Dramatic Reading for children's story with two voices
Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, NM
The Rev. Christine Robinson
Sept. 17, 2001
Voice 1: I am reminded of a story I heard once, of a little
girl who went off to play in her neighborhood and came home much later
than her mother expected her to. "Where were you!" her mother
asked, and the little girl answered that her friend's bicycle had broken
and she had had to stop and help.
"But sweetheart," her mother said, still exasperated, "You
don't know anything about fixing bicycles." "I know, Mom,"
said the little girl, but I had to stop and help her cry."
Voice 2: None of us, adults or kids, know much about how to
stop terrorists, how to rescue people from fallen buildings, or how
to make peace in the middle east…or even if that would prevent
things like what happened this week. But we can stop and help each other
cry. Cry with the people who have lost loved ones, cry with those who
saw more than they could bear, cry for our nation, cry for ourselves
and a sense of safety which has been shaken. Perhaps we will even cry
for the terrorists themselves, who must have been tortured human beings
to have conceived and carried out this horrible thing.
Voice 1: We have all been frightened this week, for ourselves,
for loved ones, for friends. Most of us have, by now discovered that
our friends and loved ones are safe. I begin by lighting a candle of
thanksgiving and gratitude: for all who were not lost, and for all that
we still have.
Now, I would like to ask if there is anyone who has a loved one still
missing or known dead in this weeks tragedy to come forward to light
a candle for that person.
Voice 2: I light one candle for the thousands of victims and
those who grieve for them.
Voice 1: I light another candle for all those doing the heartbreaking
and backbreaking work of rescue.
Voice 2: I light another candle for our nation's leaders and
pray that they will know wisdom.
Voice 1: I light another candle for the men and women in the
military, who are awaiting orders that may change their lives, for Americans
of Middle Eastern heritage, including Parisa Parsa, an Iranian-American
UU minister who grew up in the church and asked to be remembered this
morning.
Voice 2: I light this candle for all the peace-loving and god-fearing
people of the Muslim faith, for the fear they now live with, and for
the innocent who fear they might be caught in reprisals.
Voice 1: I light a candle for you…for the people of this
church…of a minority faith, freely gathered in peace, and without
fear. And this candle is for all the Presbyterians and Catholics and
Jews and Moslems and Baptists and Native Americans and Buddhists who
also gathered this weekend to help each other cry and to pray for peace.
I say to you that this is a symbol of America that was not destroyed
by terrorists and is only strengthened by adversity.
Let us sing now together, this hymn of peace, which is being sung in
most UU churches this morning.
We end with these words of Adrienne Rich: "My heart is moved by
all I cannot save: So much has been destroyed. I have to cast my lot
with those, who age after age, perversely, with not no extraordinary
power, reconstitute the world."
