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.

– Adrienne Rich

This congregation, like other member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, is a shared faith without a creed. One of our shared principles is the ethical application of religion. Good works are the natural product of a good faith, the evidence of an inner grace that finds completion in social and community involvement. We believe that all people are intrinsically valuable and that we should cherish and respect all people. We encourage you to nurture your own search for truth within a community of fellow seekers.

Readings

The Rites of Manhood, by Alden Nowlan

It's snowing hard enough that the taxis aren't running.

I'm walking home, my night's work finished,

long after midnight, with the whole city to myself,

when across the street I see a very young American sailor

standing over a girl who's kneeling on the sidewalk

and refuses to get up although he's yelling at her

to tell him where she lives so he can take her there

before they both freeze. The pair of them are drunk

and my guess is he picked her up in a bar

and later they got separated from his buddies

and at first it was great fun to play at being

an old salt at liberty in a port full of women with

hinges on their heels, but by now he wants only to

find a solution to the infinitely complex

problem of what to do about her before he falls into

the hands of the police or the shore patrol

—and what keeps this from being squalid is

what's happening to him inside:

if there were other sailors here

it would be possible for him

to abandon her where she is and joke about it

later, but he's alone and the guilt can't be

divided into small forgettable pieces;

he's finding out what it means

to be a man and how different it is

from the way that only hours ago he imagined it.

The Courage That My Mother Had, by Edna St. Vincent Millay

The courage that my mother had

Went with her, and is with her still:

Rock from New England quarried;

Now granite in a granite hill.

The golden brooch my mother wore

She left behind for me to wear;

I have no thing I treasure more:

Yet, it is something I could spare.

Oh, if instead she'd left to me

The thing she took into the grave!--

That courage like a rock, which she

Has no more need of, and I have.

Your Gifts, by Rebecca Parker

Your gifts -- whatever you discover them to be --

can be used to bless or curse the world.

The mind's power,

the strength of the hands,

the reaches of the heart,

the gift of speaking, listening, imagining, seeing,

waiting

any of them can serve to feed the hungry,

bind up wounds,

welcome the stranger,

praise what is sacred,

do the work of justice,

or offer love.

Any of these can draw down the prison door,

hoard bread,

abandon the poor,

obscure what is holy,

comply with injustice,

or withhold love.

You must answer this question:

What will you do with your gifts?

Choose to bless this world.

The choice to bless the world

can take you into solitude

to search for the sources

of power and grace;

native wisd! om, healing and liberation.

More, the choice will draw you into community,

the endeavor shared,

the heritage passed on,

the companionship of struggle,

the importance of keeping faith,

the life of ritual and praise,

the comfort of human friendship,

the company of earth

its chorus of life

welcoming you.

None of us alone can save the world.

Together -- that is another possibility

A Dialogue on Broken Glass, Broken Trust – The Rev. Dennis Daniel and the congregation

I asked the congregation to talk in groups of three or four, answering the following four questions. After about three minutes I brought the microphone to several people in turn to hear their responses.

Question #1 – What was your immediate feeling when you first saw the damage to the church?

Question #2 – Now that you have had some time to process your feelings and thoughts, what do you find most disturbing?

Question #3 – Sydney told the kids last week that we are being tested by this event. How do you understand that phrase?

Question #4 – What do you think UU responses ought to be? Or, how ought we, as UUs deal with violence that has been directed against us?

The notes below were what I shared with the congregation, drawn from conversations I had over the preceding week

#1 – Immediate reactions

fear, anger, desire for retribution, concern for the perpetrators, concern for the children, memories of cross-burnings, Kristallnacht, get this mess cleaned up; irritation at inconvenience, fortify, add a security system sadness, sorrow.

#2 - Enduring concerns

The cross – shows a level of intention – was this a hate crime?

Was this destruction linked to the vandalism of our banners?

Should we install surveillance equipment or an alarm system?

Are the young men who broke our windows redeemable?

#3 - Testing

How do we reconcile this act with the inherent worth and dignity of the perpetrators? (Bad seed, or bad upbringing?)

How do we react without becoming spiteful, vengeful, bitter, or cynical?

How do we react to someone who has betrayed the gift of inherent worth?

#4 - UU Response

Check our own pulse; acknowledge our emotions and the effect they may have on our decisions; repair the damage; keep primary values (human dignity, due process, interconnectedness, spiritual growth) in mind; can a healing relationship develop? Where are our boundaries? Have there been times when we, or our children, have been the ones throwing the rocks? What might have prevented our doing that? Where is the brokenness? Do we have the resources to help with the healing? Do we need training, outside help? How do we respond as responsible people, understanding that our responsibility is toward a larger system than ourselves?

Stewardship Story – Misbehaving – Rev. Daniel

Little Bobby had been misbehaving and was sent to his room. After a while he emerged and informed his mother that he had thought it over and then said a prayer.

"Fine," said Lena, his pleased mother. "If you ask God to help you not to misbehave, he will help you."

"Oh, I didn't ask him to help me not to misbehave," said Johnny. "I asked him to help you put up with me."

Contrary to Bobby’s hope, prayer usually works best when it is directed toward changing ourselves rather than others.

This young man is still at the stage of moral development that understands what’s right to be what you can get away with, and what’s wrong to be what you get punished for, and he thinks he’s figured out how to jigger the system.

In time, with enough carrots, enough sticks, and with proper modeling, he will come to understand that what’s right is that which benefits others as well as himself, while doing no harm to the world we all live in, so that future generations will not suffer for his generation’s lack of restraint.

That last part is the bit that we are having trouble translating from principle into action not only here in our church but also in society as a whole. We are slowly enlarging our understanding of what it means to be connected to the rest of the world and just how subtle those connections are.

One of the things that brings us all together is our desire to lead moral, purposeful lives. It’s a life-long learning project, with a pop quiz almost every day. To maintain our enrollment, we must be sure that the church is able to sustain its programs and ministries, which is why we pause during every worship service to accept the donations that keep us going.

Benediction

Do not be daunted

by the enormity of the world’s grief.

Do justly, now.

Love mercy, now.

Walk humbly, now.

You are not obligated to complete the work,

but neither are you free to abandon it.