Sermons
THE SOUL IN CONFLICT
A sermon preached at
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Harford County, MD
by the Rev. Lisa Ward
March 23, 2003
MEDITATION
We bring our strength of being to this place
to find hope in the despair of war
to find courage in the midst of conflict
to find words and knowing that will soothe our confusions
to find worth in life even when so much is broken.
We come together self with self,
to hold onto the love we know in each other's faces
to hold onto the yearning for a healed world
to hold onto our prayers for those in danger
to hold onto our faith in this endeavor called human being
Let us honor the prayers amongst us for all who are directly involved in the
war:
the soldiers, the civilians, the loved ones who await news, the children,
the wildlife, the reporters, the commanders.
They are witnessing death and destruction in ways that many of us cannot
imagine. Some are being asked to kill, which will change their lives forever
Some are being asked to sacrifice, and others forced, to choose about
shortened supplies and uncertain loyalties.
Trust may be deeply damaged hope hard to come by
Let us lift up our hearts and hold them dear.
Let us honor the prayers amongst us for the leaders of nations and of our own
nation so that wisdom may hover near to enter their choices and compassion
rule their every move.
Let us honor the prayers amongst us for those who know what war is for those
who have been there -- for they are remembering loss of loved ones, loss of
innocence, loss of limbs, loss of peace of mind.
Let us honor the prayers amongst us for courage in this time of fear, for
holding our tongues in this time of accusations, for sight in this time of
demonizing, for self worth in this time of emotional turmoil.
Reading: FAULT LINE
by Rev. Robert Walsh (excerpted):
"Did you ever think there might be a fault line passing underneath your
living room:
A place in which your life is lived ...unaware that just beneath you is the
unseen seam of great plates that strain through time?
And that your life, already spilling over the brim, could be invaded, sent
off in a new direction, turned aside by forces you were warned about but not
prepared for?
Shelves could be spilled out, the level floor set at an angle in some
seconds' shaking.
You would have to take your losses, do whatever must be done next."
Sermon: THE SOUL IN CONFLICT
(editor's note: this sermon is in three parts, with breaks in between):
No matter how sure any one of us was about the conflict with Iraq, until
the
invasion actually happened, the impact of the decision could not be felt.
Until the United States and British forces crossed that line, the world and
its international struggles were as they had been for decades. Now,
pre-emptive strikes, claiming the name of peace without allied consensus,
have been introduced into the global vocabulary, creating a living reality
which has profoundly changed the nature of our world community. The plates
have shifted, the earthquake begun, creating a gaping, cavernous wound in our
already fragile interdependence. The ground is uneven, we are off balance
and we have no conception of the tremors to come.
I have no doubt we who have attacked will prevail in the physical war. I
also have no doubt that what has been done will take generations to heal.
Our children' lives will be shaped in many ways by our present behavior.
Some say it was necessary...that we had to take international law into our
own hands. I have to agree with the Pope on this one: this war threatens the
fate of humanity.
After the plates shift and the ground shaken, there are seismic waves.
Gravity points seem to change and we remain, for a time, off balance. There
are many indications of our lack of balance these last weeks:
We see people waving flags and standing up for democracy while they
tyrannize those who think differently about the war. People are saying that
we should kill and be killed for the sake of democracy while they promote
totalitarian behavior in various forms of abuse towards those with opposing
views.
We see people carrying the banner of peace showing belligerence towards
others who disagree, attempting to force others to their own opinion,
modeling levels of conflict they say they oppose.
We see a campaign to destroy homes and kill people so that they may be free.
Whose freedom? We didn't even truly ask the Iraqi people, nor did we care
what their allies thought.
We turn on the news and find our fellow citizens treating war like a
spectator sport. Those who are in harm's way are objectified on our screens
and in our broadcasts....they are putting their lives on the line and we
can't wait to see more after the commercial break.
We are told that if we don't want our soldiers to fight that we are
unsupportive of them. That wanting them to come home safe in body and
spirit, not to have to kill, not to have to die betrays them.
We are off balance, we are on shaky ground....
Unless we look within, unless we take a good look within and find that core
which will not be shaken. It can be ignored, it can be denied, it can remain
untapped throughout our lives, but it is there, and it is what we need right
now. Soul. Sacred Knowing. The essential wisdom for a peaceable world.
Robert Walsh (excerpted):
"When the great plates slip and the earth shivers and the flaw is seen
to lie
in what you trusted most, look not to more solidity....Trust more the tensile
strands of love that bend and stretch to hold you in the web of life that's
often torn but always healing. There's your strength. The shifting plates,
the restive earth...your precious life, they all proceed from love, the
ground on which we walk together."
MUSICAL MEDITATION
WILDERNESS
The seismic waves I speak of today are waves that shake any foundation of
faith. At times like these and in most encounters with deeper learning,
there is, first, a wilderness period. A time for regrouping and reorienting.
A time when one feels lost and vulnerable. A time when nothing seems
recognizable, no familiar horizon, no sure direction, suddenly among
strangers, including yourself. Wilderness.
And sometimes we encounter unfamiliar dangers. Earthquakes can trigger
landslides. That which was reliable can sometimes fall away. If you do not
have the freedom to say what you feel or learn out loud, then you become less
able to ask for directions, to seek guidance, not knowing who will embrace
your whole confused, wandering self. Wilderness.
If this state of wilderness overwhelms one's spirit then a larger question
emerges to further shake the foundations: Where is God, where is the Eternal
One in all of this? What can I rely on, what can I believe in? How can I
trust a love beyond my understanding when I witness such devastation?
The first step in this wilderness is to see where we are. Yes. This is new
territory and yes, new territory can bring on wilderness. There's nothing
permanent about where you are. You can find your way out of it.
The drive of Belligerence has been unleashed into the world, it is strong:
it
spreads and blinds like a formidable sandstorm....besieging all spirits and
enticing the soul.
Its rallying point is war, creating a force that is larger than any one of
us
and if we do not hold onto each other and our desire for peace, which some
believe is the point of this war...then that force will become our world, our
consciousness, our way of being. "Be careful what you worship," warned
Ralph
Waldo Emerson, "for what you are worshiping, you are becoming."
It is time for all of us to face the reality that war, invasion, a sense of
conquering and of occupying another's land is our reality. Destroying homes
and lives for the sake of national interest is a living logic. Preemptive
strike inspired by suspicion is a living fact amongst us. This is where we
humans are. We have the capability to evolve beyond this drama, but we are
unwilling as a species to honor it. Some say we were provoked, others that
we had no choice, others that our greed cannot see beyond its own reasoning
and others that vengeance rules the day.
The reasoning and the wondering and the arguing and the dying will continue.
What we need and need now is a desire to see more clearly, to not be blinded
by the storm of belligerence.
Belligerence is very compelling. It creates easy dualisms...good and
evil...right and wrong...brave and cowardly...patriots and traitors. It
compels us to ignore our ability to see beyond two dimensions and invites us
to take sides and form enemies. Anyone of us can make matters worse by name
calling, by wishing people dead, by building ourselves up by tearing others
down, by rejecting nuance, by trashing democracy, by demonizing those who
think differently, by thinking ourselves righteous and holy while pointing
our fingers at our neighbors...losing sight of the mirror they present to
us...losi ng sight that they are just like us, wandering in this violent
storm. All this feeds belligerence. And it is forever hungry.
It is this logic that is urging us to summon Biblical regard for our
endeavors. "Shock and Awe". Awe is attributed to that which is Holy
and to
forces of nature, yet we now pervert its meaning to having lots of bombs. I
do not wish the Iraqi people to regard me with awe and neither should our
government. If you sense something is wrong in this characterization do not
push that disturbance away. Your soul is calling you. Something is very wrong
with that presumption. "What you are worshiping...you are becoming".
And
by the way, "Awe" is one of Islam's ninety nine names for God.
Belligerence provides us with simplistic justification, it gives us clear,
narrow vision. It says "we are freeing the world from a tyrant who uses
chemical weapons on his own people". It gives us justification to cast
the
first stone...which is what a preemptive strike is. And what should one
casting the first stone remember in this Biblical drama of shock and awe?
That one should be free of sin.
Last year the Pentagon acknowledged for the first time that it conducted a
series of tests in the 1960's and 70's using real chemical and biological
weapons in the Upper Waiakea Forest Reserve and Olaa Forest in Hawaii, the
Panama Canal Zone and a fourth unspecified jungle environment. About 5000
members of the US armed forces at sea and 2100 on land were involved. Health
claims have been filed. We did this. You can look it up in the Pentagon
papers.
The US Public Health Service conducted research on 399 African American men,
willfully deceiving them about their syphilis so that, over a 40 year period,
the ravages of the disease could be recorded. 50 spouses and 15 children
were also reported to have contracted the disease from this biological
tyranny. We did this. It was called the Tuskagee Experiment.
Merely two of many more examples. How qualified are we to cast the first
stone?...Belligerence can't be bothered beyond its own justification. This
does not make me love freedom nor our nation less. This does not make me
forgive Saddam Hussein's atrocities. However, I choose to honor this country
by seeking the whole truth.
In order to see clearly through such a storm and find guidance in the
wilderness we need to first dissolve its power of the storm. We need to
overcome our fear by finding and feeling that abiding truth that connects us
all. Love abounds even when we do not see it. We need to believe in our
deep and abiding wisdom to claim life's worth by cherishing the moment we are
in since the next moment is uncertain. We do this with kindness, we do this
knowing every compassionate act sends ripples of hope. We do this by praying
for all people to find a way toward peace. We do this by truly seeing
ourselves and each other.
This is larger than any one of us. May we be humble and strong in our
resolve for better ways of being.
MUSICAL MEDITATION
HARMONY
A myth by Becca Motil: Arriving at Soul
"In the beginning there were people, alone and together.
They lived under blue skies in the great wide world-searching for food, then
learning to fish, and hunt, and farm.
But something was missing.
The people joined together. They formed families and friendships, and that
was good.
But something was missing.
They made campfires and learned to cook. At night, they stared into the
dancing flames and made stories for each other.
But something was missing.
They built altars and synagogues, temples, mosques, and churches.
They began to worship.
But something was still missing.
Finally one, or two, or three realized that they must go back to the
beginning.
They looked to the inside, both alone and together.
And each, in their own time, and their own way, found an inner being, and
named it.
It was not someone or something, but it was the source of their existence,
and it had been with them, all the time.
Its name was: soul."
(Printed with author's permission)
The most important lesson we are given every day, if we stay open to it, is
that diversity is survival. When we strive for unison: wanting all to think
and act the same way, wanting all to march to the same rhythm, wanting
simple, dualistic answers to life's mysteries, then we miss the power of life
within....we ignore our soul. Life will go on whether or not we nourish our
sacred potential. Life will have its shape from all its participants. If we
do not participate life will find its own way.
At a time like this, when emotions are raw, when fear can readily envelope
us
and uncertainty damage our trust, we need to risk harmony. We need to bring
our full selves to the table and hear how the differences manifest. We need
to seek the dignity of such an endeavor and remember that harmony cannot
exist without different voices.
This is a vulnerable time for us all. Believe in the soul within that awaits
your understanding. Believe that it is not as much about our prayers being
heard as it is about us hearing the wisdom that is ever available if we but
stop and listen. Believe in your beauty, for when you are truly in touch
with your unique genius of life's worth you will not want to harm another's.
I would like to end with a meditation:
Let us open our hearts, our minds...our whole selves
to bring forth our sacred knowing of the way of things.
Let us call unto All Being that can guide us to better ways of living.
We have it in us to find a way
out of fear and into love
out of simple equations and into depth of understanding
out of belligerence and into wisdom
Let us hold onto each other in all our confusion,
as we grieve,
as we hope...
in our anger and our sadness
within our tension and our longing
one voice hearing another till a harmony rises amongst us
to witness to the world
honorable life.
So may it be. Amen.
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