Chalice Lighting

We light this candle as a symbol of our faith.
By its light may our vision be illumined;
By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged;
And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice, and the life of the spirit be enkindled.

UU Principles

Joys and Concerns
by Judy Welles

If you woke this morning with a sorrow so heavy that you need the help of this community to carry it;
or if you woke with a joy so great that it simply must be shared, now is the time for you to speak.
…..

For the joys and sorrows that haven’t been spoken, but which remain in the silent sanctuaries of our hearts.
These joys and griefs, spoken and unspoken, weave us together in the fabric of community.

Music: Come Sing a Song With Me
Thomas Keating

Opening Words

Rev. Joan Van Beceleare, Ohio-Meadville District Executive

Song: Let It Be A Dance

Reading

To understand how prayer works, consider the sun, which shines everywhere without hesitation or hindrance. Like God or Buddha, it continuously radiates all its power, warmth, and light without differentiation. When the earth turns, it appears to us that the sun no longer shines. But that has nothing to do with the sun; it’s due to our own position on the shadow side of the earth. If we inhabit a deep, dark mine shaft, it’s not the sun’s fault that we feel cold. Or if we live on the earth’s surface but keep our eyes closed, it’s not the sun’s fault that we don’t see light. The sun’s blessings are all-pervasive, whether we are open to them or not. Through prayer, we come out of the mine shaft, open our eyes, become receptive to enlightened presence, the omnipotent love and compassion that exist for all beings.

- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, “Prayer”

Thoughts from Last Sunday’s Envisioning

Lisa deGruyter

One thing that struck me about our visioning last week was the number of times we used images of light and enlightenment – John’s image of a “lighthouse on a hill”, Loki’s picture of a building with many windows, and many of us saying that we wanted light, glass, and views in our church, and that we wanted it to be open and airy.

I thought about the way windows work in a building.  They let the light in, and they let us see out.  At night, in the dark, the windows shine out the light within, like a lighthouse or a beacon.  I also thought about the way solar lights work.  They take in the sun – enlightenment, and, then, in the dark, they give back that energy to light up the path.

We talked about learning, and we talked about being close-knit and loving, but most of all we talked about not only being welcoming and accepting, but also reaching out. We talked about wanting enlightenment, but also about being a light.

Sharing/ Deep Listening

What thoughts did you have about our visioning last week?
What if anything have we still left out that is important to us?

Song

This Little Light of Mine

Benediction

Joan Van Becelaere

Service leader
Lisa deGruyter

Chalice Lighting

We light this candle as a symbol of our faith.
By its light may our vision be illumined;
By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged;
And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice and the life of the spirit be enkindled.

UU Principles

Joys and Concerns

Song: Let It Be a Dance

Meditation

We all have a vision for our congregation. It informs some of our involvement and continued education in our life together. This vision, though often unarticulated, exists like a moving picture in our imagination.

Allow that moving picture of our congregation to become more explicit. As we engage in this process, relax and allow the vision to appear to you, rather than deliberately trying to create it. As images, thoughts,  feelings, or words occur to you, jot them down on the paper, remembering to stay with these images, thoughts, or feelings long enough. Then, even with your eyes half-opened, write down the essence of your imaginary experience. Don’t interrupt the flow of your imagination to write. Consider that you are taking still frames from the moving picture of your vision, and just jot down phrases that describe these still frames.

In your imagination, approach a compelling, but practical, vision of our congregation five years from now.
-What is the feeling of anticipation you experience in yourself as you do this?

Imagine yourself driving through our area.
-What do you notice about our community?
-Who are the people that live here?
-What are their needs and desires?

Now approach in your imagination the actual location where our congregation meets.

-What does the landscape look like—how does it look on the outside?
-What does it say about the congregation?

Now open the doors to the meeting place.

-What do you notice?
-Who is gathered there?
-In what activities are these people engaged?
-Who is missing from the picture?
-What is the atmosphere like?
-How does it feel to be there?
-What are the aesthetics of the place?

Tour the building, and visit the various activities that are occurring in the building.

In your imagination, allow yourself to get a sense of the worship, education, outreach, and fellowship of this congregation . . . as you deeply hope and imagine it to be five years from now.

Stay with whatever images, thoughts, feelings, and events occur to you.

When you are ready, jot down just the essence of what presents itself to you.

Spend the next five minutes in this exercise of imagination.

Sharing Our Vision

Benediction
#704 by Rev. John Murray (18th c. Universalist)

Go out into the highways and byways.
Give the people something of your new vision.
You may possess a small light,
but uncover it, let it shine,
use it in order to bring more light and understanding
to the hearts and minds of men and women.
Give them not hell, but hope and courage;
preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.

Service leaders
Lisa deGruyter, Ginnie McNeil, Robert Helfer

Vision exercise adapted from UUA Vision, Mission, Covenant Handbook

Chalice Lighting

We light this candle as a symbol of our faith.
By its light may our vision be illumined;
By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged;
And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice and the life of the spirit be enkindled.

UU Principles

Message

For a few years of my adult life, I was a Catholic. I joined for the tradition, the physical beauty and majesty of the church, the mystery, and the hope that somehow I would finally be able to understand God. It also helped that we were best friends with a Catholic couple. As a child, I had prayed for a tangible sign from God, and never got one, other than the beauty and complexity and majesty of this earth and its people… until my children were born. And then I knew — there MUST be a God. I looked carefully and finally settled on the Catholic church (I actually liked the priest and the head nun very much. They seemed to me to be thinkers.) After five years of adherence and a nagging feeling that this religion was not really speaking to me, I left the Church. However, there was one concept that stuck with me: the Body of Christ.

The theology behind this idea is that we are all members of the Body of Christ, which is the Church. But not the church with a little “c” as in the building itself. The Church with a big “C” which is the people. (The big “C” can also be seen as the Institution of Catholicism and all the political discomfort that goes with it, but for today it means “the people.”) You have heard the statement that God is in You. When I was younger, I never understood this. How could something so big be bottled up inside someone, how could something so infinitesimal be confined? It was explained to me that the Holy Spirit (another manifestation of God) flows freely throughout the universe, “Within You and Without You,” to quote a Beatles song. The older, and more mature, I got, the more I could loosen my mind and free it from the bane of categorization that we are all taught from such an early age, to open it and see that, yes, indeed, we are all a part of this thing we call God. So, the idea of us all being part of The Body (of Christ, God, etc.) still rings true to me.

The website believers.org quotes many instances of this from the Bible. Here is one such quote:

ROMANS 12:4-8 NKJ
4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;
8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

But what is “God”? This question has so many answers, but no true, complete, definitive answer. It has been asked from the beginning and will continue to be asked. For an agnostic, it is almost a duty not to postulate an answer to this question. I am proud to accept the fact that I could never understand the nature of this truly gigantic idea. But I want to try.

As humans, we are in the business of construction. We make things. We make a world for ourselves. We develop skills so that we can express what is inside us. We have families. We speak and write and teach. We are always producing something, even if it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. But we always WANT it to go somewhere. Some people long for fame, or power, but others are content to make their friends and family happy. Whether it is on a large or tiny scale, we are always reaching out to others in some way, and even if we cannot, we wish we could.

I think this is because we are all connected. We are all carbon-based creatures. This seems silly, to boil humanity down to its molecular structure, but this is what we all undeniably have in common. Some postulate a soul, some do not, but there is no denying that we are all the same in this one way. That does not take away our uniqueness, or our autonomy. (God forbid!) But, as humans, we essentially come from the same place.

The connection that we seek with others is so strong, that sometimes we get ourselves in trouble trying to establish it. And so why do we seek out others even when it hurts? We fear rejection even as we pursue relationships. We pursue these relationships even after being hurt and rejected. Like a moth to the flame, we cannot help ourselves.

Even hatred and anger are natural responses — the other side of the coin of love. If we did not care what others thought, we would never feel such hurtful emotions. The need to have others in our ballpark is so strong, that it can hurt us mentally, emotionally, and even physically if we do not. We long for oneness with others.

The Chinese and Taoists have the concept of yin/yang. You have seen the image of the white and black shapes which swirl around and into each other in a circle, the infinite cycle. They are opposite, yet fit together perfectly. They complement each other. They need each other, or there is no circle, no wholeness.

Most of us want a mate to spend our lives with. Many of us start families. We take pictures of family and friends and put them up so that we can look at them. We join clubs. We go to church…Why do we do this, sometimes in spite of ourselves? Is it perhaps because we can’t help it? Is there something that compels us to seek out the company of others? What is it?

Is it God?

I am not talking about the God of Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, or even the many gods of Hinduism and its offshoots…Just as a musician will re-arrange a song so that it communicates what he wants it to, I have created my own arrangement of God, taken from ideas I have picked up along the way. From others, you object? Well, yes. Everything is everything. The One is many, and the many are One.

Song: One Bread, One Body

It is said that God is love. What does that mean? One way to explain it is that thing that keeps us reaching out to others, even when we’ve felt pain because of it. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that God is that deep and nameless feeling of connection between people, the raison-d’etre. It is that person who keeps us going when we want to give up, who inspires us to greater things. It the feeling of love when another person is good to us. It is the feeling of happiness when someone helps us, or satisfaction when we help someone else. It is found in the feelings of contentment, accomplishment, joy, gratitude, and many, many others that arise from a connection with other human beings. I hate to confine it down to feelings, for it is much more, but we are physical creatures and feelings are a central way we communicate with the world and each other.

So, as we sit in this room together, I want us to take a few moments to reflect on the important people in our lives that we have felt that connection with, a person or people who made us feel like we were worthy of existing, or happy to be who we are. Someone who helped us get over a sadness or tragedy, someone who helped us get over a hurdle and grow mentally, emotionally, and/or spiritually. Even if that growth was painful at first. I want us to recognize that even pain is an occasion for joy, as it is part of the process of living and growing. I want us to also consider the feelings we have about this person or people, and if gratitude is appropriate, after the meditation, I hope some of us will share that gratitude out loud. I think sharing is another dimension of our connectedness, which is why we do it so often. Disclosure is one of the steps of relationship building. So, let us now reflect…

Reflection and Sharing

Like cells in a physical body, we are meant to work together, to serve each other by fulfilling our respective functions. We are the same, yet we are different…We are introspective yet gregarious, private and yet social creatures. We have both an inner and an outer life. But we are all connected in the greater force, or body, of love, or God. Whatever you call it, we are all One, and like drops of water collecting into a pool, we constantly search for that connection that makes us bigger than we are alone. I believe this is because we are all part of the same organism. Call it what you want, but, today, I will call it God.

If God had a language, what would it sound like? I believe it would be beautiful and sound like…like music. Music IS that deep and primal force that affects us beyond our ability to understand it. It draws us beyond our ability to resist it. I believe that is because it is a language beyond words, one that speaks to us of love, sadness, joy, and mystery in a way that words cannot. It touches us in a place words cannot reach. Without music, life would be stony and cold. It opens us up like a flower, a sunset, or the smell of the air after it rains…it brings us memories and emotions, ties in the past to the present, and helps us look to the future.

Augsburg Fortress is a Lutheran Website, and its webpage on the topic of music in congregational assembly has many good observations to make about the role of music in the life of the congregation. It is Christian-based, but I have adjusted the language to fit a more universalist approach. This is not a direct quote, but a paraphrase:

When we gather in faith we become the very “body of Christ,” as it were. Our assembly constitutes church — ecclesia — and our communal expression becomes the very breath of the living God. Communal singing is seen then to be the living voice of God in our midst…Perfect recordings made through a series of takes and edits condition our ears to surreal sounds with which we simply can’t compete, so we shame ourselves into silence.

(I would add here that Shame is not a healthy emotion. It keeps us from participating in the human experience, the divine relationship. We must abandon shame if we are to be truly happy, functional, and able to serve others as we are meant to.)

They also observe:

“The melody of congregational song is prime. Harmony acts as its nurturing cradle, facilitating leaps, rhythm, and flow. “

Music is found in all cultures. It is a common human endeavor and is found in every corner of humanity. We use music for many things. We can use it to tune out, or to tune in, to express ourselves, to heal. It speaks to the spirit, that part that starts deep within and flows between us all, and the part of us which longs for connectedness is supported, justified, and satiated. Music is the language beyond words, the language of the spirit, the language of God.

Song Sharing and Teaching

Song: This Little Light of Mine

End with This Little Light of Mine

Service leader
April Keating

Chalice Lighting

We set this time apart to commemorate those who have fought for us
Those whose sacrifices have helped to create the reality we live today
In their honour…

May this kindled chalice be a flame of remembrance –
A tribute to all that they have given

May this chalice be a beacon light –
Leading us in the sacred work of spreading justice and freedom.

And may this chalice blaze forth with the sweet glow of love –
The only true path to peace.

Rev. Andy Pakula

UU Principles

Joys and Concerns

Reading

Whoever gives even moderate attention to human affairs and to our common nature, will recognize that if there is no man who does not wish to be joyful, neither is there any one who does not wish to have peace. For even they who make war desire nothing but victory — desire, that is to say, to attain to peace with glory. For what else is victory than the conquest of those who resist us? And when this is done there is peace. It is therefore with the desire for peace that wars are waged, even by those who take pleasure in exercising their warlike nature in command and battle. And hence it is obvious that peace is the end sought for by war.

St. Augustine of Hippo. “The City of God,” Trans. by Marcus Dodds, D.D. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series One, Volume 2. Edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. American Edition, 1887. (Chapter 12)

Discussion MODERN INTERPRETATION OF JUST WARS.

SELF-DEFENSE

PROTECT OTHERS FROM AGGRESSION

HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION

Reading

When, if ever, is the use of military force morally justifiable? How should Unitarian Universalists respond to this question in light of our theological principles, our historic practices, and the world situation today? These questions lie at the heart of the UUA Congregational Study/Action Issue for 2006–2010 on Peacemaking (SAI).  The SAI puts the question this way: Should the Unitarian Universalist Association reject the use of any and all kinds of violence and war to resolve disputes between peoples and nations and adopt a principle of seeking just peace through nonviolent means?

To move “beyond just war and pacifism” is not to abandon either tradition; it is rather to recognize that both perform important roles in our ongoing efforts to reduce the violence of war.  As James Childress has observed:

Just-war theorists need pacifists to remind them of their common starting point: the moral presumption against force and war. And pacifists need just-war theorists to provide a public framework for debates about particular wars and for the restraint of the practice of war.

…..

Creating Peace

2010 Statement of Conscience

We believe all people share a moral responsibility to create peace. Mindful of both our rich heritage and our past failures to prevent war, and enriched by our present diversity of experience and perspective, we commit ourselves to a radically inclusive and transformative approach to peace.

1. Our commitment to creating peace calls us to the work of peacebuilding, peacemaking, and peacekeeping. Peacebuilding is the creation and support of institutions and structures that address the roots of conflict, including economic exploitation, political marginalization, the violation of human rights, and a lack of accountability to law. Peacemaking is the negotiation of equitable and sustainable peace agreements, mediation between hostile parties, and post-conflict rebuilding and reconciliation. Peacekeeping is early intervention to prevent war, stop genocide, and monitor ceasefires. Peacekeeping creates the space for diplomatic efforts, humanitarian aid, and nonviolent conflict prevention through the protection of civilians and the disarmament and separation of those involved in violent conflict.

2. We advocate a culture of peace through a transformation of public policies, religious consciousness, and individual lifestyles. At the heart of this transformation is the readiness to honor the truths of multiple voices from a theology of covenant grounded in love.
3. We all agree that our initial response to conflict should be the use of nonviolent methods. Yet, we bear witness to the right of individuals and nations to defend themselves, and acknowledge our responsibility to be in solidarity with others in countering aggression. Many of us believe force is sometimes necessary as a last resort, while others of us believe in the consistent practice of nonviolence.
4. We repudiate aggressive and preventive wars, the disproportionate use of force, covert wars, and targeting that includes a high risk to civilians. We support international efforts to curtail the vast world trade in armaments and call for nuclear disarmament and abolition of other weapons of mass destruction. We repudiate unilateral interventions and extended military occupations as dangerous new forms of imperialism. In an interdependent world, true peace requires the cooperation of all nations and peoples.
5. For Unitarian Universalists, the exercise of individual conscience is holy work. Conscientious discernment leads us to engage in the creation of peace in different ways. We affirm a range of individual choices, including military service and conscientious objection (whether to all wars or particular wars), as fully compatible with Unitarian Universalism. For those among us who make a formal commitment to military service, we will honor their commitment, welcome them home, and offer pastoral support. For those among us who make a formal commitment as conscientious objectors, we will offer documented certification, honor their commitment, and offer pastoral support.
6. Our faith calls us to create peace, yet we confess that we have not done all we could to prevent the spread of armed conflict throughout the world. At times we have lacked the courage to speak and act against violence and injustice; at times we have lacked the creativity to speak and act in constructive ways; at times we have condemned the violence of others without acknowledging our own complicity in violence. We affirm a responsibility to speak truth to power, especially when unjust power is exercised by our own nation. Too often we have allowed our disagreements to distract us from all that we can do together. This Statement of Conscience challenges individual Unitarian Universalists, as well as our congregations and Association, to engage with more depth, persistence, and creativity in the complex task of creating peace

“Beyond Just War and Pacifism: Toward a Unitarian Universalist Theology of Prophetic Nonviolence” Paul Rasor http://meadville.edu/journal/LL_JLR_v8_n1_Rasor.pdf.

Discussion HOW TO DETERMINE IF A WAR IS JUST

Song

Where Have All the Flowers Gone

Closing

Remembering our spiritual, courageous ancestors who forsook oppression with security to gain freedom with opportunity — may we go forth to master ourselves by accepting duty with responsibility, by showing balance in our judgments and by having breadth of vision in our deliberations. May we be exemplars of that spirit, moving forward with conviction and commitment, with unity without uniformity, with brotherhood and sisterhood to serve the truth that sets us free. Amen

Service leader
George Sprowls

Chalice Lighting

We light this candle as a symbol of our faith.
By its light may our vision be illumined;
By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged;
And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice and the life of the spirit be enkindled.

UU Principles

Music: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Thomas Keating

Opening Words

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the verities
And realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty;
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday
A dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.

Joys and Concerns
by Judy Welles

If you woke this morning with a sorrow so heavy that you need the help of this community to carry it;
or if you woke with a joy so great that it simply must be shared, now is the time for you to speak.
…..

For the joys and sorrows that haven’t been spoken, but which remain in the silent sanctuaries of our hearts.
These joys and griefs, spoken and unspoken, weave us together in the fabric of community.

Meditation

Visualize yourself standing before a gateway on a hilltop. Your entire life lies out before you and below. Before you step through, pause and review the past; the learning and the joys, the victories and the sorrows—everything it took to bring you here.

Sharing/ Deep Listening

What are you proud of? What accomplishments stand out?
What challenges did you overcome?
What positive changes did you make in your life? In the lives of others?
What were some valuable lessons you learned?
Who helped you make changes or overcome obstacles? Were you able to express your gratitude?
Could these changes of events help you change your life next year?

Song

This Little Light of Mine

Benediction
by Rev. Rebecca Parker

Let this be the time
We wake to life,
Like spring wakes,
in the moment of winter solstice.

Service leader
Lisa deGruyter

Courtesy of First Unitarian Church of San José

Chalice Lighting

We light this candle as a symbol of our faith.
By its light may our vision be illumined;
By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged;
And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice and the life of the spirit be enkindled.

UU Principles

Music: O Come O Come Emmanuel
Thomas Keating

Reading from Advent Birth Pains: Staying Awake to the Heart Cry of the World
by Rev. Laura Rose, senior pastor at First Congregational Church of Alameda/United Church of Christ

Silent meditation on our hopes

Joys and Concerns
by Judy Welles

If you woke this morning with a sorrow so heavy that you need the help of this community to carry it;
or if you woke with a joy so great that it simply must be shared, now is the time for you to speak.
…..

For the joys and sorrows that haven’t been spoken, but which remain in the silent sanctuaries of our hearts.
These joys and griefs, spoken and unspoken, weave us together in the fabric of community.

Benediction
by Sarah Lammert

Go in peace, embraced by the light and warmth of our gathering.
Go in love, ready again to struggle on.
Go in beauty, shining forth like a lamp for freedom.

Service leader
Lisa deGruyter

Chalice Lighting

We light this candle as a symbol of our faith.
By its light may our vision be illumined;
By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged;
And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice and the life of the spirit be enkindled.

UU Principles

Joys, Concerns, Sharing

Readings

In a world with so much hatred and violence,
We need a religion that proclaims the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
In a world with so much brutality and fear,
We need a religion that seeks justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.
In a world with so many persons abused and neglected,
We need a religion that calls us to accept one another and encourage one another to spiritual growth.
In a world with so much tyranny and oppression,
We need a religion that affirms the right and conscience and the use of the democratic process.
In a world with so much inequity and strife,
We need a religion that strives toward the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
In a world with so much environmental degradation,
We need a religion that advocates respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
In a world with so much uncertainty and despair,
We need a religion that teaches our hearts to hope, and our hands to care.

- Scott W. Alexander

Joseph, being seventeen years old……3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long robe with sleeves. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they only hated him the more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream wich I have dreamed: 7 behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered round it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him yet more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10…..his father rebuked him…..and his brothers hated him more.

- From the Bible, Genesis 37

King John Sigismund and the Act of Religious Toleration

In 1561 John Sigismund (1540-1571) became King of Transylvania, the first and only Unitarian king in history. John was frail and artistic, an accomplished linguist and a superior monarch. Above all, he was deeply interested in religion, and sought to pacify the conflicts between Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Unitarians in his realm. Out of personal conviction, therefore, and practical political considerations, he fostered a policy of open discussion and broad toleration of all viewpoints which made Transylvania the freest country in Europe in religious matters. Transylvania’s first decree of religious toleration came in 1557. It was renewed in 1563. Five years later, after the Diet had voted unanimously with a request that John “declare and strengthen” the prior decrees, the young King issued his famous Act of religious Tolerance and Freedom of Conscience.

-The Epic of Unitarianism, Compiled by David Parke

Hatred and conflict are often rooted in differences between people of different races and religions. We all need to respect people of different races as well as people of different faiths and religions. We need to unite by recognizing our common desire and need for a harmonious society – a society in which we and our children and families and friends and communities can all live our lives in peace and harmony. Regardless of our race or religion, we all want and need such social harmony.

- Jagad Guru

How do you want to create peace, if there is no peace inside yourselves?

- Thich Nhat Hanh: Buddhist monk and peace activist

#584 – A Network of Mutuality

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
There are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted.
Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear, only love can do that.
We must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.
The foundation of such a method is love.
Before it is too late, we must narrow the gaping chasm between our proclamations of peach and our lowly deeds which precipitate and perpetuate war.
One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.
We shall hew out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Music: Abraham, Martin, and John
Thomas Keating

Political Tolerance and Intolerance

Political tolerance means accepting and respecting the basic rights and civil liberties of persons and groups whose viewpoints differ from one’s own. All citizens, including political leaders, have a responsibility to practice political tolerance in their words and actions. As a clear rejection of “might makes right,” political tolerance is a key principle of democracy.

As an ideal, democracy upholds that members of the society should treat each other, and be treated, as equals. Underlying democracy is the acceptance and respect of the other. Democratic life is both the right to differ as well as the acceptance of such difference by all. Democracy implies respect for the plurality of view and virtues of dialogue as a means of resolving conflict.

Political intolerance is engendered by a willingness to restrict the rights of a disliked person or group based on their differing views. It represents a threat to democracy since it discriminates against and may even silence certain parts of the population. Intolerance creates a conformist culture and a closed society, which narrows citizens’ perceptions of politics and shapes their subsequent behavior.

One of the precepts of democracy is that the majority rules but the minority has rights.

 Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating every body, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others – even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity.

Discussion

Each member asked what he/she found difficult to tolerate.

Closing prayer

From arrogance, pompousness, and thinking ourselves more important that we are,
May some
Saving sense of humor liberate us. For allowing ourselves to ridicule the faith of others,
May
We be forgiven.
From making war and calling it justice, indifference and calling it tolerance, pollution
And
Calling it progress, may we be cured.
For telling ourselves and others that evil is inevitable while good is impossible, may be
Stand
Corrected.
God of our mixed up, tragic, aspiring, doubting, and insurgent lives, help us to be as
Good in
Our hearts (as) we have always wanted to be.

– Harry Meserve

Service leader
Kathy Sprowls

Chalice Lighting

We light this candle as a symbol of our faith.
By its light may our vision be illumined;
By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged;
And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice and the life of the spirit be enkindled.

UU Principles

Reading

Discussion

Joys, Concerns, Sharing

Benediction

Service leader
Robert Helfer

Chalice Lighting

We light this candle as a symbol of our faith.
By its light may our vision be illumined;
By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged;
And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice and the life of the spirit be enkindled.

UU Principles

Reading

From James Fowler on the stages of faith

Activity

Our beliefs over time

Joys, Concerns, Sharing

Benediction

Service leader
Rev. Frank Carpenter

We light this candle as a symbol of our faith.
By its light may our vision be illumined;
By its warmth may our fellowship be encouraged;
And by its flame may our yearnings for peace, justice and the life of the spirit be enkindled.

UU Principles

Readings

Joys, Concerns, Sharing

Service leader
Kathleen Gilbert