Sermon delivered by the Rev. Lilia Cuervo. December 7, 2014
Today the calendar reminds us of Pearl Harbor and the intricacies of the history surrounding it. As we might remember, Japan was at war with China. The United States was the main provider of the resources especially oil, rubber and tin, needed by Japan to continue the war. Now, at the time the US was friendly with China and did not approve of the Japanese aggression against that country. Thus, the US declared an embargo on Japan. Enter the attack of Japan on Pearl Harbor and once more war changed the course of human history.
With all the loss of lives, with all its complex ramifications, Pearl Harbor, along with most conflicts and wars demonstrate a very simple truth: that after all the damages inflicted upon each other, nations just like humans easily shift loyalties depending on who is on their side and who best serves their own interests. One day a nation is a bitter enemy of another nation, and the next day they are the closest of allies.
Sadly, war has been a constant curse in human history. Despite this reality and of all the horrors war brings, it seems that we are bent on continuing fighting, killing and maiming innocents and guilty alike.
Jimmy Carter, 39th US President and Nobel laureate said: War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children. Our own, Rev. Dana McLean Greeley, the first President of the newly- merged Unitarian Universalist Association, said: We should have faith in peace that it is good and that it is possible and that nothing else in its place will suffice.
Greeley says that we must believe that peace is good. Unfortunately, compared with the excitement of the conquests and with the celebratory mood elicited by the marching bands at military parades, peace might seem boring, too quiet, and too tame to celebrate. The world is increasingly living with constant fear of attacks, and invasions, and so it is easy to forget that peace is a good and necessary condition to survival.
We must believe that peace is possible. But is it? History and the continued violence we witness within our country and around the world would be reasons enough to contradict Greeley’s optimism. More often than not the way we deal with dissenting ideas, with voices demanding fairness and justice, is to attack the contradicting voices, is to overpower them until they are silenced.
The theory of the Superman in Germany, the ones of Manifest Destiny and the White Man’s Burden in the US, the theories about the mental inferiority of Latinos and Blacks, circulating again in the media, all of them and many more, are still very much implanted in the minds of those who consider themselves the only right people for their blessed lands to the exclusion of anybody else. And even if there were laws prohibiting expressing and acting on such hideous theories, given our nature, people would still hold to them. It would be disingenuous, then, to pretend to be surprised watching documentaries with police unleashing dogs on peaceful protesters, the police murdering innocent teenagers in plain view, the police using extreme force at every turn.
Like cruel nightmares, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam, Iraq and Baghdad, and the Selmas, the Fergusons, the Chicagos, the Los Angeles, the Roxburies of our country are etched in our consciousness. There seems to be little room for hope and much room for guilt and shame. What to do? When are we going to get hold of our full humanity and value and honor the inherent worth and dignity of every person? When are we going to finally act instead of just uttering beautiful statements about fairness and peace? Harry Truman confirms Greeley’s argument that nothing else in place of peace will suffice when he said: If we don’t want to die together in war, we must learn to live in peace. At the height of the Cold War, many of you are too young to remember that period in our lives, the famed John Kenneth Galbraith said: after the first exchange of missiles… the ashes of Communism and the ashes of Capitalism will be indistinguishable.
The first thing we must do is to realize that as tragic as war and all forms of violence are, it all starts in our own homes, in our schools, in our places of worship and in those of recreation. How to combat this scourge? How to bring awareness and motivation to parents, teachers, clergy, leaders and society in general? How to help motivate people to stop the roots of violence right in their places of origin? How is it possible to attain peace when we live in a nation so committed to the exercise of power and domination, never mind that this exercise is done in the name of spreading democracy around the world?
And yet, the worst thing we can do is to lose hope and to lose courage. For to attain peace, that fundamental yearning of the human heart, we are called to be courageous, to have faith in peace that it is good and that it is possible. Yes! We need to believe, to have faith, never to give up, even in the face of exhaustion and despair. Every day and moment of the day grace is unfolding and calling us to our better selves. Every moment if we open ourselves to receive, we will be given all the necessary tools to succeed in creating peace.
Some of these tools are spiritual practices. I believe that having a spiritual practice is a moral and physical imperative for peace workers. First Parish offers several spiritual paths one can follow to attain peace: Tuesday Meditation sessions with UU minister and Buddhist master Joel Baehr, Circle Dance Meditation with Merry Henn on first and third Thursdays, monthly Contemplative Services, several weekly Yoga classes, Sunday Worship Services, the Boston New Sanctuary vibrant services in the Barn room, volunteering for Tuesday Meals, and more.
I want to share the following personal experience on creating peace. The other day, amid a turbulent time, I was feeling alone and bereft of solid grounding as if I had misplaced my internal compass. We all experience times like that, for sure. Wanting to find some comfort, I prayed for a clue as to where to turn to find it. As I was coming out of my library at home, I felt myself being led to this particular bookcase where I saw this small book that I had not read in years but whose poems had been at one time a source of strength and delight. There I found the following affirmations by Ellen Grace O’Brian, under the title A Devotee’s Prayer:
This life of God’s
I surrender to God
and hold nothing back.
This moment of God’s
I give to God
and let go of expectation.
This heart of God’s
I give to God
may it’s song
be the song of forgiveness.
These hands of God’s
I give to God
may their work
be the work of healing.
This mind of God
I give to God
may it’s thoughts
be without judgment. (This last verse is my addition)
In difficult times, I have always come back to that which gives me the best shelter from anxiety and stress and from judging, fear and calculating. That shelter and refuge from my own prejudices and intolerance, from my own feelings of impotence and despair, is the practice of surrendering and letting go. So you see, these affirmations could not have been more perfect for my situation. As I am entering another major transition in my life, I am reciting these affirmations over and over, and I am experiencing like never before that peace that passeth understanding. I am also experiencing the certainty that surrendering to life’s calling, no matter how abrupt or how expected the call might have been, is allowing me to confidently enter and follow my new path. This, no matter how obscure or scary it might have appeared at first. I am feeling joyful and even excited as I face my new adventure.
I know that part of experiencing that peace and joy as I leave First Parish is due to the numerous manifestations of appreciation and love I have received from so very many of you. Because of your kind expressions I will leave with the peaceful certainty that our time together, if not perfect, was a very good time indeed; that together we experienced new and exciting changes and even transformations. By the way, Reverend Fred Small gave me as a keepsake a list containing what in his view were the 25 more important changes and accomplishments during my time among you.
I hope that after listening to the excerpts, you are motivated enough to read the complete text of the 2010 UUA General Assembly comprehensive and inspirational Statements of Conscience titled Creating Peace. I also hope that you are motivated enough to make your commitment to creating peace by working at peace building, peacemaking, and peacekeeping. I also hope with all my heart that by making this our living document, we as a Beloved Community foster an environment where each can individually enjoy true peace and collectively change the world. You will find the entire document in the UUA website under 2010 GA Declaration Creating Peace.
The work of peace requires courage and knowledge and much more. I believe what someone said: if we want peace, those of us who love peace must learn to organize as efficiently and effectively as those who love war. I also firmly believe what Martin Luther King, Jr. said: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
So let us keep on talking, let us keep on singing, and let us keep on marching, and shaking and moving until the oppressive structures based on greed, on false pride, on plain lies crumble. Even if the whole world turns against us, if they call us names, if they take us to prison, if they try to destroy our bodies let us not keep silent lest our lives begin to end.
I am still not completely there; but I am starting to feel a fierce longing in my heart, a deep longing driving me to declare that I rather die facing and proclaiming inconvenient truths than living as a nice and proper coward, hiding in the shadow of my own shame. In moments such as these, when my longing grows stronger, I dream of honoring, by emulating, Michael Servetus, Francis David, James Reeb and Viola Luzzo, our true martyrs who died for us as rebels defending justice in order to attain peace.
May your dreams of peace expand without limiting barriers, let them reach and touch the infinite source of peace and love. Blessings of peace in your souls, blessings of peace in your bodies, and blessings of peace in your minds. May your whole lives be blessed with peace.
Amen, axé, and blessed be.
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Iglesia de la Gran Comunidad
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