The Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough

In my childhood Sunday School, this dilemma was presented to me. After a telling of the story about early Christians being thrown to the lions, or after reading the story of Peter’s denial of his association with Jesus, we were asked if we would be willing to stand up as Christians even in the face of great personal danger. Would we risk our lives for Christ?   I don’t know if this is exactly how it was presented to me, but I have a scene in my mind...a cold, concrete room filled with scared people.  A soldier walks in and asks who among that group is a Christian, because the lions are hungry for Christians. Would I raise my hand, or better, would I, could I proudly and courageously step forward to be thrown to the lions? 

 

The other day, Ben and I were talking about the 4th Tuesday Muuvies, and about The Kite Runner, the movie that was shown this past week. It is a powerful film, with difficult content...about the places we fall short , and how our personal failings bollix us up...often creating more distance rather than building bridges to forgiveness and understanding.   We have all had the experience of doing something that we regret... when our shame or fear or ego or even apathy have gotten in the way of doing that we know to be right. Doesn’t it seem to spin out of control...driving us further and further from the possibility of healing and just action? 

 

In The Kite Runner, the protagonist has the opportunity to try to make up for something terrible he did as a child. In one scene, he is able to witness a different way when he sees a man risk his life by confronting a soldier who is about to do violence to a young woman.   I was deeply moved by this scene because I have often wondered if I am capable of being so courageous. Would I, could I risk my life to stand on the side of love and justice? 

 

Standing on the Side of Love is a public advocacy campaign that seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression. It is an initiative of the Unitarian Universalist Association in the United States and was kicked off at last June’s General Assembly in Salt Lake City. That’s where the picture of me on the Order of Service was taken. 

 

On their website, this campaign answers the ‘why’ question by saying that this is a time of great hope and possibility, yet it is also a time when our lives and communities are threatened by the increased prevalence of acts motivated by fear and hate. They say that no one should be dehumanized through acts of exclusion, oppression, or violence because of their identities, and they encourage religious people to stand on the side of love...to call for respect, inclusion, and compassion, in public debates over immigration, LGBT rights, and more. 

 

The Standing on the Side of Love campaign seeks to equip religious voices to make love real in the world by influencing public attitudes and public policy, through community activism, social networking, and media outreach. 

 

I find this campaign to be quite inspiring, and frankly, quite smart in its approach.   Those of you who heard Linda Slavin speak to this congregation about a year ago, learned about the different possible strands of approach to social justice work, and about the need for such work not to focus on only one strand. So often we are engaged by what might be called charity, or immediate need...the food bank, homeless shelters, providing support for refugees...that we have no time to look at the root causes. 

 

This past Monday at the first of the Social Justice workshops, we discussed a parable told in our reading...the story of a small village...a village of good people...on the edge of a river.    One day a villager notices a baby floating down the river, and, of course, quickly jumps in to save the child.

The next day there are two babies in the swift waters, the day after four, then more and still more. The villagers organize themselves into teams of swimmers and rescue squads.   They can’t save every baby, but they feel they are doing good work. Then one day, someone asks where the babies are coming from...and they are faced with the dilemma of putting resources into saving the babies, or into sending a team upstream to find the source of the problem. It seems to them that using resources to find the cause will mean that they won’t be able to save as many babies. 

 

My purpose in running the current Social Justice workshops is pretty simple...I just wanted to get us thinking about this particular village of good people. We have a river running by us and through us, a river of resources and possibility, a river that we are privileged to use and enjoy. But it doesn’t serve everyone equally. Do we notice the babies in the river? Are we saving those we can? Shall we risk looking at the source?   Clearly rescuing babies is an act of love. And, handling the minutia of creating a stable foundation is important if we are to operate in the world.   We need to look very closely and deeply at how it is that we can be the best village we can be...a village that looks at the whole picture and then determines how it can best serve. 

 

It seems to me that the Standing on the Side of Love campaign is about sending a team upstream, to try to change those public policies and societal practices that cause oppression, systems that fan the flames of hatred and fear. As I said, this is a UUA campaign, based in the States; since we are separate organizations, the Canadian Unitarian Council is not directly involved. Still, I am drawn to the campaign’s message and hope to learn from it, to use its example and its resources to think about how we might trek upstream and explore how we might change things at the source....through advocacy and witness and education for policy change.

 

There was an interesting comment on the ministers’ chat recently from someone who was questioning the name of this campaign... his concern is that love, in its highest form of expression, does not take sides. He feels that the act of standing with one thing implies a division that does not by its very nature model the ideal that is proclaimed. I found this to be a very thought-provoking theological argument. It reminded me of Jim Wallis’ book, “God’s Politics”, in which he makes the case that God is not a Republican, or a Democrat...or an NDPer for that matter. 

 

This is a complex world. Nothing is 100% right or wrong. No one person is completely good or evil. We each contain some part of all of it. It’s not always clear what the right thing to do might be. Sometimes I am conflicted about damning a behaviour because it feels like I’m damning the person....a person who has inherent worth. 

 

And yet, I think we know what it means to stand on the side of love. We know the direction we want to take...to move things more in the direction of compassion than hate, more toward healing than harm, more toward blessing than curse. 

 

A few years ago, in the midst of the Bush administration, essayist Anne LaMott wrote about what side God might be on, and she minced no words in calling out those who claim they own God. And she went further...she named the things that, for her, can stake a claim for the presence of love. LaMott has a wonderfully humorous and insightful writing style, and I can’t do it justice in the time I have here, so let me just shorthand her list to these four things....Love is present where there is a belief in freedom and equality, where there is a belief that all are worthy, where there is a willingness to sacrifice, and where there are deep feelings of generosity. These, LaMott says, are indicators that love is present. These are signs that we are moving in the right direction.  

 

I love Anne LaMott, but I’m not sure she goes far enough. We Unitarians have a core belief in the inherent worth and dignity of each person. We believe strongly in freedom and equality. Yet, there’s something in the “standing on the side of love” imperative that insists upon more. It calls for action. It calls for raising one’s hand, stepping forward and speaking out in the name of love and justice whenever we see oppression and inequality. It calls for an ever-expanding circle of love that includes those who are ‘other’. 

 

I imagine many of you are aware of the Charter for Compassion. It is a global effort, launched on November 13, to obtain signatures and support for a statement to be sent to world leaders, particularly those whose countries are involved in conflict. It is a call to bring the world together, and it reads: 

“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 everybody, 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. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women

~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion
~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate
~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures
~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity
~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

 

As of yesterday, about 24000 have signed the charter. I’m one of them. I have set up my laptop in the foyer after the service. If you’d like to sign the charter, you can do so there, or you can go to www.charterforcompassion.org at your own computer.   This is just one way that we can stand on the side of love...or perhaps simply stand up in support of a love that refuses to take sides.  

 

The Committee on Ministry and I have just completed three “Community Conversations” in which we invited you to contribute to a discussion about the direction of this congregation. I am grateful for the voices we heard, although frankly, I was disappointed in the turnout. (Perhaps you’re all too busy saving babies, and that’s important work too.) There’ll be a summary published soon, but I clearly heard from those who participated that you would like to see this congregation be more visible and active in making a difference beyond these walls...to find ways to transcend the minutia that seems to occupy our time and energy. 

 

 I would love to see us learn to give more of ourselves away in the service of a more compassionate world. Let’s say, for example, that we use the Charter for Compassion to do this. Imagine that we obtain, say 5000 signatures from Peterborough and the Kawarthas, or even 10,000 and that we bring those signatures to our political leaders. Imagine what would happen if, whenever we noticed injustice, we publically held those responsible to the mandate of this charter.

 

The story in The Kite Runner reminds us of how badly we are broken and how much work there is to do. The story of the Peaceful Warrior this morning reminds us that it takes practice and skill to live with courage and love.   The stories I was told in Sunday School challenged my personal conviction. Until now, I’ve never answered that question out loud...you know, that one about whether I’d be willing to die for my faith. I was ashamed as a child, that my answer was no. But now I see the question was wrong. My identity is not worth dying for. Being a Christian, or a Unitarian, is just a name. But love, justice, compassion, equality...the reach and presence of these qualities in the world may indeed be worth staking our lives upon. How we do that, how we best use our lives and our resources in the service of love, this is the question we must yet answer.   How will we, the Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough, stand on the side of love? 

 

Blessed be our living and our loving.
Amen.

Rumi said that to be thankful is sweeter than the bounty itself. This bounty, your contributions to the life of this Fellowship, call us to gratitude, and it is in being grateful that we can touch compassion.

As you may be aware, this has been Thanksgiving time in the States. The staff at the Standing on the Side of Love office sent this, and I want to share it with you. Please join me in spirit of prayer.

 

Joining as one people, united with others known by name or by spirit,

Joining as one people committed to this holy work of love,

We pause now to give thanks.

We give thanks for those moments of grace,

When we know the power of love,

When we know in our deepest hearts

That we stand on the side of love.

 

For those who know the power of oppression,

But dare to create a world where the power of love is greater still,

We give thanks.

 

For those who share when they could horde,

Who speak when silence presses hard;

Who forgive when they could denounce;

Who honour truth in a sea of distraction;

Who make room for suffering, as one more guest at the table-no, please, sit down!

Who know privilege is unearned, and oppression is unworthy of love's name;

Whose spirits shimmer, dance, and sing with the joy of love;

Who make us laugh when we can't see the lightness of being;

Who help us to hold our rage and our helplessness;

And cry with us, when only tears bring relief;

Who trudge along day after day, doing the tiny mundane tasks love demands,

We give thanks.

 

Let us remember, in our hearts and souls, that each time that we choose love matters.

These moments bind wounds, open gates, lift up new vistas.

Let us hold one another's acts of love close to our heart, knowing that this holding magnifies, sustains, and creates more love.

 

Joined as one people, we are grateful to stand on the side of love. We give thanks for this holy work, and for one another's company on this road.

Amen.

Friends, we are standing on the side of love. Hearts and hands joined together as hearts beat as one. Emboldened by this free, liberal faith, may we dare to proclaim, every day and in every way, that we are standing on the side of love. 

Now turn to the people beside you and show them your love.