Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire

 

 

September 11, 2005

 

 

“Peace is the Way”

 

 

Water Communion

 

 

Rev. Kathy Duhon

 

            Today is the 4th anniversary of the September 11th national tragedy, and yet I am not saying much about it.  Perhaps it is because another national tragedy has claimed the focus of our hearts.  Four years ago, there was a wonderful feeling that we were all coming together, all sharing and helping each other, all renewed in our faithfulness and spiritual journeys and unity.  We tried so hard to help, even though there was barely anyone left alive to help. 

This time is different.  This time we didn’t help soon enough, and there were hundreds of thousands left alive who felt abandoned, angry, fearful, hungry, thirsty, and in pain, and it seems that hundreds, if not thousands of them died waiting for our help.  Help is coming now, from the Berkshires, and from Bangladesh, from trained relief workers, and from people who have opened their homes to these newly homeless, and so we feel again something of that hope and faith and love that coming together in a crisis can bring to us.

            These tragic national disasters, actually international disasters, rob us of our peace of mind – our peace of heart – or perhaps they just expose us to the reality that we had a false sense of calm that was never true peace, as false as was our sense of security and safety.  And we notice at these times of upheaval, of death come knocking, that peace is a scarcity in the world around us.  Anger and revenge rage forth.  Sure, forgiveness and caring and gratitude make their appearances, but the forces for war and violence and corruption and racism and classism  seem to take the lead.  We need to act with compassion; we need to speak the words of healing and hope, of prophetic judgment and tender care.  Would that we could also be silent, just for a little while, and allow our spirits breathing room, healing time, life renewal, peace.

            Peace is not just the absence of conflict and war; I am sure you have heard that said before.  Peace is the fullness of a wholehearted life.  Peace is love shared beyond our usual boundaries.  Peace is what we offer the suffering when we give them our time and our attention and our care.  A mighty power for peace is rising up form this congregation, and in our community, as we reach out to the hurricane victims with kindness and support.  Peace is also that great, shining possibility of a world without war or conflict.

As some of you know, I am writing a peace book about veterans’ experiences of war, believing that, if we understand war, which only those who have experienced it can really understand and explain, then we can create peace.  Recently, I received some more reflections on his veteran’s experience from our own Chet Kalm, and I want to share a little of it with you.  He wrote, “Most of us would accept that we cannot afford a nuclear war.  But equally unaffordable, if at a lesser level, is any war with present means which brings a significant warp, a destructive force, to society.   Our capacity to make war is (inversely) proportional to our collective ability to survive psychologically and physically.  The fallacy is that we start each time with a clean slate when we commit to war.  In reality, we are spending a finite amount of society’s health.”

We need peace.

            Peace – how can I dare to speak of peace?  Hasn’t everything that could be said about peace already been said?  And yet we have no peace.  Not for lack of talking about peace, and teaching about peace, and preaching about peace.  Shalom, Salaam – are they words empty of meaning?  Peace – I have worked for peace, you have worked for peace.  We have prayed for peace, we have longed for peace.  Have we ever found the way to peace?

“There is no way to peace.  Peace is the way,” Mohandas Gandhi said.  Peace may be that shining, ever-elusive goal, but peace is also the way to that goal, to that life without conflict.  Peace is the way of serenity, of wholeness, of oneness; peace of heart is the way that leads to peace among us.

I can only dare to speak of peace because, although everything has been said and taught and preached about peace, we need to remind ourselves always to renew the journey, for not only is being at peace the way to peace on earth, peace is the only way to continue to be on earth, or else we will no longer be at all.


WATER COMMUNION 
 
 
               For our water communion, we honor water in our lives – its life-giving nature, its place in beauty and enjoyment, and the meaningful flow that it has through the generations and traditions of our lives.  Here is water from past such communions we have done, since the beginning of our congregation.  
               This year is different, though, as our hearts and minds are focused on water’s destructive side, for the floods first in Europe, and now along our own Gulf coast, especially New Orleans, have engulfed our lives, saddening us.  With too much water, we die; and without enough water, we die.  
               My water comes from this summer’s trip to my birthplace, to Louisiana.  (pour water) It is from the lake behind where our family lived, but our home is no more, not because of the hurricane, but no less destroyed.  This week I was in touch with several people who have suffered because of the hurricane and flooding in Louisiana, and the most difficult situation was the friend who had not heard from her brother until two days ago.  I was sure he was dead.  He had been on a roof for a few days, was rescued, does not remember when or how long it took – was probably unconscious from dehydration, there in the midst of all that water – and is recovering in a hospital now.
               Vulnerable times awaken in us all kinds of abilities to reach out and connect with others and with the depth of Being itself.  For all we have is life, death, and love – that is universal, that is at the root of our one true religion.  We are connected by the power of the waters of life and death and the depth of our compassion.  
May we bless each other as we mingle our collected waters and tell our sacred stories.
 
               We bless this water, the very water of life, and its awesome life-giving and life-taking power.  We bless one another on our journeys of life through birth and death and compassionate love.  We bless the world, a world in need of our blessing, and we bless all those suffering and joyful, living and dying and loving.  Let this be a sacrament recognizing the common origin and infinite connection of every being and of the interdependent web of all existence.  Blessings and Peace.  Amen.