"Soon the Day Will Arrive"

Earth mother, star mother, You who are called by a thousand names, May all remember we are cells in your body and dance together. You are the grain and the loaf that sustains us each day. And as you are patient with our struggles to learn So shall we be patient with ourselves and each other. We are radiant light and sacred dark the balance You are the embrace that
heartens And the freedom beyond fear. Within you we are born, we grow, live, and die You bring us around the circle to rebirth, With us you dance Forever. Starhawk Reading #524 Singing the Living Tradition

As many of you have already figured out, I like to tell stories. Often when I sit down to write a sermon, I find myself writing vignettes instead. Today is no exception. I've got five stories for you today. Each one concerns someone who is living our sixth Unitarian Universalist principle - we affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace,
liberty, and justice for all.

Story One: Nations

Stanley walked the beach southward, into the wind. He felt its cleansing power driving the poisons of discouragement and self-pity from his body. It was tough being unemployed, especially since he and Jean were living so extravagantly.

He and Jean had cut back on a lot of things. Now they had their house on the market. The market was flat, and they were thinking that if it didn't sell they might move into the downstairs guest quarters and rent out the first and second floors. They could probably get enough rent to pay the mortgage. They had decided to try to keep up the children's private lessons as long as they could. Cecily was really getting the hang of playing the clarinet, and Herb loved the viola.

Now they were down in Florida to clean out and spruce up their condo, to get it ready to sell. They were lucky their misfortune came during high season. They felt fairly confident they would find a buyer for the condo. And Lord knows they had the time to do the work to get it ready to sell.

With Stanley's body purged of fear, his senses calmed by rehearsing all that he and Jean had done and would do to cut their expenses, he turned his mind to considering the news he'd read among his e-mail messages last night.

George, a former associate from Canada wrote to say he was very concerned about a multi-lateral agreement on investments (or MAI) that is coming out of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (or OECD), a Paris-based intergovernmental organization. Final international negotiations are scheduled to conclude in May, then the MAI will make its way through the Canadian parliament and the United States congress.

George's rhetoric in his e-mail message was very alarmist. He spoke of the treaty as being very frightening and threatening. He said it would impinge on states' and nations' ability to enforce environmental protection laws, labor laws, welfare, public education and other social policies. Further, he called it a real threat to democracy itself, because of the power it gives to private and corporate investors, at the expense of governments and their electors.

Stanley did a little Internet research on his own after reading George's message. He found a long paper published by the Western Governors' Association which took a more supportive, albeit cautious stance. In the executive summary the authors urged that governors support the MAI in principle, as they did NAFTA and the Uruguay Round of the GATT, while at the same time lobbying the federal government to protect state sovereignty in the MAI.

Stanley was intrigued by the contrast between the caution in the Western Governors' Association document and George's e-mail. Was the MAI an evil takeover bid by greedy multinationals on their way to more complete control of the world economy? Or was the MAI another economic agreement which would further the current US unemployment trends, 4.6% now, perhaps under 4% this summer. Or was it both?

Stanley found himself curious about how the MAI would affect nations which are not members of the OECD. He planned to do some research on his laptop later this afternoon - after painting the ceilings in the condo, that is. Jean did walls, but she drew the line at ceilings. That was his work plan: first the ceiling, then the MAI.

Stanley reversed his direction, slowing to a light jog, the wind behind him. It felt good to have an objective for the day. He wanted to do his share of getting the condo ready to sell, and he wanted to find out more about the MAI. If MAI was going to set the "have" nations against the "have-nots", as George seemed to think, then he, Stanley, wanted to do something active to prevent that. And if the MAI was reasonable, needing course corrections but not a complete overhaul, then he, Stanley wanted to do something active to support that.

Stanley found that in his present circumstances he had to be careful about letting his paranoia overcome him. It was easy when you've had a major change in circumstances to see devils where none existed. And yet, as he pushed through the soft sand to his condo he wondered if George was right - that all the hullabaloo about Clinton's affairs was a planned distraction by those favoring passage of the MAI. George was sure of one thing: it was certainly new for a US president to apologize and become friends with a freely elected African president of Nelson Mandela's stature. Stanley found himself more willing to be lifted spiritually by that creative process than let his spirits be dampened by George's alarming message.

What was it Lao Tse said? "If there is to be peace in the world there must be peace between nations."

Stanley was puffing now. Only a few yards more to his building. As he approached the embankment he noticed a dark skinned woman coming down the public stairs. Strange, he thought, considering all the times I've run on this beach, I don't think I've ever seen an African American on the beach...

When Zakiya's feet touched the warm sand she felt tension melting from her body. She didn't often come across the bridge, honoring the memory of her mother and father, who had been prohibited from bathing in the Atlantic Ocean. They had to content themselves with swimming at Bethune Park, at the western edge of the Halifax River. No breakers there, no sir.

She liked to hear the surf crash. She was hoping El Nino would dish up some interesting shells for her, perhaps even some exotic flotsam. Once she had found a beautiful perfume bottle. It had been at low tide, and it was very early in the morning, before it was actually fully light. The bottle just barely stuck out of the wet sand. If it hadn't been for the angle of the rising sun, reflecting off the barely protruding mouth edge of the bottle, she would never have seen it.

Zakiya found it difficult to concentrate on her search. As she strolled down the beach facing the wind she realized she was being pelted by the fine, sugary sand. It stuck to her sunscreen - oh, well, better sunscreen than cancer. But she felt funny with all that sand sticking to her. Then she laughed, realizing she might look like a "sand woman" monster to those kids up ahead, instead of a Black woman out for a stroll on the beach - another kind of monster to their parents.

Zakiya was grateful she had an almost all-Black classroom. She was a good role model for the children. She had loved her time at the Bank Street School in New York, and now she was loving applying all that she had learned in Daytona. She was really concerned, however, about the politics of education in Florida and in the county.

Those people in Tallahassee were nuts if they thought the school districts down here were big. Why they didn't know what big was! It seemed to her the Volusia School District functioned about as well as most school systems did, except for their de facto segregated schools, that is. They had good access to federal grants, and, therefore, all the latest resources. But it worried her that the state might pass a bill making it possible for people in Volusia County to break the school district into smaller pieces. She, for one, didn't think smaller was necessarily better.

What the district did need to do was get its insurance act together. The article in the paper on Wednesday said the district was losing $9,000 a day with its present insurance plan. What she couldn't do with $9,000 - hire a part time aide, for one thing. If she had someone to help her with her paper work she could spend more time with the children.

Zakiya had an idea for breaking the insurance deadlock on the school board. She wondered what she might do to put her idea forward, or if that was the place where she wanted to make her stand. Wasn't the school board's intention to say prayers at its meetings the place where she should be counted? If they started saying prayers you can bet that the whole district would divide into two camps - those for it and those against it - and then truly nothing would get done.

As Zakiya began walking back to her car she wondered how many of the children in her school belong to families who were members of Islam. Perhaps she should invest her energy on the prayer issue. What was it that Lao Tse said? "If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities."

Surprised to see someone she knew, she stopped briefly to say good morning to her neighbor, Dennis. Too bad each hadn't known the other was coming out here. They could have driven together. But then, Dennis was spending more time than she could afford. She was glad he was looking better...

Dennis rearranged his body in the chair. It was still too cool to shed any clothes, but definitely warm enough to make him glad he'd lugged his chair and umbrella and backpack onto the beach. He was enjoying his new book, Naked Came the Manatee. What a great idea - gather a bunch of Florida writers. Assign each one a chapter, and let 'er rip. He loved Marion McAlister Williams, introduced in the first chapter and a force to be reckoned with throughout the book, as far as he'd gotten. She had to be a fictionalized version of that woman who wrote the book on the Everglades. And Booger was too much - who else besides Dave Barry would concoct a manatee character with such a name! He was glad Tananarive Due had been included among the authors - it would have been awful to have such a great book about Florida written without a contribution from an African American. Looking at the jacket he wondered who the Hispanic was. Surely Putnam had to have included an Hispanic among the thirteen writers!

Living in a ghetto changes your perspective on things, Dennis thought. Then he laughed, realizing what a crass understatement that was! He remembered the fear he felt when he drove to his house in Holly Hill, and realized the home he'd bought sight unseen with his meager inheritance was in an almost Black neighborhood. Although one could say he'd been living in a "salt and pepper" neighborhood for the last several years, this neighborhood was something else. He was the only white on the block!

Having Zakiya stop and say hello was a real turning point for him. She was the first person to speak to him since he moved there. And what a strange thing that they'd run into each other at the beach - this huge, monster beach that goes on for miles! What Zakiya said made sense - that his neighbors were suspicious of him. They thought he was a cop or some other informant set to live among them to tell the man who was doing what. Wouldn't they die laughing if they knew he was an ex con - albeit a sick one - come to Daytona to regain his health.

Dennis smiled thinking of the line he'd read from Lao Tse, "If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace in the neighborhoods." Maybe that was why he was called to live where he was - to be an agent for peace for once in his life. His first lesson was to learn how it feels to be discriminated against...

Chris felt blessed to have seen what she had seen on the beach this morning - an African American and a Euro American man talking together! Signs of inter-racial harmony strengthened her spiritually.

Now it was evening, and time to do their Thoreau thing. They were learning how to be rich in proportion to the things they could leave alone. Ever since she and Tim had sold their larger home and moved into the two bedroom bungalow they shared with their daughter Nathalie she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Living more simply, with fewer things, she and Tim were able to make do with two part-time instead of two full-time paychecks. Having more time meant they could spend more time with each other and with Nathalie.

This evening, as they did every evening, she and Tim would prepare dinner together. She was fixing a winter stew, made from root vegetables and flavored with mustard, molasses, dill and marjoram - yum. Tim would prepare the salad and cut up the cheeses and bread. Nathalie would set the table.

When they sat down they'd play a CD from their growing collection - perhaps the new Puccini. They'd light candles at the table and say grace, each giving thanks for some blessing they'd received that day. Seeing the man and woman talking on the beach would be the gift she'd share this evening.

She wondered where their three-way conversation would go tonight. She was thrilled that Nathalie was becoming such a good conversationalist. Chris was concerned that most of the kids at the high school where she taught couldn't carry on a conversation - some of them had no idea what conversation was. She wondered if some of them had ever been given permission to think for themselves or to share their ideas.

Chris was glad she and Tim were creating a more simple life style. Tim called their dinners their family recreation. He had been quoted in a newspaper article as saying, "Dinner is not something we rush through to go bowling."

Chris felt blessed that her family was learning the meaning of Lao Tse's words from the inside, "If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home." The peace in their home might make it possible for there to be peace in the home next door, where Michael lived. She hoped so...

Michael didn't care what his family said, he would not give up being a vegan. He would not give up going to People for Ethical Treatment of Animals demonstrations. And he would not give up wearing what he wanted to wear. He would sleep on the beach before he would give up living by his principles. He only had three months - a little less, even - before he graduated from high school. He prayed that he would make it. He knew he would make it. But it was hard sometimes.

His teacher and neighbor had been the one to give him a book of sayings by Lao Tse. There was one he liked especially:

If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home. If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.

He was starting at the bottom, trying to bring peace to his heart. That's why it was so important to him to become a vegan, and to demonstrate with the rest of the PETA people, and to do his Amnesty work. Living his principles gave him peace in his heart. Even his mother's fury, even his father's apathy could not dull the peaceful murmuring he felt in his heart since he became a vegan. Wouldn't his old friends be amazed to see that he spent his allowance on beans and vegetables, to augment what his mother put on the table to ensure his getting enough protein. It was hard to withstand her bribes - cookies made with butter were one of his weaknesses. But each day he followed his vegan diet the murmuring in his heart became stronger.

He smiled, and started back for home. He wouldn't sleep in the trees by the beach after all tonight. He'd go home. He didn't want his mother to worry. Perhaps in time she'd see he wasn't rebelling - he was taking baby steps down a new spiritual path.

Conclusion

You've just heard five brief stories. My hope is that they illustrate five different ways to honor our sixth Unitarian Universalist principle: to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. I've used words from Lao Tse as a framework. We are called to bring peace wherever we can - between nations, in cities, with our neighbors, at home, and within our hearts. Michael, Dennis, Zakiya, and Stanley are fictitious, but their circumstances come from real life. Chris' story appeared in the book, The Simple Living Guide. All five of our principal characters today are cells in the body of Life, dancing alone and together at the same time, just as we here at Community Church dance alone and together at the same time with each other and our families, our neighbors, other Volusians, other Americans (above and below the equator), and other creatures in the Universe.

Let us sing a prayer together. Listen to the tune. It is wonderfully lilting, calling us to dance alone and together in the body of Life. Hymn 146 "Soon the Day Will Arrive."