Grief as a Route to Healing
Sermon by Stephen D. Edington, November 9, 1997
A few Sunday evenings ago we hosted, here in our sanctuary, a service of
memorializing and healing. It was sponsored by the Nashua Interfaith Council,
the Chaplaincy at the Southern Regional New Hampshire Medical Center (which many
of us still call Nashua Memorial), and by the Davis Funeral Home. The service
was primarily directed at mothers and families--or close friends of the
families--who had lost a child at childbirth or in the first few days of life or
through a late term miscarriage. The planning for this memorial was done while I
was on sabbatical, but two of our members were a part of the group that
organized it, and two of our other members, Ed Stauff and Mary Ellen Wessels,
contributed a beautiful gift in song. My role was to offer some words of welcome
along with a call to worship.
It was an "interfaith service" in that it drew upon Protestant, Catholic,
Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist sources and participation. There are
certainly many other faith traditions and spiritual traditions that have their
gifts to offer when it comes to loss, grief, and healing; but what we had here
did speak well to the range of faiths represented by those in attendance. I
found myself moved by the service in a variety of ways. Some very painful, and
yet still affirming, stories were told. I was reminded again of the universality
of the experiences of loss and grief and the seeking of the road back to
wholeness; and of how practically all religious traditions--each in their own
way--seek address this process. However much or little I related to what was
actually being said at any one time in the service, including the Hebrew of
which I understood very little, I also heard a universal message beyond all
particularities of language. That message was that one's life is never
completely the same after a profound loss; but some measure of personal peace is
still possible in its wake.
I'm glad we were able to host that service. I received many words of
appreciation during a reception time afterwards. In seeing the various faiths
represented that evening I recalled some words from the late Rev. Deane Starr
which I'd used in a sermon a few Sundays earlier. Deane had spoken them while
recounting his dealings with the loss of his son some five or six years ago:
"The real question in any religious orientation is not what to do with joy but
what to do with grief." I'll be returning to Deane's very pointed observation a
little later.
Grief is one of those subjects about which volumes of material has been
written and about which countless discourses, lectures, and sermons have been
spoken. But it is also such an intensely personal and individual phenomenon that
I find it difficult to address in any generalized kind of way. Grief is not
abstract; it is something that only becomes "real" when you experience it
yourself; or when someone who is in grief, and often shock, reaches out to you
for solace and support--or when you reach out to offer solace and support.
Everything else "about" grief is really so much talk or so many words. When I
heard from the Standbridges a few days ago as they were reeling from the news
about how their close friend had been killed in an episode of domestic
violence--and asking me to place one of the candles of concern for them on this
Sunday--the very last thing they needed from me, or anybody else, right then was
a discourse "about" grief. In that moment they knew far more about it than I
could ever tell them--or needed to tell them about grief. And yet, it is when we
have the opportunity and the space to be some steps removed from the immediate,
sometimes white-hot reality of a situation--that we then have a chance to learn
and grow from it. This is when words "about" something can be meaningful. Among
the many reasons that we come together into this place, and gather as we do on a
Sunday morning, is to reflect upon the nature of our lives, and upon the
sometimes baffling and trying world in which we live them; and be able to do so
when we are not--at least for the moments we spend here--flat up against some of
life's many challenges.
In gathering my thoughts on the subject of grief I did look over at least
some of the voluminous literature on the subject. One book I especially
appreciated, especially its opening chapters, was called Giving Sorrow
Words. Its author is Candace, or "Candy" Lightner. She founded the
organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving after her 13 year old daughter was
killed by a drunk driver. In the opening paragraph of a chapter entitled "The
Cycle of Sorrow" she writes:
"The price of life is loss. From the moment of birth when we leave
the womb forever, we face loss in many ways. We move and never see our childhood
home again; friendships fade; we may lose money, possessions, hope; we change
jobs; we graduate; we marry and divorce. Every change, desired or not, large or
small, involves loss. Losses shape our lives."
She puts it very well. But to view one's life as only a series of losses can
be a pretty depressing perspective: Why live at all if its simply one loss after
another? My own answer to that question is that loss is also a prelude to
transformation. If life is a series of losses, then it is also a series of
transformations that come out of those losses; and we each have some choices as
to what kind of transformations they will be. If it is true, as Ms. Lightner
says, that "losses shape our lives" the affirmative part of that truth is that
we have some say-so as to what that shape will be. I'll return to this point in
a few minutes.
Lightner gets to where she's really going with this paragraph as she
continues on:
"Losses shape our lives. And of these, the most universal,
inevitable, and serious loss is the death of someone we love (and) it is the
loss for which most of us are least prepared."This is true
universally? Yes, I would say so. The anticipated death of an elderly relative
or loved one is probably not going to be as singularly devastating and painful
as the unexpected death of one's child--or niece or nephew or grandchild; but
all such losses take something away from the sum total of our lives.
I knew for 2 or 3 months, back in 1979, that my father's death was
approaching, but getting the actual news of it still left me stunned for a time
so that I literally could not move other than to sit down on a couch. In my case
the "hit with a stun gun" phase didn't last long; but I still needed some time
to take in the news, with all my accompanying feelings that went with it, even
knowing it was news I'd be soon receiving. When death is unexpected, or
completely unanticipated, that shock/stun time is certainly going to last
considerably longer. However long or short its duration this initial shock or
stunning time is usually the first part of a grieving process.
I use the phrase "grieving process", however, with no small amount of
trepidation and with far more caveats than certainties. Simply put, there is no
such thing as a grieving process; there are a myriad of grieving
processes that persons in grief pass through in their own way and at their
own pace. In doing just a quick scan on some of the literature on grief, death,
and dying over the past couple of weeks I must have come across at least half a
dozen different listing of "grief process stages" that were being presented as
the path one walks in eventually coming to a healed state. These listings had
their similarities, the themes often overlapped, and a lot of the information
was helpful. But the best take came again from Candace Lightner:
"The truth is, grief is messy. One phase overlaps another; emotions
we thought were gone for good can reappear for no apparent reason. Some people
are overwhelmed by emotions other people barely notice. The concept of grieving
in phases is not [emphasis added] an accurate one, (but) it does provide
a way to think about (it)." Then she adds:
"In my view the simplest division is the best: the beginning, the
middle, and the rest of your life."That's as good a way of putting
it as any. If, as I'm suggesting, grief is a route to healing it is anything but
a straight road. There are twists and turns; it occasionally loops back on
itself. And you never completely stop traveling it.
I've already spoken to that first part of being shocked, stunned, and on some
level even denying that the loss has happened. Denial is not altogether wrong or
bad at the very onset of grief. In getting together with families in the
aftermath of a death to plan a service, for example, I'm often quite aware that
they are putting aside--as best they can--their feelings in order to just take
care of what has to be done right then.
As the shock part wears off there is a middle phase which is usually a
hodgepodge of anger, depression, guilt, and maybe even fear--fear, that is that
the world is not as safe a place as you'd felt it was before. I remember
Forrester Church once saying in a sermon that as long as you have at least one
parent alive, up there on the rung of the ladder above you, you feel somehow
protected in a way. (That's not terribly rational, but its not an uncommon sense
or feeling either.) When they're gone, you suddenly realize that you're the one
at the top of the ladder now; there's no "protection" left.
The anger and guilt often have to do with unfinished business you may have
with the one who has died; with things you didn't get resolved, or at least
resolved to the extent that they might have been. I still regret that I didn't
try at least a little harder to share with my father why my own religious path
had taken such a different direction than the one he'd striven so hard to raise
me in. He wasn't able to see my liberal religious ways, and my eventually
becoming a Unitarian Universalist, as just a series of choices I was making. He
took it as a personal rejection. Trying to get him to see otherwise might not
have made any difference, but I could have put forth a little more effort.
When the death occurs in a family where the atmosphere was largely a fearful
or threatening or abusive one the anger and depression and grief can be for a
happy childhood that never was. Where it was a healthy and nurturing family or
close personal relationship the depression is over the loss itself and is quite
natural up to a point. The time involved in this middle phase, with all that
goes with it, will vary greatly from person to person. Some will want and need
the company of friends and loved ones for help and support, while others will
need time away, and to themselves, to work things through.
In describing her own journey through this phase Ms. Lightner says that all
the time, energy, and great effort she put into launching and then directing
MADD was really a channeling of her anger over the senseless death of her
daughter. It was a very productive channeling of her anger in that it raised the
consciousness of the nation about the horrible dangers of drunk driving, and
changed the way we deal with drunk drivers who kill innocent people. But
Lightner goes on to say that it wasn't until she'd stepped down from the
Directorship of MADD, some 2-3 years after she'd started it, that she realized
that staying with her anger for the time she did, had kept her from really
feeling the pain of her actual loss, and that she still had a lot of this
"middle stage" grieving to do. She is very proud, and quite rightly so, of her
accomplishments with respect to the organization she founded; but she also sees
in retrospect how it extended her time of grief.
So there are very few "oughts" to be invoked in this middle phase, as in "you
really ought to be over this by now" or "you really ought to be getting out and
mixing a little more." Granted, a gentle push in these directions may need to be
lovingly offered in the case of a really prolonged bereavement, but I'm
convinced that most grieving persons instinctively know when its time to start
taking up the rest of their lives.
Then there's the rest of your life. The best description I've found of how
one who is bereaved knows that he or she is largely into this phase is when they
recognize that they are becoming more focused on the future than on the past;
and when certain new possibilities for life and living begin to present
themselves. Some of that middle phase stuff will come back now and then. As I
said; its a looping path. When I sat down to write this I really hadn't planned
on using any personal matters about my father, but things I'd long set aside
still managed to come back. It happens. Just one more take: Many of you've heard
me say he was a house painter, and he did most of his work when oil based house
paint was the norm. Although a stickler for cleanliness, Dad could never
completely get the oil paint smell out of his hands because of all the years of
using his brushes. To this day, nearly 20 years after his death, if my mother
gets a certain whiff of oil based paint it brings him back to her, and she has
to momentarily stop whatever she's doing while some sadness passes. Its a moment
that comes and goes very quickly since my mother is very much in the "rest of
her life" mode, but its still a reminder of how her life was touched for many
years, as well as changed and transformed in many ways by the relationship she
and my father had. So the road never completely ends, but the driving can become
largely enjoyable again at some point.
This brings me back to what I said earlier, that while life may be a series
of losses in many ways--including, but hardly limited to the loss of a loved
one--loss can also be a prelude to transformation. To move into that "rest of
your life" phase is to look at the possibilities of transformation, of personal
change. A loss that wounds can also make one strong in the broken places.
Roseanne Lurie observes:
"Grief is a cyclic thing. It goes off by itself, the way earthquakes
do. (Earthquakes) need to happen to keep the earth stable but they are still
overwhelming. Yet afterward you feel calmer."
When one's personal earth, or one's personal landscape, has become stabler
the challenge to then put to yourself go something like this: What do I take
from this loss; what "gifts" (if you're able to see it that way) are left to me
in the wake of this loss that can point my life in some new directions? I
believe this is how we find meaning in loss. Its a finding that usually comes
when the intensity of the grief has lessened. Then, this becomes the message we
can give ourselves: The personal challenge is that I still have to choose life
and how I'm going to live it. Because of the way in which a particular person,
now gone, touched me; or because of the way in which particular set of events or
circumstances, difficult as they may have been, presented themselves to me, I
now have an understanding of myself that I didn't have before, and I have some
things to offer to others that I didn't have before. I know that within this
congregation there are persons whose encounters with loss of one kind or
another, have later opened them up to being available to other members and
friends in ways that have greatly strengthened the overall ministry we have with
one another. One of the more gratifying aspects of my ministry here is hearing
about some the ways in which you take care of one another, especially in times
of personal grief or personal difficulty.
To move now to a final consideration, lets recall Deane Starr's words again:
"The real question in a religious orientation is not what to do with joy but
what to do with grief." I think the thing that hooked me on Candy Lightner's
book, to which I've been referring off and on this morning, was in the opening
pages when she was telling about having to arrange the memorial service for her
daughter who was killed by the drunk driver. She wrote that since she was not
strongly identified with any one religious tradition a friend referred her to
the local Unitarian Universalist minister who helped her plan and work out the
service. She went onto say how accommodating the UU minister was when it come to
using what she wanted--and not using what she didn't want--in the service.
Having been in that position a few times myself I decided, "I'm going to read
this woman's book."
There is no question that many persons in grief find strength, support, and
consolation from their religion--whatever it may be, and that it does help usher
them out of their immediate grief and into the "rest of their life". This was
ably demonstrated at the service held here a few weeks ago, and I certainly
respect and honor that. I also think it demeans a religion if it is used as a
way of explaining the unexplainable when it comes to an untimely death brought
on by an accident or by the act of one human being upon another or others. It is
a natural, human response to want an explanation for deaths like these, but to
attribute them to the intentional workings of a Supreme Being--workings that we
are supposedly not permitted to understand--borders, I feel, on the blasphemous.
Whatever ways of understand God I have come to, they do not include a Being who
allows some lives to go on while choosing to extinguish others. That idea is as
absurd as the untimely death itself. The very hard and sometimes painful truth,
again as I see it, is that we live in a world and universe that oftentimes
behaves toward us in capricious, arbitrary, and indifferent ways. The challenge
and task of a religious community to offer a loving and caring human response to
those who are bereaved by a death, instead of trying to find an explanation for
it.
I also well understand and respect how the idea of a continuing existence, in
some form, beyond physical death is a source of comfort and healing for those
most affected by the loss. There is only one way for me to know whether or not
there is such an continuing, conscious existence, and I'm not quite ready just
yet to find out. For what its worth, I'm a confirmed skeptic when it come to the
idea of a continuing, conscious existence after death. But I'm not skeptical at
all about the continuing embodiment of a deceased person's life in the lives of
others who are still living. Think of it this way: Some of the stars you see on
a clear night no longer exist; some of them died before our earth even took
shape. But standing on this earth you still see their light; and that light can
touch you and bless you and sustain you in some mysterious but meaningful ways.
The light the star sent out, while it was living, still allows it to live for
you, and for any others who catch its light. In a similar way, our lives are a
part of a larger Chain of Life, that has long preceded us and which will far
outdistance us. Part of the meaning of our lives lies in what we give to that
Chain of Life--and how we partake from what others have given. However painful
or inexplicable a particular loss of life within that Chain of Life may be--it
is still a life whose continuing light can bless and heal.
May our community here, then, ever be a source of peace and strength and hope
for who are in need of these things--as we each and all are at one time or
another. May the losses we have each and all known become, in time, part of a
larger "yes" we say to Life Itself.
Sermon by Stephen D. Edington, November 9, 1997
A few Sunday evenings ago we hosted, here in our sanctuary, a service of
memorializing and healing. It was sponsored by the Nashua Interfaith Council,
the Chaplaincy at the Southern Regional New Hampshire Medical Center (which many
of us still call Nashua Memorial), and by the Davis Funeral Home. The service
was primarily directed at mothers and families--or close friends of the
families--who had lost a child at childbirth or in the first few days of life or
through a late term miscarriage. The planning for this memorial was done while I
was on sabbatical, but two of our members were a part of the group that
organized it, and two of our other members, Ed Stauff and Mary Ellen Wessels,
contributed a beautiful gift in song. My role was to offer some words of welcome
along with a call to worship.
It was an "interfaith service" in that it drew upon Protestant, Catholic,
Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist sources and participation. There are
certainly many other faith traditions and spiritual traditions that have their
gifts to offer when it comes to loss, grief, and healing; but what we had here
did speak well to the range of faiths represented by those in attendance. I
found myself moved by the service in a variety of ways. Some very painful, and
yet still affirming, stories were told. I was reminded again of the universality
of the experiences of loss and grief and the seeking of the road back to
wholeness; and of how practically all religious traditions--each in their own
way--seek address this process. However much or little I related to what was
actually being said at any one time in the service, including the Hebrew of
which I understood very little, I also heard a universal message beyond all
particularities of language. That message was that one's life is never
completely the same after a profound loss; but some measure of personal peace is
still possible in its wake.
I'm glad we were able to host that service. I received many words of
appreciation during a reception time afterwards. In seeing the various faiths
represented that evening I recalled some words from the late Rev. Deane Starr
which I'd used in a sermon a few Sundays earlier. Deane had spoken them while
recounting his dealings with the loss of his son some five or six years ago:
"The real question in any religious orientation is not what to do with joy but
what to do with grief." I'll be returning to Deane's very pointed observation a
little later.
Grief is one of those subjects about which volumes of material has been
written and about which countless discourses, lectures, and sermons have been
spoken. But it is also such an intensely personal and individual phenomenon that
I find it difficult to address in any generalized kind of way. Grief is not
abstract; it is something that only becomes "real" when you experience it
yourself; or when someone who is in grief, and often shock, reaches out to you
for solace and support--or when you reach out to offer solace and support.
Everything else "about" grief is really so much talk or so many words. When I
heard from the Standbridges a few days ago as they were reeling from the news
about how their close friend had been killed in an episode of domestic
violence--and asking me to place one of the candles of concern for them on this
Sunday--the very last thing they needed from me, or anybody else, right then was
a discourse "about" grief. In that moment they knew far more about it than I
could ever tell them--or needed to tell them about grief. And yet, it is when we
have the opportunity and the space to be some steps removed from the immediate,
sometimes white-hot reality of a situation--that we then have a chance to learn
and grow from it. This is when words "about" something can be meaningful. Among
the many reasons that we come together into this place, and gather as we do on a
Sunday morning, is to reflect upon the nature of our lives, and upon the
sometimes baffling and trying world in which we live them; and be able to do so
when we are not--at least for the moments we spend here--flat up against some of
life's many challenges.
In gathering my thoughts on the subject of grief I did look over at least
some of the voluminous literature on the subject. One book I especially
appreciated, especially its opening chapters, was called Giving Sorrow
Words. Its author is Candace, or "Candy" Lightner. She founded the
organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving after her 13 year old daughter was
killed by a drunk driver. In the opening paragraph of a chapter entitled "The
Cycle of Sorrow" she writes:
"The price of life is loss. From the moment of birth when we leave
the womb forever, we face loss in many ways. We move and never see our childhood
home again; friendships fade; we may lose money, possessions, hope; we change
jobs; we graduate; we marry and divorce. Every change, desired or not, large or
small, involves loss. Losses shape our lives."
She puts it very well. But to view one's life as only a series of losses can
be a pretty depressing perspective: Why live at all if its simply one loss after
another? My own answer to that question is that loss is also a prelude to
transformation. If life is a series of losses, then it is also a series of
transformations that come out of those losses; and we each have some choices as
to what kind of transformations they will be. If it is true, as Ms. Lightner
says, that "losses shape our lives" the affirmative part of that truth is that
we have some say-so as to what that shape will be. I'll return to this point in
a few minutes.
Lightner gets to where she's really going with this paragraph as she
continues on:
"Losses shape our lives. And of these, the most universal,
inevitable, and serious loss is the death of someone we love (and) it is the
loss for which most of us are least prepared."This is true
universally? Yes, I would say so. The anticipated death of an elderly relative
or loved one is probably not going to be as singularly devastating and painful
as the unexpected death of one's child--or niece or nephew or grandchild; but
all such losses take something away from the sum total of our lives.
I knew for 2 or 3 months, back in 1979, that my father's death was
approaching, but getting the actual news of it still left me stunned for a time
so that I literally could not move other than to sit down on a couch. In my case
the "hit with a stun gun" phase didn't last long; but I still needed some time
to take in the news, with all my accompanying feelings that went with it, even
knowing it was news I'd be soon receiving. When death is unexpected, or
completely unanticipated, that shock/stun time is certainly going to last
considerably longer. However long or short its duration this initial shock or
stunning time is usually the first part of a grieving process.
I use the phrase "grieving process", however, with no small amount of
trepidation and with far more caveats than certainties. Simply put, there is no
such thing as a grieving process; there are a myriad of grieving
processes that persons in grief pass through in their own way and at their
own pace. In doing just a quick scan on some of the literature on grief, death,
and dying over the past couple of weeks I must have come across at least half a
dozen different listing of "grief process stages" that were being presented as
the path one walks in eventually coming to a healed state. These listings had
their similarities, the themes often overlapped, and a lot of the information
was helpful. But the best take came again from Candace Lightner:
"The truth is, grief is messy. One phase overlaps another; emotions
we thought were gone for good can reappear for no apparent reason. Some people
are overwhelmed by emotions other people barely notice. The concept of grieving
in phases is not [emphasis added] an accurate one, (but) it does provide
a way to think about (it)." Then she adds:
"In my view the simplest division is the best: the beginning, the
middle, and the rest of your life."That's as good a way of putting
it as any. If, as I'm suggesting, grief is a route to healing it is anything but
a straight road. There are twists and turns; it occasionally loops back on
itself. And you never completely stop traveling it.
I've already spoken to that first part of being shocked, stunned, and on some
level even denying that the loss has happened. Denial is not altogether wrong or
bad at the very onset of grief. In getting together with families in the
aftermath of a death to plan a service, for example, I'm often quite aware that
they are putting aside--as best they can--their feelings in order to just take
care of what has to be done right then.
As the shock part wears off there is a middle phase which is usually a
hodgepodge of anger, depression, guilt, and maybe even fear--fear, that is that
the world is not as safe a place as you'd felt it was before. I remember
Forrester Church once saying in a sermon that as long as you have at least one
parent alive, up there on the rung of the ladder above you, you feel somehow
protected in a way. (That's not terribly rational, but its not an uncommon sense
or feeling either.) When they're gone, you suddenly realize that you're the one
at the top of the ladder now; there's no "protection" left.
The anger and guilt often have to do with unfinished business you may have
with the one who has died; with things you didn't get resolved, or at least
resolved to the extent that they might have been. I still regret that I didn't
try at least a little harder to share with my father why my own religious path
had taken such a different direction than the one he'd striven so hard to raise
me in. He wasn't able to see my liberal religious ways, and my eventually
becoming a Unitarian Universalist, as just a series of choices I was making. He
took it as a personal rejection. Trying to get him to see otherwise might not
have made any difference, but I could have put forth a little more effort.
When the death occurs in a family where the atmosphere was largely a fearful
or threatening or abusive one the anger and depression and grief can be for a
happy childhood that never was. Where it was a healthy and nurturing family or
close personal relationship the depression is over the loss itself and is quite
natural up to a point. The time involved in this middle phase, with all that
goes with it, will vary greatly from person to person. Some will want and need
the company of friends and loved ones for help and support, while others will
need time away, and to themselves, to work things through.
In describing her own journey through this phase Ms. Lightner says that all
the time, energy, and great effort she put into launching and then directing
MADD was really a channeling of her anger over the senseless death of her
daughter. It was a very productive channeling of her anger in that it raised the
consciousness of the nation about the horrible dangers of drunk driving, and
changed the way we deal with drunk drivers who kill innocent people. But
Lightner goes on to say that it wasn't until she'd stepped down from the
Directorship of MADD, some 2-3 years after she'd started it, that she realized
that staying with her anger for the time she did, had kept her from really
feeling the pain of her actual loss, and that she still had a lot of this
"middle stage" grieving to do. She is very proud, and quite rightly so, of her
accomplishments with respect to the organization she founded; but she also sees
in retrospect how it extended her time of grief.
So there are very few "oughts" to be invoked in this middle phase, as in "you
really ought to be over this by now" or "you really ought to be getting out and
mixing a little more." Granted, a gentle push in these directions may need to be
lovingly offered in the case of a really prolonged bereavement, but I'm
convinced that most grieving persons instinctively know when its time to start
taking up the rest of their lives.
Then there's the rest of your life. The best description I've found of how
one who is bereaved knows that he or she is largely into this phase is when they
recognize that they are becoming more focused on the future than on the past;
and when certain new possibilities for life and living begin to present
themselves. Some of that middle phase stuff will come back now and then. As I
said; its a looping path. When I sat down to write this I really hadn't planned
on using any personal matters about my father, but things I'd long set aside
still managed to come back. It happens. Just one more take: Many of you've heard
me say he was a house painter, and he did most of his work when oil based house
paint was the norm. Although a stickler for cleanliness, Dad could never
completely get the oil paint smell out of his hands because of all the years of
using his brushes. To this day, nearly 20 years after his death, if my mother
gets a certain whiff of oil based paint it brings him back to her, and she has
to momentarily stop whatever she's doing while some sadness passes. Its a moment
that comes and goes very quickly since my mother is very much in the "rest of
her life" mode, but its still a reminder of how her life was touched for many
years, as well as changed and transformed in many ways by the relationship she
and my father had. So the road never completely ends, but the driving can become
largely enjoyable again at some point.
This brings me back to what I said earlier, that while life may be a series
of losses in many ways--including, but hardly limited to the loss of a loved
one--loss can also be a prelude to transformation. To move into that "rest of
your life" phase is to look at the possibilities of transformation, of personal
change. A loss that wounds can also make one strong in the broken places.
Roseanne Lurie observes:
"Grief is a cyclic thing. It goes off by itself, the way earthquakes
do. (Earthquakes) need to happen to keep the earth stable but they are still
overwhelming. Yet afterward you feel calmer."
When one's personal earth, or one's personal landscape, has become stabler
the challenge to then put to yourself go something like this: What do I take
from this loss; what "gifts" (if you're able to see it that way) are left to me
in the wake of this loss that can point my life in some new directions? I
believe this is how we find meaning in loss. Its a finding that usually comes
when the intensity of the grief has lessened. Then, this becomes the message we
can give ourselves: The personal challenge is that I still have to choose life
and how I'm going to live it. Because of the way in which a particular person,
now gone, touched me; or because of the way in which particular set of events or
circumstances, difficult as they may have been, presented themselves to me, I
now have an understanding of myself that I didn't have before, and I have some
things to offer to others that I didn't have before. I know that within this
congregation there are persons whose encounters with loss of one kind or
another, have later opened them up to being available to other members and
friends in ways that have greatly strengthened the overall ministry we have with
one another. One of the more gratifying aspects of my ministry here is hearing
about some the ways in which you take care of one another, especially in times
of personal grief or personal difficulty.
To move now to a final consideration, lets recall Deane Starr's words again:
"The real question in a religious orientation is not what to do with joy but
what to do with grief." I think the thing that hooked me on Candy Lightner's
book, to which I've been referring off and on this morning, was in the opening
pages when she was telling about having to arrange the memorial service for her
daughter who was killed by the drunk driver. She wrote that since she was not
strongly identified with any one religious tradition a friend referred her to
the local Unitarian Universalist minister who helped her plan and work out the
service. She went onto say how accommodating the UU minister was when it come to
using what she wanted--and not using what she didn't want--in the service.
Having been in that position a few times myself I decided, "I'm going to read
this woman's book."
There is no question that many persons in grief find strength, support, and
consolation from their religion--whatever it may be, and that it does help usher
them out of their immediate grief and into the "rest of their life". This was
ably demonstrated at the service held here a few weeks ago, and I certainly
respect and honor that. I also think it demeans a religion if it is used as a
way of explaining the unexplainable when it comes to an untimely death brought
on by an accident or by the act of one human being upon another or others. It is
a natural, human response to want an explanation for deaths like these, but to
attribute them to the intentional workings of a Supreme Being--workings that we
are supposedly not permitted to understand--borders, I feel, on the blasphemous.
Whatever ways of understand God I have come to, they do not include a Being who
allows some lives to go on while choosing to extinguish others. That idea is as
absurd as the untimely death itself. The very hard and sometimes painful truth,
again as I see it, is that we live in a world and universe that oftentimes
behaves toward us in capricious, arbitrary, and indifferent ways. The challenge
and task of a religious community to offer a loving and caring human response to
those who are bereaved by a death, instead of trying to find an explanation for
it.
I also well understand and respect how the idea of a continuing existence, in
some form, beyond physical death is a source of comfort and healing for those
most affected by the loss. There is only one way for me to know whether or not
there is such an continuing, conscious existence, and I'm not quite ready just
yet to find out. For what its worth, I'm a confirmed skeptic when it come to the
idea of a continuing, conscious existence after death. But I'm not skeptical at
all about the continuing embodiment of a deceased person's life in the lives of
others who are still living. Think of it this way: Some of the stars you see on
a clear night no longer exist; some of them died before our earth even took
shape. But standing on this earth you still see their light; and that light can
touch you and bless you and sustain you in some mysterious but meaningful ways.
The light the star sent out, while it was living, still allows it to live for
you, and for any others who catch its light. In a similar way, our lives are a
part of a larger Chain of Life, that has long preceded us and which will far
outdistance us. Part of the meaning of our lives lies in what we give to that
Chain of Life--and how we partake from what others have given. However painful
or inexplicable a particular loss of life within that Chain of Life may be--it
is still a life whose continuing light can bless and heal.
May our community here, then, ever be a source of peace and strength and hope
for who are in need of these things--as we each and all are at one time or
another. May the losses we have each and all known become, in time, part of a
larger "yes" we say to Life Itself.
The Religion of God
By Rev. John Naulin
2004-02-15
I've had many people ask me what religion I believe in and dedicate myself to. My answer is "all
religions" and here is the explanation of that belief:
No religious person questions the fact that God placed plants and their seeds all around the world, each in the environment where they can grow and flourish. I believe that in this way God pl...aced the seeds of his religion throughout the world, each in a way that the people of that portion of the world could understand and could worship.
I have studied religions ranging from ancient Hopi and Hinduism all the way to the more modern religions of Christianity and the Muslim Faith. They all carry within them many similarities and the same basic truths.
We live in an age where science has become almost a religion unto itself, yet the more science learns about the history of ancient times the more the old religious texts are holding up. Why then are men still killing men over the basic human right to worship as they please? Why does one faith keep trying to win over another and hold that only their belief is the correct one when both people believe basically the same thing?
Unfortunately, the answer to these questions can only be "Money and Power". For centuries religion has been used as a political weapon and force by those benefiting most by the continuation of seperatist visions of religion.I call for the assertion of logic in these times. The belief in God, in any form and by any name is a basic right, a freedom and is always good.
Encourage the belief in God. Foster the belief in Faith, and welcome all mankind into a future of unanimous religious expressoin!
2004-02-15
I've had many people ask me what religion I believe in and dedicate myself to. My answer is "all
religions" and here is the explanation of that belief:
No religious person questions the fact that God placed plants and their seeds all around the world, each in the environment where they can grow and flourish. I believe that in this way God pl...aced the seeds of his religion throughout the world, each in a way that the people of that portion of the world could understand and could worship.
I have studied religions ranging from ancient Hopi and Hinduism all the way to the more modern religions of Christianity and the Muslim Faith. They all carry within them many similarities and the same basic truths.
We live in an age where science has become almost a religion unto itself, yet the more science learns about the history of ancient times the more the old religious texts are holding up. Why then are men still killing men over the basic human right to worship as they please? Why does one faith keep trying to win over another and hold that only their belief is the correct one when both people believe basically the same thing?
Unfortunately, the answer to these questions can only be "Money and Power". For centuries religion has been used as a political weapon and force by those benefiting most by the continuation of seperatist visions of religion.I call for the assertion of logic in these times. The belief in God, in any form and by any name is a basic right, a freedom and is always good.
Encourage the belief in God. Foster the belief in Faith, and welcome all mankind into a future of unanimous religious expressoin!
You’re Unique, Just Like Everybody Else…No, Really, You Are!
Sermon by: Rev. December Fields-Bryant
You’re Unique, Just Like Everybody Else…No, Really, You Are!
I was struck this evening while reading of the dual purpose of humans in our world and how at odds those purposes seem. We desire to reach enlightenment, to return to the Divine and yet we also desire to live in the world, experience its beauty and adventure just as we were made to do.
Perhaps first I should share the reading that led me down this rabbit hole of thought. The following is an excerpt from Transformers: the artists of
self-creation by Jacquelyn Hall.
“Human beings are inherently designed to merge the ‘angel’ and the ‘fallen angel’ within, the primordial conflict between innocence and experience that has plagued humankind since the beginning of time. It is human nature to crave that familiar sense of fading back into that undifferentiated ‘empty fullness’ of the ineffable Eternal Parent who wraps her cloak of comforting wholeness around us in a state of non-dualistic, infinite bliss. Paradoxically, it is also our nature to discriminate, to separate off from the masses and enter fully into an experience of individuation, seeking our own creative expression. To get beyond duality and avoid feeling pulled apart by these opposing drives, we can learn to be in both places at once – unified and unique.”
This whole concept of dual-purpose and conflicting desires is understandable in a Wiccan perspective when we look at the creation story. The Primordial Goddess creates her counterpart, the Physical God who becomes the Universe and all the things in it in a Big Bang (so to speak). Seeking to experience Her counterpart, She descends through the realms and enters the world as all living things; She becomes our divine spark, our Soul. She seeks to experience the God even as She seeks to bring the God, the Physical back into Her and unify all parts of Her being.
If we were created by a Goddess with two purposes, to experience and to unify, it would make sense that we too would have these purposes, these desires. So where does that leave us without being torn apart? How do we reach this level of Unified Uniqueness?
Hall explains in Transformers that it is the Soul that seeks unification, while the Ego or Personality that seeks Individuation. She believes, and so do I, that the best way to attain both goals is to figure out what your Soul wants you to do to attain that Unity between yourself and Divinity, your Lower Self and Higher Self, you and your fellow man. This is your Life Purpose, your True Will. It could be to heal, to teach, to learn, etc. Only you can say.
When you have found your purpose, the thing that aids in attaining unity, you can achieve it through your own abilities and personality. This is where individuation comes in. For example, if your purpose is as a teacher, there are many teachers in the world but only one teacher that can do it like you. Mother Theresa was part of a whole group of nuns who helped people but there was only one Mother Theresa.
Think of this Unified Uniqueness like a company. The Soul is the owner of the business, the CEO. Your personality traits, skills, desires, the aspects of your ego are the VIPs. The CEO couldn’t run a company or do any good without the Ego. The Ego would work without purpose and without will if it didn’t have the Soul.
In the end, we are the whole of these two parts and purposes and both purposes are one.
Here is my Prayer:
Higher Self, Soul that contains our Unified Purpose, I invoke thee in our lives that we may see our True Will and Life Path.
I invoke our Ego that it may be strengthened with Purpose, may our Personalities be the tools that we need as well as the beautiful,
Unique stars that we are.
So mote it be.
You’re Unique, Just Like Everybody Else…No, Really, You Are!
I was struck this evening while reading of the dual purpose of humans in our world and how at odds those purposes seem. We desire to reach enlightenment, to return to the Divine and yet we also desire to live in the world, experience its beauty and adventure just as we were made to do.
Perhaps first I should share the reading that led me down this rabbit hole of thought. The following is an excerpt from Transformers: the artists of
self-creation by Jacquelyn Hall.
“Human beings are inherently designed to merge the ‘angel’ and the ‘fallen angel’ within, the primordial conflict between innocence and experience that has plagued humankind since the beginning of time. It is human nature to crave that familiar sense of fading back into that undifferentiated ‘empty fullness’ of the ineffable Eternal Parent who wraps her cloak of comforting wholeness around us in a state of non-dualistic, infinite bliss. Paradoxically, it is also our nature to discriminate, to separate off from the masses and enter fully into an experience of individuation, seeking our own creative expression. To get beyond duality and avoid feeling pulled apart by these opposing drives, we can learn to be in both places at once – unified and unique.”
This whole concept of dual-purpose and conflicting desires is understandable in a Wiccan perspective when we look at the creation story. The Primordial Goddess creates her counterpart, the Physical God who becomes the Universe and all the things in it in a Big Bang (so to speak). Seeking to experience Her counterpart, She descends through the realms and enters the world as all living things; She becomes our divine spark, our Soul. She seeks to experience the God even as She seeks to bring the God, the Physical back into Her and unify all parts of Her being.
If we were created by a Goddess with two purposes, to experience and to unify, it would make sense that we too would have these purposes, these desires. So where does that leave us without being torn apart? How do we reach this level of Unified Uniqueness?
Hall explains in Transformers that it is the Soul that seeks unification, while the Ego or Personality that seeks Individuation. She believes, and so do I, that the best way to attain both goals is to figure out what your Soul wants you to do to attain that Unity between yourself and Divinity, your Lower Self and Higher Self, you and your fellow man. This is your Life Purpose, your True Will. It could be to heal, to teach, to learn, etc. Only you can say.
When you have found your purpose, the thing that aids in attaining unity, you can achieve it through your own abilities and personality. This is where individuation comes in. For example, if your purpose is as a teacher, there are many teachers in the world but only one teacher that can do it like you. Mother Theresa was part of a whole group of nuns who helped people but there was only one Mother Theresa.
Think of this Unified Uniqueness like a company. The Soul is the owner of the business, the CEO. Your personality traits, skills, desires, the aspects of your ego are the VIPs. The CEO couldn’t run a company or do any good without the Ego. The Ego would work without purpose and without will if it didn’t have the Soul.
In the end, we are the whole of these two parts and purposes and both purposes are one.
Here is my Prayer:
Higher Self, Soul that contains our Unified Purpose, I invoke thee in our lives that we may see our True Will and Life Path.
I invoke our Ego that it may be strengthened with Purpose, may our Personalities be the tools that we need as well as the beautiful,
Unique stars that we are.
So mote it be.
The Connotations of Religion
Recent Gallup Polls continue to indicate the majority of Americans believe in God or a universal spirit (Gallup, 2009; Newport, 2006). In addition, a majority of Americans say that religion is very important or fairly important to their lives (Gallup, 2009; Winseman, 2005).
Many psychotherapists believe mental disturbance is associated with “absolute thinking.” This includes dogmatism; inflexibility; devout shoulds, oughts, and musts. The conclusion being extreme religiosity = emotional disturbance. (See Psychotherapy and Religious Values by Ellis, A in Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology (1980).)
I understand that many people view the term Religion with a bad taste in their mouth and see it only as its bad connotations. I have come across people who blame religion for all the ills of the world including war, rape, disease, starving countries, and more. They argue their point well, pointing out times in our human history where religion, faith, ministry, a calling from the Divine was the reason chosen by certain leaders to go out and commit the heinous acts of their reign.
I am not going to argue against them. I am not going to say all religion is holy and that they are wrong. I would, however, like to make a point of what I feel religion should be and how a person should lead a religious and spiritually fulfilling life.
Before I go on, however, I simply ask that you take all the bad connotations, all the remembrances of past evils committed in the name of religion, put them in their own little box and set them to the side for now, please.
Religion Should Be…
Religion should be aimed at nourishing human spirituality. Diversity in Religion, whether its diversity of beliefs or cultures or sexuality or whatever,
should be Celebrated. Religion should aid in reducing conflict and suffering in the world. Religion should provide a deep sense of purpose and meaning in life.
Religion should produce better human beings who demonstrate caring and acceptance of others. Religion should focus on the basic spiritual values of Love, Compassion, Forgiveness, Tolerance, Kindness, and Humane Work Religion should teach that these basic spiritual values are not luxuries; they are essential values for human survival.
To Lead a Religious Life…
Leading a Religious Life is characterized by Action. Acting on our beliefs, on the basic spiritual values, is what truly matters.
Look at the actions of people in this world that we view as good people. Mother Theresa, Gahndi, the Dalai Lama, etc. We see them as good people because of their actions. These are all people who belong to a certain religion, though not the same religion.
I do not write this to tell you that you should belong to a certain religion and that if you don’t you’re a bad person. Not at all. I just wanted to try and
clear the air around the term Religion. It doesn’t really matter what temple you pray at or who you pray to or what book you pray from. All that matters are your actions.
Ask yourself, is my faith, my spirituality, my religion, my belief system something that I actively choose and work with or is it something that I
passively accept? Do my actions reflect my basic spiritual values?
Here is my Prayer for You, Religion, the World
Divine Creator
I thank you for giving birth and life into this beautiful world of ours or giving us the intellect and freedom to make decisions for blessing us with compassion of understand the decisions made by others. Bless us further today and in the days to come that we may Act in accordance to our own hearts and our own spiritual values that we may not sit passively and place blame when our own actions could aid and give love instead.
I ask that you bless us and give us aid to attain our own life purpose to reach our personal and spiritual goals and to be a light to aid
and guide others in love. So mote it be.
December Fields-Bryant
Minister Universal Church of Light and Love
Many psychotherapists believe mental disturbance is associated with “absolute thinking.” This includes dogmatism; inflexibility; devout shoulds, oughts, and musts. The conclusion being extreme religiosity = emotional disturbance. (See Psychotherapy and Religious Values by Ellis, A in Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology (1980).)
I understand that many people view the term Religion with a bad taste in their mouth and see it only as its bad connotations. I have come across people who blame religion for all the ills of the world including war, rape, disease, starving countries, and more. They argue their point well, pointing out times in our human history where religion, faith, ministry, a calling from the Divine was the reason chosen by certain leaders to go out and commit the heinous acts of their reign.
I am not going to argue against them. I am not going to say all religion is holy and that they are wrong. I would, however, like to make a point of what I feel religion should be and how a person should lead a religious and spiritually fulfilling life.
Before I go on, however, I simply ask that you take all the bad connotations, all the remembrances of past evils committed in the name of religion, put them in their own little box and set them to the side for now, please.
Religion Should Be…
Religion should be aimed at nourishing human spirituality. Diversity in Religion, whether its diversity of beliefs or cultures or sexuality or whatever,
should be Celebrated. Religion should aid in reducing conflict and suffering in the world. Religion should provide a deep sense of purpose and meaning in life.
Religion should produce better human beings who demonstrate caring and acceptance of others. Religion should focus on the basic spiritual values of Love, Compassion, Forgiveness, Tolerance, Kindness, and Humane Work Religion should teach that these basic spiritual values are not luxuries; they are essential values for human survival.
To Lead a Religious Life…
Leading a Religious Life is characterized by Action. Acting on our beliefs, on the basic spiritual values, is what truly matters.
Look at the actions of people in this world that we view as good people. Mother Theresa, Gahndi, the Dalai Lama, etc. We see them as good people because of their actions. These are all people who belong to a certain religion, though not the same religion.
I do not write this to tell you that you should belong to a certain religion and that if you don’t you’re a bad person. Not at all. I just wanted to try and
clear the air around the term Religion. It doesn’t really matter what temple you pray at or who you pray to or what book you pray from. All that matters are your actions.
Ask yourself, is my faith, my spirituality, my religion, my belief system something that I actively choose and work with or is it something that I
passively accept? Do my actions reflect my basic spiritual values?
Here is my Prayer for You, Religion, the World
Divine Creator
I thank you for giving birth and life into this beautiful world of ours or giving us the intellect and freedom to make decisions for blessing us with compassion of understand the decisions made by others. Bless us further today and in the days to come that we may Act in accordance to our own hearts and our own spiritual values that we may not sit passively and place blame when our own actions could aid and give love instead.
I ask that you bless us and give us aid to attain our own life purpose to reach our personal and spiritual goals and to be a light to aid
and guide others in love. So mote it be.
December Fields-Bryant
Minister Universal Church of Light and Love
Gay Marriage: What’s Really At Stake?
I wish now to address another subject that has become an increasingly prominent concern in our national consciousness: Gay or Same Sex
marriage.
That this is an issue at all baffles me. Some say it is a matter of values. We’ll get to that a little later. But first, one logical question is why
talk about it here? Isn’t a part of our Six Fundamental Assumptions at Living Interfaith that sexual orientation should have no relevance in how we treat each other? Yes. But I would like to share with you today some thoughts, because this subject will come up in the next year, and I my hope is that we can discuss it with conviction, but also civilly.
I’m not gay. So why am I interested in gay rights? I’m not a woman, but I’m also interested in women’s rights. I’m not Muslim, yet I’m also interested in the rights of Muslims as well as those of all spiritual paths that seek compassion and community. The bottom line is that we are all brothers and sisters, and we ought to be interested in human rights.
But wait, we are told. God has proclaimed the sanctity of the male/female relationship calledmarriage. And why? … because it
is the only way to secure the future of humanity. Gay marriage should not be allowed, we are told, because it puts the future of humanity at risk. Or, as Byron Babione, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund wrote just a few weeks ago in an editorial, “Marriage between a man and a woman naturally builds family – mom, dad and children – and gives hope that the next generation will carry on into the future.” (USA Today, 10
May).
Let’s examine that a moment. Marriage between a man and a woman must be “protected” because only a marriage between a man and a woman gives us children. When I hear someone make that assertion, I ever so politely want to bring up the logical conclusions to be drawn from such a statement. Men and women my age are not going to be having children. Are those who are opposed to gay marriage hoping to outlaw senior
marriage as well? And some younger men and women, for varying reasons, decide not to have children. Are those who are opposed to gay marriage hoping to pass laws that annul any marriage which after, say, ten years has not been “fruitful?” And, of course, some people can’t have children.
Are those who are opposed to gay marriage eager to pass laws stating that if a doctor has found you unable to have children you may not marry?
And if they are not asking for this, then why not?
But what about those few passages in Scripture that seem to proclaim gays as an abomination? Well, if you look at those passages,
most are stating that same sex rape is an abomination. And it is. Just as rape by someone of the opposite sex is an abomination.
And if we are now down to one or two passages in Scripture, let’s remember that there are at least two passages in the Torah which clearly state that you owe your first born as a sacrifice to God. Realizing that on occasion it might have been tempting, I still wonder how many of us have actually fulfilled that law? And if you haven’t killed your first born as a sacrifice to God, why not? And hands, how many have participated in the stoning of an adulterer recently? And I do trust you’ve been a part of dealing harshly with anyone who has ever played football, as touching a pig skin makes a person unclean. And if not, then we interpret Scripture, rather than mindlessly take one passage out of context.
Ok then, we are told. What same sex marriage truly comes down to is values. Here I agree. It does come down to values. It is very much a
matter of values.
Let’s talk about values.
Let’s talk about the kind of values that allow people go without food sowe can balance the budget without raising taxes.
Let’s talk about values.
Let’s talk about a society so polarized, so completely captured by the“us and them” mentality that people can’t disagree with each other without trying to demonize and indeed destroy each other.
Let’s talk about values.
What about Jesus’ warning that it is easier for a camel to pass through
the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to get into heaven?
Let’s talk about values.
What about Muhammad’s proclamation that the best Islam is to feed the
hungry and spread peace among both friend and stranger?
Let’s talk about values.
What about the Jain injunction to consider the family of humankind one?
You want to talk about values?
What about Hillel’s question that if I am only for myself, what am I?
And the Buddha, and Bahaullah, and so many others. Yes, values are indeed important. And what we value, those values we are actually willing to act upon, as opposed to merely give lip-service, shows us for who we truly are.
We continue to allow children to live in poverty. We continue to divide and subdivide ourselves according to religion, “race,” gender, and any other excuse we can think of. We continue to allow seniors to have to choose between medicine and food. And then we obsess on whether two people of the same sex should be allowed to have the love that they share recognized.
I have a couple of friends, good people, who believe in their heart of hearts that any gay relationship is wrong. I disagree with them. I believe gay
rights are basic civil rights. But what I would ask of my friends, even if they disagree, is this. Even if you do believe that any gay relationship is wrong, given what we value most, given that we agree that love, compassion and justice for all peoples is our greatest, most sacred value, is denying the legal status of gay relationships really where you want to be spending your time and energy? Don’t all people, even those with whom
for whatever reason we may find fault, as long as they do no harm to others, have the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Do we really want to ignore illness, bigotry, poverty, hunger and homelessness, in order to throw stones at people
who happen to love each other differently than some of us believe they should?
Yes, I would urge us to look to our values. I would urge us to look deeply to our values.
We are all Children of the Universe
Blessings in Light and Love
Rev. Steven W. Scott PhD
marriage.
That this is an issue at all baffles me. Some say it is a matter of values. We’ll get to that a little later. But first, one logical question is why
talk about it here? Isn’t a part of our Six Fundamental Assumptions at Living Interfaith that sexual orientation should have no relevance in how we treat each other? Yes. But I would like to share with you today some thoughts, because this subject will come up in the next year, and I my hope is that we can discuss it with conviction, but also civilly.
I’m not gay. So why am I interested in gay rights? I’m not a woman, but I’m also interested in women’s rights. I’m not Muslim, yet I’m also interested in the rights of Muslims as well as those of all spiritual paths that seek compassion and community. The bottom line is that we are all brothers and sisters, and we ought to be interested in human rights.
But wait, we are told. God has proclaimed the sanctity of the male/female relationship calledmarriage. And why? … because it
is the only way to secure the future of humanity. Gay marriage should not be allowed, we are told, because it puts the future of humanity at risk. Or, as Byron Babione, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund wrote just a few weeks ago in an editorial, “Marriage between a man and a woman naturally builds family – mom, dad and children – and gives hope that the next generation will carry on into the future.” (USA Today, 10
May).
Let’s examine that a moment. Marriage between a man and a woman must be “protected” because only a marriage between a man and a woman gives us children. When I hear someone make that assertion, I ever so politely want to bring up the logical conclusions to be drawn from such a statement. Men and women my age are not going to be having children. Are those who are opposed to gay marriage hoping to outlaw senior
marriage as well? And some younger men and women, for varying reasons, decide not to have children. Are those who are opposed to gay marriage hoping to pass laws that annul any marriage which after, say, ten years has not been “fruitful?” And, of course, some people can’t have children.
Are those who are opposed to gay marriage eager to pass laws stating that if a doctor has found you unable to have children you may not marry?
And if they are not asking for this, then why not?
But what about those few passages in Scripture that seem to proclaim gays as an abomination? Well, if you look at those passages,
most are stating that same sex rape is an abomination. And it is. Just as rape by someone of the opposite sex is an abomination.
And if we are now down to one or two passages in Scripture, let’s remember that there are at least two passages in the Torah which clearly state that you owe your first born as a sacrifice to God. Realizing that on occasion it might have been tempting, I still wonder how many of us have actually fulfilled that law? And if you haven’t killed your first born as a sacrifice to God, why not? And hands, how many have participated in the stoning of an adulterer recently? And I do trust you’ve been a part of dealing harshly with anyone who has ever played football, as touching a pig skin makes a person unclean. And if not, then we interpret Scripture, rather than mindlessly take one passage out of context.
Ok then, we are told. What same sex marriage truly comes down to is values. Here I agree. It does come down to values. It is very much a
matter of values.
Let’s talk about values.
Let’s talk about the kind of values that allow people go without food sowe can balance the budget without raising taxes.
Let’s talk about values.
Let’s talk about a society so polarized, so completely captured by the“us and them” mentality that people can’t disagree with each other without trying to demonize and indeed destroy each other.
Let’s talk about values.
What about Jesus’ warning that it is easier for a camel to pass through
the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to get into heaven?
Let’s talk about values.
What about Muhammad’s proclamation that the best Islam is to feed the
hungry and spread peace among both friend and stranger?
Let’s talk about values.
What about the Jain injunction to consider the family of humankind one?
You want to talk about values?
What about Hillel’s question that if I am only for myself, what am I?
And the Buddha, and Bahaullah, and so many others. Yes, values are indeed important. And what we value, those values we are actually willing to act upon, as opposed to merely give lip-service, shows us for who we truly are.
We continue to allow children to live in poverty. We continue to divide and subdivide ourselves according to religion, “race,” gender, and any other excuse we can think of. We continue to allow seniors to have to choose between medicine and food. And then we obsess on whether two people of the same sex should be allowed to have the love that they share recognized.
I have a couple of friends, good people, who believe in their heart of hearts that any gay relationship is wrong. I disagree with them. I believe gay
rights are basic civil rights. But what I would ask of my friends, even if they disagree, is this. Even if you do believe that any gay relationship is wrong, given what we value most, given that we agree that love, compassion and justice for all peoples is our greatest, most sacred value, is denying the legal status of gay relationships really where you want to be spending your time and energy? Don’t all people, even those with whom
for whatever reason we may find fault, as long as they do no harm to others, have the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Do we really want to ignore illness, bigotry, poverty, hunger and homelessness, in order to throw stones at people
who happen to love each other differently than some of us believe they should?
Yes, I would urge us to look to our values. I would urge us to look deeply to our values.
We are all Children of the Universe
Blessings in Light and Love
Rev. Steven W. Scott PhD
Know that the whole of you is welcome
You are not asked to leave who you are at the door.” Perhaps it is time to look at those words again, because those simple words that by now we may be so used to that they just fly by, form the very core of who we are.
Know that the whole of you is welcome. The WHOLE of you. So we’re not just talking about spiritual paths, though it would certainly be a... big enough step if we were. Yes, Buddhist, Baha’i, Humanist, Jew, Muslim, Christian, Unitarian, Taoist, Pagan, Seeker, just to scratch the surface, yes, all of good will are welcome – not just “tolerated.” Welcome!
Yet we welcome the whole of you, and our spiritual paths are not the whole of us. Men and women, gay and straight, whatever our ethnicity or skin tone, wealthy, impoverished, middle class, or “other”, all of good will are welcome.
We come together. We come together. In a world that much too often seems to be coming apart, we come together. We come together, in community, to share and to live our Interfaith. And what does that mean? Many of you know that interfaith as a word is not quite as old as I am, but still, it’s been around a while. And here, at Universal Church of Light and Love, we seek to move the word itself a little bit further down the road. We seek to move Interfaith beyond the realm polite discussion, where it has been stuck for some time, and into how we actually live our lives. And that’s not always easy. So we come together, in community, not only to share but to support each other, to be there for each other.
I like that word. Interfaither. For me, Interfaithist speaks to page after page of doctrines and dogmas. Interfaithism? No thank you! Interfaither: a person who embraces Interfaith as a faith.
Interfaith, as a faith, teaches us that there are many paths to the sacred. And there is no one “right” path for everyone. And it is not so much the path you walk, as how you walk your path.
As John Donne put it, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
One of the great teachings of Interfaith is that your light is not a threat to mine. In a culture that seems obsessed with a zero sum world; that preaches the fear that there is only “so much” room as we climb higher; and if you make it up the ladder, I may not – Interfaith says no! Indeed, if I make it up the ladder and you haven’t yet, Interfaith says I should turn and offer you a helping hand – for we are in this together. By all means, shine your light as brightly as you can. It is no threat to me. Indeed, your light may well illuminate something that I’ve never seen before. Because truth be known, and habits being what they are, I tend to shine my light in this direction and not that one. And here you come, with your own light, shining, perhaps, in a slightly different direction – or a very different direction. Whoa! Never noticed that before! If we will truly respect each other, what a world we can build!
By pooling this little light of mine, and your little light, and your little light, and your little light … we can illuminate the earth! We can banish the darkness. But only if I respect your light, and you respect mine.
This is why we are called not merely to espouse Interfaith but to live it; to flaming live it!
And that means, among other things, nurturing each other’s light.
Sometimes … sometimes our light can feel dimmed. Life has been known to throw us some pretty nasty curves from time to time. I’ve had them
tossed at me. I feel pretty secure that if you’ve lived any time at all, they’ve been tossed at you. Loss, heartache, stress. Interfaith is a
dedication not simply to this little light of mine. And, quite frankly, not simply to these little lights of ours. Interfaith is a dedication to all light.
All light. Even if it shines in an area we’d just as soon leave dark.
There’s an ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” Now, the truth of it is, just in case someone is “fact checking” this sharing, the truth of it is that this ancient Chinese curse is neither ancient nor in all likelihood Chinese. Nonetheless, we do live in interesting times. Challenging
times. Challenging to us as individuals. Challenging to us as a nation. Challenging to us as the human race.
I remember a song from when I was a teenager, and I blush, just slightly, to admit that that’s roughly half a
century ago. It was called “Eve of Destruction.” My Brothers and Sisters were older and would play this song. As it was Post vietnam.
But the theme was: we’re on the abyss. We’re on the eve of destruction. Which, let’s face it, makes for a pretty long “eve” if we’re still, today, on the eve of destruction.
Nonetheless, there is one phrase that has stayed with me over the years. It cried out to my Interfaith soul even then. “Hate your next
door neighbor but don’t forget to say grace.” Hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace. Interfaith teaches us that we cannot truly say grace if we hate our neighbor. And it also teaches us that every human on earth is our neighbor. This doesn’t mean we will always agree with our neighbor. It doesn’t mean that we may not strongly disagree with our neighbor. It happens. But disagreement doesn’t change the fact that she or he is our neighbor. Jewish teaching, echoed by Jesus and Muhammad, tells us that we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. In Taoism, it’s the same message, though the wording is different. “He who can find no room for others lacks compassion, and to him who lacks compassion, all men are strangers.” In Buddhism, “As a mother guards the life of her child with her own life, let all-embracing thoughts for all that lives be thine.” From the writings of the Baha’i, “To be Baha’i is simply to love humanity…” Love. We may quibble about the phrasing, and many make a living at it, but at its heart, we are all called to love. We are called to love our neighbor. And we are reminded that our neighbor is all of humanity.
I think a part of the teaching is that each of us, though we may have a BIG ego, has a little light. And each and every one of us has right
for that light to shine. That is Interfaith at its core. That is how we live Interfaith.
I believe we have the right and obligation to let our light shine. Each and every one of us. Every soul on earth. And no one’s right to
shine is greater than another’s.
No matter if you live now far or near,
No matter what your weakness or your strength,
There is not one alive we count outside.
May deeper joy for all now come at length.
May deeper joy for all now come at length.
~Blessings
in Universal Light and Love
Rev. Steven W. Scott PhD
We are all Children of the Universe
2/17/2013
resources: Interfaith Teachings
Know that the whole of you is welcome. The WHOLE of you. So we’re not just talking about spiritual paths, though it would certainly be a... big enough step if we were. Yes, Buddhist, Baha’i, Humanist, Jew, Muslim, Christian, Unitarian, Taoist, Pagan, Seeker, just to scratch the surface, yes, all of good will are welcome – not just “tolerated.” Welcome!
Yet we welcome the whole of you, and our spiritual paths are not the whole of us. Men and women, gay and straight, whatever our ethnicity or skin tone, wealthy, impoverished, middle class, or “other”, all of good will are welcome.
We come together. We come together. In a world that much too often seems to be coming apart, we come together. We come together, in community, to share and to live our Interfaith. And what does that mean? Many of you know that interfaith as a word is not quite as old as I am, but still, it’s been around a while. And here, at Universal Church of Light and Love, we seek to move the word itself a little bit further down the road. We seek to move Interfaith beyond the realm polite discussion, where it has been stuck for some time, and into how we actually live our lives. And that’s not always easy. So we come together, in community, not only to share but to support each other, to be there for each other.
I like that word. Interfaither. For me, Interfaithist speaks to page after page of doctrines and dogmas. Interfaithism? No thank you! Interfaither: a person who embraces Interfaith as a faith.
Interfaith, as a faith, teaches us that there are many paths to the sacred. And there is no one “right” path for everyone. And it is not so much the path you walk, as how you walk your path.
As John Donne put it, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
One of the great teachings of Interfaith is that your light is not a threat to mine. In a culture that seems obsessed with a zero sum world; that preaches the fear that there is only “so much” room as we climb higher; and if you make it up the ladder, I may not – Interfaith says no! Indeed, if I make it up the ladder and you haven’t yet, Interfaith says I should turn and offer you a helping hand – for we are in this together. By all means, shine your light as brightly as you can. It is no threat to me. Indeed, your light may well illuminate something that I’ve never seen before. Because truth be known, and habits being what they are, I tend to shine my light in this direction and not that one. And here you come, with your own light, shining, perhaps, in a slightly different direction – or a very different direction. Whoa! Never noticed that before! If we will truly respect each other, what a world we can build!
By pooling this little light of mine, and your little light, and your little light, and your little light … we can illuminate the earth! We can banish the darkness. But only if I respect your light, and you respect mine.
This is why we are called not merely to espouse Interfaith but to live it; to flaming live it!
And that means, among other things, nurturing each other’s light.
Sometimes … sometimes our light can feel dimmed. Life has been known to throw us some pretty nasty curves from time to time. I’ve had them
tossed at me. I feel pretty secure that if you’ve lived any time at all, they’ve been tossed at you. Loss, heartache, stress. Interfaith is a
dedication not simply to this little light of mine. And, quite frankly, not simply to these little lights of ours. Interfaith is a dedication to all light.
All light. Even if it shines in an area we’d just as soon leave dark.
There’s an ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” Now, the truth of it is, just in case someone is “fact checking” this sharing, the truth of it is that this ancient Chinese curse is neither ancient nor in all likelihood Chinese. Nonetheless, we do live in interesting times. Challenging
times. Challenging to us as individuals. Challenging to us as a nation. Challenging to us as the human race.
I remember a song from when I was a teenager, and I blush, just slightly, to admit that that’s roughly half a
century ago. It was called “Eve of Destruction.” My Brothers and Sisters were older and would play this song. As it was Post vietnam.
But the theme was: we’re on the abyss. We’re on the eve of destruction. Which, let’s face it, makes for a pretty long “eve” if we’re still, today, on the eve of destruction.
Nonetheless, there is one phrase that has stayed with me over the years. It cried out to my Interfaith soul even then. “Hate your next
door neighbor but don’t forget to say grace.” Hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace. Interfaith teaches us that we cannot truly say grace if we hate our neighbor. And it also teaches us that every human on earth is our neighbor. This doesn’t mean we will always agree with our neighbor. It doesn’t mean that we may not strongly disagree with our neighbor. It happens. But disagreement doesn’t change the fact that she or he is our neighbor. Jewish teaching, echoed by Jesus and Muhammad, tells us that we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. In Taoism, it’s the same message, though the wording is different. “He who can find no room for others lacks compassion, and to him who lacks compassion, all men are strangers.” In Buddhism, “As a mother guards the life of her child with her own life, let all-embracing thoughts for all that lives be thine.” From the writings of the Baha’i, “To be Baha’i is simply to love humanity…” Love. We may quibble about the phrasing, and many make a living at it, but at its heart, we are all called to love. We are called to love our neighbor. And we are reminded that our neighbor is all of humanity.
I think a part of the teaching is that each of us, though we may have a BIG ego, has a little light. And each and every one of us has right
for that light to shine. That is Interfaith at its core. That is how we live Interfaith.
I believe we have the right and obligation to let our light shine. Each and every one of us. Every soul on earth. And no one’s right to
shine is greater than another’s.
No matter if you live now far or near,
No matter what your weakness or your strength,
There is not one alive we count outside.
May deeper joy for all now come at length.
May deeper joy for all now come at length.
~Blessings
in Universal Light and Love
Rev. Steven W. Scott PhD
We are all Children of the Universe
2/17/2013
resources: Interfaith Teachings
United Spirits of Many Faiths
By Rev. Steven Scott PhD (Pastor Universal Church of Light and Love)
Sunday Feb. 10th 2013
Today I am going to speak on a subject of great controversy in
these times for Religious Institutions.
Uniting the People of all Faiths to understand
each other and to share with each other the spiritual and divine gifts they have
received from the Spirit of the Universe. From God, from Buda, Jesus, Muhammad,
Your Angels, and this list can go on as there are many Religions. But
in spirituality we are truly all one Faith. The faith to believe in that which
we believe is the Higher Conciseness a spiritual energy that flows with in is all.
Why can’t all the different religions understand each other that
they all are trying to achieve the same thing in the Golden Rule and what
direction, path their spirit will go in the afterlife; One religion believes
one thing and another religion believes another in doctrine, but all strive to
save their soul.
I am going to use Revelations in this message and messages from
other beliefs in conveying the point I am trying to make in unifying our faiths
and coming to an understanding of Peace amongst us all, if you truly wish for
peace and for freedom of religion than please read along.
Revelations Chapter 2 many theologians believe the Apostle Paul
wrote the Seven letters to the Seven Angels of the Seven Churches.
Please remember that the Bible was formed by many gospels and
writings that were compiled by man and inspired by the will of God and that many
other gospels were omitted if conflicted with the Roman Catholic Church at this
time of Constantine Emperor of Rome.
I encourage you to read these letters for yourself to help in
your own interpretation of the scripture.
My interpretation of the letters is that most of the Churches had
a piece of the Faith Puzzle in the religions of the seven churches, but not all.
The Author I believe meant the Churches of Today not the Churches of the past as
many Theologians believe because it is a book of revelation of prophecy that has
yet to come. The Author may have been telling the Churches you all have a piece
and not all and that together they could all come to know all the gifts. Each
one may hold a piece of the puzzle and together they can share and obtain all
the gifts of the Universe and their own personal salvation in the way they
choose to believe in and all would respect how each one obtains it and
understand it is the goal of us all.
Spiritual Awakening and living a good and righteous life that is
of love and respect for all in the Universe starting with our own Planet.
Whatever we believe in gaining Spiritual Growth and coming to the
gifts of Manifestation that we ourselves obtain with in is all.
I believe Jesus tried to teach that the Church is within us, that
the spirit is within us and not an institution not a building. That we have the
ability to Manifest our conciseness to commune with our Universal Higher
Conciseness through love and understanding of one another and to take care of
our planet as we are stewards of our Planet.
I respect you
I accept you
I believe in you
I will listen to you
I will learn from you all that I can
I will teach you all that I can
I will love you
I will live with you in Peace
We all have the Freedom to choose and that is the most important
gift of all Free Will.
I have recently seen a quote I do not know who by but I believe
it true and a key understanding in understanding us all.
Just because I am not on the same path as you
does not mean I am on the wrong path. Something I have also shared on Facebook.
And I say “We all choose a path to reach spiritual growth and not
all take the same path but we are all going the same
direction”.
We need to all come together and let our Love and Understanding
of each other be our guide in coming together in a mutual respect and learn from
each other all the gifts we can possibly receive and let Peace reign over our
Planet Mother Earth. Let our Father-Mother in the Energy of the Universe Unite
us All. We are all going the same direction let us take that Journey together.
The path is clear on all roads choose your path and respect your neighbor’s
path, hold the compass true North.
Thank you for joining me.
Universal Blessings and Love to you all.
Sunday Feb. 10th 2013
Today I am going to speak on a subject of great controversy in
these times for Religious Institutions.
Uniting the People of all Faiths to understand
each other and to share with each other the spiritual and divine gifts they have
received from the Spirit of the Universe. From God, from Buda, Jesus, Muhammad,
Your Angels, and this list can go on as there are many Religions. But
in spirituality we are truly all one Faith. The faith to believe in that which
we believe is the Higher Conciseness a spiritual energy that flows with in is all.
Why can’t all the different religions understand each other that
they all are trying to achieve the same thing in the Golden Rule and what
direction, path their spirit will go in the afterlife; One religion believes
one thing and another religion believes another in doctrine, but all strive to
save their soul.
I am going to use Revelations in this message and messages from
other beliefs in conveying the point I am trying to make in unifying our faiths
and coming to an understanding of Peace amongst us all, if you truly wish for
peace and for freedom of religion than please read along.
Revelations Chapter 2 many theologians believe the Apostle Paul
wrote the Seven letters to the Seven Angels of the Seven Churches.
Please remember that the Bible was formed by many gospels and
writings that were compiled by man and inspired by the will of God and that many
other gospels were omitted if conflicted with the Roman Catholic Church at this
time of Constantine Emperor of Rome.
I encourage you to read these letters for yourself to help in
your own interpretation of the scripture.
My interpretation of the letters is that most of the Churches had
a piece of the Faith Puzzle in the religions of the seven churches, but not all.
The Author I believe meant the Churches of Today not the Churches of the past as
many Theologians believe because it is a book of revelation of prophecy that has
yet to come. The Author may have been telling the Churches you all have a piece
and not all and that together they could all come to know all the gifts. Each
one may hold a piece of the puzzle and together they can share and obtain all
the gifts of the Universe and their own personal salvation in the way they
choose to believe in and all would respect how each one obtains it and
understand it is the goal of us all.
Spiritual Awakening and living a good and righteous life that is
of love and respect for all in the Universe starting with our own Planet.
Whatever we believe in gaining Spiritual Growth and coming to the
gifts of Manifestation that we ourselves obtain with in is all.
I believe Jesus tried to teach that the Church is within us, that
the spirit is within us and not an institution not a building. That we have the
ability to Manifest our conciseness to commune with our Universal Higher
Conciseness through love and understanding of one another and to take care of
our planet as we are stewards of our Planet.
I respect you
I accept you
I believe in you
I will listen to you
I will learn from you all that I can
I will teach you all that I can
I will love you
I will live with you in Peace
We all have the Freedom to choose and that is the most important
gift of all Free Will.
I have recently seen a quote I do not know who by but I believe
it true and a key understanding in understanding us all.
Just because I am not on the same path as you
does not mean I am on the wrong path. Something I have also shared on Facebook.
And I say “We all choose a path to reach spiritual growth and not
all take the same path but we are all going the same
direction”.
We need to all come together and let our Love and Understanding
of each other be our guide in coming together in a mutual respect and learn from
each other all the gifts we can possibly receive and let Peace reign over our
Planet Mother Earth. Let our Father-Mother in the Energy of the Universe Unite
us All. We are all going the same direction let us take that Journey together.
The path is clear on all roads choose your path and respect your neighbor’s
path, hold the compass true North.
Thank you for joining me.
Universal Blessings and Love to you all.
The Power of Understanding
by Rev. Steven W. Scott (Pastor)
Feb. 8th 2013
Understanding is probably the biggest key to achieving love, peace and harmony. Only when we really understand each other can we truly forgive, accept and come to love.
Look at the problems that society faces today, war, bitterness, hatred, crime, greed, envy, racism, starvation, poverty, sexism? They all are as a result of a lack of understanding.
One of the greatest attributes of our church is it's understanding of multiple beliefs, it's acceptance comes through the fundamental understanding that love of god or spiritual awakening and growth, in whatever form is good. Man created churches and faiths, many believe there is one god and that man has created many different faiths and churches for this one god, we may use different language, we may have differences in what we believe is right and wrong, but we all have a fundamental belief in god a higher power spiritual awakening and a set of basic moralities that have come from Universal Faith. Pagans believe in many Gods or Goddesses or just in nature and the Universe. Paganism and Satanism is not the same as many Christian Churches will have you believe. Paganism; Pagans do not believe in the God Jehovah and the Devil or Heaven and Hell. Satanism; Satan Worshipers, Satanist believe in the Devil from the Bible.
Moving on there are many beliefs and we respect them all in the Church and we are all perusing the same spiritual awakening in ourselves and the pursuit of peace and happiness.
We need to take the time to Understand One Another respect each other’s beliefs and come together in Peace. Understanding is power and that understanding can be what brings peace with in us all.
We have a duty to our spiritual selves in spiritual growth, to be the best we can, and to be the best we can, we need to have understanding of each other. Come together all faiths and break the proverbial bread with your Brothers and Sisters of the Universe.
Understanding each other gives great power to us all and the Church as a whole. If we share our different ways together and techniques for meditation, prayer, and healing we are strong as a whole. There is power in prayer and in numbers, power in meditation in numbers as a collective energy.
Coming together as a community to help sustain and be self-sufficient. Meditating and Praying together to keep
our minds healthy and in tune with the Universe. We are all Children of theUniverse and we all have the power to Manifest good with in us. The gifts of Heaven, the Gifts of the Universe are within us all. We have the power to
Manifest Healing, prosperity, cope with depression and anxiety through meditation and herbal/aroma therapy, acupressure and so much more. Meditation can help the body and mind become stronger and support from others and in numbers can bring many blessings to us all as a Unified Church.
In closing;
I like to add a meditation to the Sermon so we can become in tune and leave this message with positive affirmations to bless you through the rest of your day and until we come together again.
Meditation for this Sermon
I open my mind to Understanding
I open my mind to the will of the Universe
I open my mind to the gifts of the Universe
I am a Child of the Universe
My mind has power
I inhale the positive
I exhale the negative
I am one with the Universe
I am at Peace
(END)
Be kind to one another we are all Children of the Universe
Thank you for joining me for this Sermon
Universal Blessings to you all
Peace = Understanding and Respect
By Rev. Raymond Munoz, PhD
The Simple Formula For Peace
Peace is something that everyone seems to want, but no one knows how to
achieve successfully. The key to attaining worldwide peace is this simple formula:
Peace = Understanding + Respect.
Let me give you a few definitions before we get more in depth into the formula. Peace is defined as the
absence of war or other hostilities. Understanding, in this situation, is defined as knowing and being tolerant
of another's point of view. And finally, respect is defined as a willingness to show consideration and
appreciation for the beliefs of others.
In order to achieve a world without war and hostility, you need understanding and respect. Without
understanding and respect, we have nothing but a world full of intolerant individuals, each concerned only with
their own beliefs and ideals. We currently live in a world full of selfish people that believe that their way
is right, and anyone else's way of thinking that differs even slightly from their beliefs is wrong!
The first thing we need in order to successfully complete the peace formula is understanding. What can we do in order to bring understanding into the equation? It's simple really. What we need to do is promote more openmindedness when it comes to studying other belief
systems. I've encountered Christians that believe that anyone that's not a Christian, for example Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc., is going straight
to hell after they die. I've also encountered Muslims that believe that Christians and Jews are their mortal enemies and therefore must not be
thought of as "friends." Why do we insist on holding on to such outdated beliefs? This isn't the 5th century, this is the 21st century! If we would
only take a little time to learn about and understand each other's differing views and get rid of some of these outdated belief systems, we would be much better off and the first part of the peace equation would be complete!
The second part of the peace equation is respect. We can tolerate other people's viewpoints, but without respecting their views and
showing consideration for them when making decisions, the concept of understanding becomes moot. If we don't show respect for other people's
beliefs and take them into consideration when making a decision, you can pretty much rest assured that not all parties involved are going to be happy with the final decision. Take what's going on in Israel right now for example. Everyone is proclaiming, "Oh, we want peace!" But neither side is willing to respect the other's point of view and make any sort of compromise. Without this, the peace process in Israel may never be fulfilled
and the Israelis and the Palestinians will remain fighting for centuries to come!
Though it may seem that I'm coming from some sort of religious and cultural viewpoint by presenting the two examples above, the concepts
of understanding and respect relate to many events that take place in our everyday lives. If we just take a closer look at what's going on and try
to understand and respect each other's views when it comes to the decisions we make everyday, the world will definitely be a much better place and
the equation of peace will be complete, or at least given a chance to succeed!
Rev. Raymond Munoz, PhD