SERMON: World Community

As I thought about today’s sermon, I remembered Bette Midler singing Julie Gold's song, "From a Distance." How apt for the topic! The song reminds us that the earth, when seen from space, has no visible boundaries to distinguish one country from another, that people look very much the same, that we are more alike than different. The song offers one expression of world community. This expression is confirmed by the pictures of our planet taken from space.

In contrast, when I discuss this particular principle of our Unitarian Universalist Purposes and Principles with individuals, someone will usually say: "This is totally impossible! It will never happen!" I can easily sympathize with this reaction, given the current situation in the world: impending war with Iraq, continuing violence in the Middle East - including the suicide bombings and sniper attacks in Hebron, clear efforts to undermine peace in that part of the world.

It occurred to me that this sixth principle also foreshadows the seventh, for, I believe, the way to achieve world community is to recognize that we truly are all part of an interdependent web of all existence, to feel that reality deeply and fully. This brought to mind that there are deep theological underpinnings to this often-overlooked principle. As we begin to explore the possibilities in this principle, we are called to engage in some serious theological thought.

The notion of "community" as a religious concept is ancient. In animistic religions, the people identify their whole community with a particular totem animal. All are Beavers or Ducks- and so on (Maybe we are not yet so far from this after all!). C.G. Montefiore and H. Loewe, in their commentaries on Rabbinic stories of Judaism, note:

It must be remembered that the community of Israel, and even each local congregation, were more important to the Rabbis, and as they believed, more important even to God, than any individual Israelite. The Rabbis never abandoned the "collective" point of view of the O.T. (Hebrew scriptures), even though they had also adopted and intensified the later individualism. The community of Israel (kelal Yisrael ) forms a sort of real, if mystical personality. It is because the community is known to, and beloved by, God that God knows and loves each individual who composes it . . . (Montefiore and Loewe, A Rabbinic Anthology, p. 351. )

This understanding: that community is paramount to God and to each person, was also essential for our religious forebears, the Puritans, who viewed the community or congregation as the focus of all activity, whether religious or governmental. The communitarian movement of the twentieth century reflects a continuing hunger to feel connected to a community that shares common values and intentionally strives to live effectively together. I genuinely hope that our new members will feel that hunger eased by finding this community.

So let us explore this principle more thoroughly, examining how it invites us into process, the basic theology that underpins it, and the problems addressed by the addition of the words "peace," "liberty," and "justice."

First, this principle does not assert that we, as Unitarian Universalists, have accomplished its purpose. It speaks of the "Goal of world community," acknowledging that this is not yet achieved. This invites us each, alone and in this community, to become involved in a process, to affirm and promote a way of being. While I have found that it is this principle that is most often forgotten when folks try to repeat the UU Principles, it also strikes me that that may be because it seems such a far-off goal.

Yet, in reality, business persons and mystics would say that we already ARE in world community, flying in the face of my statement that it is a goal yet to be achieved. Certainly, we have a world economy - in at least two ways. First, It currently appears that there is no part of the world from which we are not willing and able to exploit resources, though some of us are becoming more aware that we need to function as stewards of those resources, rather than simply consumers. There is almost nothing we can build without using resources from places far away from us, far beyond the imaginary lines of our country's boarders. I am amused by bumper stickers which demand that I "Buy American." All too often it means, "Buy what we Americans can take from all over the world and call our own!"

Secondly, we have a world economy because we have reached the stage where economic forces in one place influence those in others. If this were not true, we would not use economic sanctions as weapons, as we have for years in Cuba and Iraq. Similarly, we would not be as influenced as we are by the difficulties in the former Soviet Union or the Middle East. This, of course, comes right out of the first point - and leads to the mystic assertion that all are connected, all are related.

The core of the mystic experience is to know deeply, not just think, but KNOW that all that is, was, or will be, is united in seamless wholeness. Scientists have been following a similar intuition in searching for a "unified field." It is no wonder that many have come to believe that scientists and mystics are getting closer and closer together in their understanding of the cosmos. This oneness includes all forms of existence, not just human beings. Thus, world community includes far more than human beings - an awareness some of us may yet be a long way from achieving. Christopher D. Stone invites us to engage this notion in his book, Earth and Other Ethics: The Case for Moral Pluralism, in which he asserts that animals and even trees should be understood as persons from an ethical and legal perspective. Thus, both the understandings of commerce and of mystics challenge us to see the possibilities inherent in this principle.

Some of our problems with this principle arise over, not only the goal of world community, but the addition of the values of peace, liberty, and justice. Here lies a considerable problem. It has been proven on occasion that we can achieve community through tyranny. But this is not true community, for the first principle is constantly abrogated in such community: there is no respect for the inherent worth and dignity of EVERY person. The many are seriously exploited for the privileged few in such artificial communities, where peace, liberty, and justice are not part of the equation. We need look no further than our own inner cities to see this. Certainly, it has been an ongoing problem in Iraq and Israel.

The question, of course, must arise: HOW do we get to such world community? Perhaps we can only do this by creating little "pockets of peace," to use Sissela Bok's phrase describing small groups of people working together with like values. Still, the Peacekeepers and the Beavers have been able to get thousands of people together in football stadiums; we ought to be able to energize large groups toward this goal. I remember the attempt at “Harmonic Convergence” a few years ago. Certainly that was an effort to create a momentary world community meditating on world peace. Whatever the true effect of that effort, I suspect that the solution is not either/ or, but both/and. We each need to do what we can to keep such a process of creating pockets of peace going, both inside ourselves and in our communities.

Most of all, I believe we need a paradigm shift that acknowledges that we are all connected and no one can be fully at peace, with liberty and justice, until all are in that condition. Practically, we need to be able to share wealth more equitably, to change our view from exploiters of the weaker and lesser to stewards of the whole. I recall Parker Palmer's view that, in true healthy community, "Scarce resources are shared and abundance is generated." (Palmer, The Company of Strangers , p. 42.)This perspective takes us out of zero-sum thinking and beyond the law of entropy, which genuinely applies to physical and biological levels, into the recognition of ecologist Garrett Hardin that, in the mental and spiritual realms, sharing energy creates more energy, rather than depleting it.

From our Universalist tradition, we are challenged to understand that God is Love - not sloppy, victim-providing love, but robust and demanding love which asks us to feel deeply the connections through all of life and to respond by loving ourselves and all of life more deeply. This, for me, is at the core of the HOW of this principle: God as Love - Love that is an exchange of energies that fill and guide us to become the best we can become and encourages others to do the same.

When we honestly examine our lives, we become aware of how little we truly need and how much of it exists for us. This was made real for me when I spent four days on a mountain in a VisionQuest. I wanted to stay forever. I had nothing but the clothes on my back, a sleeping bag, and two gallons of water. I felt I needed little more. I know I wanted to radically simplify my life after that experience. How quickly we forget!!

Certainly, as Abraham Maslow asserts, each of us has to feel confident that we can have food, shelter, and clothing for our bodies. Yet, we seem so intent upon acquiring more than we truly need that we lose sight of what is of value, of what is important. I acknowledge that our society measures the value of a person by her or his material wealth. I am challenging us to deeper insight, to judge people by the wealth of their intellect and spirit, by the way in which the person manifests an aware and loving spirit in the world. Maybe then we would be able to release ourselves from the stuff that clutters our lives.

The process of world community begins with self love that does not feel threatened by or beholden to others in our world. This may be the hardest part of the process. Many of us have had the experience of being treated badly by others around us, so that our understanding of ourselves is that we must fight and struggle to get as much as we can as a buffer against those bad experiences. Whether we over-eat, or over-drink, or over-work, we think those things will protect us from pain. We do not feel that we are valued and belong and will be taken care of. The feeling that we are valued and belong and will be taken care of is the basic feeling of community. So few of us have experienced it: no wonder we cannot imagine it in a world context.

Finding love in our lives is paramount to learning this principle. If we have not found love in our families, as some have not, we must call our religious communities to fill the void. Note: I say our religious communities, rather than our schools. Our religious communities must be based in the fundamental understanding that we are all connected and interdependent. Fundamentalism has appeal, among other reasons, because it gives a sense of community. We, as religious liberals, must live the love that is basic to our Universalist tradition, so that our members, new and long-time, all know that they are valued and belong and will be cared for. The Caring Connection, providing rides and meals and caring response to those in need, certainly offers this kind of love. And our Extended Families and Covenant/Conversation groups do as well.

The development of a Covenant of Right Relations, which we shall undertake and finish from 9:30AM until 2:30PM on Saturday, February 1, 2003, will give us an opportunity to state what conditions we need to live as a religious community with peace, liberty, and justice for all our members. I am excited that we are intentionally engaging this process to establish guidelines for our behavior toward one another, even as all Unitarian Universalist ministers respond to our UUMA Guidelines. When I attended the First Universalist Church of Denver, this past Sunday, the congregation read together their covenant while lighting the chalice. It was inspiring to me.

We need to practice our behavior and connect in many ways, not only in service to each other and to the larger community (and that is very important), but also simply for fun. We need to get to know each other, to find out what wonderful things there are there in each of us for all of us to love. Check out our Thanksgiving Fest as a start toward that end.

So, our Universalist tradition may, in fact, prove the best guide for our efforts to affirm and promote "the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all." The song “From a Distance,” asserts the perspective: “God is watching us - from a distance." The Universalist God of Love watches us, encourages us, and loves us from within. We also always have free will and responsibility. May we ground in that Love and learn to share it with others. Then the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all may not seem so unattainable.

I close with words from A. Powell Davies, one of the most powerful Unitarian preachers of the early twentieth century:

The years of all of us are short, our lives precarious. Our days and nights go hurrying on and there is scarcely time to do the little that we might. Yet we find time for bitterness, for petty treason and evasion.

What can we do to stretch our hearts enough to lose their littleness. Here we are - all of us - all upon this planet, bound together in a common destiny, living our lives between the briefness of the daylight and the dark. Kindred in this, each lighted by the same precarious, flickering flame of life, how does it happen that we are not kindred in all things else? How strange and foolish are these walls of separation that divide us!

May we gently dismantle the walls, honoring the light in each of us, so that we may be known as a great and loving community.

So Be It! Blessed Be!

Gretchen