Readings
If you have liturgical elements which you wish to submit for inclusion
on this site, please contact Deborah
Weiner, Director of Electronic Communication
Hymns and Readings Relating to Peace
Additional readings:
Reading by The Rev. Art Severance
My Eyes Cloud by Marsha Raymond
Out to Lunch by M. L. Geyer
Suggestions for Living with the War submitted by the Rev. Jack Taylor
Meditation Rev. Dr. Randolph W.B. Becker
Meditation Rev. Gail Collins-Ranadive
Stay With Me, God (anonymous), submitted by the Rev. Daniel Schatz
From the Farewell Message of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960, submitted by the Rev. Paul Beedle
The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins
Remorse from power . . . .
—Shakespeare, "Julius Cæsar," Act II -Scene I, Lines 21-22
Submitted by Rev. Daniel Schatz
Visit
the Poets Against the War site for many additional readings
and meditative pieces. 
From the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.
All citations are from “The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.”,
edited by Coretta Scott King. New York: Newmarket Press, 1978.
Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or
that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides
and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war
fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer
the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable
events.
— Sir Winston Churchill, Source: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Sir_Winston_Churchill/11
Reading adapted from a poem by Mzwakhe
Mbuli, submitted by the Rev. Louis V. Schwebius, Consulting
Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Central Nassau,
NY and Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Bellport, NY.
Litany for Peace, Rev. Sarah
Lammert, Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, NJ
“War Prayer” by Mark Twain
It has been said that there is but one way to make a people great—it
is an appeal to the people themselves; that all great regenerations
are the universal movements of the mass. It has also been said that
all great regenerations seem to have been the work of the few and
tacitly accepted by the multitude. Both of these sayings seem to
be right, for it takes the second to make the first. Observe that
throughout the whole world a great revolution has begun. The darkness
of centuries has been broken: the knowledge which made certain men
seem as demi-gods in the past has been made widespread; a power
more subtle than brute force and mightier than armed men is at work;
men in general have begun to think—to recognize the royalty
of the mind. That same power is everywhere abroad—it speaks,
it conquers, it unites all.
—Mary McLeod Bethune, 1937
Source: Robert Fleming, The
Wisdom of the Elders
(New York: One World/Balletine Books, 1996, p 318)
Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia,
nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood.
But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy
and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether
it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or
a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always
be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you
have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce
the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to
danger. It works the same in any country.
--attributed to Hermann Goering
Nazi Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe-Chief
In testimony at the Nuremberg trials, April 18, 1946
Source: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/goering.htm
Words
in the Wind
By Meena Alexander (submitted by Nancy Proctor)
Women
Weaving Peace
by Debra Olson (submitted by Nancy Proctor)
I
See A Different World
Steffanie Brown (submitted by Nancy Proctor)
Looking
at a New Grandson
By Teresa Anderson (submitted by Nancy Proctor)
We must mend
What has been torn apart
Make justice imaginable again
In a world so obviously unjust,
Give happiness once more
To people poisoned
By the misery of the century.
Naturally, it is a superhuman task.
But superhuman is the term
For tasks…(we) take a long time
To accomplish.
That’s all.
--Albert Camus, submitted by the Rev. Robin
Zucker
Pray
for Peace by Ellen Bass
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