist
corrupt influence by ecclesiastical authority”, and so membership was
restricted to those who could testify “ to an experience of grace and full
conversion to the life of Christ”. This rule was meant to “preserve decision
making for the people who were considered most capable of being entrusted with
the well-being of society.” (76)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Parisa understands the desire behind this
restriction, because she identifies church as a place where “the democratic
process and the development of our own consciences become religious acts”. She
says that “in our religious lives, the democratic process requires trust in the
development of each individual conscience.” In the words of Theodore Parker,
“Democracy means not ‘I am as good as you are’ but ‘You are as good as I am’.
My connection with the sacred is only as precious as my willingness to
acknowledge the same connection in others.” (77) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">With freedom of conscience comes accountability and
faithful unity, even in disagreement: that is our covenantal responsibility as
Unitarian Universalists; we pledge as much when we sign our congregational
covenant that hangs next to the office block. Parisa says that she values her
congregation, because they know that being fully present and showing some flaws
is infinitely more valuable than being correct in principle but disconnected
from real community.” (80) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The democratic process is messy and frustrating,
but voting – whether it is in our congregational meeting or in a precinct
voting booth - is “shorthand for taking interest in, and ownership of, the
process by which we as a community live our faith and choose to use our
collective power to shape our world in accordance with that faith.” (81) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Living my faith - that is why I drove to
Winston-Salem NC in July and in the heat of the day gathered at a Moral Monday
rally with the Rev. William Barber, Rev. Peter Morales our UUA President, Jim
Key the UUA Moderator, and 500-plus UUs among more than three thousand citizens
on the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">first day of a federal trial that will determine
whether parts of a controversial North Carolina voting law are constitutional. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxn9gjkCkXFiw14V-GlZ7eqIDl542kF-nFs7A8Lc-8E0fCUzQlVuZIgP0kjvcB7yZoyZdXQPE3w6bBIlD13fcd9XpcoqhNm4YufaF4ipwdyGhy-PhnoVWbcxJHe2UtJREh2t0PHzlJ9Dkn/s1600/rev+barber+winston-salem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxn9gjkCkXFiw14V-GlZ7eqIDl542kF-nFs7A8Lc-8E0fCUzQlVuZIgP0kjvcB7yZoyZdXQPE3w6bBIlD13fcd9XpcoqhNm4YufaF4ipwdyGhy-PhnoVWbcxJHe2UtJREh2t0PHzlJ9Dkn/s320/rev+barber+winston-salem.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rev. Barber at the Winston-Salem Moral Monday Rally</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Rev. Barber says that we are in the era of a 3</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia;">
Reconstruction, but voting laws, like the one passed in North Carolina, are an
attempt at a third deconstruction. His catchphrase is “This is our Selma now”,
because in effect the gutting of the Voting Rights Act means that there are
less voting rights now than in 1965, when Dr King led marchers to demand
justice and an end to discrimination.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">What will the verdict be on this law? We can only
hope that the rights of citizens to vote will be protected, not restricted. So
far every time it looks like civil rights are being threatened, the people of this
country have shown a resilience and have risen up in protest. It is an exercise
in compassion to fight for the rights of others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The writer Sarah Ruth van Gelder describes several
consequences of our ability as American voters to be resilient, to expand our
circle of compassion, and to live into our 5<sup>th</sup> principle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">She writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">"Participation
in the political process does not require us to sink to dirty<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>politics
or reduce our vision to sound bites. As our circle of compassion<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>has
expanded, so have our capacities to keep ego from dominating our work,
to build movements based in distributed power, to listen deeply to the
fears and the hopes of those we are trying to reach, and to choose language
that communicates our common humanity and common aspirations.”
<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>Conclusion</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">It is not true, despite the Chief Justice’s ruling,
that the goal of the civil rights movement has been achieved. Don’t forget
Dylan Roof’s </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">justification for his murder of the 9 people in
Emmanuel Temple in Charleston—“You are raping our women and taking over our
country”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">James Noel reminds us in his essay that for African
Americans, there never was a period of not mourning those slain by racism.
Meanwhile black folks will continue to do what they must: “keep on keeping on .
. .” In the words of James Weldon Johnson, “We have come over the way that with
tears has been watered; we have come treading our way through the blood of the
slaughtered.”</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Resilience: despite the disillusionment of what
followed, my first vote cast in 1972 was not my last, and I am committed to
help others to be able to exercise their right to vote this November and the
next and the next. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">As Paul Simon ends his song, “Tomorrow is another
working day…” a glimmer of resilience, that after some rest we can go on, and
go forward, to protect the right of conscience and the democratic process. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Let
us have faith in the ultimate justice of the people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">May we be the ones who
make it so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Gaye W. Ortiz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: Georgia;">References:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Paul Simon, “American Tune”. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/video/222513C1-3AA4-E775-9B62-BF758F102317/an-american-tune/?fb_action_ids=872451632862111&fb_action_types=og.likes"><span class="FooterChar"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/video/222513C1-3AA4-E775-9B62-BF758F102317/an-american-tune/?fb_action_ids=872451632862111&fb_action_types=og.likes</span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Abraham Lincoln, First
Inaugural Address. <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html">http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Jim Rutenberg,“A Dream Undone”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times Magazine. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/magazine/voting-rights-act-dream-undone.html?_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/magazine/voting-rights-act-dream-undone.html?_r=0</a>)
</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Teaching Tolerance,
“Selma: the Bridge to the Ballot”, Viewer’s Guide p. 21. <a href="http://www.teachingtolerance.org/">www.teachingtolerance.org</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Parisa Parsa in Ellen Brandenburg, ed., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Seven Principles in Word and Worship</i>,
Skinner House Books, 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/@@also-by?author=Sarah+Ruth+van+Gelder"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Sarah Ruth
van Gelder</span></a>,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">posted
May 20,<i> </i>2004<i> “Expanding the Circle,” </i></span><a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/government-of-the-people-shall-not-perish/663">http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/government-of-the-<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>people-shall-not-perish/663</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">James Noel, “Judgment Day in America” July 21, 2015</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="https://syndicatetheology.com/commentary/judgment-day-in-america/"><span style="color: windowtext;">https://syndicatetheology.com/commentary/judgment-day-in-america/</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-39219738798102223092015-09-16T09:13:00.001-07:002015-09-16T09:16:23.797-07:00Does Our First Principle Go Far Enough?<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am about to go
to our veterinary clinic and pick up our 12-year old dog, who yesterday had her
spleen removed because of a growth that seemed suspicious. She also has been
diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease and so will be treated for that once her
incision heals. We thought nothing of taking her for an ultrasound when she
seemed to be lethargic and when she began having ‘accidents’ on the rug –
although it seemed quite deliberate to me, not accidentally! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QfgYdzOevHTEy-VAErVkGpBHL5HMK8iLiEYE49uc7VG_bDc_EZpVo57wC57tGEv8yXj3AlHAvR6LTJf-XM4E7V6_tFx2J2OrKMcS5_mJ3R3x3uFzjxsmPs8BZWPP3jnI6PGGPKspDOxd/s1600/DSCF0527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QfgYdzOevHTEy-VAErVkGpBHL5HMK8iLiEYE49uc7VG_bDc_EZpVo57wC57tGEv8yXj3AlHAvR6LTJf-XM4E7V6_tFx2J2OrKMcS5_mJ3R3x3uFzjxsmPs8BZWPP3jnI6PGGPKspDOxd/s320/DSCF0527.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sisters waiting for Papa to come home...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">We lost her sister to bladder cancer earlier this summer, and were so afraid that she might have the same condition. We didn’t hesitate to follow the recommendations of our vet about surgery and treatment. So, we are hoping that soon she will be back to her perky, funny self.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">For many of us,
we treat our pets like members of our family…because they are. Other cultures
do not give dogs or cats the same free reign of the household; in Senegal, on a
student trip several years ago, I saw carcasses of dead dogs on the side of the
road that would never be collected, because it was forbidden to touch them. In
Puerto Rico, there is a beach where dogs are abandoned and discarded, alive and
dead, because people do not want to care for them and have not neutered their
own dogs to prevent litters of unwanted puppies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-vCsvMAYU-ycOqx2BoBFFZpa5U_4W-3EvhA8i10fF6Juljt3U_JR2fsu_PHHDPvWP2JwCq5rcn3Y0RY6sboLXX4VYNcu08SFDvaJW9a9wFAYTep2yT86oVynA9QigmCZEGoU2rx01xk_q/s1600/Dead+Dog+Beach+PR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-vCsvMAYU-ycOqx2BoBFFZpa5U_4W-3EvhA8i10fF6Juljt3U_JR2fsu_PHHDPvWP2JwCq5rcn3Y0RY6sboLXX4VYNcu08SFDvaJW9a9wFAYTep2yT86oVynA9QigmCZEGoU2rx01xk_q/s320/Dead+Dog+Beach+PR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dead Dog Beach, Puerto Rico</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have had
conversations this fall with congregants in emotional agony because they are
separated from their pets while hospitalized, or because they have to make
decisions about their pet’s treatment in the face of possible terminal
conditions. And I have heard stories about how, when, in the past, church
members have shared during Joys and Sorrows their sorrow over losing a pet,
they have been ridiculed for doing so by other members.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Next month we
will be having a Sunday morning Blessing of the Animals. I understand that some
people just don’t have pets; others can’t because of allergies, and for them,
this is not a service they will care to attend. But for so many of us, the
furry family members we will bring to the service (on leashes, along with scaly
and feathery creatures in cages) add value to living. We are fascinated with
them, we spend hours looking at them, playing with them, grooming them, not
because they reflect anything about us, but because they are so different from
us. They make us aware that we are only one species; and that we have a
responsibility to respect and care for the other members of the animal kingdom.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We are most
keenly aware of this when we see the headlines about Cecil the lion being killed
for sport, or the most recent local headline about Moxie, the beautiful puppy
who was found beaten and buried, barely alive, not so far from this church. He
is surviving, possibly against all the odds; he may not recover fully because
of the head trauma he suffered; but the loving treatment he has received from
the veterinary clinic that took him in has made the news locally and
nationally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6IPgaM4Tp6o/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6IPgaM4Tp6o?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">St Francis of
Assisi is the Christian saint whose feast day is October 4<sup>th</sup>, which
is the customary date for the Blessing of the Animals. He is said to have had a
loving relationship with all of Creation, and these are his words:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #6b006d; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from
the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their
fellow men.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #6b006d; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">All creatures have the same source as we have. Like us, they
derive the life of thought, love, and will from the Creator. Not to hurt our
humble brethren is our first duty to them; but to stop there is a complete
misapprehension of the intentions of Providence. We have a higher mission. God
wishes that we should succour them whenever they require it.”<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal_Rights_A_History_Saint_Francis%20of%20Assisi.htm">http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal_Rights_A_History_Saint_Francis%20of%20Assisi.htm</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">St. Francis has
become the patron saint of animals and many in the animal rights movement try
to emulate his care and concern for Creation. Many Unitarian Universalists take
this to mean that our First Principle, by which we affirm and promote the
inherent worth and dignity of each person, should be amended to read “the
inherent worth and dignity of every being”. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I recommend that you go to the
First Principle Project website and read more about this proposal: <a href="http://firstprincipleproject.blogspot.com/p/faq.html">http://firstprincipleproject.blogspot.com/p/faq.html</a>
. I’d be interested in your thoughts and reflections.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis0Pp9RqQ6WVEhZTOQM1494k6NuYI-CgikaLeD7nHOQQYIQXxE-yDPWJcpHjHK9o8kjISj63JG0R389JvaUcccPBiaH1wUN-B-la-8iBL_b-qxtq4RhP-4RU-jx1tsxBZ49iEIH8vq-qFz/s1600/blessingoftheanimals-281x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis0Pp9RqQ6WVEhZTOQM1494k6NuYI-CgikaLeD7nHOQQYIQXxE-yDPWJcpHjHK9o8kjISj63JG0R389JvaUcccPBiaH1wUN-B-la-8iBL_b-qxtq4RhP-4RU-jx1tsxBZ49iEIH8vq-qFz/s1600/blessingoftheanimals-281x300.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">And I’ll see you
– and your non-human family members – in our Sanctuary on October 25<sup>th</sup>!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-822502799409576582015-09-09T08:21:00.005-07:002015-09-09T08:21:34.969-07:00Mis-direction<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Geneva;">The water that our staff
found on the kitchen floor the morning after the storm was quite obviously from
the rain that had pooled up and had come in under the door. They mopped it up,
pulled the mat out to dry, and talked once more about the drainage problem at
the entrance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Geneva;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Geneva;">When water was standing
again the next morning, after a dry night, the assumptions the staff members
made had obviously been wrong. They looked more closely and saw a big water
stain on the side of the cabinet next to the dishwasher…and once that appliance
was pulled out, a slow leak was found that only required a half-turn to stop.
Their attention had been misdirected because of the storm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Geneva;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Geneva;">Last week our
great-grandson began to run a fever, off and on. By the third day it had
broken, and a new tooth had appeared on his bottom right gum! We put it down to
teething troubles…until the next afternoon, when we took off his shirt and
found a red rash across his back. The next morning it was all over him; with
the help of WebMD, our diagnosis was roseola, a virus that babies contract that
results in a body rash after a fever. We were misdirected by the new tooth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Geneva;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Geneva;">I mention these two
examples because of the tendency we have as human beings to jump to
conclusions. Many times, that wrong conclusion is because we have put two and
two together and made three! These two things have made me more aware of my
need to think more carefully and consider things more broadly before I come to
a conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Geneva;">When we have a conflict with someone, whether it’s an open disagreement
or quiet resentment over something they’ve done, quite often, if we retrace the
path of its escalation, we can find the moment where we jumped to a conclusion,
or were misdirected by the seeming congruence of factors. Giving the benefit of
the doubt, instead of thinking the worst, might be a skill we can resolve to
work on this week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Geneva;">As Voltaire once said, “</span><span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Geneva; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light"; mso-bidi-font-size: 27.0pt;">Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”</span><span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Geneva; font-size: 27.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaye Ortiz</div>
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September 9 2015</div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-80170971685146277512015-09-02T07:28:00.000-07:002015-09-02T07:28:37.633-07:00The Power of Life, or a Peaceful Children’s Chapel<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This past Sunday I conducted our Children and Youth RE
Children’s Chapel, which is basically a service that takes place in our Common
Room while the grownups are in the Sanctuary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peace should always be the prevailing direction...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I was excited because I purchased a new peace sign
weathervane to help us during services where we call the directions; many of
us, with our cellphone compass apps, may think we don’t need any help finding
North, but it is a visual symbol that together we are addressing the
directions. I will be using it this coming Sunday for our Ingathering and Water
Communion service, but I wanted to first use it with the children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It really worked well, and the service got underway with
little problem. The theme for the service was the Four Elements that make up
the power of life; the curriculum of Sing to the Power has been completed and
this was the service to tie it all together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">We
had a nice discussion among the children about Earth power and how they feel
connection with the Earth. We also talked about how we are sustained by the
food we grow on the planet, and how the members of our church do service work
that connects with the theme of "earth power"-for example, our food
pantry and the local soup kitchen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Next
we discussed air; the four characteristics are Stillness, Presence, Silence,
and Listening. We had a volunteer model stillness (for about 3 seconds!), and
then we talked about why it’s important to listen. They seemed interested when
we talked about the ministry of presence that our pastoral care team practices,
such as visiting people in hospitals; some of the children had been in the
hospital before and knew how lonely it could be and how nice it was to have
someone to listen to them talk about their experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Fire
was the next element, and we discussed their passions (video games and sports),
and how people don’t just have a passion for something they act on it. They
gave examples of how people stand up for justice, such as groups working on
protection of the environment or animals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Our
final element was water, and we talked about the power of water that makes
smooth stones. We discussed Hurricane Katrina and how water, and all the
elements, can be dangerous or helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">We
then got to connect the power of love and what is helpful with the qualities
they each have as persons, and that’s where Will.i.am came in…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I
showed them the Sesame Street video of him singing about “What I Am”, and asked
them to shout out when he sang, “What I am is…SPECIAL!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cyVzjoj96vs/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cyVzjoj96vs?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">When
we extinguished the Chalice, I knew they were still listening because when I
read the quote below from Chief Seattle, one of the boys reacted to the second
line, “The earth does not belong to us,” saying “Huh?” Then he heard the next
line: “we belong to the earth,” and nodded his head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“This we know:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The earth does not belong to us;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">we belong to the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">This we know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">All things are connected<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">like the blood which unites one family.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">- Chief
Seattle Reading 550, <i>Singing the Living Tradition<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The final thing I did was to introduce the special
guest who’d been sitting patiently in a chair next to me during the entire
service. Poppy the Peace Monkey is my new office buddy, she sits in here and
gives hugs to whoever needs one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzGW5fZEkVFrUqlaspV-XwtDxl0bxOfiamFsXcKqF11sCE1nLbq07dmwutlAIUapr1pdIvL8VT5X3B9P48QfGSxu7Z8EjcQO0VZme-fpe8NpPaaj5QTPQq1FFsDbca_z9j17cEc4TScutY/s1600/IMAG1534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzGW5fZEkVFrUqlaspV-XwtDxl0bxOfiamFsXcKqF11sCE1nLbq07dmwutlAIUapr1pdIvL8VT5X3B9P48QfGSxu7Z8EjcQO0VZme-fpe8NpPaaj5QTPQq1FFsDbca_z9j17cEc4TScutY/s320/IMAG1534.jpg" width="181" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Because she has so many peace symbols all over her
fur, she is named after the flower that is associated with peace, as it is the
only flower that grew on the battlefields of Europe after they were ravaged
during World War I.</span><span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Poppy got lots of hugs from the children. We began the
service with the peace weathervane and ended with the peace monkey; so nice to
think our children experienced an hour in a little oasis of peace in a troubled
world.</span><span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Gaye W. Ortiz,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">September 2, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-65773785731676046172015-08-26T07:16:00.004-07:002015-08-26T07:20:06.639-07:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"><b>Reflection: "Send me!"</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">This past week the marchers from America's Journey for Justice stopped in Augusta for several nights of Teach-Ins </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="line-height: 28px;">open to</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"> the public. Several of our members </span><span style="line-height: 27px;">participated</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> and also marched </span><span style="line-height: 27px;">during the day along the route.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">I was honored to be asked to make these closing remarks on </span><span style="line-height: 27px;">Sunday</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> night, August 23rd:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">This past week I have been reflecting on this verse from the Scriptures: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom
shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send
me!' -Is. 6:8<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">One of my favorite hymns as a teenager was “Here I Am, Lord.” Its first
verse is the voice of God saying <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I, the Lord of sea
and sky,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I have heard My people cry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">All who dwell in dark and sin,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">My hand will save.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I who made the stars of night,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I will make their darkness bright.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Who will bear My light to them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Whom shall I
send?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And the chorus is the voice of Isaiah, saying <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">“Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I have heard You calling in the night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I will go Lord, if You lead me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">I will hold Your
people in my heart.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A young Jesuit priest, Dan Schutte, wrote
this song for a friend who was being ordained. He had “always loved this
passage where God calls Isaiah to be his servant and messenger to the people”,
and Isaiah responds with both hesitation and doubt, but also with a humble
willingness to surrender to God. If it was going to work, it would have to be
God's power and grace making it happen.” </span><a href="http://www.danschutte.com/PDF_Files/The_Story_of_Here_I_Am_Lord.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">http://www.danschutte.com/PDF_Files/The_Story_of_Here_I_Am_Lord.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #010f18; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">You, the marchers of Journey for Justice, might have heard
that voice calling you in the night. And you might also have had some doubt,
some hesitation…but you have come this far, and your belief in what is right
and just has kept you on the road. “I will go Lord, if you lead me, I will hold
your people in my heart.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnUFKWX4sA3me8qOyrzpJx4LKUoVZORQBKaT8rOUplUcU4FIY5sZkfkSOxF1vJcgluogc99dcrSOQvzNxzxKTkxWePQePe8ih6o8k7MQyz2uifsd5Vw4fefYyftBPKpSpKBfwf4gQhYLcC/s1600/ajfj-hero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnUFKWX4sA3me8qOyrzpJx4LKUoVZORQBKaT8rOUplUcU4FIY5sZkfkSOxF1vJcgluogc99dcrSOQvzNxzxKTkxWePQePe8ih6o8k7MQyz2uifsd5Vw4fefYyftBPKpSpKBfwf4gQhYLcC/s320/ajfj-hero.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #010f18; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #010f18; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">For sure you are holding your people in your heart, the
people of these United States, who see you as voicing the call to protect every
American’s right </span><span style="color: #505153; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">to
a “fair criminal justice system, uncorrupted and unfettered access to the
ballot box, sustainable jobs with a living wage, and equitable public education”. (www.naacp.org)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #505153; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">If you read on in the book of
Isaiah, you’ll find that “</span><span style="color: #434343; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">God is asking
Isaiah to preach to his own country and that they will not even listen to him”. </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">And some of you may feel that way tonight, that your country
is not listening to your call for justice; but let me remind you of two men who
</span><span style="line-height: 150%;">answered the call for justice. The first, Rev. James Reeb, was a Unitarian Universalist minister who answered the call from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to come to Selma after the violent march across the Edmund Pettis Bridge in the spring of 1965. He had a young family, he had rewarding work in his congregation in Massachusetts, but he heard the voice calling him to go. He died for that call, beaten on the streets of Selma by a group of white men with clubs. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">"Here I am, send me!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Another man who, every day, answered the call for justice as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia
Senate, as a leader of the N.A.A.C.P. and the Southern Poverty Law Center, as a
climate-change activist and an advocate for marriage equality, was Julian Bond,
who died earlier </span><span style="line-height: 28px;">this</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> month.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">In March of 1960, he helped draft an article
called “An Appeal for Human Rights,” and it included this phrase: “Today’s
youth will not sit by submissively while being denied all the rights and
privileges and joys of life.” He was only 20 years old when he wrote that, and
that same year he co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coördinating Committee.
Five years later in 1965 he was elected to the Ga House of Representatives, but
they refused to seat him until 1967 because of his opposition to the Vietnam
War. (<o:p></o:p></span>http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/postscript-julian-bond-1940-2015-2?mbid=nl_081815_Daily_Photo&CNDID=21225413&spMailingID=7995627&spUserID=Mjc5MDQ2MzQyMDIS1&spJobID=742228544&spReportId=NzQyMjI4NTQ0S0)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6-Xlqrdu-7px50pb5vkpTqcs9-ygB4y3S5Weyc3VGAnn8Zis5ARrvKOrt7Bc6JNuGDvn-KRjRjnAAiHAdqfK8Hq_XBTvohikWqFUjSL7w3uG4q8NFmrNw9E-xxGbg8Nlc-VqrzYfQVXc9/s1600/greg+Journey+for+Justice+march.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6-Xlqrdu-7px50pb5vkpTqcs9-ygB4y3S5Weyc3VGAnn8Zis5ARrvKOrt7Bc6JNuGDvn-KRjRjnAAiHAdqfK8Hq_XBTvohikWqFUjSL7w3uG4q8NFmrNw9E-xxGbg8Nlc-VqrzYfQVXc9/s320/greg+Journey+for+Justice+march.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">So when you are marching in the days to come,
and your feet are aching, and it’s hot and humid down here in the South, you
might question that call that came to you to commit to this historic march. But
turn your thoughts to those three men, the prophet Isaiah, Rev. James Reeb, and Julian Bond,
centuries apart, civilizations apart, but each of whom held his people in his
heart, each of whom answered the call to work for justice, for equality, each
of whom said, “Here I am, send me!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">We pray today for the courage to step up to
doing God’s work, in the name of all that is holy, Amen.</span><span style="color: #010f18; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 32.0pt;"><o:p>Rev. Dr. Gaye W. Ortiz, 8-23-2015</o:p></span></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-73285518490321691152015-08-12T09:15:00.002-07:002015-08-12T09:15:52.268-07:00Creation and the Origins of Life Captured on Celluloid<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Creation
and the Origins of Life Captured on Celluloid<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Gaye Williams Ortiz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Unitarian Universalist Church of
Augusta<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">August 9, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Some of you will have learned about the book of Genesis and its
stories about the origins of life when you were little kids. I remember having
a panic attack in Sunday School when I was in the 3<sup>rd</sup> grade the day
the teacher explained the first 2 verses of Genesis Chapter 1: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt;">1 </span></b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. </span><b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">2 </span></b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon
the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the
waters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What
was freaking me out during that class and for hours, if not days, afterwards,
was trying to imagine the earth without form, darkness on the face of the deep.
That, once upon a time, there was nothing before there was something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Well, Genesis has also provided hours of cinematic
entertainment and education for many of us, but actually there are less films
about the origins of life than there are about the end of the world; around the
time of the millennium, there was a peak in popular film’s speculation on
apocalypse and the end times. Filmmakers seem to still be more fascinated with
the special effects potential of the end of life on earth and of the universe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Last year<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Noah </i>was
released. It was the first big-budget (and live-action) Old Testament epic made
for popular moviegoers since <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">King David </i>(dir.
Bruce Beresford, 1985). It gives us the Great Flood in all its
computer-generated glory, but it’s also an important story about starting over,
the promise of new beginnings after God’s plan for Adam and Eve to live forever
in Paradise was foiled by the serpent, and they were expelled from the Garden
of Eden. Noah, who survives the Great Flood with his family on the ark,
witnesses God’s destructive power, as well as His covenant with humanity that
he will never again wreak such vengeance on his creation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Although a significant number of people today may not be
acquainted with the basic biblical narratives, the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Noah</i> still can appeal to those who enjoy films about mythology and
ancient history, as well as to Christian audiences, who proved themselves an
economic force to be reckoned with due to the unexpected success in 2003 of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Passion of the Christ</i> (dir. Mel
Gibson). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">In fact, Noah’s director Darren Aronofsky reportedly had to
reassure studio executives near to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Noah</i>’s
release date that it would adhere to the Genesis story, after religious
conservatives expressed a worry that the story would not be literal enough.
It’s apparent from the portrayal of Noah by Russell Crowe that they had reason
to worry. Noah is more like a modern-day superhero than a traditional biblical
one, and Aronofsky admitted that he promised Crowe that his character would not
be reduced to a stereotype, saying: </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“We wanted to smash expectations of who Noah is.
The first thing I told Russell is, ‘I will never shoot you on a houseboat with
two giraffes behind you.’…You’re going to see Russell Crowe as a superhero, a
guy who has this incredibly difficult challenge put in front of him and has to
overcome it” (Chitwood 2014).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hOMSN7EpnPd5yCUqxwxpTXeFN5jSET2qEmxcYyzXXhk2dZBG1z0da5o6sgLP-SNVnt4AcMOhm5X4Naxh8NXCqo0De6tlhLhuvEejopkffGMB_WsihQW7hJ0_q6ShvQeptcsQ8S-MisAI/s1600/Screenshot+2+Noah.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7hOMSN7EpnPd5yCUqxwxpTXeFN5jSET2qEmxcYyzXXhk2dZBG1z0da5o6sgLP-SNVnt4AcMOhm5X4Naxh8NXCqo0De6tlhLhuvEejopkffGMB_WsihQW7hJ0_q6ShvQeptcsQ8S-MisAI/s320/Screenshot+2+Noah.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Director Darren Aronofsky and actor Russell Crowe on the set of <i>Noah</i>.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">[Adele Reinhartz says that]
Biblical texts used in films are, of course, “filtered through the lens of
Western culture”. Some scholars ask whether the “audience[‘s] knowledge of the
Bible is essential, desirable, or even helpful when viewing these films”
(Reinhartz 2003, 186). Just as Middle Earth is a foreign, far-away place for
21st-century moviegoers, audiences may not have much of a contextual framework
for understanding the Near Eastern, Hellenistic, and Roman civilizations, which
are the settings for biblical texts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">And although audiences might miss
biblical allusions that are made in these films, filmmakers themselves, in
making biblical epics, may lack grounding in the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Revisioning Genesis 1-2<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Of the films with
biblical themes, there are very few that portray a literal biblical description
of creation. The 1953 film </span><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Sins of Jezebel </span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(dir. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Reginald
Le Borg, US)</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> is mainly
concerned with the life of the prophet Elijah and his conflict with Queen
Jezebel, but it begins with a reference to how the world came into being with
an illustrated mural of Paradise, the </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">image
in Genesis of the Garden of Eden as environmental perfection (Gen 1:31)</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> Then a male voice announces,</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the
east; and there he put the man whom he had formed.” (translation unknown) The
camera draws back, and a robed narrator steps in front of the mural to intone
that this is “the beginning of everything.” </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Thirteen years
later in 1966, John Huston made <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Bible: In the Beginning</i>. It actually only covers a portion of Genesis from
creation to the life of Abraham, and it begins with a similar technique to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sins of Jezebel</i>, a narrator (Huston)
speaking the words of Genesis 1 over a </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">four-minute
creation montage; Huston’s choice of image was film of natural phenomena,
accompanied by </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">a</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> modern experimental electronic music soundtrack. He sent
photographer Ernst Haas to capture footage of primordial elements such as
steaming gases, torrential waters, and molten lava, which was then compiled to
convey the gradual emergence of life on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">It’s obvious that in adapting stories from the
Bible for the screen, filmmakers may feel the need – in the face of possible objections
from literalists – to attempt to fill the many gaps they perceive in biblical
stories. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The editorial and artistic license of these
filmmakers prompts us to ask, is it not the case that the writers of Genesis
also employed their own personal understandings of their own time and culture
when they wrote about creation? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Aronofsky’s script
contains Noah’s own retelling of the story of creation to his family, at the
point in the film where the flood has begun in earnest. Noah’s explanation of
how the world began closely follows the words of Genesis 1, but visuals take
over as the story whizzes from the explosive Big Bang to Adam and Eve. The
audience is treated to s</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">wirling galaxies and meteor showers, cell
multiplication and division, and aquatic creatures swimming on ocean beds. Of
course in biblical times, Noah would not have been able to experience or even
comprehend these things. Clearly this is an imposition by Aronofsky (like that
of Huston) of his interpretation of cosmology onto the visual style of the
film.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4259605807445341949#_ftn1" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title="">[1]</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4259605807445341949#_ftn1" name="_ftnref" title=""><!--[endif]--></a></span></span>
</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In addition to a familiarity with the original
Hebrew scripture of Genesis, audiences watching <i>Noah</i> might benefit from
knowing the ancient Hebrew cosmology, which is made up of Heaven, Earth, Sea,
and Underworld. This schema will help audiences in understanding why the Flood
is caused not just when the rains come, but also when “all the springs of the
great deep burst forth ” – portrayed by Aronofsky as geysers shooting out of
the ground into the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrsEs1rCrfP2WwEU2O0yEOCfytnZkVg_3w8dzdrgG8SdgMS-4a_gKtXZs081AKDZpTDwCmCH_hztrRj9wILOLceNhyphenhyphenrkcmHkg8VLNIWAojv8vW-VlD1t3xdA9yws5PQL1aOuET0PhOHpHS/s1600/Noah+Screenshot+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrsEs1rCrfP2WwEU2O0yEOCfytnZkVg_3w8dzdrgG8SdgMS-4a_gKtXZs081AKDZpTDwCmCH_hztrRj9wILOLceNhyphenhyphenrkcmHkg8VLNIWAojv8vW-VlD1t3xdA9yws5PQL1aOuET0PhOHpHS/s320/Noah+Screenshot+1.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Noah watches as the waters rise</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Another film with a creation
sequence, this time in the opening credits, is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creation</i> (dir. Jon Amiel, 2009, UK)</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">, </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">a British film from 2009 about
Charles Darwin’s struggle to complete his work <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On The Origin of Species</i> (1859). It begins with “</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">… a series of coalescent images: particles in space becoming subject
to gravity, transitioning to cells colliding under a microscope, becoming fish
swimming together in a bait ball” (Compson 2009). Images of the natural world
then fade in and out, and we hear a child asking to be told a story “about
everything.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">This request contrasts this film
with the other creation sequences I’ve mentioned, where the text of Genesis is
imposed upon the viewer and there is no need to ask for “the story.” But a
bigger contrast to those films is the visual implication that forms of life on
earth did not follow a heavenly command to appear day by day but, rather, they
slogged their way through an epic experience of survival and adaptation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Indeed, later in the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creation</i>, Darwin’s scientist friend
Thomas Huxley makes clear the astonishing accomplishment of Darwin’s work when
he tells him, “Clearly the Almighty can no longer claim to have authored every
species in under a week; you’ve killed God, sir!”<sup>2</sup> The negative
reaction to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creation</i> in this country
– including the long time it took to find an American distributor – was said by
some to be because it was too controversial for American audiences. A Gallup
poll, carried out during the month <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creation</i>
was released, found that only 39% of Americans believe in the theory of evolution
(Singh 2009).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Origins of Life in Science Fiction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">There are many
science fiction films that explore the beginnings of life, going beyond a
literal reading of Genesis. Science fiction is a genre uniquely suited</span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="display: none; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-hide: all;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>f </span></span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for dealing with questions of faith, such as “ the shape of
ultimate reality, the meaning of life, and the place of human beings in the
cosmos” (Stone 1998). Maybe that’s because writers and filmmakers of this genre
find that it’s a safe space to ask “What if?” and to explore wildly utopian or
dystopian scenarios.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><br /></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">2001: A Space Odyssey</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> (</span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="display: none; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-hide: all;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1968, US/UK) has been described as “an
example of futuristic pessimism” (Hurley 1970, 162); maybe not surprising since
it was made during the Cold War waged between the United States and the Soviet
Union. It was released just the year before the successful landing of American
astronauts on the moon, so there was interest in space travel and the
popularity of the science fiction genre in general. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">The emphasis on
space is obvious, from the opening scene’s alignment of the Earth, Jupiter and
the Sun, complete with Richard Strauss’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thus
Spake Zarathustra</i>. In a segment about the “Dawn of Man” the film shows the
problematic relationship that humanity has with technology. Nomadic apes in
competing communal groups forage for vegetation, until something happens to
change their lives and the future of life on the planet. They are visited
unexpectedly by a black monolith, which comes to rest in their midst; curious,
they begin to touch and explore it. It somehow imparts knowledge to them, and
one ape grasps an animal bone from the ground and uses it as a tool to kill a
boar for food, but then, to threaten the ape encroaching on his territory. The
power of this violent act is shown in one of the film’s famous images of the
bone being thrown up into the sky in slow motion and becoming, through the
power of Kubrick’s edited cut, a spaceship where murder will take place. Just
as Cain killing Abel in the Bible signifies the first act of murder among
humans, so this image in Kubrick’s film captures the innate capacity of humans
to destroy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhncu5lZb6giN1hceWgv_HWSrKYfq1_LEZm69WTXQRyca_sbf6yn9hSOMlkjpDt17n63gi_yu3YloihQcWuAz9p2M4mS6aHSFgqwFfL4G02V1gKwXabcskbCTKzpEOsmjpptKxQVT7tdH43/s1600/2001-creating-tools-that-destroy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhncu5lZb6giN1hceWgv_HWSrKYfq1_LEZm69WTXQRyca_sbf6yn9hSOMlkjpDt17n63gi_yu3YloihQcWuAz9p2M4mS6aHSFgqwFfL4G02V1gKwXabcskbCTKzpEOsmjpptKxQVT7tdH43/s320/2001-creating-tools-that-destroy.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small; font-weight: normal;"><i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: xx-small; font-weight: normal;">https://davethenovelist.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/2001-creating-tools-that-destroy.jpg</span></h3>
</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Cinematic questions
about the origins of life also incorporate non-biblical creation myths, such as</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Prometheus, </span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">set in the late 21<sup>st</sup> century
(dir. Ridley Scott, 2012, US/UK). Its title refers to the mythological Titan,
who, in the ancient poem <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theogony</i> by
Hesiod, created humanity out of clay and stole fire from the gods for the
benefit of humankind. Like Genesis, this myth provides an explanation for how
humanity gained divine knowledge. The deep space research spaceship bears the
name Prometheus, and carries scientists on a quest to find ancient cultures
that once visited Earth and left the DNA building blocks of human life. The
questions that drive the human astronauts are: “Why are we here? Why were we
created? And why did our creators leave us all alone?” (Roberts 2012).</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';"> [Vaughn Roberts s</span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="display: none; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-hide: all;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">uggests that] These may have been the exact questions that drove
the author(s) of Genesis to attempt to provide a theological meaning to
creation. </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">Western culture has always had a
fascination with these supernatural questions; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Prometheus</i>, with its archaeologists who discover ancient art and
interpret it as evidence that creator gods visited the Earth, reminds me of
speculation from Erich Von Däniken about alien visitors who left clues in Peru.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">The end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Prometheus</i>
promises a direct link to the alien fossil found by the astronauts in the 1979
film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Alien</i>, so if there is another
film following it, we may see whether the power wielded by this race of creator
gods will end up being used to create or destroy human life. The film, like the
book of Genesis, examines humanity’s own reckless power and its power to
self-destruct. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Eden and the Loss of Innocence<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Some mainstream
films reflect a loss of innocence like that which happens in the Garden of
Eden. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tree of Life</i> (dir. Terrence
Malick, 2011, US) is a film that offers an extended meditation on this theme.
This film also has a creation sequence – twenty elaborate minutes comprising the
birth of stars, a meteor hitting the Earth, and other apocalyptic images; the
Hubble telescope was the source for some of the shots in the sequence. The
intent was to show the way in which the cycle of life and death is present from
large-scale events of creation to our own lives. </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">The Tree of Life (or Tree of the World, <i>axis mundi</i>)</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';"> is a mythological image in cultures worldwide. In the Genesis
account, the power of the Tree of Knowledge, from which the fruit is picked and
eaten, is such that mortality results for all humanity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">What about</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> “Genesis imagery in <i>The Truman Show</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> [dir. Peter Weir, 1998]</span>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The director of the show, Christof,
‘cues the sun,’ just like God, (Reinhartz 1999) in this comedy-drama with an
elaborate artificial world and resulting levels of reality. It “not only draws
upon Christian ideas pertaining to the Creation and Fall of the Book of Genesis
but subverts them. The message of the film is that it’s theologically
beneficial to accept change and disorder, rather than live in a sterile, Edenic
paradise, in order for human beings to realize their potential and growth and
to exercise their free will” (Deacy 2008, 13).<span class="MsoFootnoteReference">
</span>Truman Burbank grows up and lives in a giant set filled with actors,
oblivious to the fact that he is starring in the ultimate reality show and that
millions of television viewers watch every moment of his life. The town of
Seahaven in which he lives is built inside a giant dome, a safe, secure and
controlled Garden of Eden. The producer/director makes sure that no flaws exist
for Truman and nothing makes him suspect his life is anything but ordinary,
until the day that one of the set lights falls from the sky and nearly hits
him, followed by Truman hearing on his car radio the conversation of crew
members who routinely follow him. What he does then is to weigh up the secure
existence he has known against the desire to live in “true” freedom; as he
steps through the “Exit” door, “Paradise Lost” becomes “Paradise Gained.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9iE9undHQHJ9hicr_T_kR23njC3g0iljf45_CsBVt24VjAxYBKiMRjkzcLQwzld31aznEOtO1Fwe6m8oYDzq50BWF8YXLzOw8VWJSNPYJRLkqKwpV5urUCBO7tfrRx5JWVzjDDQ3licG/s1600/The-Truman-Show-TV-Series-Actor-Jim-Carrey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9iE9undHQHJ9hicr_T_kR23njC3g0iljf45_CsBVt24VjAxYBKiMRjkzcLQwzld31aznEOtO1Fwe6m8oYDzq50BWF8YXLzOw8VWJSNPYJRLkqKwpV5urUCBO7tfrRx5JWVzjDDQ3licG/s320/The-Truman-Show-TV-Series-Actor-Jim-Carrey.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Truman Show</i><br />
http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Truman-Show-TV-Series-Actor-Jim-Carrey.jpg</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Pleasantville</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> [dir. Gary Ross, 1998]</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">, likewise, features a wholesome town, in which two
teenagers become trapped in a situation comedy show from the 1950s. They take
on the roles of teenagers in the fictional family, but as they interact with
other characters, the back-and-white Pleasantville begins to experience bursts
of color and is changed. </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">This
film equates the Garden of Eden with the stereotypical 1950s American town[.
Reinharz says that “[…]] and the 1950s represent perfection: family values,
safe sex, everything pleasant, and everyone happy. All human needs are taken
care of, as in the first creation story in which God gives everything to the
first human beings” (Reinhartz 2003, 150). The knowledge that the teens possess
of another world and another way of being and behaving is analogous to the knowledge
Adam and Eve gain when they eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. They
precipitate the “Fall” of Pleasantville, which is introduced through the
changes to the townsfolk’s lifestyle from the 1950s to the 1990s, bringing, in
Reinhartz’s words, “complexity, eventfulness, and, above all, color” (Reinhartz
2003, 158).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">In the 1986 film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Mission</i> (dir. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0423646/?ref_=tt_ov_dr"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Roland Joffé</span></a>, 1986, UK) an
innocent indigenous tribe living above the falls in the South American
wilderness has its world changed by a Roman Catholic mission that brings
“civilizing” religious and cultural practices. Once the mission is established
the tribe members become political pawns and fodder for the slave trade. They
are caught between the Church’s attempts to convert them and the slave trader’s
attempts to capture them, and are subjected to a massacre, which only a few
children survive. At the end of the film we see the young Guarani leaving the
mission, taking with them what is arguably the only positive aspect of
civilization introduced to them – musical instruments. Their Garden of Eden has
been destroyed, not by their own disobedience to God, but by the conflict
between individuals and institutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">Stewardship and Care for the Planet<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">While there are
films that take metaphorical approaches to the biblical theme of innocence
lost, other films call for spiritual reconnection to creation through good
stewardship of the environment. One of the earliest, in the experimental genre,
is </span><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Koyaanisqatsi</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> (dir.
Geoffrey Reggio, 1982, US), which is a Hopi Indian term meaning "life out
of balance." This film is part of a trilogy that </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">immerses audiences in images of the
destructive impact of technology upon the earth and its ancient cultures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Science fiction films have been warning since the 1950s
about the potential consequences should humans abdicate their responsibility as
stewards. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Soylent Green</i> (dir. Richard
Fleischer, 1973), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The China Syndrome</i>
(dir. James Bridges, 1979), and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Day
After Tomorrow</i> (dir. Roland Emmerich, 2004) are American films that explore
the consequences of human neglect and exploitation of the environment. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Silent Running</i> (dir. Douglas Trumbull,
1972, US) envisions a future where the earth’s forests are put into huge domes
floating in outer space, tended by a renegade astronaut who is depicted as a
St. Francis-like figure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUB7ZlhYgfCwm72J6wIE3IXx8VMIbHzwD_fjNm2GijgUShPMepqR-HaBMyBE-IFuKIm5sgWt-Zs6tRlRdRuT1XTMlbTzDl0WtROQXCJIWC4kAweGOKCK4SsxdHEI6oDbLKCVJCT9CrbUV/s1600/1344875239-silent-running.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUB7ZlhYgfCwm72J6wIE3IXx8VMIbHzwD_fjNm2GijgUShPMepqR-HaBMyBE-IFuKIm5sgWt-Zs6tRlRdRuT1XTMlbTzDl0WtROQXCJIWC4kAweGOKCK4SsxdHEI6oDbLKCVJCT9CrbUV/s320/1344875239-silent-running.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bruce Dern in <i>Silent Running</i><br />
http://cdn1.sciencefiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1344875239-silent-running.png</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Coming back to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Noah</i>,
its storyline provides the basis for the responsibility of humanity for
stewardship of the earth. Given the recent popularity of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Noah</i> among evangelical Christians whose leaders deny ‘global
warming’ and evolution, there is an irony coming from the preponderance of
American-made films about the dangers of ignoring the covenant God made with
humankind to take care of the created order. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">It’s a hopeful sign that the glory of creation
and dire warnings about our failure to protect it still play well in Hollywood.
In addition, the eternal questions about where we came from, and our purpose
for existing, seem likely to find a place in future film scripts for some time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">This week </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">President Obama and the EPA announced
the Clean Power Plan, which may prove to be a historic and important step of
real action on climate change in reducing carbon pollution from power plants.
We can not only hope and pray that initiatives like this will slow down the
destruction of our planet, but we must play our part in reducing our
environmental footprint. Our congregation’s Green Sanctuary effort needs your
support and involvement. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">We hope you’ll enjoy this afternoon’s film but we also
hope that it will give you some cause for reflection. Godzilla and Noah are
only film characters, and try as they might, they can’t save the planet for
generations to come – only we can do that, in real life, at this time. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua';">May we be the ones who make it so,
Blessed be, Amen.</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">Bibliography<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #575956; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Alter, Robert. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World of Biblical Literature.</i> London: HarperCollins, 1992.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #575956; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Alter, Robert. The Five Books of
Moses: A Translation. W.W. Norton and Company, 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #575956; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Brooke, John Headley, “Wilberforce,
Huxley, and Genesis.” </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible</i>, edited
by Michael Lieb, Emma Mason, Jonathan Roberts, 397-412. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Chattaway,
Peter T. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Ancient and modern cosmologies in Aronofsky’s <i>Noah</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">.” (December 13, 2013) </span></span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/filmchat/2013/12/ancient-and-modern-cosmologies-in-aronofskys-noah.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Http://www.patheos.com/blogs/filmchat/2013/12/ancient-and-modern-cosmologies-in-aronofskys-noah.html</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Chitwood, Adam. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Paramount Relents to Darren Aronofsky’s Cut of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Noah</i>; Director Talks Bridging the Gap
Between Religious and Non-Religious Audiences” (February 12, 2014) </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><a href="http://collider.com/noah-directors-cut-darren-aronofsky/#vKOdAWAJ1QzA8FPL.99"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Http://collider.com/noah-directors-cut-darren-aronofsky/#vKOdAWAJ1QzA8FPL.99</span></a><a href="http://collider.com/noah-directors-cut-darren-aronofsky/#gwHDPDH1Jev4f5bb.99"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://collider.com/noah-directors-cut-darren-aronofsky/#gwHDPDH1Jev4f5bb.99</span></a>.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Deacy, Christopher
and Gaye Williams Ortiz. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theology and
Film</i>. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Donaldson, Mara E.
“Teaching Field of Dreams as Cosmogonic Myth,” in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal of Religion and Film</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2</i>,
no. 3 (December 1998), http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/fieldof.htm.</span><span style="color: #575956; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Havrelock, Rachel. “Genesis.” In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible</i>, edited
by Michael Lieb, Emma Mason, Jonathan Roberts, 11-24. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Hurley, Neil
P.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Toward a Film Humanism</i>. New York: Delta, 1970.</span><span style="color: #575956; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Izod, John. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Myth, Mind and the Screen</i>. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001.</span><span style="color: #575956; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">Pilch, John J.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Cultural Handbook to
the Bible</i>. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012, Kindle edition.</span><span style="color: #575956; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #575956; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Plate, S. Brent. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Religion and Film.</i> London: Wallflower Press, 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reinhartz, Adele. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scripture on
the Silver Screen</i>. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Reinhartz,
Adele.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Scripture on the Silver
Screen.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal of Religion and Film</i>
3, no. 1 (April 1999), https://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/scripture.htm.</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Roberts, Vaughn, “Between Eden and Armageddon:
Institutions, Individuals, and Identification in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Mission</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Name of the
Rose</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Priest.</i>” In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Explorations in Theology and Film</i>,
edited by Clive Marsh and Gaye Ortiz, 181-192. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Stone, Bryan
P.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Religious Faith and Science in
Contact.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal of Religion and Film</i>,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2</i>, no. 2 (October 1998). <a href="http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/stonear2.htm">Http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/stonear2.htm</a>.</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Wall, James M.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“2001: A Space Odyssey and the Search
for a Center.” In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Image and Likeness</i>,
edited by John R. May, 39-46. New York: Paulist Press, 1992.</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: #575956; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><b>Filmography </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Alien</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> series (dir. Ridley Scott, 1979, 1986, 1992,1997) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">An Inconvenient Truth</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. Davis Guggenheim, 2006)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Avatar</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. James Cameron, 2009) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Bible: In the Beginning</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> (dir. John Huston, 1966) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Chasing Ice</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. Jeff Orlowski, 2012) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">The China Syndrome</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. James Bridges, 1979) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Creation</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> (dir. Jon Amiel,
2009)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">The Day After Tomorrow</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. Roland Emmerich, 2004)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The 11th Hour</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> (dir. </span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Leila Conners and Nadia Conners, </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">2007)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Field of Dreams</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1989)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The Great Gatsby</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> (dir. Baz Luhrmann,
2013)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Koyaanisqatsi</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> (dir. Geoffrey Reggio, 1982) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Man of Steel</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"> (dir. Zack Snyder, 2012)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">The Mission</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> (dir. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0423646/?ref_=tt_ov_dr"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Roland Joffé</span></a>, 1986) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Noah</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> (dir. Darren Aronofsky, 2014) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Prometheus</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> (dir. Ridley Scott, 2012)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Revenge of the Electric Car,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">(dir. Chris Paine, 2009)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Rivers and Tides</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. Thomas Reidelsheimer, 2001) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Silent Running</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. Douglas Trumbull, 1972)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Sins of
Jezebel </span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(dir. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">Reginald Le Borg,
1953)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Soylent Green</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. Richard Fleischer, 1973)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Them!</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. Gordon M. Douglas, 1954) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">The Tree of Life</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> (dir. Terrence Malick, 2011) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";">2001: A Space Odyssey</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua";"> (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1968) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Who Killed The Electric Car</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. Chris Paine, 2006)</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; letter-spacing: 1.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Winged Migration</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> (dir. Jacques Perrin, 2001)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4259605807445341949#_ftnref" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[1]<!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Aronofksy also draws upon the Book of Enoch, a non-canonical Jewish
writing that begins with the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered
giants known as the Nephilim. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span class="msoDel"><del cite="mailto:Rhonda%20Burnette" datetime="2014-10-07T12:46"><o:p></o:p></del></span></span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-87950933426554873992015-08-07T18:59:00.001-07:002015-08-07T19:06:22.281-07:00Green Sanctuary and the Seventh Principle<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Green Sanctuary and the Seventh Principle<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Rev. Dr.
Gaye Williams Ortiz<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Unitarian
Universalist Church of Augusta<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">August 2,
2015<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">“We
are the generation fated to live in the most interesting of times, for we are
now the weather makers, and the future of biodiversity and civilization hangs
on our actions.” (P306) That’s what the author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Weather Makers, </i>Tim Flannery, says<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i> (New York: Grove Press, 2005) And what a heavy responsibility it
is to live in these “interesting” times!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Sometimes
when I’m asked to explain what Unitarian Universalism is, I only half-jokingly
say, “We believe in life <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">before</b>
death.” But I would venture to label Unitarian Universalists as people who care
about the here and now, but also care about the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Take, as evidence, the time described by the Rev. Scott Alexander in
his sermon for Earth Day in 2004 at River Road Unitarian Church in Bethesda,
Maryland:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">“</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Back
… when the Unitarian Universalist Association labored for several years to
revise our statement of religious principles that would take us into this next
century, we added A NEW SEVENTH PRINCIPLE. In addition to all our long standing
HUMANITY CENTERED PRINCIPLES (about justice and equality, respect and
compassion)” ...this 7<sup>th</sup> principle “promises the world and one
another that we will<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Respect...the interdependent web of all
existence of which we are a part</span>." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The Rev James Ford
writes about this occasion </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">on June
25th, 1984, when Unitarian Universalists from across the United States and
Canada gathered at the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, for the
eleventh General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association of
Congregations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">If any of you have been to General Assembly you’ll
know that we meet in a massive convention center hall where thousands of us do
the business of the Association in long sessions of discussion and debate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">On this instance, Ford reports, “the Reverend
Paul L’Herrou made his way to the microphones… he was lanky and bearded, and
stood at the microphone with the ease of an experienced pulpit minister. He
looked around, briefly stroked his beard and then addressed the <u>proposed</u>
seventh principle, which was a call to “respect for the Earth and the
interdependence of its living systems.” Ford writes, “In my mind’s eye, as Paul
stood there, the hall fell to a hushed silence. I think, I’m pretty sure the
world outside grew quiet, as well. Perhaps one or two stars broke through the
Ohio daylight, shooting beams in the general direction of Columbus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Out of that silence Paul pointed out how that
wording fell far short of what it could be, and he proposed new wording for the
seventh principle: a call to respect “the interdependent web of existence, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of
which we are all a part</i></b>.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Ford writes, “I’m pretty sure, although I have to
admit there’s no hard record of it, that with those words the ceiling blew off
the convention center and a host of angels and many other celestial beings from
all the world’s religions, past, present and future, descended from the
heavens, some playing instruments of astonishing beauty, while others sang a
Gloria that reached out to the farthest corners of the universe. Even the stars
danced in joy at the revelation of this great secret of the universe within a
gathering of Unitarian Universalists in Columbus, Ohio, in the United States,
on the North American continent of a tiny planet circling a middling star at
the edge of one of a hundred thousand million galaxies. The call: to know that
interdependent web of existence, of which we are all a part.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“And then,” Ford goes on, “it was over. The
ceiling resealed, the beings were gone, only a hint of their song remaining in
the hearts of the assembled, who then voted. They accepted that proposed
change, and with that our little band found itself marked with an astonishing
charism, a particular channel of divine blessing aimed at healing this poor,
broken world. I suggest in that hour our future was articulated with as much
authority as if it were from the tongue of an ancient prophet.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Rev. Scott Alexander explained the 7<sup>th</sup>
Principle to his congregation in similar praiseworthy terms, that “in part,
this new affirmation arose out of our RATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AWARENESS of how
endangered our planet's ecology truly is. But our 7th UU principle also arose
out of a growing SPIRITUAL AWARENESS in our religious movement (and, mercifully
many other faith traditions as well) of THE SACRED AND HOLY INTERCONNECTEDNESS
OF ALL LIFE FORMS ON THIS PLANET.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">By promising to respect the interdependent web of
which we are a part, we are saying that humanity must cultivate and deepen OUR
SENSE OF KINSHIP...WISE AND COMPASSIONATE AND CARING KINSHIP with this <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">incredibly holy web of life</span> into which
we were so miraculously born. We must learn that we are…<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> bound up in a FAMILY OF LIFE AND LIVING THINGS</span> that demands and
deserves our CARE, our RESPECT, our LOVE and steady, trustworthy PROTECTION. “<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Rev. Alexander declared that as a Unitarian
Universalist, he is “passionately convinced that if he spiritually opens himself
to the mystery, beauty and glory that is this LIVING SYSTEM THAT SINGS WITHIN
AND AROUND him, then he will find the wisdom, along with others of wisdom and
good will, to preserve and protect our living planet earth.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">He stated that “we all owe it to ourselves (and to
future human generations) to read (and respond appropriately to) what the
ecologists and earth scientists are straightforwardly telling us about the
environmental dangers our planet is facing. There is so much we can do to
ensure the future of our planet just by heeding the facts of our world and doing
what we can.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And many of us do try, some by “driving
earth-friendly hybrid cars, by recycling or living with voluntary simplicity.
Some of us work to persuade neighbors that they can make a difference in local
environments, and some of us try to make sure that our governmental leaders
adopt the right environmental policies and programs.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">But Alexander says, “we must also truly <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">open our hearts to the wondrous, living world
around us</span>. If we are to truly develop an EMPOWERING KINSHIP with natural
life around us, we must <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">TAKE THE TIME</span>
TO GET OUTDOORS in this stunningly beautiful world of ours and QUIET
ourselves...and OPEN ourselves...and LISTEN to the RHYTHMS [of life] that sing
out from every rock, river and tree...from every bird, bug and branch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">We hope there is <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">still time</span> for us human beings to collectively change our
relationship with our Mother Earth to ensure Her health and survival, and our
salvation as a species will depend both on: 1) GOOD SCIENCE and 2) DEEP
SPIRITUALITY. Both HEAD and HEART will be required of us in the days ahead.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">For Unitarian Universalists, climate change is not
only something that we are concerned about because of our seventh principle,
but because it is a social justice issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Unitarian
Universalist Association of Congregations recognized this in a statement in
2012 on Climate Change:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Environmental justice is the
recognition that environmental degradation disproportionately harms those who
are poor and marginalized, even while they derive less benefit and have less
control over how our resources are used. These concerns are especially true
with climate change. As weather patterns change, causing drought in some areas
and flooding in others, poorer peoples lack the resources to respond to these
disasters and bear the brunt of suffering when they happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our Unitarian Universalist (UU)
spiritual values call us to act on the personal, local, and national levels to
adopt practices that will reverse climate change, and to do so in ways that are
just and equitable.” (UU Guide to 2012 Preach-In)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
statement draws attention to the levels of connection to one another in this society
and this world, as well as our common life together. Valerie Freseman writes
that this weekend we can see the ancient holiday of Lugnasadh as symbolizing
“many connections to harvest and so many opportunities, both expected and
unexpected, to draw strength from community. Every time the wheel turns we have
more than just the customs of the seasons to get excited about, we have their
intrinsic lessons and values to think of as well.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Let
us continue to value good science, deep spirituality, and</span><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> THE INTERDEPENDENT WEB OF ALL EXISTENCE OF WHICH
WE ARE A PART.</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Blessed be, Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span><u style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Sources:</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">"RESPECT FOR THE INTERDEPENDENT WEB OF
ALL EXISTENCE OF WHICH WE ARE A PART", Rev. Scott W. Alexander, River Road
Unitarian Church, Sunday, April 25, 2004<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">A
sermon in an occasional series: The Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">For
Earth Day, 2004<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.rruuc.org/index.php?id=191&sermon=040425">http://www.rruuc.org/index.php?id=191&sermon=040425</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“TRYING RELIGION: EMBRACING THE NEW
UNIVERSALISM” (A Meditation on the First & Seventh Principles of Unitarian
Universalism as a Saving Message, Together With a Buddhist Midrash),</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/author/jamesford"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">James Ford</span></a> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">June 28, 2014 <a href="http://www.uuworld.org/articles/embrace-new-universalism">http://www.uuworld.org/articles/embrace-new-universalism</a>
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">“</span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Lughnassah:
Deepening Community”, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/naturespath/author/vfreseman/"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Valerie Freseman</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>July 10, 2015 </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/naturespath/2015/07/lughnassah-deepening-community/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Pagan%2007%2022%2015%20(1)&utm_content=&spMailingID=49165936&spUserID=NjY3ODU4NDEwOTgS1&spJobID=723003634&spReportId"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">http://www.patheos.com/blogs/naturespath/2015/07/lughnassah-deepening-community/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Pagan%2007%2022%2015%20(1)&utm_content=&spMailingID=49165936&spUserID=NjY3ODU4NDEwOTgS1&spJobID=723003634&spReportId</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-31681997959146460382015-06-15T07:52:00.000-07:002015-06-15T07:52:31.023-07:00Looking Back, Looking Forward<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">Looking Back, Looking Forward<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Unitarian </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;">Universalist</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"> Church of Augusta</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt;">June 14 2015<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I love the types of
jokes that start with just have a phrase and then fill in the blanks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Looking back, I
like to think of Unitarian Universalism as filling in the blanks for me. And
the blanks go way back to the time in England when I was the director of
religious education for the Catholic Sunday School at the American base where
Wil worked. I had off and on taught Sunday School ever since I was 18, and
before we moved to England in 1983 I’d been an RE teacher for the Annapolis
Catholic church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So I decided to
continue teaching in the small American Catholic congregation’s Sunday School
once we arrived in Yorkshire, and the next year found myself the DRE! I needed
inspiration, and resources, and I found the Diocese of Leeds Religious
Education Centre, which was for teachers of religious education in the Catholic
schools of the diocese. It was great to find lots of things that helped me with
the RE program, but the more I knew about RE curricula, the more I wanted to
know about theology. I applied for a place at the local Catholic university to
study theology…and when I got my degree, I got another degree, and began to
teach at university level in theology and religious studies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And that’s when the
bottom fell out for me! I realized how little I knew about religion, about
spirituality, and the courses that I was teaching made me thirsty to learn
more. I began to learn about about feminist theology, ecofeminism, wiccan
ritual, process theology…all this way beyond what my own religious experience
had been to that point. I knew that I was nearly past the point of no return to
my Catholic faith when I found myself celebrating a solstice ritual with the
pagan chaplain to Leeds University. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And then we came
back home to Augusta GA, and soon we were so dejected after trying to fit into
Southern Catholic parish culture that we stopped going to church at all. I had
lots of blanks to fill in: I had left my long-time teaching post which I loved,
and had to face the fact that I would never teach theology again here in
Augusta. I missed my colleagues and friends, and the place that had become my
home. I had at least been hanging on to my faith before we moved, with a parish
priest whose Celtic spirituality was supportive, but now had no desire to
practice the Southern conservative Catholicism I found here…I had plenty of
blanks to fill in, until I was invited to speak here at this church about my
academic specialism of theology and film. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The experience of
giving a sermon here, and being welcomed so warmly in this place, was amazing.
And within weeks I was joining the choir, being croned by the women’s group,
and within a year volunteering to run Adult Religious Education classes, and
within 2 years training to be a ministry associate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Clearly this church
filled in the blanks for me; I found a home where I was free to ask questions,
could try new worship experiences and hear different, challenging ideas from
the podium almost every week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I’m not the only
one – many of you have walked through those doors and you thought after the
first few minutes that this place is too good to be true. You thought, where
have you been all my life? You thought, I have found my tribe!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Alice and Andy
found this church home filled in the blanks for them when Alice became ill;
specifically, the love and comfort and support that they both received in the
midst of that crisis from the members of this congregation. John also will tell
you that when he fell ill shortly after beginning to attend this church, he
received pastoral care that made him want to give back. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Why would you come
back here week after week comes unless you’ve found something that fills in the
blank for you – whether it’s a song we sing or a postlude that Joe plays, an
in-depth discussion at a meeting of the Limbo crowd, the chance to come up here
and share a joy or sorrow, being part of the volunteer team at the Master’s
Table, lunch with the Retired Old Men Eating Out? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And when your
blanks are filled in, your questions answered – or at least respected and
acknowledged – you regard all these people as kindred spirits. We are not all
alike, we can’t say we are of like minds, but we all appreciate being here
because we feel we matter to each other and we belong together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Cathy wrote in the
song she sang for our chalice lighting, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“</span><span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">Along this <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">interdependent web<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">Of our
existence<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">May we journey<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">Knowing we are
one<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">Gathering here
to seek<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">Gathering here
to share<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">Gathering here
to speak<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">Gathering here to care.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">(“The Candle of Faith”, by Cathy Benedetto)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The affirmation of community
that comes, in the words of Mark Morrison-Reed, from “the
connectedness…discovered amid the particulars of our lives and the lives of
others… inspires us to act for justice.” He writes that “the religious
community is essential, for alone our vision is too narrow to see all that must
be seen, and our strength too limited to do all that must be done.” (#580, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Singing the Living Tradition</i>) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Looking forward, we
can all know that walking through those doors every Sunday will be someone who
has blanks to fill in, just like you did at one time; will you be the person
they remember offering a hand to shake, making them welcome? That’s doing the
work of ministry, and I am looking forward to another year of collaborating
with you in that work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Putting together
this sermon wasn’t easy…because this is not an ordinary Sunday service. It has
that feel of the end of the school year for me, like the last period before
school lets out for the summer. We’re all a little distracted because there’s
this great potluck waiting outside in the common area, and there’s the Annual
Congregational Meeting with its fascinating reports, its exciting
congregational votes…okay, well it does have awards, which are always nice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But I love this
service each year because it gives me a chance, before delivering my Minister’s
End-of-Year Report in the Meeting proper, to thank all those people who have
made this a great year for me…who have challenged me, who have supported me,
who have prayed for me, who have dragged me through the rough times and floated
on the clouds with me during the fun times, the happy times. I will mention in
my report the highlights of the past church year…but really, every day has been
a highlight of my year. I’ve said to our board president that being paid to be
a minister is like being paid to eat ice cream…that may not seem such a big
deal if you don’t care for ice cream! But I love ice cream, and the idea of
being paid to eat it is incredibly exciting. Serving as your minister is just
as exciting to me, and collaborating with members is the only way to serve,
exactly because of what Morrison-Reed observes, that my vision alone “is too
narrow to see all that must be seen”, and my strength alone is “too limited to
do all that must be done.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 19.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I’d like to end
with a quote from </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Rachel
Remen, who says<i>:<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Service is not
the same as helping. Helping is based on <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>inequality,
it's not a relationship between equals. When you help, you use your
own strength to help someone with less strength.
It's a one up, one down relationship, and people feel this inequality.
When we help, we may inadvertently take away more
than we give, diminishing the person's sense of self-worth and
self-esteem… Serving is also different to fixing. We fix <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>broken
pipes; we don't fix people. When I set about fixing another person, it's
because I see them as broken. Fixing is a form
of judgment that separates us from one another; it creates a
distance. So fundamentally, helping, fixing and serving are ways
of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak; when <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>you
fix, you see life as broken; and when you serve, you see life
as whole. When we serve in this way, we understand that this person's
suffering is also my suffering, that their joy is also my joy… We may help
or fix many things in our lives, but when we
serve, we are always in the service of wholeness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">(https://www.uc.edu/content/dam/uc/honors/docs/communityengagement/HelpingFixingServing.pdf)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Filling in those blanks that plague us, that lessen us, that frustrate
us, makes us whole. We fill in those blanks in a spirit of hope, and when we
fill them in we are honoring those who have gone before us. As Holly Near
sings, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">“I am open <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">and I am
willing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">For To be
hopeless <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">would seem so
strange<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">It dishonors <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">those who go
before us<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">So lift me up <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">to
the light of change.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Gill Sans"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Gill Sans";">(http://www.hollynear.com/lyrics.html)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We fill
in those blanks with the help of the Spirit of Life; we can be open and willing
to effect real change, both in our own lives and the wider world, because we
grow roots that hold us close and we have wings that set us free.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Blessed
be, Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Gaye Ortiz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">June 14 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-87349667255744186402015-05-22T08:12:00.001-07:002015-05-22T08:12:30.142-07:00The Open Door <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Open Door<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">May 17, 2015</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was probably
this time of year - 6<sup>th</sup> grade in Mrs Gavalas’ class, at Bayvale
Elementary here in south Augusta. One day we were told we had some students
visiting our classroom, and 2 black girls came and sat at the round table where
I was sitting. I found out they were twins, June and Joan. They were there
because at last – in 1965 – schools in Richmond County were being integrated.
June and Joan looked scared and a little confused, but I got to know them when
they started the next school year – and, when we went to Glenn Hills Junior
High School together, their older sister Janet, who was a genius student and
scooped up lots of academic prizes during her years there. June was a good
friend, she was a real goofball and wore her Afro as big as she could! She
became our daughter Molly’s godmother; today she is a successful psychiatrist
who practices in Atlanta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">G.K. Chesterton
writes (“Xmas Day”),<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Good News: but
if you ask me what it is, I know not;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is a track of
feet in the snow,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is a lantern
showing a path,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is a door set
open.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The door set
open for June and Joan and Janet in the integration of schools here in Augusta
was still firmly shut when Kay Sutherland moved here from California with her
family. Kay was very much influenced in her attitudes toward racial equality by
the work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. her daughter Madhuri says. In the
1960s the UUs here in Augusta were especially impacted by his writings and
speeches, including the Ware Lecture, given by Dr. King to the UU Association’s
General Assembly in 1966. Remember what Dr. King wished for his four children:
that one day they would be judged by the content of their character, not the
color of their skin. Kay was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Augusta, where there was a congregation that had already made waves in the
Augusta community by writing to the Chronicle about matters of race that didn’t
match up with the prevailing conservative – and racist – feelings about
segregation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So in 1964 when
a Quaker from New York named Rachel Du Bois came to Augusta to speak about
improving communication among diverse groups, there was some difficulty finding
a venue for her that would allow both black and white citizens to attend. The UU
church opened its building for her and a large crowd showed up to hear her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">After the
meeting Du Bois was persuaded to stay another day, and to meet with a group of
black and white women who were leaders in heir communities. These women asked
DuBois specifically to help with ways to help their children combat the
violence and prejudice from anti-integration forces in Augusta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Five young
women, black and white, all with college degrees and small children, asked to
meet again soon. It was at that next meeting that the idea of a kindergarten
was first suggested. After the idealistic idea, reality hit when they were
rebuffed, snubbed, and rejected by churches turning them away when the group of
women asked if they would host the kindergarten. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">An additional concern was financing
the idea; the women were determined for it to be an independent school, with no
sponsorship but also no fees that would prevent those families applying that
could not afford to pay for their children to attend. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An affordable place that had the
facilities and standards for a kindergarten was another concern – until Kay and
her husband negotiated the UU building for a nominal fee. And so Open Door
Kindergarten was founded in the spring of 1964.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The group of
five then found two other women to become teachers – Jane Lester and Ella
Stenhouse, and then formed a board of Trustees with Kay as the Chair. Lois
Greenberg and Freddie Jackson were also board officers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When we look
back, the interfaith aspect of this nonsectarian, multiracial endeavor is so
impressive – Jewish, Christian, Quaker, and Unitarian Universalist – and it was
supported financially by many families of Augusta, both black and white. The
Augusta Chronicle even ran an article about the kindergarten with a photo of
the interracial board.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The day that the
group decided to hold an Open House for preregistration turned out to be the
same day of the march on Selma! Still, both classes filled up, and there were
so many parents there that they ran out of punch, cookies, and application
forms. When the day ended, 22 children, racially an even split, were enrolled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This sermon
comes 50 years after the first graduating class of the Open Door Kindergarten.
Not only was the door to interracial education open to those children, when
this first class graduated they all went on to complete their studies in local
schools and many of them went on to college.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the case of
the kindergarten, another metaphor would have been just as appropriate for its
name – a bridge instead of a door, because the exercise of creating the
kindergarten built a sturdy, supportive bridge between diverse communities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The women who
asked for the extra meeting with Rachel DuBois were concerned about how to
bring up their children in an environment that was poisonous in its
institutionalized racism, but also concerned about the purpose of education
itself. This desire to prepare their children for the changes and challenges of
American society comes through in an early brochure for Open Door: “In keeping
with the rapidly changing world, we felt Augusta needed a kindergarten which
would reflect the continuing advances in education while building upon the
heritage of the past.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Building a
bridge between the past and the future is the function of education, as they
saw it. Also crucial to the founders was building a bridge between races: “In
our rapidly shrinking world, the child who has experience in working on a give
and take basis with persons, from backgrounds other than his own, has distinct
advantages.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another bridge
that the kindergarten built slowly but surely was between its children and the
wider Augusta community. In a 1997 <i>Friends Journal</i> article by Faith Bertsche,
several examples of the reaction of local people to the kindergarten give a
flavor of just how radical the interracial school was:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One field trip
the children went on was to the local fire department, and Bertsche says that
her “heart stood still” as they arrived, because the firemen were lined up in a
row to keep them out of the facility. But as the children got out of the cars
and ran towards the firemen, they began to smile, and began lifting the
children onto the fire trucks. Another time the children went to Bush Field
airport, and were shown the inside of a real plane. It was a hot summer day and
the teacher forgot to bring containers of water, so they went to a motel next
door and asked inside if they could drink from the water fountain near the
door. The motel manager told the teacher to leave and take the black child with
her. People who were registering at the motel overheard, and immediately
canceled their booking, picked up their luggage, and followed the teacher and
child out of the motel. And one of the motel workers who had heard the
manager’s remark met them outside with a drink for the child.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So in the process
of creating an inclusive atmosphere for educating the children, the
kindergarten also helped to challenge the status quo and to change attitudes in
Augusta. It was housed here at this church for nearly 2 decades, until moving
to the Congregation Children of Israel campus, where it operates today as Open
Door Pre-K. It’s had 62 children enrolled this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The ‘Good News’
of ‘a door set open’…Opening a door sometimes takes courage – what is a door
besides an entryway to another space, a transition between one mode of being to
another? One of the ancient customs when a couple is married is to lift the
bride over the threshold. It symbolizes protection, both because </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">a bride who tripped over the threshold of
her new home would irrevocably bring bad luck to her home and </span><a href="http://people.howstuffworks.com/marriage.htm"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">marriage</span></a><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">, but also </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">because the </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">threshold
of the home was thought to be rife with unattached evil spirits.</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The women who
founded Open Door were acutely aware that they might be opening a door to
something that could be threatening or dangerous for the children, parents, and
teachers. Initially the founders of the school were so focused on the commitment
they had to the effort that they were not as concerned about safety as they
suddenly became when the school was actually opening. Then they realized that
they could be attacked or killed. Betty Hostetler, who played piano for the
kindergarten music sessions, says that they were concerned that the big glass
windows could have been broken by rocks thrown at them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With violent
attacks on churches and schools by opponents of integration a real possibility,
the women – according to Bertsche – </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“had a long, prayerful afternoon one hot
August day, not about our own safety but about the children’s safety and our
concern for their parents… (who after all) were entrusting their children to
our care. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">"Our decision was
to purchase a first aid kit and several pails of sand just in case we were the
recipients of a fire bomb. Then it was decided that there would always be 3
women present during school hours. Next, we would take the matter up with all
the parents at the first parent-teacher meeting. At that first meeting, the
parents agreed with our actions, and the matter never came up again.”
(Bertsche, 22) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The ‘Good News’
of ‘a door set open’…Doors can be opened – and they can also be shut. Augusta
back in 1964 was full of people who shut the door on equality, who shut the
door on justice, on decency and kindness and love for their fellow human beings,
because they were a different color. The Open Door family refused to let that
door stay shut, and their courage in reaching out and grabbing the doorknob and
pulling the door open was a daring act of love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Socrates writes,
“Courage is not only knowledge of what is to be dreaded and what is to be
dared, but knowledge of all goods and evils at every stage.” Galen Guengerich,
Senior Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in New York City, interprets that
quote to mean that “the essence of courage…is to pursue a goal that is morally
worthy or stand up against a force that is morally repugnant, despite the risks
involved. Courage is the knowledge of what is worthy and must be pursued, no
matter if the road is long and the path unclear.” (<i>Quest</i>, CLF, March 2015, 2) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The director of
the UU Service Committee, Bill Schulz, was once the executive director of
Amnesty International. Guengerich recalls hearing Schulz say that, as a result
of his work combating torture and dealing with torturers, he felt the belief in
the inherent worth and dignity of every person is a myth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now that is hard
for a Unitarian Universalist to hear, because that after all is what we affirm
in our first principle. But Schulz said that “there are too many malevolent
hearts and too many god-forsaken places, where worth and dignity have no
presence. Worth must be assigned and dignity must be taught, [and we cannot
stand idly by and expect these to spring up magically]. Rather, in order for
worth and dignity to exist, we must speak and act in a way that creates a place
for them.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that is what
the founders, staff, parents, and children of Open Door Kindergarten did for
our city, our community, and our world – they created a place for worth and
dignity to be created and flourish. They have made the First Principle of our
UU faith tradition come alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We are honored
today to have staff and families from the Open Door Pre-K here with us today. I’ve
often thought that if our church ever decided to create a name for itself –
besides the very descriptive UU Church of Augusta – that The Open Door would be
a perfect name. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We pride
ourselves on being a Welcoming Congregation. Our door has been open since 1954,
welcoming all those who seek a place to grow their souls, where love is our
religion, where freedom and reason and respect are values we try to live and
embody through our beloved community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our own
contributors to the first years of the Open Door Kindergarten deserve to be
remembered today and always in the history of this church’s commitment to
equality, liberty and justice for all. Kay Sutherland and Peggy Kelly are no
longer with us, but Betty Hostetler is very much with us still.</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Those women who
confounded the common prejudice and the legal framework of racism, in order to
give their children the opportunity to enrich their education and their very
lives, in a multiracial learning environment, each had an individual strength
that connected with the others’ strength.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Together they
called forth the best of each other, and their collective courage challenged the
silence that held back too many of our citizens, our parents, our religious
leaders, the silence that allowed racism, intimidation, violence and hate to dominate
in this community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Audre Lord
writes about fear in relation to her own diagnosis of cancer in her essay, “The
Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“In becoming
forcibly and essentially aware of my mortality…what I most regretted were my
silences…[times when I had] waited for someone else’s words…Of what had I ever
been afraid? I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had
ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me, Your silence will not
protect you.” (<i>Quest</i>, March 2015, 6)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thinking today
about the times we have been silent in the face of injustice, cruelty, violence,
when faced with the threat of losing face or stature or privilege, we can be
encouraged by the example of the Open Door founders who summoned the courage to
act, who indeed set the door open for others to follow. Their work built
bridges, their dedication to their children - and generations of children since
- opened doors for us today, and inspires us to a better tomorrow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I end with a
blessing, in the words of Meg Riley:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">May you find
courage to do the work that is uniquely yours to do on this fragile planet. May
you speak when words are needed, and be boldly silent when that is called for.
May you know the deep care and connections that are everywhere around you,
holding you in place no less surely than planets are held in their orbits. And
may you hear the stars sing hallelujah when you dare to do and be exactly what
is yours.” (<i>Quest</i>, March 2015, 6)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Blessed be,
Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Gaye Ortiz
5/14/2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-64033927251208076182015-04-12T14:40:00.004-07:002015-04-12T14:40:51.955-07:00Committing to Climate Justice<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;">Unitarian </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">Universalist</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> Church of Augusta</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;">April 12, 2015</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">The other day on our church Facebook page I put a
link to a short film that was sent to me – it’s called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">MOTHER: Caring for 7 Billion</i>, and anyone can have free access to it
on the web until April 22<sup>nd</sup>; I found it interesting that there was a
typo in the heading: it says,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Earth Day Free Steaming Through April 2015”!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;">Yes, Chicken Little, the sky IS falling! Anyone
who denies it after all the evidence from science is willfully ignorant and
working against the planet’s best interests. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Some of us are old enough to remember the TV ad with the slogan,
”It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” – if we don’t know it by now, we soon
will!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The impact of our earth, of nature in general and
of climate change in particular, upon our lives and our spiritual identities,
is the subject of our service today. For Unitarian Universalists, climate
change is not only something that we are concerned about because of our seventh
principle, but because it is a social justice issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Unitarian
Universalist Association of Congregations recognizes this in a statement on
Global Warming/Climate Change:</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Environmental justice is the
recognition that environmental degradation disproportionately harms those who
are poor and marginalized, even while they derive less benefit and have less
control over how our resources are used. These concerns are especially true
with global warming/climate change. As weather patterns change, causing drought
in some areas and flooding in others, poorer peoples lack the resources to
respond to these disasters and bear the brunt of suffering when they happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our Unitarian Universalist (UU)
spiritual values call us to act on the personal, local, and national levels to
adopt practices that will reverse global warming/climate change, and to do so
in ways that are just and equitable.” (UU Guide to 2012 Preach-In, www.uua.org)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Climate Justice Month is a month-long spiritual
journey for climate justice, from March 22 through April 22. Its organizers,
Commit2Respond, have listed on its website three action goals for individuals,
congregations, and organizations – 1. To shift to a low-carbon future 2. To
advance the human rights of affected communities 3. To grow the climate justice
movement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The concept of Climate Justice is huge, and even
taking one full month to reflect on what it means and how we can become
committed to it doesn’t do it ‘justice’, no pun intended. So the Commit2Respond
team divided up the month into 4 phases, beginning on World Water Day, which,
fittingly, is when the Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus came to speak
here; I’d like to reflect that 4-part structure with our service this morning.
Each of those phases will have</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">a
spiritual reflection to enrich our appreciation and deepen our understanding of
the process we need to go through in order to commit to climate justice. With
each phase, we will focus on an element of the Earth to ground that reflection.
Denice will be helping with those reflections.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Starting on March 22<sup>nd</sup>, the first week’s
emphasis was</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> "Rejoicing and
Celebrating in Our Natural World." The Rev. Thomas Starr King said,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">I
believe that if, on every Sunday morning before going to church,…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we could fairly perceive, through our
outward senses, one or two features of the constant order and glory of nature,
our materialistic dullness would be broken, surprise and joy would be awakened,
we should feel that we live amid the play of Infinite thought; and the devout
spirit would be stimulated so potently that our hearts would naturally mount in
praise and prayer.</span></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> (<i>Lessons from the Sierra Nevada, </i>sermon, 1863)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We
all have wonderful experiences of the world around us, and I love the way
Kenneth Patton, the author of our closing hymn, “We Are the Earth Upright and
Proud”, puts this sense of celebration: “And with its purpose strong, we sing
earth’s pilgrim song, in us the earth is growing.” </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">The element we focus on with rejoicing and
celebrating in our natural world is water, and of course nothing can grow
without water. O</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">ur connection with the
natural world and its gifts, which are what we eat and drink, is an essential
one for our continued existence. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">When we think of the teeming life in rivers and
oceans, the incredible and invisible underwater kingdom, we are humbled at how
little we know about our planet. But water is at the heart of basic human
rights, which everyday are under threat – even right here in the US. The media
story last week about </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Peter Brabeck, </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">the CEO of Nestle, is an
example: water is a natural resource we should all be entitled to for survival,
yet it’s being taken from a drought-stricken area of this country, California,
and sold by a multinational corporation back to us. He says that this idea that
every person has a right to water is ‘extreme.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">And finally, when we reflect on the role of water
in our natural world, we grieve at the potential for loss due to climate
change. Communities throughout the world are facing threats to their water
access as a result of climate change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">* First
Reading<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Let us now read together the responsive reading
from </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Thich Nhat Hanh, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Water Flows:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Leader: Water flows
from high in the mountains.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Water runs deep in the
Earth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">All: Miraculously,
water comes to us, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">and sustains us all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Leader: Water flows
over these hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">All: May I use them
skillfully <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">to preserve our
precious planet.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The second step in the process of committing to
climate justice is to</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> "Reckon with and
Grieve the Loss We are Confronting." To me, the vastness of this earth makes it
difficult for me to imagine the magnitude of destruction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Just
seeing images of the mountaintop mining in Kentucky causes me to grieve for the
beauty of those mountains, and how they are left bare and scarred, after their
precious interior materials have been gouged out for our use. “We are caught
between two fears,” say Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone: “The fear that if we
do nothing, our world will fall into crisis, and the fear of acknowledging how
bad things are, because of the fear it brings up.” <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Matthew McHale from UU Ministry for Earth writes, “</span>So many of us
deal with this conflict by trying to push the crisis out of view. But we aren’t
really free of it; it’s just sitting there like a pit in our stomach. We may
try to numb the pain, but it numbs the joy as well. Our energy starts to sag,
and we feel less alive. And…as a society we become unable to deal with the
deepening crisis unfolding around us.”</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">Fire is the symbol of Reckoning because </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Fire signifies transformation, righteous anger and
passion; in this phase of reflecting on climate justice, we are asked to
explore where our energy comes from, and to reckon with the impacts and
injustices of climate change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">* Second
reading<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Fire is “too much
with us; late and soon….”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Of late,
terrorists made spectacle of massacre, setting ablaze a living man, in a cage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Of late, 9/11,
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Dachau and Auschwitz,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Fiery crosses and
lynching trees—hate’s infernos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Soon (and now)
fossils afire, we warm the oceans, parch the soil, turn trees to kindling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Of late and soon,
self-immolating, we set this world, our home, ablaze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We make spectacle
of massacre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">“For this, for
everything, we are out of tune….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">But let us never
forget, never again—fire “changes everything.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">In the beginning
was fire, and fire’s the seed of stars— <i>Ex ignis,</i> we come from fire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Fire, our first
tool, warmed and gathered us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> Fire, need not
and cannot and will not be, our blazing cage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">- Dr. Michael Hogue<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">McHale
says, “</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">By honoring our emotions,
we begin to transform them. We recognize that our sadness and grief are
manifestations of our deep love for the world. We recognize that our anger
arises from our passion for justice. And we can then begin to use those
emotions in service to helping heal our world.”</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And so the third step in committing to climate justice
is</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> "Reconnecting with Front-Line
Communities and with the Earth in All Her Glory." The Commit2Respond Team says
that “being truly honest about the crisis we are facing returns us to our deep
love for this world, for love is at the root of our sense of loss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Today,
we reconnect with that love and remember why we entered this process: because
we love and are inextricably interconnected with all the beings of this earth
and the earth itself. Hope lives in these connections. By reaching out to
reconnect with our community, our neighbors, and our allies in this struggle to
reclaim life for all, we re-source our souls for the work ahead. Reaching out
reconnects us to our own well of inspiration and to relationships that make us
resilient.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We
know power is everywhere and can be used for good and for ill. The power of
human connection can strengthen us. But power is not evenly distributed in our
society. We carry this awareness in our connections, and commit to an awareness
of our own power in relationship, the power of others, and different patterns
of power in society. We choose to source our work with power that nourishes and
works for justice—power that serves solidarity—and work against power that
harms some and privileges others.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Can
we “commit to working in ways that share power, that redistribute power more
fairly, and that use power to create a more beautiful world”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 26.0pt;">Let us reflect on this task by using the symbol of
air: it</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> signifies breath, the breath
that we all take as creatures of the planet in an atmosphere that sustains us,
and which we need to keep clean. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%;">Clean air is life, and
a precious gift. Breathing is
balance; we should strive for balance in how we take and give back to
the earth.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">* Third Reading<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">“Listen to the air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">You can hear it,
feel it,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">smell it, taste it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Woniya wakan, the
holy air,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">which renews all by
its breath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Woniya wakan,
spirit, life, breath, renewal,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">it means all that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We sit together,
don’t touch,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">but something is
there,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">we feel it between
us<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">as a presence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">A good way to start
thinking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">about nature<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">is to talk to it,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">talk to the rivers,
to the lakes,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">to the winds,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">as to our
relatives.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">―</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3401350.John_Fire_Lame_Deer"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">John (Fire) Lame Deer</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In Week Four, which
is next week, we are asked to "</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Commit
to A New Way." An obvious symbol for this final week, which ends on </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Earth Day, is Earth. This is the time for “bringing
our vision into reality, fruition, culmination, committing to long-term actions
that will create a paradigm shift and grow the climate justice movement”. As I
mentioned, Commit2Respond suggests 3 goals for congregations to accomplish,
which we can talk about after the service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We have
our work cut out for us; and how much better it would be if we had partners
from other faith traditions – especially the ones we name as being the sources
of our UU tradition – to join us in our commitment to save the planet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The good
news is that creation care is an ethic present in every major faith tradition.
This was made clear in 1986 when Pope John Paul II invited major faith leaders
to the town of Assisi, home of St Francis who loved nature. The resulting "Assisi Declaration" was a real challenge to world faiths to practice what they
preach, signed as it was by Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and
Hindu leaders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just how
do these world faiths express concern and care for the earth? For instance, the
Koran says, “Assuredly the creation of the heavens and the earth is greater
than the creation of humankind; yet most people understand not.” Because it is
an Abrahamic faith, Islam stresses the role of humanity as stewards as does
Judaism and Christianity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The Muslim
Declaration on Nature" that came from the Assisi meeting says, “The central
concept of Islam is… the unity of God. Allah is unity; and his unity is also
reflected in the unity of man and nature. Unity…is maintained by balance and
harmony. Therefore, Muslims say that Islam is the middle path and we will be
answerable for how we have maintained balance and harmony in the whole of
creation around us” (IPL)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We can read
in the Judeo-Christian sacred texts the promise God made in the rainbow
covenant with Moses never again to destroy the world by flood. There are also
references in the Hebrew scriptures – in the Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Exodus,
Job and Second Chronicles, that urge us to care for creation. Even though there
is a clear ascetic strand of religious thinking and practice in Christianity
that emphasizes denial of the world, in Judaism there is a more sustained and
coherent reverence for the earth in its teachings down the centuries. Rabbi
Abraham ben Moses, from the 12<sup>th</sup> century, says “In order to serve
God, one needs access to the enjoyment of the beauties of nature, such as the
contemplation of flower-decorated meadows, majestic mountains, flowing
rivers…For all these are essential to the spiritual development of even the
holiest people.” (Interfaith Power and Light)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the
early history of the Christian church, the letter of Paul to the Romans says
that the fate of creation is bound up with the fate of humanity (Rom 8:19-23).
St Basil the Great and St Bonaventure also speak about the need to admire
nature – in fact, Bonaventure declares: ”He…who is not illumined by such great
splendor of created things is blind.” (IPL) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And Pope
John Paul II’s feat in gathering religious leaders in Assisi to agree on their
traditions’ emphasis on creation care is about to be topped by Pope Francis. He
is working on a papal document, called an encyclical on climate justice. “T</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">he encyclical will be released in advance of Pope
Francis’s address to the United Nations in September and before high-stakes
climate negotiations in Paris at the end of the year. Naderev Sano, the
Philippines’ climate commissioner said in an interview that this issue has been
negotiated “at the political level for more than 20 years, and we look to Pope
Francis to untangle this stalemate, because this issue is beyond merely a
political issue. It is a profound moral issue that affects the whole world.” The
Philippines was devastated by a typhoon in 2013 that killed more than 7,000
people, and its climate commission hopes the pope’s encyclical will be a “game
changer for the international process.” (Interview, <i>Democracy Now)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In an blog from Faith in
Public Life, John Gehring predicts that Pope Francis’</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> toughest audience might well be here in this
country. Some conservatives are already reacting, saying that “the pope is part
of “the radical green movement that is at its core anti-Christian, anti-people,
and anti-progress” (Stephen Moore, a Catholic economist at the Heritage
Foundation in Washington). But, Gehring reminds us, in classic
conservative philosophy, conservative means “preserving what is good and being
skeptical about the notion of progress at any price. Surely our fragile
environment is an inheritance we don’t want to squander, and we’ve already paid
too high a price for the progress we’ve made at the expense of our planet. As
Pope Francis himself said, the environment is not just a legacy from the past,
but a loan for our children.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">("</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 27.0pt;">Can Francis
break the US climate change stalemate?" </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">April
7, 2015, 11:05 am | Posted by John Gehring </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.faithinpubliclife.org)</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 27.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So we UUs
are not alone in wanting to protect our climate and our future, and our future
generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he recovers from a
serious stroke, the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has just this week urged us
to wake up to the critical task at hand: “</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">There’s
a revolution that needs to happen and it starts from inside each one of us. We
need to wake up and fall in love with the earth.” ("</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%;">Wake Up to the Revolution",</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="color: windowtext; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.lionsroar.com/author/thich-nhat-hanh/">Thich Nhat H</a>anh, </span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">April 6, 2015 </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><a href="http://www.lionsroar.com/"><span style="color: windowtext; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">http://www.lionsroar.com</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">* Fourth Reading<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><i>Earth</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">By Rev. Mark Belletini<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">This is our earth.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">It falls through heaven like a pearl in a glass of
plum wine.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">There are no other earths that I know of.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">There are no other skies that we have mapped.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">This is our earth.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The Oneness who gave birth to it</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">remains nameless.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">There was no midwife then</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">to bring us word of the birth-cry.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We only rejoice that it is.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">This is our earth.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Ice caps its head. Glaciers clasp its feet.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Warm wind, like the breath of a lover,</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">breathes around its breast.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Mountains thrust up to the clouds, bringing joy.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Storms blow across its shores, bringing fear.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Silvery fish capture sunlight and haul it down</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">into the deep, as on shore, valleys spread</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">with ripening fruit. Cities teem with the</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Poor and disenfranchised in the shadow of </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">golden towers. Children live and also die.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Highways throb. Monks sit in silence.
Mothers</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">work. Crickets chirp. Teachers plan.
Engineers</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">design. Fathers write letters.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">People marry</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">with and without the blessings of law.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">People cry.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">They laugh, and brood, and worry and wait.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">This is our earth.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">There are no other earths.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Before its wonder, philosophers fall silent.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Before its mystery,</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">poets admit their words are shadow, not light.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">And all the great names religious teachers</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">have left to us</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Ishtar, Shekinah, Terra Mater, Suchness, Wakan
Tanka, Gaia</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">suddenly refuse to announce themselves.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">And so we too fall silent,</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">entering the time where words end</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">and reality begins.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And so it
is up to us, by keeping our sense of interconnectedness through the Seventh
Principle in mind, and by taking opportunities like the Commit2Respond’s
Climate Justice Month, to become advocates for the earth. The ultimate aim of
this month is to raise our own awareness of how precious our world is. To quote
the Rev Judy Moores from the UU Church of Davis, California, it is “our
ancestral home, our current home, and the only home that we will ever have – a
place deserving of reverence, gratitude, wonder, love and care.” (UU Guide to
Preach-in). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Southern Baptist in me feels that this is the time for the Altar Call: asking
all of you gathered here in this church today to make a faith commitment to be
good stewards of the earth, to teach our children and our grandchildren to be
good stewards as well, and to join our fellow spiritual travelers - in all
world faiths and none - in spreading the good news - the Gospel – of creation
care… while we still can. Can I get an Amen?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gaye W.
Ortiz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4-11-2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">* Readings for
Climate Justice Sunday </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">from the Unitarian
Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), Commit2Respond http://www.commit2respond.org<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-16098844274455105432015-03-30T12:40:00.001-07:002015-03-30T12:40:34.525-07:00Selma: A Cloud of Witnesses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><i>March 29, 2015</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><i>Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The twelfth chapter of the
Letter to the Hebrews in the Christian New Testament begins: “Therefore, since
we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Written before the fall of
Jerusalem to Jews who were converts but may have been tempted to revert to
Judaism, the letter continually encourages those it addresses to stay the course,
not to “give up the pursuit of holiness” in that turbulent time. (</span><a href="http://www.biblica.com/en-us/bible/online-bible/scholar-notes/niv-study-bible/intro-to-hebrews/"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">http://www.biblica.com/en-us/bible/online-bible/scholar-notes/niv-study-bible/intro-to-hebrews/</span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">). Who are these witnesses that surround them?
Chapter 11 names them, characters from the Hebrew scriptures, such as Abel,
Abraham, Sarah, Moses. According to the author of this letter, the witnesses
from the scriptures, “who lived by faith, are encouraging the readers to
persevere in their faith” (</span><a href="http://www.biblica.com/en-us/bible/online-bible/scholar-notes/niv-study-bible/intro-to-hebrews/"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">http://www.biblica.com/en-us/bible/online-bible/scholar-notes/niv-study-bible/intro-to-hebrews/</span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Rev. William Barber, North Carolina NAACP president refers to this
letter when he says,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">"The…Scriptures declare that, when we stand for righteousness, when
we heed the call to do what is right, we are surrounded by a great cloud of
witnesses of those who died – or suffered and died – who have gone on but now
sit in glory, and they cheer us on." (http://www.wral.com/wednesday-protest-at-legislature-ends-in-handful-of-arrests/12545831/)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Heeding the call to do what’s right is something that we have been
commemorating this month, half a century after the Selma to Montgomery March in
1965. Wil and I were privileged to attend the UU Living Legacy conference in
Birmingham the days before the Re-enactment of the Selma Bridge Crossing on
March 8<sup>th</sup>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">There we heard from wonderful speakers: Dr Bernice King, Rev. Jeremiah
Wright, Rev. Dr. William Barber, Mark Morrison-Reed. We honored the families of
Jimmie Lee Jackson, James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo, who were moved at the support
and compassion that washed over them at the conference, and that has
consistently been given to them these past 50 years by the UUA. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">And, of course,
on Sunday March 8<sup>th</sup>, in the midst of a crowd that numbered about
80,000, there were 600 of us UUs walking together across the Edmund Pettus
Bridge, a moving remembrance of Bloody Sunday, when peaceful marchers were met
by violence from law enforcement officers. Someone that Sunday said, “they
should change the name of that bridge” – Pettus was a Confederate Brigadier
general and Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan; and another person spoke
up and said “You can’t change history”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The people who were in the midst of the historic protest 50 years ago
did not always know that they were making history; many of them were afraid,
uncertain, and acting without the support of friends, family, and sometimes
even their churches. Yet today they are our cloud of witnesses as we do more
than just mark an anniversary – we are called on to transform a country and
indeed a world that still tramples on civil rights, still fails to respect the
inherent worth and dignity of every human person, still puts obstacles in our
path while we run our race. In the sacred work of doing justice, we will in
turn be the cloud of witnesses to future generations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Who were the witnesses 50 years ago in Selma? There are
indeed too many to mention this morning; but they have to stand in the context
of the broader history of nonconformity and liberal religion. Ann Chierenza
writes that those who came seeking justice in the centuries before the Selma
heroes “were not all Unitarians by faith…but all shared the best humanitarian
instincts which characterize now as then the UU denomination. They were free,
they were unafraid, their minds were unfettered by orthodoxy, their love of
fellows passionate and unconfined. They had in common a curiosity and
enthusiasm about the world. They dared all.” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Liberal Context</i>, Issue 14, p.1)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Mark Morrison-Reed, whose book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Selma Awakening</i> is a must-read in understanding how the civil
rights movement tested and changed Unitarian Universalism, says that Selma
doesn’t make sense without World War II. The war gave African-Americans
opportunities otherwise denied to them in peacetime; black veterans returned
from the war with changed expectations, with a changed self-perception, and a
different worldview. Morrison-Reed says that “there could be no returning to
the Jim Crow world that had existed before the war” (Morrison-Reed, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Selma Awakening</i>, 2014, 72). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our country fought against the Nazis and their cruel and
violent attempt to exterminate sections of society…and when the images of
Bloody Sunday burst onto the TV screens of Americans on Sunday March 7<sup>th</sup>
1965, interrupting the broadcast of the Nazi war crimes movie “Judgement at
Nuremberg”, many people saw the awful visual connection right away: the
president of the Birmingham UU Church Ethel Gorman wrote, “We felt shame for
our state as well as pity for the victims; and fear because law enforcement
officers acted like Nazi Storm Troopers” (72).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The day after Bloody Sunday, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr sent out a call across this country for clergy to join him in Selma for a
ministers’ march, in a dawn telegraph that contained these words: “The people
of Selma will struggle on for the soul of the nation, but it is fitting that
all America help to bear the burden.” (IX) Unitarian Universalists were already
there, the day before Bloody Sunday. A group of 72 people, who called
themselves “Concerned White Citizens of Alabama” marched to the Selma
Courthouse on March 7<sup>th</sup>, and read a statement in support of black
voting rights – half of those 72 people were UUs. Once the group made its
statement it took a police escort to get the 72 safely back to their starting
point, tempers were running high within the white community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRHhHfK7gbQIzHw56DxWxdb-t3SAvcaUz-gWARklXA7kOzUZiiByJ6fsNYNIM5PUZh5A9efz6yDyu-omhquhQYw8nRnbs2b0LMeqpSu_4EE4v3BZs605Zj3wR_lnhb8Vcp2ulp2GuX-_i/s1600/IMAG1150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrRHhHfK7gbQIzHw56DxWxdb-t3SAvcaUz-gWARklXA7kOzUZiiByJ6fsNYNIM5PUZh5A9efz6yDyu-omhquhQYw8nRnbs2b0LMeqpSu_4EE4v3BZs605Zj3wR_lnhb8Vcp2ulp2GuX-_i/s1600/IMAG1150.jpg" height="181" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from Mark Morrison-Reed, <i>The Selma Awakening</i>, 2014</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sixty UU ministers – then nearly 10% of the total of our
active congregational ministry – arrived in Selma within 2 days of Dr. King’s
call. Mark Morrison-Reed says that the reason for the strong UU response to the
call to clergy is relationship - between each other and to African-Americans.
James Reeb had already committed himself to working in the black Boston
communities of Roxbury and Dorchester. Another UU minister who came from
Massachusetts, Richard Norsworthy, arrived in Selma and lined up for a march
the day after Bloody Sunday. He was approached by a man who asked, ‘Why are you
here?’ Norsworthy reflected on the question, writing in his notebook, “Why am I
here? I have three sons. I just discovered that their backyard bordered on a
police state. They have rights and privileges not granted to all their
countrymen. Unless all the brethren receive all their rights, my sons may lose
theirs. I have three white sons and millions of black brothers. I cannot
distinguish between them as to what is most precious in life. I only know: All
men must be free!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Liberal Context</i>, Issue 14, Spring
1965, p. 5)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Relationship – “I cannot distinguish between them as to
what is most precious in life”. When there’s a connection, its pull is what
compels you to act, Morrison-Read said in his address to us in Birmingham, and
he added, “Ideology places right belief before right relationship.” Yes,
ideology gives an excuse to terrorize, to harass, to beat, spit and curse at
people peacefully assembling, to bomb children in a church, to pull up
alongside a car driven by a woman at night and murder her on the highway… The
ideology of white supremacy was in full force 50 years ago. And its remnants
refuse to die in this country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Rev. Dr. William Barber spoke to us twice at the
Living Legacy conference – once during the Mass Meeting at Tabernacle Baptist
Church, and early the next morning at a Wake Up Session that truly was a
riveting wake-up call. He challenged <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">us</b>
to become that cloud of witnesses today, to build a stage that lifts the voices
of everyday people, to become moral dissenters. He quoted Psalm 94 to us: “</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">justice will once again meet up with
righteousness,</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">and all whose heart is right will follow after.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Who will stand up for me against the wicked?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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will help me against evildoers?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">We need moral
dissent today, just as in every age. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">In the South,
Barber said, poverty is as high now as in 1968, and there is a racialized
perception of Medicaid need, even though we know that whites are the majority
of recipients...The strategy of politicians has made poor whites vote against
their own interests, leading them - in an appropriate Palm Sunday reference -
“to protect what Jesus rode into Jerusalem on…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Barber referred to
the prophet Hosea, saying that our leaders have gone whoring after power; and
it is up to us to build a movement that restores imagination, stirs compassion,
before talking about how to fix things; we must build a prophetic movement because
the heart of our country needs reviving, he said, and it is a job for everyone,
because in a hospital when ‘Code Blue’ is called, everybody comes to help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The worship services during the voting rights campaign
50 years ago at Tabernacle Baptist Church and in Brown Chapel were “joyful,
confident, victorious worship” but as much as they were as worship services, so
too were the marches and the vigils – “this is what living religion is,” one of
the UU ministers there wrote, “The movement cannot be separated from the
church. It is the church in action.” (Norsworthy, 6)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And so the cloud of witnesses now has to include each
and every one of us. We can imagine James Reeb urging us on, to match his
passion and commitment; John Sullivan, a Quaker and a friend and colleague of
James Reeb, eulogized Reeb in his home church in Boston 50 years ago and
imagined Reeb asking, “Well, what’s the next step? His life can speak to us,”
Sullivan states, “and it says: Don’t flee from the sinking schools, get in them
and work on them. It says: don’t shrug at the school committee, get out the
vote. It says, don’t hide from the poor, embrace them. It says, don’t settle
for nice houses in the suburbs and rotten houses in the ghetto, change it
through every appropriate way, community organization, legislation, code
enforcement. And he might also say, not only is there a killer in the dark and
racist streets of the south but there is another killer, and that killer’s name
is non-involvement, apathy and lack of interest, it is self-concern. This was
the killer James Reeb was stalking and when he found him, he was going to wrap
him around with righteousness and justice and love.” ( Sullivan in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Liberal Context</i>, 16-7)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We have recently found another killer, a killer of black
men in Ferguson, in New York, in Atlanta, across America, a killer enacting
endemic, systematic racist violence that reminds us that Selma is not 50 years
ago, it is here and now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the
sin that so easily entangles” is the quote from Hebrews – UUs may flinch when
they hear the word ‘sin’ but let’s put it in its proper context. In Hebrew the
word means ‘to miss the mark’, as when an archer misses the bullseye on a
target. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We can see the sin of a
person, a group, an institution, a system, as ‘missing the mark’ when it comes
to failing to treat citizens of color with respect, with dignity. It is up to
us to speak out against the structural ‘sin that entangles’ a law enforcement
system, whose officers so easily seem emboldened to take human life; the sin of
a system that fines people for not wearing a seat belt, and then sends them to
jail when they can’t afford to pay the private probation penalties piled on the
original fine. The sin of a system that, in effect, has created a debtor’s
prison for citizens right here in Georgia…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">“Let us throw off everything
that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">What is it that hinders <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">us</b> from running the race marked out for
us? What will determine whether or not we show up, answer the call, make a
statement, witness with action? Is it a lack of relationship to someone in
these desperate circumstances? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Because James Reeb was
already working in the poor neighborhoods of Boston, his heart already set on
fire, his feet already itching to run the race, by the time he got to Selma.
Viola Liuzzo’s heart was already full of compassion, a mother of 5, who </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">organized Detroit protests, attended Civil
Rights conferences, and worked with the NAACP before leaving her family to go
to Selma. And Jimmie Lee Jackson, who lived the discrimination of America, who
was a black veteran who had served his country but yet could not vote to elect
its leaders, he already had a direct relationship and experience with the
structural sin that was, and is, racism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Now here in 2015 in west
Augusta, on the face of it there’s not an obvious way for us to situate
ourselves within the narrative of racism. But that didn’t stop that cloud of
witnesses who founded this congregation sixty-one years ago, and it didn’t stop
those witnesses who 50 years ago founded Open Door Kindergarten, the first
integrated kindergarten in Augusta. And it hasn’t stopped that cloud of
witnesses in this church from participating for many years now in the MLK
Parade and interfaith services, and in Augusta Pride; it hasn’t stopped
witnesses today from building real relationships across faiths, across races. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We personally, and
institutionally, can begin a systematic analysis of anti-racism,
anti-oppression and multiculturalism in every part of our own congregation as
we build the Beloved Community central to our mission statement. We can
initiate, not avoid, conversations about race, privilege, white supremacy; we
can engage in multicultural ministries; we can commit to social justice – a
term which some people dislike and need to reframe for themselves – everywhere
and everyday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We can raise our voices
in prophetic witness which, in the words of Cornel West, “consists of human
acts of justice and kindness that attend to the unjust sources of human hurt
and misery. Prophetic witness calls attention to the causes of unjustified
suffering and unnecessary social misery.” (Paul Rasor, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reclaiming Prophetic Witness</i>, 92)</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> We are called to show
up with a cloud of witnesses that showed up for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So long as we keep faith with them, we run the race
with them - we stand in good company.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">May we be the ones who make it so, Blessed Be, Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">- Gaye Ortiz 3-29-2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-89459113409409544162015-03-05T09:35:00.003-08:002015-03-05T09:35:41.732-08:00Skillful Sailing, Prosperous Voyage<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Unitarian Universalist Church of
Augusta<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">March 1, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"There
is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable…” Those were the
words of Phillip Franklin, the White Star Line vice-president. As we know, the sinking of RMS Titanic in April 1912 remains the
worst cruise ship disaster in history. The sinking of the biggest passenger
ship ever built at the time resulted in the death of more than 1,500 of the
2,208 people onboard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ship had six watertight compartments which the
shipping industry assumed would make the Titanic “unsinkable. But the divisions
in the watertight compartments were not really divisions because they were only
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">partly</span> divided; they resembled
more a row of lavatory cubicles than isolated rooms. In the event of the ship
being slit open along either side, water would fill the available space before
flowing over the wall into the next unit. What’s more, the chairman of White
Star had ordered the designers to construct them in this way. Less material
would mean less cost, less height would mean more speed. And some of you might
know that J. Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the White Star Line, is infamous for
jumping into one of the last lifeboats to leave the Titanic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, it would have
helped to steer clear of the iceberg!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the light of this and other disasters at sea,
navigational innovations such as Global Positioning
System and automatic tracking systems make sea travel safer. So do improvements
in communication. The Titanic carried radio equipment with a range of 200
miles, but the strength of its transmitter drowned out signals sent and
received by nearby vessels. Nowadays, very high frequency radio allows ships to
communicate with port authorities as well as other ships in the area, and to
broadcast safety information and distress calls. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Titanic’s passengers were also
doomed by the lack of lifeboats – even though there were enough for 52% of the
people on board, exceeding the number required. Some passengers died from hypothermia.
Nowadays lifeboats must be provided for everyone, regular lifeboat drills and
inspections must be carried out, and all passengers must have evacuation
procedures explained. Lifeboats must now be <a href="http://www.imo.org/OurWork/Safety/Regulations/Documents/TITANIC.pdf"><span style="color: black;">fully or partially enclosed</span></a> to better
protect against the elements.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Titanic anniversary: The myth of the
unsinkable ship b</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">y Gordon Kelly, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/columns/in-depth"><span style="text-decoration: none;">IN DEPTH</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">2 April 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120402-the-myth-of-the-unsinkable-ship">http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120402-the-myth-of-the-unsinkable-ship</a>)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, in case you’re thinking
this is not a helpful metaphor for our stewardship campaign, I bring up the
Titanic because for this sermon, which I feel is one of the more important ones
of the year – I have been thinking long and hard about where we are headed and
how we are getting there: how to have a prosperous voyage with some skillful
sailing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This morning I want to ask
you to first of all pardon the mixed metaphors to come in my message, but more
importantly to ask yourselves where we can sail off to and how skillfully we
can do it. I wish I knew what was to come - but I don’t have a magic ball, which
I can use to look into the future, and I don’t know how to read tarot cards. I
did flirt with the Ouija board when I was a teenager, and it told me I was
going to marry Paul McCartney, so I don’t put much faith in it anymore…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are people, though,
who do look at the current state of religion and make predictions, and one of
them is Carey Nieuwhof. His latest article is “10
Predictions About the Future Church and Shifting Attendance Patterns” (Carey Nieuwhof, FEBRUARY 23, 2015,10 Predictions About the Future Church and Shifting Attendance
Patterns). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of his predictions made me think
of the Titanic and how it might teach us a lesson about skillful sailing in the
treacherous waters of the future. And it’s this: “Churches that love their model more than the mission will die.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nieuwhof
uses transportation analogies too in explaining his statement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“When the
car was invented, it quick took over from the horse and buggy. Horse and buggy
manufacturers were relegated to boutique status and many went under, but human
transportation actually exploded. Suddenly average people could travel at a
level they never could before. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mission
is travel. The model is a buggy, or car, or motorcycle, or jet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Churches need to stay focused on
the mission and be exceptionally innovative in our model.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://thinkexist.com/quotes/george_william_curtis/">George
William Curtis</a> “It is not the
ship so much as the skillful sailing <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that
assures the prosperous voyage.” (http://thinkexist.com/)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to
have a Prosperous
Voyage we need to make sure we are committed to Skillful Sailing. Skillful
sailing in our case is staying focused on our mission. What is our mission? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Churches that love their model more
than the mission will die.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What does
that mean? Does it mean that we should be willing to make changes, maybe in the
times we worship on Sundays, in the way we organize our Sunday School classes,
in the way we make our campus more accessible? Maybe all of these. Maybe we
will come into the 21</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> century at last, and change the way we take
up the offering to include technology, not only by electronic transfer but even
here in the service, using a mobile app, passing a credit card square payment device
around with the offering plate, or accessing a kiosk outside the door.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Change will most certainly come by way of our Leadership Development
initiative, which is a plan supported by UUA curricula and resources to
identity, invite, and mentor emerging leaders in this congregation; it will
come by way of our Green Sanctuary program, though looking at the way we care
for our environment on our campus, in our committees, and in our partnership
with the wider community. Our church model may need some tweaking, it may have
some flaws we don’t know about, and some we do…and there might be some icebergs
that we need to navigate around. But change itself is not the iceberg…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Churches that love their model more
than the mission will die.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m reminded of the song “Enter, Rejoice and Come In” – the first verse
invites us into a joyful day, Enter, Rejoice and Come in, but then the second
and third verses ask us to be open – open your ears to the song, and open your
hearts, everyone. That is a challenge for us: once we gather in beloved
community, to be open to the moving of the spirit among us – what are we moved
to do? Can we allow ourselves to be
generous enough to be open to what we feel called to do in fulfilling our
mission? Being
open and willing might involve change, but the fourth verse reassures us, don’t
be afraid of some change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or at least, don’t take it too seriously - as Jimmy Buffett sings, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's these
changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing
remains quite the same<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With all of
our running and all of our cunning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we couldn't laugh we would all go
insane.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well,
we’ve had change already this morning in our service; we’ve expanded our church
family to include our new members. They have swapped their bibs for aprons:
they have received nourishment through attending these services and meeting
you, attending the membership orientation, and they have met church leaders who
have told them about the opportunities here at UUCA – now with signing the
membership book, they put on their aprons of service. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because
they know that we are a free faith: no one tells us what to do, just as no one
showers us with money from above; to do the work of this beloved community, to
follow our mission, we all have to put on our aprons and work at our passion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jean Vanier, the founder of the L’Arche
communities, says, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We each have talents<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We each have strengths and weaknesses<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We each have gifts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some people have the gift of compassion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or perseverance or discernment or action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each person has a gift to use for the good of all-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each of us has a gift to bring to our living, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the Family of the earth deserves to receive
it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am
excited that these new folks have the potential to be skillful sailors, that
our voyage is enhanced by their presence and their commitment. None of us
expect them to take on a major task on this first day of membership, like
suddenly taking the helm of this ship, because they are joining a group of
people who work faithfully and tirelessly together in many small ways to make a
big difference. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mother
Teresa wrote, “Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be
extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in
small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” (“Living a Life of
Commitment,” sgm@phoenixuu.org )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">George
William Curtis was a 19<sup>th</sup> century American writer and public
speaker, it is he whose quote “It
is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous
voyage.” Inspired the title of my sermon today. Curtis was someone who knew firsthand what change was like within Unitarianism
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Curtis). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a
young man he became so inspired by the Transcendentalist movement of Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller, that he joined the
communal Brook Farm experiment for a year. He was one of the founders of the
Republican Party (but later became an independent), became the editor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Harper’s Weekly</i>, chaired the
presidential commission to reform the civil service, and was one of the
original members of the Board of Education for what would become New York City.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sounds like, with all his
activities and interests, he would fit right into this congregation! We have so
many people who put their energies into making this congregation, this faith
tradition, this community and this world a better place. They are assuring our
prosperous voyage into the future. (See the video "Stewardship: Beloved Community" here: </span>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbbCU9E5qJE&feature=youtu.be)</div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And this morning I’d like to ask you to
stand and remain standing as you are willing and able, as I mention the
particular sailing skill you offer to the UUS Stewardship:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, those of you who have been
working hard to get the campaign off the ground – from those who prepared the
pancakes to the planners of the pledge drive; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">those members of the board who
serve the church this year; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the new members who have joined
this morning; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the new members who have joined
in the past year; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joe, choir members and other
musicians who enhance our worship every Sunday; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">our pastoral care team; our
Worship team; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">chairs of committees; members of
committees; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">volunteers who have worked at the
Master’s Table, marched in the MLK and Pride parades, or have come to church
work days; members of this church; friends of this church; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">visitors to this church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You all are helping to sail the
ship! Give yourselves a round of applause! Bon voyage and blessed be!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
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<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gaye W. Ortiz</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-78025542968932626432015-02-24T12:01:00.003-08:002015-02-24T12:01:38.970-08:00Unitarian Universalism and the Twelve Steps<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unitarian Universalism and the Twelve Steps<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">O Great Love,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For Defeat,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For being Licked,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For Being Sick
and Tired of Being Sick and Tired,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For Giving Up,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enough Finally Being Enough,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For the Path of
Descent That Finally Reaches the Place Known as the Bottom,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am profoundly
grateful. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Restored to Sanity</i>,
Skinner House Books, 2014, 7)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The admission
that one is powerless over alcohol is the first step in the Twelve-Step
program. That prayer comes from the book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Restored
To Sanit</i>y, a book of essays compiled by two Unitarian Universalist
Ministers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For people who
struggle with addiction, Alcoholics Anonymous has for many years been a
lifeline of hope and recovery. The Twelve Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous
is a time-honored practice that has brought thousands of people who struggle
with addiction to sobriety and, some would say, to sanity. There are other
recovery programs, such as LifeRing and Rational Recovery, but none is as
well-known as AA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unitarian
Universalists are among the people supported by the AA Twelve-Step practices,
but there can be a challenge to some who find the language and teachings about
a higher power problematic. I would like this morning to look at some of the
twelve steps through the eyes of the Restored to Sanity authors, all of whom
are UUs. I believe their writings will give us insight into the philosophy and
language of Twelve-Step programs, and help us to see that a spiritual, rather
than religious perspective, may be helpful for the hard work of recovery. What
is more, much of the work of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Twelve Steps can be beneficial for UUs who are not
in need of a recovery program.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Facts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Romantic, tragic
figures hopelessly addicted to alcohol or drugs litter western popular culture
– from the fictional Nicolas Cage anti-hero determined to drink himself to
death in Leaving Las Vegas to real-life people such as John Belushi, Kurt
Cobain, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was found dead with a needle still in his
arm last year. But these larger-than-life names glamorize and give us a false
picture of addiction: people who abuse drugs and alcohol are ordinary people
like you and me, who have jobs and children and go to church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As we learn to
employ coping mechanisms to handle the challenges of daily life, so do they –
except for them, those mechanisms become another challenge: as Denis Meacham
writes in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Addiction Ministry Handbook
</i>(Skinner House Books, 2004), “Chemically dependent people are stuck in a
coping behavior that probably served them well at one time, briefly, and now
they can’t change without help.” (1)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">According to the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">National Council on Alcoholism and
Drug Dependence, Inc.:</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">“One in every 12 adults, suffer
from alcohol abuse or dependence along with several million more who engage in
risky, binge drinking patterns that could lead to alcohol problems. More
than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or problem
drinking, and more than 7 million children live in a household where at least
one parent is dependent on or has abused alcohol. (</span><a href="https://ncadd.org/learn-about-alcohol/faqsfacts"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">https://ncadd.org/learn-about-alcohol/faqsfacts</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">) </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">And it is estimated that 20
million Americans aged 12 or older used an illegal drug in the past 30 days.
This estimate represents 8% percent of the population aged 12 years old
or older. Illicit drugs include marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including
crack), heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, or prescription drugs used without a
prescription. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Each year more teens enter
addiction treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependence than all
other illegal drugs combined."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">"The
estimated cost of drug abuse exceeds $190 Billion </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">in lost productivity</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">in healthcare costs</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">in legal costs including
efforts to stem the flow of drugs. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Beyond the financial cost is the
cost to individuals, families and society through the s</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">pread of infectious diseases
such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C, either through sharing of drug paraphernalia
or unprotected sex; </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">d</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">eaths
due to overdose or other complications from drug use;</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> e</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">ffects on unborn children of
pregnant drug users; and the impact on the family, crime and homelessness.” (</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://ncadd.org/learn-about-drugs/faqsfacts" style="line-height: 150%;">https://ncadd.org/learn-about-drugs/faqsfacts</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">So how do people begin to get
to grips with recovery, once they hit the bottom? Anne Lamott observes that “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Willingness to change comes only from pain.” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Small Victories</i>, 2014, p. 275) </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The decision to seek help is one thing, but then the
resistance to the Christian trappings of AA programs may keep many people from
fully committing to a Twelve-step recovery program. Theistic language turns a lot
of people off. Two of the Twelve Steps contain the phrase “God as we understand
Him”; for people who have had negative or even traumatic experiences with male
authority figures can’t find meaning or fulfillment with this kind of
description.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The key to the first step for addicts is being able to
turn over their fight against drugs or alcohol, and admit that their lives are
unmanageable. Reaching out and seeking help outside of oneself is possible only
when one knows the limits of exerting control “in the face of uncontrollable
external forces” (27); that means being realistic, and a prayer that is often
recited at Twelve-step meetings is the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">What are the things we cannot change? According to David
Richo’s book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Five Things We Cannot
Change, and the Happiness We Find by EmbracingThem</i>, they are: everything
changes and ends; things do not always go according to plan; life is not always
fair; pain is part of life; people are not loyal and loving all of the time (cited
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Restored to Sanity</i>, 41). Aligning
ourselves with reality means being open to what life has to offer, and
abandoning our denial of those givens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Affirming the interdependent web of all existence, of
which we are a part, is Our Seventh Principle, and it is a way to understand
our place in a world that does not revolve around us. It also allows us to
frame our understanding of a higher power in ways that are familiar for UUs:
the Restored to Sanity essay by Paul says that “God, for me, is in the process
of living and is a verb rather than a noun.” (30)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">One well-known AA slogan is
“Let go and let God”; Meacham says that “it is not only acceptance of a higher
power that is difficult or impossible for some people but also the call to
surrender their will to that power.” (26) </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The Third Step is the decision to turn one’s will and
lives over to the care of God. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The surrender step means reassessing
our sense of self-importance and our inability to beat forces that are more
powerful than we are. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Meacham says that to surrender in the spiritual sense means not
only to change thoughts and attitudes, but also to enlarge one’s existence in a
relationship with a higher good that can transform the very foundation of one’s
being.” (28) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Writer Anne Lamott puts it this way: “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">when we agree to (or get tricked into) being part of something bigger
than our own wired, fixated minds, we are saved. When we search for something
larger than our own selves to hook into, we can come through whatever life
throws at us.” (<i>Stitches</i>, 2013, 91)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It can be tough
for a UU to see how it’s possible to turn one’s will and life over to the care
of God precisely because of the way we might understand Him. In an essay in
<i>Restored to Sanity</i>, Kent writes that he is acutely aware of the unfairness of
life; when he surveys the suffering in the world, he rejects theologies that
claim that God is in charge of everything and has a larger plan that we should
trust: “Many of us have wondered why we should risk “turning ourselves over” to
a chaotic, unfair world. I have come to believe there is a gracious goodness in
AA groups, the church, the community, and the world. If we open ourselves up…we
can benefit greatly.” (34)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A belief in a
new, higher good can free us to follow a new direction in life and to reconnect
with others; here at this church we call that reconnection the beloved
community, a faithful gathering of people whose lives are for service to the
greater good. We offer each other companionship along the spiritual path that
each has chosen, and those who are in recovery can offer as much to our
congregation as their peers do to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a
commonality between AA and UU – in the First Principle UUs affirm the inherent
worth and dignity of every human being. In AA those struggling with dependency
learn that they have inherent worth and dignity. Julie writes: “In AA we learn,
often for the first time, that we alcoholics have inherent worth and dignity.
Once we understand this about ourselves at the deepest level, we know the First
Principle.” (40)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The 4<sup>th</sup>
and 5<sup>th</sup> steps are difficult for many people because they ask for
inventories, the 4<sup>th</sup> for a fearless and moral inventory of
ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Step 5 is admitting to
God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our
wrongs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(61) </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Chris writes that
there is nothing a person can do or not do that can add to or subtract from
their worth and dignity: “Whereas the forms of Christianity I experienced
taught me that I am a ‘fallen’ human, a sinner, and that only through Jesus
Christ can I be redeemed, Unitarian Universalism teaches that I am worthy already.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> (</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">62)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are other
steps that are very challenging - Step 6 asks that a person be ready to have
God remove all defects of character, 7 that God remove our shortcomings. “I
realized that having character defects simply makes me human – no more, no less…As
I engaged with Step Six, I realized that the part that I could do was to get
ready – to prepare; the part that God did was to remove my shame about having
character defects at all.” (73-74)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But the next two
steps are very involved: Step 8 is to make a list of all persons we have harmed
and be willing to make amends to them all; the 9<sup>th</sup> step is to make
direct amends to those people whenever possible. (93, 99)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Step 11 is
seeking through prayer and meditation to improve conscious contact with God as we
understand Him, praying only for our knowledge of His will for us and the power
to carry that out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Meacham in the </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Addiction Ministry Handbook</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> suggests
that in order to work on this step we need to Cultivate an awareness and
receptivity to the transcendent in life: “being open to such experiences as we
go about our lives belies the notion that there are specific times or places
for the soul to be refreshed or inspired. Recovering people must be in the
world with such openness and trust that they can be fully ready for the
numinous to break through at any time. Being open to the transcendental in life
requires being fully present in the moment – being here now.” (35)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sarah writes in
her essay "Will and Power", “Step 11 brought spirituality out of the musings of my
intellect and intot he experience of my heart and soul; it came to life. I am
no longer interested in being right ot=r wrong. Rather, I seek to be connected
to spirit, to live with peace, serenity, and an overflowing fountain of joy.” (141)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We all can benefit by being mindful
of and present to our lives. Anne Lamott says that “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Grace meets us where we are,
but does not leave us where it found us.” (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/annelamott391308.html)
In the hymn <i>Amazing Grace</i> we sang “‘tis grace that brought me safe thus
far…” so dare we use the word salvation to describe the ‘spiritual awakening’
that the 12<sup>th</sup> step mentions? For UUs who can reframe the experience
and thus enrich their well-being, that is a question worth asking and
answering. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Lynn Ungar’s poem <i>Salvation</i> asks this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">By what are you saved? And how?</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">Saved like a bit of string,</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">tucked away in a drawer?</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">Saved like a child rushed from</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">a burning building, already</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">singed and coughing smoke?</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">Or are you salvaged</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">like a car part—the one good door</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">when the rest is wrecked?</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">Do you believe me when I say</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">you are neither salvaged nor saved,</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">but salved, anointed by gentle hands</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">where you are most tender?</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">Haven’t you seen</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">the way snow curls down</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">like a fresh sheet, how it</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">covers everything, makes everything</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Bright'; font-size: 13pt;">beautiful, without exception?</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">(http://www.clfuu.org/read-mobile/quest/salvation/salvation-poem/)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">What is meant by salvation is in the end not as important a
consideration as the inclusive faith of Universalism, as articulated by theologian
Forrest Church, that </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">rejects the divisive notion that people fit into two separate
categories: sheep and goats; the saved and the damned. As Ziggy Marley wrote, “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">bring all the lovers to the fold, cause no
one is gonna lose their soul” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love Is My
Religion</i>). </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Even as
we are spiritually awakened, we can follow our mission to carry our saving
message to others, not from a position of superiority but of solidarity, as
fellow human beings, each of us with inherent worth and dignity.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">And in
the words of Forrest Church</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">“The surest way to find the sacred is to decode our own
experiences, not only of beauty…but also in sacraments of pain by which we
commune with one another… We all suffer. We are broken and in need of healing.
We struggle to accept ourselves and forgive others. To adopt the old language,
we are all sinners. Aware of our imperfections, we seek more perfect faith,
hope, love, and justice. At our best, we empathize with one another's pain and
rise together in answer to a higher law.” (http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/2786.shtml)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">May we be the
ones who make it so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">GWO 2-19-2015</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-538657400998963852015-02-15T17:14:00.004-08:002015-02-15T17:19:32.620-08:00A History of Religion in 5 ½ Objects<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The first sermon
I ever gave <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at the Unitarian Universalist
Church of Augusta was about the theological and spiritual functions of film. I
remember talking about a Catholic understanding of sacrament, that through
material objects we can glimpse the sacred. While I taught theology and
religious studies in the United Kingdom, my specialism was theology and film,
and an American postgrad student at Glasgow University once came to a seminar I
was leading on the topic. His name was Brent Plate, and he went on to teach and
also write on the topic of film and religion. In fact I wrote a chapter for him
in his book on the Mel Gibson film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Passion of the Christ</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have been
fascinated with a book Brent recently published that looks at five types of
objects that “humans have engaged and put to use in highly symbolic, sacred
ways” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A History of Religion in 5 ½
Objects</i>, Beacon Press, 2014); these objects are ordinarily common, basic,
profane (profane Latin roots <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pro</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fanus</i> = outside the temple). (Plate, 4) </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">“Such is the paradox
of religious experience,” he writes, “that ordinary things can become
extraordinary.” (4)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To explain this
we need to think about how the primary contact points between the self and the
world are the sense organs: mouth, nose, eyes, ears, skin. The Greek philosopher
Protagoras said that a human “is nothing but a bundle of sensations”. (5) The
poet Dianne Ackerman says that our senses are the primary place of communion
with the physical world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Religion, then,
is deeply sensual, and this statement may come as somewhat of a shock!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But Brent Plate
says that “too often religion is explained as a set of beliefs, which primarily
exist in the thought processes of the brain.” And so we relegate symbols,
rituals and even human bodies to be “merely secondary expressions of some primary
intellectual order”. But, Plate claims, “there is no thinking without first
sensing, no minds without their entanglement in bodies, no intellectual
religion without felt religion as it is lived in streets and homes, temples and
theaters.” (7) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Religion, being a
prime human activity throughout history, is rooted in the body and in its
sensual relations in the world; Plate says it has been and always will be. Any religious
history is incomplete if it ignores the fact that “religion derives from
rudimentary human experiences, from lived, embodied practices.” (14) So “to
learn about religion we have to come to our senses”! (8) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We can’t talk
about using our senses in abstraction: we know that it’s impossible to smell
without an odor, to hear without a sound. The Walt Whitman poem “There Was a
Child Went Forth” is about the child who engages with objects and these become
a part of him as he grows: the first object he looked upon, that object he
became…and the objects we engage in in religion are speaking to us and making
meaning for us. (10) Objects have power – MIT professor Sherry Turkle says that
objects help complete us. (13) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Nature is all
around us – and we have needed to survive in the natural world by using things
like shelter, fire, agriculture, the Internet – “our existence depends on our
technological taming of nature, and that has led to a loosening of the
connection between us and nature.” Religion has always interacted with the
world in which we live, but we are creators and creations of culture to the
point that we dismiss the role of nature when we proclaim our theology, despite
the evidence of our own religious practices. One year in the Progressive Religious
Coalition there was a discussion about pagan involvement in the Martin Luther King
service; paganism was understood by some people as idolatry because they had problems
with the idea of nature worship. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was an irony
lost on them, because when you think of the calculation Muslims make for prayer
times, they are based on the time of day: pre-dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset,
evening. The month of Ramadan is based on </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">the
visual sightings of the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilal_(crescent_moon)"><span style="line-height: 150%; text-decoration: none;">crescent
moon</span></a><span style="line-height: 150%;">. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Christian festival of Easter is determined - </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full
Moon) following the March equinox.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Culture is basically the cultivation of nature, and
religion is one of the key ways humans have cultivated it. Each of the objects
Plate writes about begin embedded in the natural world but through their
interactions with humans and their senses they become part of culture. And this
nature-culture nexus is also the birthplace of art. (18) Natural and man-made
materials are repurposed for religious uses: rocks into sacred stones, wheat
into bread for communion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">People who practice religion don’t necessarily know about
the historical elements of that religion, but they know how to do that
religion. Plate comments that religious people are not believers so much as ‘technologists’.
Religion uses physical objects like stones, incense, drums, bread, and crosses in
a technological way, and by using religious language gives them meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So, given the
connection between nature, culture and religion, let’s look at the elements
we’ve used in this service:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>The Cross</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH3oSkqZfKzjR90GxhoJG-bl0OfFUc6iQ2eImywdrelmP9kfJ1aqnXtugIUNYZOxDWBG6UpuuNpFAaCAa6-qjfGFh7N74Qe8oVf_xH2DH2oGZ0ikK8Uf_dv_YO4bps3PCTi_X_avz9ht27/s1600/directions.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH3oSkqZfKzjR90GxhoJG-bl0OfFUc6iQ2eImywdrelmP9kfJ1aqnXtugIUNYZOxDWBG6UpuuNpFAaCAa6-qjfGFh7N74Qe8oVf_xH2DH2oGZ0ikK8Uf_dv_YO4bps3PCTi_X_avz9ht27/s1600/directions.png" height="256" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Intersection,
division, or transformation – which do you think of first when you see 2
crossed lines? For abstract painters like Mondrian and minimalists like Agnes
Martin, the grid, a series of intersecting crosses, was the most primal image
that shows us the fundamental connection between nature and culture, human and
divine. Crossed lines are not just limited to the Christian cross – as you saw
at the opening calling of directions, the cross is much more ancient, and
broader, in its metaphorical meaning. In it we can see two opposing forces -
vertical and horizontal, heaven and hell, feminine and masculine, these are
equivalent dichotomies that connect to it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Brent Plate says
that the “cross is a piece of technology that provides a bridge and allows
connection. Through that association comes transformation. We cross over,
crossbreed, cross-pollinate, cross-dress, crisscross “ (140) – all actions that
leave us different than before. But visually, the place where the lines meet,
the crux of the meeting spot, is where our eyes are drawn, to the unification
of matter. That is the center, the fifth direction – there can in fact “be no
directions without a grounding point”(145) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Christian
cross symbolizes transformation; the monstrous nature of crucifixion meant that
Christians didn’t begin to use the cross as a symbol until a couple of hundred
years after the death of Jesus (153).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were earlier symbols like the fish or the term ‘the good
shepherd’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When the emperor
Constantine saw a vision of Christ it was accompanied by a cross of light. The
old Christian hymn “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the
cross of Jesus going on before” reminds us of the Crusades and other wars where
crosses and swords went hand in hand. Of course nowadays the cross is a fashion
item, a token of identity, worn around the neck, tattooed on bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We would agree
that the most monstrous cross of the modern world is the Nazi swastika, but it
is an ancient Sanskrit image signifying happiness, and the term means good luck
or good being. But its cooptation by Nazi Germany and today’s anti-Semitic
extremists voids for us any redeeming symbolism…Brent Plate reminds us that
‘symbols seldom obey the limits of nations, cultures, religions, or languages’
(157). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Drums</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The drum has a
beat that is more than a metronome; it’s used in various religious traditions
to “invoke the gods, protect people, create rain, unite communities, even bring
people to the point of ecstasy” (100). From Shiva, the Lord of the dance for
Hindus, to Icanchu, a birdlike creature who according to the Mataco people of
Argentina, helps to recreate life in a world destroyed in a cosmic fire, the
drumbeat is essential to the existence of people and the drum is another
technology for living. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Shamans, like the
Samis in Lapland, and the Yoruba of west Africa, use drums as the primary means
of communication with the divine. Rituals in Japan’s Shinto shrines and
Buddhist temples developed the modern kodo style of playing various drums
together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But there is also
the therapeutic aspect of drum-playing that brings it into the realm of divine
play, in the sense that play is an essential element of animal and human life.
Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist, says that “We are built to play and built through
play. When we play, we are engaged in the purest expression of our humanity,
the truest expression of our individuality’ (134).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Incense</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The cross - Visual,
the drum - aural, and now the ‘scentual’: the “ancient machinery” that is the
olfactory nervous system connects to the amygdala, triggering what some
researchers say is the strongest emotional response out of human sense
perceptions. Incense is called the food of the gods, and we all know the story
of the gifts that the Wise Men brought to the baby Jesus – gold, myrrh and
frankincense. If holiness has a scent then it is frankincense, burnt in the
ancient Babylonian temple of Baal at the rate of 2 ½ tons every year. It was
specified in a recipe God himself gave for incense to be used for the Ark of
the Covenant in the book of Exodus (see p. 66).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But the burning
of incense, besides the smell, is evocative due to the curling of smoke that is
visually pleasing. King David sand about how the smoke rises to the heavens
above: “Let my prayer be counted as incense before thee, and the lifting up of
my hands as an evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141) Smoke is visible and yet not
touchable, Brent observes, so in that sense is mystically seen but not
possessed, just like light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Incense has had a
mixed reception in the history of Christianity; Christians moved away from the
religion’s pagan and Jewish roots, both traditions that use incense. St John
Chrystosom even declared, “God has no nostrils.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The theologian Origen said in the 3<sup>rd</sup> century
that one easy way to distinguish Christians from pagans was the burning of
incense (72). But by the time of the great cathedrals incense was used
lavishly, until the reformers got rid of many visual aids to worship, arguing
that Christians should cultivate an inner spiritual life instead of using
materialistic ritual (71). Incense, Brent Plate suggests, may give us not only
pleasure through its fragrance, but a chance to reflect upon the passing nature
of our lives and how that might itself be something holy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqlA6j4CyhaVbMBr_ui2uX5PB3qMgF0Zc0F1HP9XYEQHUUnW2nCTGHgp-Nv7_aFoG5RSDA06GLbpS9s_0A4FiwW0TGdSAwcJ_VQ4QZBggTQSUxPAFNW855BpxIUN6LDDwovget65CCqNZ-/s1600/stones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqlA6j4CyhaVbMBr_ui2uX5PB3qMgF0Zc0F1HP9XYEQHUUnW2nCTGHgp-Nv7_aFoG5RSDA06GLbpS9s_0A4FiwW0TGdSAwcJ_VQ4QZBggTQSUxPAFNW855BpxIUN6LDDwovget65CCqNZ-/s1600/stones.jpg" height="320" width="318" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When we shared
our joys and sorrows this morning, we used stones as ritual objects, to center
that particular ritual and to keep it flowing smoothly. Stones have a long
history in religion of being symbols of a divine force, having power to heal by
their touch, marking special events from the past, and marking boundaries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Think about the
Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, remains of the temple built by King Solomon about
3000 years ago, destroyed, rebuilt and then destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.
Not only Jews but people of all faiths come to the Wailing Wall to take
advantage of the tradition of sticking little notes in the cracks between the
bricks that hold requests, pleas or petitions to the divine. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Dome of the
Rock is sacred to Muslims, and early Muslims may have faced toward Jerusalem to
pray until the center of Islam shifted to Mecca. The Ka’ba contains within it
the Black Stone, perhaps originally a meteorite held as sacred because it came
from the heavens. Close by the Wailing Wall and the Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to mark the spot where
Jesus’ body was anointed to prepare it for burial. </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">Other sacred
sites based around stone include Uluru or Ayers Rock in Australia and
Stonehenge. People construct cairns as a sort of ritual, often on hilltops or
mountain passes. Stones can also be used ritually to take life, and of course
we use gravestones to mark where the dead are laid.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The metaphor of a
rock that is strong and dependable is kind of an inside joke for the Gospels.
You may know that Jesus at one point says to his disciple Simon Peter, “You are
a rock, and on that rock I will build my church.” </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Optima;">Petros</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Optima;"> is Greek meaning
"stone" and some biblical scholars translate the name Jesus uses as
‘Rocky’.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And Jesus himself
is associated with the durability of rock, in the old gospel hymns “Rock of
Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee” and another one I used to sing
as a child, “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is shifting
sand”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Stone seems such
an unchangeable and permanent material, yet we know that it may take many years
but the natural elements to which they are exposed can erode them or smooth
them. </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">Brent Plate says,
“Religions may tell us to take up stones and throw them at each other, but
religious traditions also encourage us to stop, look, and listen, to be aware
of the nature of everyday existence, of our physical lives and dependence on
earthly matter.” (59)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Bread</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjXe0ZLKNk2Z6FBPCxURbaqcL7wak-M47cpkyhx5JuZA5gyuKsmRnFlIuznWZaOYos3DA3ObIGpod2DfS-JXlGQDPvx5OalFl49Plx7OEw4wLg8-RdlBaI8b7qxsfpAmM8oj6qq5YFft6/s1600/bread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjXe0ZLKNk2Z6FBPCxURbaqcL7wak-M47cpkyhx5JuZA5gyuKsmRnFlIuznWZaOYos3DA3ObIGpod2DfS-JXlGQDPvx5OalFl49Plx7OEw4wLg8-RdlBaI8b7qxsfpAmM8oj6qq5YFft6/s1600/bread.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And I suppose we
do know how dependent we are, at least metaphorically, when it comes to bread.
We need to eat to live, and bread is symbolic of that basic need; however, when
we talk about technology bread is anything but simple (see p.177). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For five thousand
years bread has been a staple in the human diet: more than 200 varieties are
known to have existed in Mesopotamia. Its significance as the transitional food
from hunter-gatherer to agricultural cultures is symbolized in the story of
Adam and Eve, who went from garden to field. The word cereal comes from the
goddess of agriculture Ceres, and worship of the ancient goddesses involved the
offering of breads and cakes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Plate quotes the
author Michael Pollan, who writes that the first time a human saw dough rise
must have been ‘miraculous “as if the spark of life had been breathed into it”
(189).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For Jews
unleavened bread is in the midst of the formative history of the Passover. The
reason it is not a yeast bread is not only because the Israelites did not have
time to let the dough rise, but also because God commanded, ‘</span><span style="line-height: 150%;">…for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of
affliction, because you left Egypt in haste--so that all the days of your life
you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt’ (Deut 16:3). Eating is
not only sustaining the body, it is about remembering: the “past made real through
the palate” (191).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Christianity
takes the Passover meal as the basis for its most dramatic theology, Jesus as
the sacrifice, through bread and wine – memory moves a step beyond our brains
and into our gut, it is “Ingested, chewed and swallowed” (196). Furthermore
through the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, it is the divine presence
of Christ and the bond of community that is in the Eucharist or communion. But
the power of the cultivation of wheat can also be a revolutionary image, as in
the very words that Oscar Romero said just before he was shot and killed while
celebrating Mass in a small chapel in San Salvador in 1980: </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">"He who wants to
withdraw from danger will lose his life," said Romero. "But the
person who gives himself to the service of others will be like a grain of wheat
that falls to the ground and dies — but only apparently dies, for by its death,
its wasting away in the ground, a new harvest is made." <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Unlike
the other objects we’ve experienced today, bread is not as universal or as
prominent outside of the Judeo-Christian tradition. And Brent Plate concludes
his book by saying that religion is like bread; it is an invention, and it
changes through time and cultural context. Just as bread has some common
elements, but may be made and consumed in many different ways, so too religions
are not all the same, are not all constructed in the same way, and do not want
the same thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">And so from the history of the past to religion of the future -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">President Obama in speaking at the national Prayer Breakfast
Thursday reminded us that the Golden Rule is “</span><span style="line-height: 150%;">one law that we can all be most certain of, that seems to bind
people of all faiths and people who are still finding their way towards faith
but have a sense of ethics or morality in them” </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">(</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/obama-at-national-prayer-breakfast-3-principles-to-oppose-those-who-use-religion-for-evil-133633/"><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">http://www.christianpost.com/news/obama-at-national-prayer-breakfast-3-principles-to-oppose-those-who-use-religion-for-evil-133633/</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 150%;">)</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> . </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">Those of us
who live and work in an interfaith context should rejoice in this, but not try
to appeal to the lowest common denominator in dealing with each other’s
religious traditions. As Alan Jones reminds us, “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Working for an inclusive community of love and
justice doesn’t mean throwing all of us with our various beliefs into a big
blender so that our believing and belonging become homogenized. It means being
able to celebrate difference and argue for our point of view without wanting to
imprison or kill those who differ from us.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">(http://inwardoutward.org/quote-author/alan-jones/)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">It’s worth remembering as Unitarian Universalists
that we celebrate our sources without trying to meld them all into one unified
theology; Laila Ibrahim says that as Unitarian Universalists </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">we believe what <b>each of us</b>
knows about God is a piece of the truth. </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">(http://www.frederickuu.org/about/What_is_Unitarian_Universalism.php)</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve spoken about 5 objects, but what about the ½? Well for Plate it stands
as a symbol of our incomplete natures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a need for a human body to be made whole through relations with
something outside itself; and so the human half body connects with some of the
objects to help us in our quest for religiously meaningful, fulfilling lives. (P3)
It’s an idea for a religion of the future that’s being talked about in some
interesting places – this week in the New York Times </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">David Brooks wrote an op-ed
piece entitled</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> “</span><span style="line-height: 150%;">Building Better Secularists” (</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/opinion/david-brooks-building-better-secularists.html?nlid=58916088&src=recpb&_r=0"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/opinion/david-brooks-building-better-secularists.html?nlid=58916088&src=recpb&_r=0</span></a>)<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">in which he said: </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Past secular creeds were built on the 18th-century
enlightenment view of man as an autonomous, rational creature who could reason
his way to virtue. The past half-century of cognitive science has shown that
that creature doesn’t exist. We are not really rational animals; emotions play
a central role in decision-making, the vast majority of thought is unconscious,
and our minds are riddled with biases. We are not really autonomous; our
actions are powerfully shaped by others in ways we are not even aware of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems to me that if secularism is going to be a positive
creed, it can’t just speak to the rational aspects of our nature. Secularism
has to do for nonbelievers what religion does for believers — arouse the higher
emotions, exalt the passions in pursuit of moral action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Religions don’t just ask believers to respect others; rather
each soul is worthy of the highest dignity because it radiates divine light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only secularism that can really arouse moral
motivation and impel action is an enchanted secularism, one that puts emotional
relations first and autonomy second. I suspect that over the next years
secularism will change its face and become…less content with mere benevolence,
and more responsive to the spiritual urge in each of us….”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Brent Plate writes that “we stopped believing in our
senses and trusted only our intellect. We believed thinking and sensing were separate
and separable functions” (224). My challenge to you today is to look again at
the basic stuff around you; recall the pleasure you get from favorite smells,
the touch of crisp, clean bed linens or an animal’s fur, the feel of cool
liquid sliding down your throat on a hot day, the music that brings back happy
memories. Look at the objects you keep on top of your dresser, in your pocket,
on your desk… and then appreciate “why religions continue to invest in and
celebrate the objects of the world” (224).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">GWO 2-6-2015</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-63418535650847844782014-09-22T08:55:00.003-07:002014-09-22T08:55:54.371-07:00WHEN PEOPLE DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU SAY<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">WHEN PEOPLE DON’T LIKE WHAT YOU SAY<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Unitarian Universalist Church of
Augusta<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Rev. Dr. Gaye Ortiz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">September 21 2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">May this synagogue be, for all who enter,</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">the doorway to a richer and more meaningful life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Our
opening words this morning are adapted from a prayer from a Reform Jewish prayer
book, and they are sentiments that we all have in our hearts as we gather
together in worship. After all, what would we be here for, if not to do as our
3<sup>rd</sup> principle asks, to affirm and promote </span><span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth
in our congregations? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The last 3 words there - in our congregations -
are important, because anyone could follow their own spiritual path. One of the
blessings of membership is taking on the responsibility of encouraging our
members to grow spiritually alongside each other. And as members we covenant
with one another. Covenants began in the ancient world as a way of contracting
between rulers and their people, and they are important in Judeo-Christian
history and theology. And when our religious forebears settled in this country,
they kept the free church tradition alive by creating covenants such as the
Cambridge Platform of Church Discipline, which was written by the New England
Puritans in 1648 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is a covenant of mutual
promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKt4VEh2olD_SHS3iNrzdc-fF6Ii_NwcJ35TNuMxSHBgeeOMsM3jrPLLfNpVt-TMF71DKWRCy7WNn5uLDJLfF8CWCHq-Q94Ww_-jZLF8qx1vJ2oBBnn_vsGzMFuzcKk5xojQQ8Z0PLYBBI/s1600/covenant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKt4VEh2olD_SHS3iNrzdc-fF6Ii_NwcJ35TNuMxSHBgeeOMsM3jrPLLfNpVt-TMF71DKWRCy7WNn5uLDJLfF8CWCHq-Q94Ww_-jZLF8qx1vJ2oBBnn_vsGzMFuzcKk5xojQQ8Z0PLYBBI/s1600/covenant.jpg" height="320" width="195" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 0in;">Forrest Church paraphrased the Puritans'
covenant like this:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">We pledge to walk together<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the ways of truth and affection,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">As best we know them now<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Or may learn them in the days to come,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">That we and our children may be fulfilled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">And that we may speak to the world<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">In words and actions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Of peace and
goodwill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(</span><a href="http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/river/workshop7/workshopplan/leaderresources/175913.shtml"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/river/workshop7/workshopplan/leaderresources/175913.shtml</span></a><span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Reading our
covenant aloud this morning, I wonder if you were reflecting on the obligation
that you are asked to assume. After all, a covenant is a promise, and it’s a
tool that helps us to reconcile ourselves within the community when we fall out
of covenant.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Assuming good
intentions is hard for a lot of people; we automatically think the worst when
we hear things – usually from someone else – that a person has done. When we
don’t agree with what we’re hearing, we begin to think negative or even awful
things; we form assumptions that, if we were to voice out loud to that person,
would quickly prove to be false assumptions. The covenant gives us a measuring
stick; we can ask ourselves: when I am feeling this way, is it going against
what I promised to do? Can I give this person a break, and stop assuming they
are acting against my best interests or the church’s best interests?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">So in our
congregation, when we have a problem, when we don’t like what someone says (or
what we’ve heard they’ve said), instead of fuming silently, or expressing our
anger to someone else in the parking lot, we are urged to approach the person
with whom we differ directly – assuming good intentions – to ask them to speak
with us about what is concerning us. Using ‘I’ statements, not interrupting
people when they are trying to answer your question, not judging others by what
they say…these are familiar parts of a behavioral covenant, heard in meetings
of a committee or the board, that many of us feel are vital to ensuring
respectful communication in congregational life.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wouldn’t it be
grand if everyone everywhere lived by a covenant of right relationship? I am
not saying that everyone here abides fully by the covenants they affirm…but we
at least have the ability to be called back to our best selves, because the
covenant exists, for us, as a living document.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2a2a2b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Unfortunately,
today I am speaking to the topic of ‘when people don’t like what you say’
because we as Unitarian Universalists need to reflect on how we deal with the
feelings we – and what we say and do – evoke in people who disagree with us.
People who feel threatened by our tolerance, our inclusivity, our liberal
religious and creed-less faith tradition. Those who, in contrast to our opening
words, do <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">no</b>t value our invitation
to all who enter our church to see it as “</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">the doorway to a richer and more meaningful life”.
They may see it, instead, as a pathway to godlessness, to immorality, to false
prophets, and of course, to damnation and hell. You may well know people who
think that about us; some of you may have family members who think that, and
this surely weighs heavily upon your hearts this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">On
a Sunday morning in mid-July, to use the words of Krista Taves, “</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">something pretty scary happened at the First Unitarian
Universalist Church of New Orleans. </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">Members of
Operation Save America, a fundamentalist anti-choice organization that (Taves
says) is known for descending upon abortion clinics and making life a living
hell for anyone coming or going”, showed up as if to attend the church service.
During the service they began to verbally harass the worshippers and to try to
push anti-abortion pamphlets into their hands. Imagine being in the sacred,
silent space of meditation just as we do every Sunday following Joys and
Sorrows, and suddenly hearing shouts of </span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">“Abomination!”
“You are going to hell!” (</span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-antiabortion-fanatics-invade-a-church-service-20140723-column.html#page=1"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-antiabortion-fanatics-invade-a-church-service-20140723-column.html#page=1</span></a><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What
happened next was probably not what they expected to happen, because that
Sunday the church was commissioning youth leaders of the UU College of Social
Justice.These young people immediately circled around the protesters and began
singing. The minister asked the protesters to respect the worship space and
take their protest outside, and at that church leaders began guiding them out
of the sanctuary. The police were called, and they arrived ready to intervene
should things turn violent. </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The
director of religious education made sure the children were safe; unfortunately
the protesters had surrounded the church and had identified the RE rooms. They
pressed graphic pictures against the windows, so the children were moved to an
inner room. A note was left on the classroom doors for parents so they would be
aware of where the children had been taken.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The
minister, according to Taves, continued with the service, preaching “about how
fundamentalism offers only one path of truth, whereas liberal religion
recognizes a diversity of paths, and that this offers us a significant way to
engage the challenges of our world.” Once the service finished, Planned
Parenthood came to escort congregants safely back to their cars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">As we know, especially from being
in the Bible Belt, the radicalized anti-choice movement is supported
increasingly by right-wing politicians, and feels empowered to threaten women’s
reproductive rights through legislation as well as public protest. Many of us
UUs are members of Planned Parenthood; some have been present to demonstrate on
behalf of women’s reproductive rights. We should all know that Planned
Parenthood is in the front line of protecting women’s rights and are publicly
vilified for doing so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The Supreme Court recently ruled
against safe boundaries of protest, so that anti-choice protesters can engage
in intimidating behavior without buffer zones, inciting violence against
abortion providers and those women who choose to use their services as they are
entitled to do under the law.</span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">“ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 0in;">The LA Times reported that eight months ago, “the man in
charge of the group that invaded the Unitarian church in New Orleans, a
fundamentalist Christian minister named Philip “Flip” Benham, was convicted of </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/02/phillip-flip-benham-guilty-stalking-abortion-doctor_n_889273.html" style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: #fc3b34; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">stalking a North
Carolina abortion doctor</span></a><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 0in;">, passing out “wanted”
posters of the physician. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation and
ordered to stop the harassment. Benham’s group, Operation Save America, has
blockaded clinic entrances, violated the privacy of doctors and abortion clinic
workers, and harassed women seeking abortions.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">But spreading their message of hate wider, they violated
the sacred space of sanctuary… “</span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">or
as Benham described it on his website, “presented the truth of the Gospel in
this synagogue of Satan.”” (LA Times)</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">And as Taves says, “This protest was a violation of our
sacred space, and when I say “our” I mean it. We Unitarian Universalists
are in sacred covenantal relationships of mutuality. When one
congregation is violated in this way, we are all violated.” Not only that, but
the deep religious vein that runs through American civic life respects the
sanctity of the sanctuary; I believe that Operation Save America did itself and
its cause no favors by invading a worship space, because many Americans will be
appalled at this display of disrespect for religious freedom of worship. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">After all, we reject the idea of Taliban fundamentalists
enacting radical control of women in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and even trying
to stifle the right to women’s right to education by nearly killing the
schoolgirl Malala Yousafzi.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The minister who led the service and kept her head was
Deanna Vandiver; she calls the protesters ‘religious terrorists’ who have made
us targets in the process of trying to achieve their goals by violent means. At
least the confrontation in the New Orleans church that morning did not turn
violent, due in large part to the non-anxious reaction of those UUs present for
the service. There was no yelling or pushing back, but there was an affirmation
through the actions and the voices of the young people lifted up in song. There
was a naming of what was going on by the minister from the pulpit and a request
to behave appropriately. Then there was action to protect the children, secure
the building, and call for help. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">This is National Preparedness Month. Maybe this is an
appropriate sermon to preach in that case. No one wants to think that we need
to be prepared for something like the sanctuary invasion in New Orleans, but
there are practical things we can take away form that morning’s disruption. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The clergy of the New Orleans churches were interviewed
on the VUU, not the ABC show with Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell, but the
web broadcast of the Church of the Larger Fellowship; I have put the link to
the interview on our Facebook page (please like us if you haven’t already): </span>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLIdCq62Xm0&list=PLXSqfWmM95KvcGjFxjeZR6-epikAo7It6 <span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">. In
that VUU episode, which is entitled ‘Defending Sanctuary’, it was noted that
there was a strategy employed in that sanctuary that morning that we need to be
ready to use should any type of disruption occur in ours.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">First, name what is happening. I will not always be in
the pulpit, so our Worship Associates also need to able to give clarity to the
moment: “What is happening at this moment is that someone is trying to disrupt
our service; please respect the sacred space of this sanctuary.” Rev. Vandiver
herself did not at first comprehend what was happening, and before she heard
the words they were using she thought the shouting was from </span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">someone who didn’t understand the congregation’s tradition of
silence during meditation. So telling others clearly from the pulpit also
relieves anxiety of those who cannot understand what is happening, and this
could be for several occasions when there is a disruption in the sanctuary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Minneapolis has a
script under the podium with several paragraphs for the worship leader to read
in case someone is having a medical emergency or there is violence erupting.
But with a violent disruption it is vital to be vocal about who we are; we do
not tolerate violence or disrespect of our sanctuary and our congregants.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The second thing is to have a protocol kicking in, for the
church leaders – greeters or board members, who know they are responsible for physically
removing the people who are disturbing the service; third is to make sure everyone
is safe and secure. At our church safety briefing this week, we discussed the
importance of locking the kitchen door when the service begins every Sunday, a
new element of safety prevention that will begin next month. Of course there
will be people arriving late, but they will need to use the front entrance.
Leaving the back door unlocked provides easy access to our RE wing, and even
people sitting in the conversation corner listening to the service will not be
able to stop someone with violent intent from entering. So that would be one
less action needed to secure the building in an emergency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 18.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">And the final step is a debrief after all the activity is over.
This helps to see what can be learned from the experience but also what we can
do to respond what has happened. In the case of the New Orleans disruption,
they embarked on a media outreach campaign </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">that used “this awful experience as a tool to continue changing
the hearts of this nation” (Taves)</span><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">.
You might have seen Rev Vandiver on the Rachel Maddow program. The message they
want to pass on is “</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">that
religious people have diverse ways of being pro-child and pro-family, and that
religious liberalism might just be where we can find the clearest
embodiment of what it means to be…pro-life in its truest sense. (Taves)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">New Orleans UUs feel that this incident has not created
a bunker mentality where they are afraid of being under attack, but instead are
driven out even more into the wider community. Their social justice committee
is called the community ministry team, and that name is proving to be quite
accurate. They said on the VUU that they are being seen as people of faith
because of their social justice stand, and that instead of ‘defending
sanctuary’ they are ‘expanding sanctuary’ to disenfranchised and marginalized
elements of the wider community. Meanwhile, there has been no outcry from
conservative Christian groups who usually are very sensitive to restrictions on<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> their </i>religious freedom of expression…and
you might have heard that the office of the Democratic mayor, Mitch Landrieu,
backtracked and said that in error he had issued a proclamation praising
Operation Save American for its ‘outstanding service to the city of New Orleans’!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">As members of a Unitarian Universalist congregation in
the South, where sometimes we may feel isolated, we do have support even though
it may seem quite lonely at times. We have a cluster of UU congregations, the
closest being our sister congregation on Aiken. The spirit of the Cambridge
Platform still lives in the relationship that we can continue to grow with
their members. The relationship that we have with other area communities of
faith, through the Progressive Religious Coalition and the Interfaith
Fellowship of Augusta, is also a source of support. And we are of course a
source of support to them: yesterday in meeting with the Interfaith Fellowship,
I heard the Imam of the Islamic Center talk about recent threats phoned in to
their center threatening on the eve of 9/11 to burn copies of the Koran. We
agreed that continuing our efforts together to educate the community about
faiths other than Christianity is the important work we need to do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Our support for religious freedom is crucial to our
identity as Unitarian Universalists. The price we pay for our dedication to our
faith has always been the threat of violence – from the early days when Michael
Servetus and Francis David paid with their lives, Joseph Priestley being burned
out of his home, Rev. James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo martyred during the civil
rights struggle. Even in the history of this church – for example, the creation
of the Open Door kindergarten and the threats we faced – we have known the
threat that liberal religion poses to prejudice and intolerance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">What else can we do but circle round for freedom? In the
words of Edward Frost, “It would be far worse for us if, in our fear, we doused
the fire and ran, alone, into the dark.” Let us pledge today to circle around
the light of freedom, inclusion, compassion, and love that our chosen faith
provides for us. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfPwWSU4QNFFDtPU1y3oL67j1jNRXvXRUW32sXG_VdZCdM-0IAeVDZYiS9eeNMQO5EnYsSEIHGfxAzqq5hl2e9feao-lFF2pP95PsuVojvmvr1yZw-4MYITSXSKWCksO-zT3T6yzuZk7wH/s1600/candle_in_the_dark_by_psinco2-d4ojmw4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfPwWSU4QNFFDtPU1y3oL67j1jNRXvXRUW32sXG_VdZCdM-0IAeVDZYiS9eeNMQO5EnYsSEIHGfxAzqq5hl2e9feao-lFF2pP95PsuVojvmvr1yZw-4MYITSXSKWCksO-zT3T6yzuZk7wH/s1600/candle_in_the_dark_by_psinco2-d4ojmw4.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">May it be so, Blessed Be, Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">GW Ortiz, 9/21/2014</span></i></span></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259605807445341949.post-77740413642043361552014-08-04T12:46:00.003-07:002014-08-04T12:52:04.070-07:00On Turning 60, Part 2<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><b>On
Turning 60, Part 2<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><b>Unitarian
Universalist Church of Augusta<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><b>August 3<sup>rd</sup>
2014</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">This morning we
have a special occasion to celebrate. After last Sunday’s Camp Meeting service,
I wanted to pick music that would be relevant to our mature 60 years. In May I
gave the first part of this sermon On Turning 60 about myself, so I figure I
know what it feels like to be 60…and so some of the hymns we could have sung today for our 60<sup>th</sup>
are: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Go
Tell It on the Mountain, But Speak Up<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Just
a Slower Walk with Thee<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nobody
Knows the Trouble I Have Seeing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
Is Well With My Soul, But My Knees Hurt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">(http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/jokes/jokes_over60.htm)</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Well, maybe 60 isn’t so old, especially when I
think of the congregations I visited in England earlier this month: Leeds
Unitarian Chapel had its first services in March of 1674, and York Unitarian
Chapel in 1693. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZSJnnH6q4tDok9ZyHgA2DKtOmzqN7RJjg_u-qzRHTenPJ49mhIfMZ7NfiZBiXAmTttIEGjaCAcMO7AFI6sIHfUw4jeFT9nsgrrr9cvOe0Hse_Rozhixp97bzCD0xHv5jt57t-s-CRpCm/s1600/pic_interior_high.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZSJnnH6q4tDok9ZyHgA2DKtOmzqN7RJjg_u-qzRHTenPJ49mhIfMZ7NfiZBiXAmTttIEGjaCAcMO7AFI6sIHfUw4jeFT9nsgrrr9cvOe0Hse_Rozhixp97bzCD0xHv5jt57t-s-CRpCm/s1600/pic_interior_high.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel, Leeds</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Closer to home, Unitarianism
arrived in South Carolina in 1787. The Charleston church is the oldest
Unitarian Church in the South. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">But even though our
congregation is 60 years old,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> the first
Unitarian congregation actually formed in Augusta in 1826 (</span><a href="http://studio205.tv/redrobotfoods/unitarian-universalists-in-atlanta-100-years/"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">http://studio205.tv/redrobotfoods/unitarian-universalists-in-atlanta-100-years/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">A meeting house
was built in 1827 and a minister was called in 1830. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Until 1837, the Rev. Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch, whose
father had designed the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, was minister to
the Unitarian church in Augusta.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7TuQ8NaMyUKdAYrSyUckFM4gm5R7jmoRG206t9TGTxWkgWngGuA2C8VWROAdyFTEnqyD4KU_RK3yiC7ZlT2E61wsluTF_D-d3fB5GIDWRYgKgy9VtxlatbVlQW1coRmuJCLLFn3sJIoeU/s1600/greenleaf+bulfinch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7TuQ8NaMyUKdAYrSyUckFM4gm5R7jmoRG206t9TGTxWkgWngGuA2C8VWROAdyFTEnqyD4KU_RK3yiC7ZlT2E61wsluTF_D-d3fB5GIDWRYgKgy9VtxlatbVlQW1coRmuJCLLFn3sJIoeU/s1600/greenleaf+bulfinch.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rev. Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">But by 1837 Rev. Bulfinch was gone, and the congregation
dissolved because of three reasons: internal conflict; conflict with the
American Unitarian Association over its anti-slavery stand; and severe
criticism from the Augusta community for the Unitarians’ liberal Christian
beliefs. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Following these disagreements the
church, like others in the South, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">closed
in 1840. Rev. Bulfinch later </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">wrote a
novel that was a thinly veiled commentary on his struggle with slavery, which
many of his parishioners supported; soon he left the Unitarian church and
became a Christian minister.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">A Unitarian Church
formed in Savannah in 1830 but it also experienced the same problems as the
group in Augusta and by 1859 it had disbanded. The experience was so
disheartening to Unitarians that, when a brash young minister of the Savannah
church suggested in 1854 that a Unitarian denomination-sponsored mission group
be established in the Atlanta area (specifically in Marietta), he was soundly
rebuked by one of the founders of the Augusta congregation and a pillar of
Unitarianism in Georgia. Dr. Richard Arnold wrote to the young minister saying,
“No, no, Georgia is too new a country, in that section of it, for Unitarian
Christianity. A few from the land of steady habits may carry it thither with
them, but if it were strangled in Augusta, I have no hopes of its reviving and
flourishing in Marietta, Cobb County, which twenty years since was an Indian
Hunting ground. . . ”</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> (</span><a href="http://studio205.tv/redrobotfoods/unitarian-universalists-in-atlanta-100-years/"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">http://studio205.tv/redrobotfoods/unitarian-universalists-in-atlanta-100-years/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">That’s the Unitarian
experience; there were more small, active Universalist churches than Unitarian
churches in Georgia before the war, but no congregations remained active
afterward. (</span><a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/unitarianism-and-universalism"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/unitarianism-and-universalism</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">) And so for more than 100 years, until 1954, there was no
Unitarian presence in Augusta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Now, last night we
had a dance to celebrate our 60 years, and Tracy Craig and Alan Totten gathered
dance music from every decade since UUCA was created. And while I was looking
at some of the titles, I thought some of them would explain some important points
about this church that I picked out of Lyn Dennison’s paper on the first 50
years of this congregation (Lyn Dennison, <i>History of the First Twenty Five Years of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta</i>, Augusta, GA, 2004).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7sWgUi9HVCEX57Q8H4FlfOYALrL6hcmDaw5fu5IjrGDZs7kuERfEN7-4-AKgou12ikgkhA5El1bF_VwrhAtIi-iOWh7a3vwWOfqUq1pOixGN2K5S1tydAqCc2SAxnpARu6k2-rZsZD6Z0/s1600/savannah+river.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7sWgUi9HVCEX57Q8H4FlfOYALrL6hcmDaw5fu5IjrGDZs7kuERfEN7-4-AKgou12ikgkhA5El1bF_VwrhAtIi-iOWh7a3vwWOfqUq1pOixGN2K5S1tydAqCc2SAxnpARu6k2-rZsZD6Z0/s1600/savannah+river.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Savannah Riverwalk, Augusta</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">The first title is
from a Bruce Springsteen song from 1979, “The River”. The Savannah River is a
vital part of our history. The roots of our congregation as we know it today
were planted in Aiken in 1953 with the founding of the original Unitarian
Fellowship of Aiken. The Augusta Fellowship was founded in 1954, one year after
the Aiken Fellowship was founded. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">These early
Unitarians mainly were here to construct and operate Savannah River Plant, at
that time the newly opened plutonium production facility. To begin with in
Augusta, services and meetings were held at a local Jewish Reform temple, the
Congregation Children of Israel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">The Unitarian Fellowship
of Augusta, is of course, now the Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta.
After the Aiken Fellowship dissolved many Aiken UUs traveled back and forth
across the Savannah River to Augusta for years, actively participating in the
Augusta congregation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">In the year 2000,
a Unitarian Universalist fellowship was organized in Aiken, with the help of the
Augusta minister Dan King. (aikenuu.org)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">David Bowie’s song “Rebel
Rebel” from 1974 is another appropriate song title, because it wasn’t long
after the fellowship formed that the small group of Unitarians began to make
waves. In the 1950s and 1960s, the UU Church’s attitude towards racially
integrated congregations was locally controversial. The church received phone
threats when its members made statements about racial politics in the local
media. This congregation was also in the 10 % of rebels who voted ‘no’ to the
proposal to consolidate Unitarians and Universalists in 1961 – mainly because
it had experienced growth as a Unitarian fellowship and was afraid to lose the
momentum of increasing membership.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Being counter-cultural is
another way of being rebellious. The Augusta UU congregation voted in 1999 to
become a designated Welcoming Congregation, way ahead of its time in being a
place of worship that was LGBT-friendly. (</span><a href="http://www.pluralism.org/profiles/view/73450"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">http://www.pluralism.org/profiles/view/73450</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Unlike most other churches, over
the years we have made alliances with other progressive houses of worship, and
we’ve developed interfaith relationships at a time in the world when it is more
important than ever to pursue dialogue and not conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Now the congregation is about
to embark on another cutting-edge project, beginning its work on becoming a
Green Sanctuary congregation, bringing environmental awareness to our own
members and the wider community. The word Rebel in the South sometimes has a
different meaning, more associated with the ‘War of Northern Aggression’! But
there is no doubt that this Unitarian Universalist community has long been
known as a bunch of upstarts who defied the status quo, whether it is race
relations, LGBT rights or the lack of a Bible-belt mentality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.95pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Augusta’s own Godfather of
Soul, James Brown, sang “It’s a Man’s World”. The Augusta Unitarian Fellowship
was founded in an era when women were beginning to speak their own truth to
power. Women from our congregation led a small group in 1961 to start Augusta’s
first integrated preschool, Open Door, which still exists on Walton Way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.95pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7o0P3ZaV9lUgvBxaq5qr7wRQkYZnt_cf2wv2yOeSlaulLNbvbb0kmTqkrBRE0xp5Fr9NdW4GDKbGKcga_rO3hp8FuFLarG-wX5M_ZAOx38_1XQi0DQjqZF_-8fwp_ZV5eJDZO7Zhsf6F4/s1600/odp_green_house.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7o0P3ZaV9lUgvBxaq5qr7wRQkYZnt_cf2wv2yOeSlaulLNbvbb0kmTqkrBRE0xp5Fr9NdW4GDKbGKcga_rO3hp8FuFLarG-wX5M_ZAOx38_1XQi0DQjqZF_-8fwp_ZV5eJDZO7Zhsf6F4/s1600/odp_green_house.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open Door Kindergarten</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.95pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">And nationally, after the
consolidation of Unitarians and Universalists, UU women took on the sexist
language of church hymnals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Hymns for the Celebration of Life</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">, the UUA’s 1964 hymnal, had sections titled “Man,” “Love and
Human Brotherhood,” and “The Arts of Man.” Their work resulted in <i>Singing
the Living Tradition</i> in 1993, which uses more inclusive language.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Another change that
also has impacted this congregation was the rapid increase in women UU
ministers—from about 5 percent in 1977 to about 50 percent today. (</span><a href="http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/23905.shtml"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/23905.shtml</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">) So maybe the Aretha Franklin song “Sisters Are Doin It for
Themselves” sums up these developments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">And speaking of women
artists, Tina Turner sang, “What’s Love Got to do with It?” So far the history
has been interesting, but underpinning the existence of this congregation is
its commitment to love. Love for its members, for its friends, for the
community, the wider world. We see examples through the years of how members
and friends have gone about building what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King called
the Beloved Community…and they have done it together, loyal to each other and
to this covenantal congregation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Love has a lot to do
with it, Tina, and within that, relationship, as in </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">the Beatles song “With a Little Help from My Friends” and James
Brown’s “I Feel Good - I Got You”. And we do make the CSRA feel good when we
add to its cultural life; we have well-respected musicians like Rob Foster and
Joe Patchen, our music director, and singers in music groups like the Augusta
Choral Society; we have members like Bea Kuhlke, a well-known artist whose
current exhibition is getting rave reviews; we have a jazz concert series
beginning next Friday that has resurrected Chamber Jazz, in this sanctuary
which used to be the venue in the 1990s for jazz concerts.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpnuM8jMeoDScHps_GKdT2vE3fNYkYCf9NWkK4lQcGFU_oM4OpX8mEH5Md9u90k5ajNXmgkQdiDJFwGr6-eTUjVFj0o9Q6yRn9TGCJ9HK2y35n-VZz6GEscFo8iqo7cCYu1O4lnYXA95Ys/s1600/10567971_10152173058615047_523501779_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpnuM8jMeoDScHps_GKdT2vE3fNYkYCf9NWkK4lQcGFU_oM4OpX8mEH5Md9u90k5ajNXmgkQdiDJFwGr6-eTUjVFj0o9Q6yRn9TGCJ9HK2y35n-VZz6GEscFo8iqo7cCYu1O4lnYXA95Ys/s1600/10567971_10152173058615047_523501779_n.jpg" height="320" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4 Seasons Chamber Jazz Concert Series</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">In fact, maybe the only known Unitarian
Universalist miracle occurred here at the Augusta Jazz Project series during
that time! Here’s a little bit of history I only found out when I did a radio
interview with Brenda Durant on yesterday’s Arts Weekly. Brenda told me that
she used to come to the concerts here, and that one night after the concert was
over all the men left before putting the room back to its normal configuration;
so, even though she had a neck and shoulder problem that she’d been receiving
treatment for, she and a friend picked up a piece of heavy furniture and moved
it. As soon as she put it down she felt a click and her neck felt fine, no pain
at all! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">So, where do we go from here?
Will the Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta celebrate 60 years from now?
Will those children who sang Happy Birthday this morning be here in 60 years as
the elders of this congregation? And just as importantly, how will we spend
those 60 years?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Woody Allen once said, “I don’t want to
achieve immortality through my work: I want to achieve immortality by not
dying.” I think this church should work on both…and when I think of what has
made us successful, and what could cause this church to remain a vital force
that draws people from all over the area and across the Savannah River, a rebellious
and counter-cultural beacon of liberal religion, an inclusive community, a
beloved community, a church that opens itself and gives of its values and
talents to the wider world – well, I believe it comes down to risk-taking, to
courage, and to a tough skin. And when I read Rev Tony Larson’s post in the
Etext library this week – which I’ve posted on our UUCA Facebook page – I knew
that it would form part of my anniversary wishes to each of you in this
congregation:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“You should not be a Unitarian Universalist if you don't like getting
offended. If you haven't been offended yet, it’s only because you haven't been
around long enough. In trying to sermonize on some of the issues in our lives
today, I'm bound to hit some raw nerves and you'd better be ready for it. At
least you know it's not personal. I care about you - and the fact that we
disagree at times in no way takes away from that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">You should not be a Unitarian Universalist if you're a Christian who
doesn't think atheists belong here. You should not be a Unitarian Universalist
if you're an atheist who thinks Christians don't belong here, or Buddhists, or
psychics, or pagans, or spiritualists. Remember the criterion for membership
here is humane living. The rest is a matter of individual choice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">You should not be a Unitarian Universalist if you want all the
answers, because we don't even know all the questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Finally, you should not be a Unitarian Universalist if you can't
stand name calling. You are likely to get it by staying here. When you tell people
you're Unitarian Universalist, some of them will seize on the more sensational
aspects of this church. <i>"Oh, you're that atheist church."</i> or <i>"You're
the people who worship flowers."</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Labelling is a price that you pay and a risk you take in belonging to
this church. Some people who use to be members here, decided not to take that
risk. Then there are others who decide that those who label and name-call
reveal more about themselves than about this church. There's bravery in the
decision to stay. There's courage in not running out when you're under fire.
And, if it's any consolation, Unitarians and Universalists have had a long
history of being labelled and vilified - and of responding with courage that
comes from faith in the human race, from the days when UU's fought that
respectable institution called slavery, to their battle for women's rights to
vote and their struggle for civil liberties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">You should not be a Unitarian Universalist if you don't like
diversity, and you should not be a Unitarian Universalist if you can't stand
the name calling that will inevitably result from being a diverse church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">My thanks to all of you who have stuck it out!” (http://downlode.org/Etext/why_not_unitarian.html)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">And my thanks to you all for being here today to
celebrate the wonderful legacy this church is building for the next 60 years!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Blessed Be, Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Gaye W. Ortiz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">8/1/2014</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 21.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Gaye W. Ortizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12802363260359070006noreply@blogger.com0