Sermons

"The Coalition of the Willing"

We've heard a lot of talk this week about a so-called "coalition of the willing." The coalition of the willing is the name the Bush Administration has given to the several dozen or so nations who, belatedly, have signed on to the US-led war against Iraq. The numbers are perhaps deceiving; only one nation, Australia, was willing enough to actually add its combat troops to those of the Americans and British. But this coalition of the willing and it's growing at home, too. The Post reported yesterday that 70% of Americans now support the war. Many of us who were once doubtful or undecided have now joined the cause.

I know that some of us count ourselves among the reluctant, but willing. I know that people of integrity and good conscience can support this war. Can see it as a lesser of evils. So I know that we don't all agree on this issue. And that's all right. You know, I was going to preach a sermon this morning about Ralph Waldo Emerson. A sermon that honored this great Unitarian writer -- this bard of the soul -- in the year of his 200th birthday. War has intervened, though, and that sermon will have to wait. I know Emerson would understand. You see, if he were here today in the midst of this war, he would ask each of us to examine our conscience this day. He would ask each of us to seek the place inside of us where the divine resides. Where our knowledge of right and wrong, of justice and compassion, dwells. And he would ask us-each and every one-to take a stand from that place. Over the last several months, one of the great privileges of being your minister has been to listen to so many of you-of us-struggle from this place of conscience. Even if I don't agree with you, I want to struggle with you from that place of conscience, and I want to thank all of you who have shared with me your deeply held beliefs about the war.

I have done my own soul searching. And one of my obligations as your minister-an obligation that as a Unitarian minister, Emerson knew well-is to preach to you what MY conscience, informed by OUR faith, tells me is right. And so today I say to you that I will not allow myself to be counted among the coalition of the willing. I will not allow myself to be counted among those in whose name innocent lives are taken. I will not allow myself to be counted among those who call the loss of innocent life, "collateral damage" or who refer to the bombs lighting up the night sky over Baghdad as "The Show." I will not allow myself to be counted among those who fall in line just because hostilities have begun. Yes, I support our troops-our sons and daughters-and I pray that they will come home swiftly and safely. But I will NOT be counted among the coalition of the willing. I am UNwilling.

Now here me well, I am not a pacifist. One of the most painful conclusions I've come to with MY conscience is that war-the deliberate taking of human life-is sometimes justified. Killing others is sometimes necessary. But the case for war must be made beyond a reasonable doubt. And in the court of my conscience and in the court of much of world opinion, that case has not been made. I remain unwilling. I am unwilling because the rationale for this war-a so-called doctrine of pre-emption-is an unsustainable and unjust foreign policy. A foreign policy that will allow us to wage war simply because we suspect another nation "might" pose a risk at some future date. There is no check on such a doctrine. It violates the most fundamental criteria for a just war: namely, provocation. Furthermore, I am unwilling because in waging this war without the blessing of the United Nations-however flawed that body is-we do a great disservice to the family of nations. We jeopardize the ability of the international community to ever work effectively for peace and justice in the future. I'm convinced that if we spent half as much money and energy on building the structures of an effective international community as we do on waging war, then we could build institutions that can keep the peace. That can enforce their own resolutions. Because the justification for killing is inadequate, because this war damages the institutions of peace, I refuse to counted among the coalition of the willing.

We all find ourselves, now, at an awkward moment. None of us wanted events to come to this. Not even those who supported a war. We all wanted another solution. Some of us worked hard, as best we knew how, to prevent this moment from coming. Yet it has come. And we're not quite sure what to do anymore. Some of us sit transfixed in front of our televisions, watching endless tapes of bombs lighting the night sky above Baghdad. Some of us keep marching, joining protests at the White House or on 16th Street. Some of us gratefully accepted nature's gift of spring yesterday and went outside and tried to forget about it all for a while.

In the pews and on the streets I sense many different feelings. People are angry. People are sorrowful. People are resigned. Some are relieved: "let's finally get this over," they say. People feel powerless. On Thursday night a hundred and fifty or so of us gathered here for a peace vigil. At that service I shared a story that sums up where I feel these days.

A few weeks ago a young woman came to see me in my study. She works for a local social service agency here in DC. She came to me in a moment of despair. A moment I think we've all experienced at one time or another. A moment when no matter where she looked, all she could see around her was pain and brokenness. This was back in winter. She saw the poor left out on this city's cold and callous streets. She saw the powerful of the city plotting war and cutting budgets. She saw the citizens of this city anxious and scared and cold who, because of all these indignities, didn't treat each other very well. All she saw was the broken and the evil and the mean.

And she looked around and she wondered: How have we come to this? How did things get so bad? She wondered why she should bother doing the good work she was doing. Why she should bother living a life according to her values when all around her she saw everything she valued demeaned. And in my study that night she shouted at me. And she cried. And she asked me, "How? How do we keep on going?" We're angry. We're powerless. We're scared. How do we keep on going? This is the question I hear a lot of people asking these days. How do we keep on going?

I want to suggest this morning that the way forward out of this crisis lies in the forging of a different coalition. A coalition that we can ALL be a part of, whether we oppose this war or not. I want to suggest that the future of our world depends on whether or not people like you and me are willing to join another kind of coalition. The true coalition of the willing.

Listen again as Adrienne Rich speaks of this coalition of the willing:

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 no extraordinary
power, reconstitute the world.

The people of the broken heart who nonetheless, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world: this is the coalition of the willing. The philosopher William James once wrote something that I think speaks to this coalition. He says, "We live in a world that is uncertain of being saved." "Are you willing?" he asks, "are you willing to participate in such a world?" Are you willing to take the risk? Are you willing to create alternatives to war? Are you willing to labor on with a broken heart? Are you willing to spend your life reconstituting a broken, broken world? Friends, THIS is the true coalition of the willing. WE are the coalition of the willing.

The coalition that I have in mind, sees our moment in history as a watershed-an opportunity. With the Cold War over, we have the ability to shape the rules of a new world order. The coalition that I have in mind works to break down the barriers that divide the human family, locally in our neighborhoods as well as in our every-shrinking and more complex global village. They're teaching us how to get along with one another in spite of difference. The coalition that I have in mind thinks less of short-term financial gain and instead makes decisions that will save our planet, that will save our grandchildren's children. The coalition that I have in mind has a different doctrine of pre-emption. They realize that injustice and poverty and disempowerment are the breeding grounds of fundamentalism, terror and hatred. The coalition that I dream of seeks to preempt war not by waging it, but by ameliorating its causes. The coalition that I dream of is, as we speak, working to build this new order in our homes, our communities, and our world. This is the coalition of the willing that I want to be part of. Count me among that number.

The great a tragic failure of our nation's leaders in the wake of 911 is this: at a moment when the country was united and the world was one with our nation in its grief, the only coalition we tried to build was a coalition for war. Nothing greater was asked of us. Where are the leaders of depth and vision?

I challenge each and every one of us to find one more way that we can be a part of this coalition of the willing. That we can build the alternatives to war and violence. And I challenge us as a community to continue to find ways that this church can be a leader in this coalition of the willing. Let us throw our lot in with those who are willing to reconstitute the world.

Finally, let me just say a word about this church. After service today we will hold a forum here in the sanctuary. A forum that asks the question: When issues of great social importance come before us, how do we allow for dissenting opinion in the church-AND AT THE SAME TIME-organize and work for what a majority of us believe is right? Do we all have to agree on the major issues of the day? I hope not. I know that on a broad swath of issues and values, there is a great consensus in this church. A great consensus formed by our liberal faith and our dream for a better world.

What remains though, is for us to learn what to do when we don't agree. How do we disagree respectfully? Those of you who have been around this congregation long enough, know that we have failed at this in the past. But remember when I came here to be your minister? Remember how we promised each other that we would learn how to disagree with one another in love? We are committed to making it so now. I hope that you'll come to the forum after church and share with us your ideas about how we can disagree in love. We won't discuss the war, per se, but rather how we behave with one another when we discuss issues LIKE the war. For if there can be no peace among communities of faith like ours, if there can be no peace in our dealings with one another, how can we ever expect that there will be peace among the nations? Let the peacemaking begin right here at home. Let the coalition of the willing begin with us. So be it. Amen.

Unitarian Universalist Association
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