Introduction

As many of you know, I was in South Africa for ten days at the end of last month and the beginning of this month attending the Parliament of the World's Religions. As many of you know, today is the first day of Kwanzaa, an African-American celebration. As all of you know, in just a few days we will be celebrating the end of one century, the end of one millenium, and the beginning of a new year.

Setting aside the reality that this isn't the end of a century or a millenium for many, I want to use my experience at the Parliament to talk about a vision of the 21st century. I will use the seven principles of Kwanzaa as the organizing structure of my remarks. Rather than deliver my sermon in the usual way, I want to tell you seven parables. My hope is that these stories will give you a glimpse of the Parliament, as well as let you know you're in good company going into the new millennium.

Umojo ­ Unity

After only one day at the Parliament, Jane was exhausted. She was tired of walking ­ from her hotel to the bus, from the bus to the first session at Cape Technikon (the local technical school) ­ from Cape Tech back to the bus ­ from the bus to the second session at UCT (the University of Cape Town) ­ from UCT back to the bus and the hotel for dinner ­ then back to the bus and the Good Hope Centre for the plenary -- and then back to the bus and her hotel for a brief night's sleep. It was going to be a loooong nine days.

She wasn't the only one complaining. One woman said to Jane, "I've decided to take a "zen" approach. I'm going to find a room to sit in and take whatever comes my way." Jane decided to try it. What did she have to lose?! She might even learn something.

Given an alternative, she certainly wouldn't have chosen the next morning's first gathering: "Assessing the Faith Traditions of Southern Africa in Terms of Lesbian and Gay Inclusion." For one thing, it wasn't her topic. For another, she and Tim were only just now learning how to live with their estrangement from their gay son. She didn't really want to open up that wound. Perhaps "zen" was another name for the hand of God.

She hadn't expected to be touched. She hadn't expected to cry. The two clergymen who led the program were both ordained in the United States because no church in South Africa would ordain them. One of them talked about the irony of this when South Africa has the most inclusive national constitution in the world, granting the same rights to lesbians and gays as to every other person in South Africa. The other spoke of the fragility of the constitution. Sixty gay women and men in Cape Town and Johannesburg risked incarceration and torture to work within the African National Congress against apartheid. Their sacrifices won that inclusive language. The problem is that the new leadership within the ANC does not know this history. This pastor called the constitution "fragile", intimating that gays and lesbians could be written out as easily as they were written in.

As she thought of the dedication these two men had made and realized the challenges her son faced, the tears simply rolled out of her eyes and down her cheeks, to splash on the paper where she was taking notes.

Later that afternoon, seeing some of the photographs from South African townships in the Parliament gallery, Jane despaired of the chasm between the "haves" and "have nots" in the world ever being bridged to create unity. Even later, at the evening's plenary her spirits lifted slightly as Jim Kenney the Director of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions suggested a better word ­ harmony. Somehow harmony seemed more achievable to Jane than unity.

Kujichagulia ­ Self-determination

Carl felt proud to be a Unitarian Universalist as he listened to Gordon Oliver, a Cape Town Unitarian, former Cape Town mayor, and South African Co-Director of the Parliament talk about the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

Gordon was mayor of Cape Town at that time. Although his office was largely ceremonial ­ unlike mayors in the United States ­ he used what power and authority he had to make the celebration of Mandela's release inclusive of Blacks, Coloureds, and Whites. Gordon aligned himself with then Archbishop Tutu to say on national television and radio that not only would the celebration march happen, but he, Gordon, would be in it!

It was totally by accident that Carl had found himself within listening distance of Gordon, when they were both on the boat going over to Robben Island. About three hundred Parliament delegates had gotten up that morning in time to make a 6:15 AM departure from the Cape Town waterfront. They were going to a sunrise service to plant a peace pole on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and other ANC members had been held prisoner for more than a quarter of a century. The pole had four sides and the same prayer was written on each side "May Peace Prevail On Earth." Carl realized he'd seen a peace pole in the Unitarian Universalist church in Orlando when he visited there one Sunday. There was a booth at the fair where you could order one. Maybe he'd get one for his congregation.

When the boat reached the island and the delegates assembled for the dedication service, Carl was irritated that there was no Unitarian Universalist religious leader among those standing up front during the dedication. Given the fact that Jenkin Lloyd Jones, an eighteenth century Unitarian clergyman had helped pull together the first Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893, you'd think the current Parliament leadership would see to it that a Unitarian Universalist was invited to be part of any assembly of religious leadership.

Carl was glad the dedication service left him enough time to visit Nelson Mandela's cell ­ the only shrine he had ever wanted to visit. He was also glad the souvenir shop was open when they returned to the waterfront. The mouse pad he bought bore a quotation which helped him reorient his thinking from sectarianism to respect for those who had endured apartheid to end it:

While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument of our hardship and suffering. We would want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil. (Ahmed Kathrada, island museum chairperson)

Ujima ­ Collective Work and Responsibility

Sister Joan was delighted when the Dalai Lama gave up his native Tibetan and his prepared remarks, removed his glasses, and launched into what he called "his broken English" and a spontaneous address. She was most delighted when his holiness' called the delegates to resist the temptation to try to convert one another. So were the delegates ­ they applauded. Sister Joan smiled when she compared the Tibetan monk's advice for the new millennium with the Pope's. Only recently while visiting India, his holiness, the pontiff had urged conversion to Christianity ­ a hopeless task and a slap in the face of his hosts. Will we Catholics never learn?!

Sister Joan wasn't surprised by the proportional representation of the world's religions on the Parliament Council Board of Directors. She spent a few minutes one night figuring it all out:

These were all religions of which she had at least heard! What surprised her here in Cape Town was the plethora of groups from around the world she had never or barely heard of: Readers of the Urantia Book, Scientology, Chakra Circle, Interfaith, Shumei, Kashi Ashram, and neo-pagans by the score. She was glad the Christians were not given air time at the plenaries in the same proportion as their board membership. She was enjoying the variety of blessings and talks.

Using a document created at the 1993 Parliament, called "Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration," this Parliament Council presented a new document titled "A Call to Our Guiding Institutions." Addressed to seven areas of human life, the Call appeals for active, ongoing dialogue about the creation of a just, peaceful, and sustainable future on behalf of the entire Earth community.

The first Call is to Religion and Spirituality:

We envision a world in which
· the diverse religions, spiritual paths, and cultures are recognized and respected;
· religions and spiritual communities exist in harmony;
· the pursuit of justice and peace is nurtured by religion and spirituality and by dialogue between religious and spiritual communities;
· religious and spiritual teachings on wisdom, love, and compassion are prized;
· service is seen as an essential, uplifting religious and spiritual act;
· the Earth and all life are revered and cherished.

Sister Joan realized the wisdom in extending the call to "Spirituality' as well as to "Religion." Religion may become an obscure word we seldom hear before long, she thought. It may become as scarce as a celibate priest. With this she laughed and thought, "Maybe some day I'll be called to preach in my church, instead of just teaching the art of preaching to our brothers!"

With that she offered a little prayer, "Dear God, please relieve me of my envy every time I see the word "Reverend" on the badge of one of my Protestant sisters!"

Ujamaa ­ Cooperative Economics

Frank had trouble focusing on the Parliament. His mind was in Seattle, half a world away, where those protesting the World Trade Organization were clashing with the police, using tactics more appropriate to apartheid than to one of the most enlightened US cities. He checked his E-mail daily to see what his wife and kids were reporting and compared their reports to stories in the cyber version of The Seattle Times.

Frank had a vision of the way the business world could operate. He attended the 2-day event planned for commerce, industry and labor representatives: "Business Beyond 2000: A Symposium on Ethics, Values, and Spirituality in the Workplace."

He was delighted to sit at the feet of Diana Schumacher, the daughter-in-law of environmentalist Ernst Friedrich Schumacher, perhaps best remembered for his book Small Is Beautiful.

Schumacher spoke directly to the WTO premise that all economic growth is a good thing and has to be increased. He was glad the Cape Times had given her talk good space on Tuesday and included a significant quote,

We have to ask ourselves value-based questions, like who gains from the increased growth, and by what means should wealth be gained?[Market forces means there is free trade, but not fair trade.] This has deprived the ordinary people of choice, and is leading to growing protest, as we've seen at the World Trade Organisation's summit in Seattle.
Lord Salisbury said 100 years ago that "when the big people in power become drunk with power, it is the little people who get headaches." It is the first class passengers on planet Earth who create the problems. There is enough in the world for everyone's needs, but not enough for everyone's greed.

"Ouch!" though Peter. There's my Achilles Heel ­ Greed! Gluttony! How am I and all my consuming neighbors going to pare down? How do we redistribute the wealth so that all needs are met?

Nia ­ Purpose

Irene realized it was probably her lust that was drawing her to attend this workshop ­ a panel presentation celebrating Gifts of Service to the World. She had not the slightest interest in Earthships or the idea of building self-sustainable single family dwellings out of recycled and sustainable materials. She did think it was a good idea that someone was figuring out what to do with all the discarded tires taking up space in the Earth's landfills, but she was here because she had a crush on Owen, who had come to South Africa to build four Earthships.

She just loved to listen to him talk. He was amazing ­ so much energy, so good looking, so much information. She liked watching him talk with Paul Cohen of the Tlholego Development Project. Paul and his wife and little boy lived in a community where they demonstrated by example and through training workshops principles of ecologically sustainable living. Paul emphasized creating community and planting trees and something called "permaculture." He talked about families having enough food, fodder and fuel to sustain themselves.

Owen emphasized building houses for people, using affordable and readily available building materials ­ old tires and dirt. He talked about improving urban settings, trying to create better homes for all those millions of blacks who live in shacks in the townships.

Paul was old ­ probably at least 40 ­ maybe even older. And his techniques required you to stick around long enough for the trees to grow. Owen was closer to Irene's age ­ probably about 23, maybe 24. And he wanted to teach his techniques and move on. What's more, he had some money to pay for building four houses, right there in Cape Town!

She had to hand it to Paul, though. He did allow that with so many people just barely making it in the world there was more than enough room for everyone's way of offering service. Even though he was old, he wasn't dictatorial.

What these two men have in common, Irene thought, is their passion. They really care about what they're doing in the world. Their lives have purpose. She thought about her own life ­ about how she had left her public high school in Sebastian, Florida to attend the River School on the Kashi Ashram in Sebastian, how she endured teasing from her friends because of the punjabi outfit she wore everyday, how she and her school mates had raised enough money to build four homes on the township flats. Her attention gradually drifted away from Owen, as intense as he was, to her own inner self. Yes, she thought, my life has purpose, too. That's why I came to the Parliament. Because I'm not like my old girlfriends and boyfriends back home who think going to the Mall is a big deal. No, I think going to Cape Town for the Parliament of the World's Religions is a big deal ­ and having a crush on Owen is nice, too.

Kuumba ­ Creativity

Owen couldn't believe that he and Stephen had actually achieved their goal of making 1000 Peace Necklaces for the Parliament. Each leather thong was strung and knotted so that eight symbols for eight of the world's religions hung on it. At the center was the symbol for the Parliament. The Parliament had sold each of the necklaces for R50 ­ about $8.33 US. That meant that the two of them had been responsible for the Parliament raising over $8000 to bring South African youth ­ black, coloured and white ­ to the Parliament.

Now they were selling their Peace Necklaces at a booth at the Good Hope Centre under their organizational name, We-Are-One. He loved their symbol ­ a heart, with a peace symbol and the words We Are One within. The necklaces were selling for R60 now ­ an even $10 each. With any luck they'd sell enough to stay in South Africa longer than they'd planned.

One thing they hadn't counted on was that women were developing crushes on them and hanging around all the time. Not that they didn't enjoy the attention! What man doesn't like to have beautiful women paying attention to him? It was only that all those women were distracting. He and Stephen had more than one mission in South Africa. Selling necklaces was their day job. Building affordable housing ­ earthships ­ was their night job.

Owen and Stephen had yet to connect with people who could help them build their four demonstration houses. They needed to connect with some local people, people who could help them through the red tape and introduce them to township leaders who'd let them build the demonstration earthships. Owen was sure the people would love them once they saw them. All they needed now were the right connections.

Owen hoped creativity would win out ­ his old habit of giving up was creeping up on him. He wasn't good with resistance, particularly when it got in the way of his helping people.

Maybe Irene could help them. She'd been hanging around a lot, and now that she'd seen their Gifts of Service presentation, she got it that they were about more than necklaces. She said she would talk to someone from her ashram. Maybe with the 90 people from the Kashi Ashram and the connections the Kashi people already had to build four houses, they could get the four earthships built.

For now Owen kept his needle-nosed pliers busy attaching symbols to yet another necklace.

Imani ­ Faith

Louise was so grateful for the Taizé worship service that morning. She had attended because she'd heard that the Rev. Wilma Jakobsen was the first woman ordained in South Africa, and she wanted to honor her. Also, she'd had a tape of Taizé chants at one time and knew some of them. But the Taizé form of worship was a far cry from her own Pentecostal tradition.

She was thrilled to have her feet on the soil of her ancestors. She remembered Alex Haley's masterwork, Roots. She'd watched it on TV with her mama many years ago. Later she read the book. She was so moved to be in Africa, she almost fell to her knees and kissed the tarmac at the airport. She smiled, knowing her mama would have.

Louise was in ecstasy to see people from so many different religions and to have the chance to talk to so many of them. She and a new friend had talked about her moving away from her Pentecostal roots. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she wanted to be free to accept all these wonderful, loving people ­ not to judge them.

Yet Louise was having trouble being in South Africa. She had had to leave her baby daughter in the hospital, in pain with complications from sickle cell anemia. She checked in with her husband daily by E-mail at a café around the corner from the hotel. She knew he and her mama and their friends and neighbors were taking good care of her baby, but it was hard being half a world away when the poor child was suffering. She began to covet the seemingly carefree attitude of some of the other participants. They didn't have sick children to worry about. When she felt this meanness creeping into her heart, she knew she had to give it and the worry up.

Then came the Taizé worship service. Everyone sat on the floor of the chancel of St. George's, the Anglican Cathedral near District Six. Rev. Wilma led the chants. Various people read the prayers. Then Rev. Wilma invited the people to come touch an icon of Jesus on the cross. She invited them to give their burdens to him and to pray for whatever they needed. Louise found herself going forward with one or two others, kneeling by the icon, touching one of Jesus' outstretched hands with her forehead, asking that all her worry and meanness be taken from her, then touching Jesus' feet and asking that she walk with humility for the rest of the Parliament.

It wasn't until later in the day that she realized that her burdens were gone. Completely and totally gone. Which was good, because Louise had found sessions that would help her begin to learn a new language of faith ­ the Science and Religion Symposium.

Conclusion

May these parables be helpful to you in learning a little more about the Parliament of the World's Religions. May they help you focus more on joy than jitters in the coming transition from the end of 1999 to the beginning of the year 2000. May we all enter the new millenium affirming the keystone principle of the Parliament of the World's Religions and the four commitments which follow it:

We affirm this irrevocable directive: Every human being must be treated humanely! To this end, we commit to a
· culture of non-violence and respect for life,
· a culture of solidarity and a just economic order,
· a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness, and
· a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women.

So may it be. Blessed be. Yes!