Thanks to many of you who read here, the December issue of “The BeZine” with its special section “Waging Peace” went moderately viral with more visits and more shares through the whole diversity of social media than ever before. It did our hearts good. It was healing to see just how many people supported the ideas and ideals expressed in this special section. For those of you who missed “Waging Peace,” do your own heart good and check it out . . .
Keeping it Kind. I am so very proud of the Unitarian Universalistist Clergy of the San Francisco Bay Area for their open hearts and their OPEN LETTER in support of the MUSLIM COMMUNITY. It was read at the MultiFaith Prayer service at the Yasmeen (Islamic) Cultural Center in Burlingame, California on Sunday, December 13, 2015.
December 13, 2015 An Open Letter
Dear People,
We are writing to call attention to a great injustice and to ask your help in addressing it.
Not that many years ago Catholics were seen as some “other” who could not be good Americans. More recently Jews suffered many insults and abuses because they did not belong to the dominant faith – again, seen as “other”. Good people rallied to stand with them and, over time, they have become so integrated into the fabric of our country that it is now unimaginable without them.
Today we are seeing the same sort of prejudice and, on occasion, dreadful acts of violence directed at Muslims. They are our contemporary “other”. These are our neighbors, co-workers, and our friends. They serve in every branch of our American military. They are our doctors, lawyers, police officers, nurses, teachers and social workers. They are us.
Because of the actions of a very few, some current American politicians and others are sparking fear and hatred against the entire Muslim faith community.
In response, people of good-will and conscience must stand up and speak out. Many already have. Some, clinging to the haunting words of Pastor Martin Niemoeller, are asking “who will stand with them?” It is time to answer that question. We will. We, the Unitarian Universalist clergy of the San Francisco Bay/Peninsula, stand with the Muslim community.
We urge you to do so as well. Please take a stand and say your peace.
With faith in love beyond all beliefs,
The Reverend JD Benson, San Francisco
The Reverend John Buehrens, San Francisco
The Reverend Stefanie Etzbach-Dale, Redwood City
The Reverend Pamela Gehrke, San Mateo
The Reverend Elaine Gehrmann, Monterrey
The Reverend Axel Gehrmann, Monterrey
The Reverend Alyson Jacks, San Francisco
The Reverend Nancy Palmer Jones, San Jose
The Reverend Nina Kalmoutis, Sunnyvale
The Reverend Russ Menk, Aptos
The Reverend Ben Meyers, San Mateo
The Reverend Vail Weller, San Mateo
The Reverend Amy Zucker-Morgenstern, Palo Alto
Note: Please feel free to share this letter through WordPress’ “reblog” feature or by cutting and pasting. If you’d like me to the post in HTML to make it easier, please let me know. J.D.
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If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
From “The Book of Tao (The Way), Lao-Tse (c 5th Century BCE, China, Zhou Dynasty)
And, as the song goes: “Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me …” Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller (1955, America)
As we contemplate the theme of Peace during the month of December, we may wonder if the wars will ever end or if violence will ever cease. I know there may be some stern souls out there who question whether our reflections on the need for inner peace will undermine the urgent need to summon all our strength to confront and overcome the machinery of war, the waves of fear, or the agencies of violence. While we think about the need for inner peace, innocents are dying in Syria and Palestine and down the road, around the corner, and God only knows where else.
Why aren’t we out in the streets by the millions? What are we waiting for?
Listen to these words the Angel Gabriel is said to have whispered into Mary’s ear:
There is strength here like the sinew of a mother’s arm.
It shatters the brittle pride of wealth;
It levels the clayfoot thrones of tyrants.
It upholds the forgotten, the scarred.
Hunger both of body and soul will be filled.
Riches will no more be rewarded.
The holy one cleaves to those who keep faith;
It will endure in those who serve mercy.
And then the Promise made to legend ancestors will be kept;
And Peace shall prevail.
I understand and often share the “urge of urgency” over the peacefulness of peace. But this I also know: We live at the intersection of action and reflection.
Self-reflection is no luxury which has to wait until more urgent matters are attended to. It is as essential to our lives as food and drink.
When we don’t take time to know and befriend the darkness within us and in the world we all too soon are overcome by our own inner demons.
Then all our efforts in the name of peace, encumbered by our rage and fear, will only serve to magnify the violence we so wish to quell. What was “the Promise made to legend ancestors”? Surely not peace everlasting—even though we should yearn for and work for and practice peace with every fiber of our being.
The Promise and The Way both lie in the possibility that you and I might come to know the holiness of peace concealed in the darkness of our hearts, our homes, our neighborhoods and THEN beyond—not in some distant land but here at home, not in some long ago time but here, today, right now.
You are the promise. You are the one. You are the way.
Be the peace you seek by seeking the peace in you.
Today we are seeing the same sort of prejudice and, on occasion, dreadful acts of violence directed at Muslims. They are our contemporary “other”. These are our neighbors, co-workers, and our friends. They serve in every branch of our American military. They are our doctors, lawyers, police officers, nurses, teachers and social workers. They are us.
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