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Dreams of Our Nation

An Inaugural Sermon by Rev. Dr. Marie E. deYoung

Delivered to the Gulf Coast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

On January 18, 2009

This morning, in our worship, we celebrate the confluence of two national events. We honor the inspirational spiritual leadership of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, who moved our nation to greater equality of opportunity during the historic Civil Rights Movement. And, we celebrate a symbolic moment that marks the progress achieved because of Dr. Martin Luther King’s leadership in the Civil Rights Movement: this week, we will witness the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first ever African American to be elected to the highest office in our nation.

As we remember and celebrate the life of Dr. King today, we cannot fail to note that a great measure of his success, indeed the success of the Civil Rights Movement, was due to the complex efforts of religious people of all faiths to organize neighborhoods, cities, states, and finally, our nation into a "Beloved Community" – that is, into communities that truly reflect the values of the Judeo-Christian heritage upon which much of our constitutional freedoms are built.

I would not dare to say that we have achieved the ideal "Beloved Community," but we have made glorious steps forward, and this is a week when we must remember, celebrate, and rededicate ourselves … to the Dream.

When Dr. King gave his famous "I have a dream" speech, men and women of all faiths were marching alongside him in many cities throughout the Deep South. Unitarians and Universalists marched beside rabbis, priests, sisters, and other people inspired by faith to work nonviolently to achieve equality of access for all Americans.

Indeed, Rev. James Reeb, a Unitarian minister who participated in the freedom marches with three other UU ministers, lost his life on his way home from a gathering of those who were marching. All four of our UU ministers were brutally beaten for socializing with and marching for the civil rights of African Americans. James Reeb died from the injuries he sustained in this beating.

The ultimate sacrifice of his life – something many of us could not do – is recognized in the Memorial Chapel for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, located in Atlanta, Georgia. If you ever go to Atlanta, I highly recommend a pilgrimage to this sacred space.

Although many of us were not called to put our lives at risk in such a bold way, during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement, and ever since, Unitarians and Universalists have worked to further the cause of racial equality in our nation.

-We have knocked on doors in poor communities to register African Americans to vote.

-We have organized laborers to fight for fair wages and benefits.

-We’ve served in the Peace Corps, in Americorps, and we’ve established our own nonprofits to support the needs of African American children in failing public schools.

--Thousands of Unitarians and Universalists responded to the plight of Mississippeans and New Orleaneans who lost their homes, their communities due to Hurricane Katrina.

--We worked and sometimes slept side by side with Southern Baptists, Episcopaleans, Catholics, Jews, and so many unchurched individuals who responded to the needs of our Gulf Coast by doing service vacations here, or moving here, and working to rebuild our cities house by house, school by school, neighborhood by neighborhood.

On Tuesday, when Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States of America, as Unitarians and Universalists, we can celebrate the successes of so many grassroots organizers and neighborhood leaders who gave their hearts and minds to a cause that is worthy of our embrace:

--Change in how we do our politics.

--Change in our national priorities.

--Change in our approach to how we solve our nation’s greatest problems.

But, when the celebrations are over, when we’ve had our fill of the elation, the rapture, the thrill of this most significant American transition to power, it is very important for us to remember: President Obama is not our savior, he is our leader, and the builder of a superb national grassroots movement.

His election has much symbolic power. But, for this renewed movement to bear fruit, once the celebration is over, we must all get back to work.

Now that the election is over, volunteers need to abandon their political campaign offices and channel their efforts to rebuilding neighborhoods – right here in Gulfport and Biloxi, where we need the tender hands of our UU volunteers to restore homes for hundreds of residents who are still healing from the scar of Hurricane Katrina.

Now that the election is over, we must set aside our failed ideologies for education reform, and use research-based, data-driven strategies to turn around our failing public schools.

If Dr. Martin Luther King were alive today, surely he would reverence this historic moment that not only marks the election of our first African American President – It marks the improved rankings of Alabama, Louisiana, and our very own Mississippi public education systems for equitable distribution of resources -- however inadequate the federal government’s financial contribution to its own public education mandates.

We have dreams of achieving universal literacy, the way South Korea achieved universal literacy through its compulsory education programs. But, although we are far richer as a nation, we still have unexplainably high rates of illiteracy. When this inauguration is over, we have work to do!

We have dreams of eradicating poverty in our nation. Although we have the greatest number of billionaires, we also have the highest rate of poverty in the first world. We still have work to do!

We have dreams of healing our sick, our wounded with the best health care system that money can buy. Although we spend far more than other nations, we still have 44 million Americans – mostly working men and women – who do not have access to affordable health care. We have healing to do.

We have dreams of living in safe urban and rural neighborhoods. But, too many of our young men die to gun violence. Far too many men and women suffer domestic violence – which is also undermining the psychological health and educational success of millions of American children who live in families plagued with violence. We have peacemaking to do.

We have dreams of owning our home, with dependable sources of affordable energy. But, the unbridled greed of the marketplace, and at times, the envious desire to own homes much larger than we need or can afford – has caused the collapse of a large part of our economy. We have to learn to live within our means.

We have dreams of lasting international peace. Yet, we are caught up in two wars, and more than 100 military conflicts that are never covered by the media. We have much work to do to transition back to a peace and prosperity.

But, I know and you know, that we are not going to get anything done in the next few days. For the next few days, we would do well to pray with, to listen to, to reflect upon the words, the wisdom, the visions of all those who are contributing to our Martin Luther King celebrations as well as to the inauguration of our new president.

We need to celebrate Barack Obama’s inauguration in a way that we will remember the true goodness that defines our American Character.

But, when the last invocation is read, when the last parade marches by and when the last inaugural ball is over -- if we are to follow Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic advice – when the last inaugural ball is over, we will need to get our rest.

For then, on Wednesday morning, we need to go back to the inner city schools. We need to go back to rebuilding our Gulf Coast. We must go back to our efforts to improve our health care. We must go back to our communities to reduce the violence.

On Wednesday morning, if we really believe that President Obama’s election will make a difference in the direction of our economy, the health of our schools, our hospitals, our neighborhoods, our military, it will only be because we have chosen to follow the advice of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King:

"You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the

slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed."

Thank goodness, this election is over. Thank goodness, change is about to happen. But, it will only happen if we choose to resume our work -- the spiritually uplifting work of individually taking responsibility for addressing some problem in our community by offering our time, our talents, our treasure as we are able.

President Barack Obama is not our savior, he is our leader. Only through our own efforts will we continue to realize the dreams that we have for our nation. So may it be.

Sermon based on following excerpt from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s "I Have A Dream" speech.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. 7

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

12:06 pm cst

A Prayer for Peace in the Middle East

A Prayer for Peace in the Middle East

A Sermon Delivered to the Gulf Coast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

By Rev. Dr. Marie E. deYoung

January 4, 2009

How is it that human beings can be so alike – sons and daughters of the same prophet Abraham – and yet, so filled with hate towards each other.

How is it that human beings can garner weapons, sway world opinion, and level cities with lightening speed?

Yet, when we witness poverty, disease, the plagues of illiteracy, intolerance, food insecurity – we wonder if it is within the grasp of human beings to face and obliterate such needless suffering?

In our reading this morning, the poet, Ada Aharoni expressed a great hope that we could overcome our reluctance to open our hearts to the sufferings of the other:

My Palestinian sister,

Daughter of Abraham, like me,

Let us build a sturdy bridge

From your olive world to mine,

From my orange world to yours,

When I traveled to Israel in 1977, the country was making great strides toward peace - after prosecuting two brutal wars to maintain its security. Both the 1967 war and the 1974 Yom Kippur War were waged under the leadership of a woman prime minister – Golda Meier – forever changing my feminist belief that if women ruled the world, that wars would cease and nations would devote themselves to domestic prosperity.

Indeed, today, another woman, Tzipi Livni is advocating for total war against Hamas Islamists – who claim to fight for the rights of Palestinians to their homeland. Livni presides as Israel’s foreign minister, and is campaigning to be the next prime minister of Israel – all while this nation is engaged in brutal aerial and ground battles in Gaza -- the home of Palestinians who were displaced by immigrant Jews.

Our nation participated in the creation of the state of Israel. We have continued, and will continue to bolster Israel’s military capacity for “self-defense.”

But, as inheritors of the Judeo-Christian heritage, our policy too often reflects the blind belief that Israel’s right to exist is the same as Israel’s right to claim land and control the destiny not only of her own people, but of the Palestinian minority who have been crushed by Israel’s economic and security policies for decades.

Our nation -- and too many of our religious leaders -- act as if every military action by the state of Israel was divinely inspired. For too long, the United States of America has allowed religious zealotry to guide its posture towards the Middle East – while at the same time, ignoring the fundamental religious principles that would promote lasting peace in the Middle East if they were the basis of our policy and our financial support.

There was a time, in the seventies, when Menachim Begin - who earlier in his life was a leader of guerrilla terrorists to overthrow the British rulers of Palestine (prior to the creation of the state of Israel) – this same Menachim Begin opened the doors to peace by engaging in the Camp David peace process with Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat.

These two men, Menachim Begin and Anwar Sadat -- much like the women in our poem -- decided to build a sturdy bridge to peace… A bridge that helped them to understand their differences. A bridge that helped them to bring together the world of olives and the world of oranges.

Menachim Begin and Anwar Sadat were two old men who wanted their children to know what it was like to live in peace – up to the time of these accords, there was no peace in the region. Arab hatred of Israel was so great that no communication, no business transaction, no passport would be recognized in Arab countries if there was any mention of Israel. Menachim Begin’s desire for peace was so great that he agreed to the unthinkable: he returned the spoils of war -- the Negev Desert region -- to Egypt as part of the peace negotiations.

During that era, to help my husband at the time, I hosted parties and cultural exchanges for Israelis and Egyptians who had come to our city for airline training to automate their operations at home. Over the course of six weeks, we entertained three groups of men and women who were never allowed to be human with each other for as long as Israel and Egypt were at war.

The first group that came was very hesitant – its not that easy to be social if you have never been allowed to be friends, to acknowledge your common humanity. Over the course of six weeks, the groups became like family. Our first group went home with symbols, photos, memories. The second group, hearing of the friendly nature of our gatherings brought gifts and songs and stories to exchange with their new friends. And so it went until it was time for us to go to Israel and Egypt for the start of their new systems.

When I traveled to Israel and to Egypt, I visited with these lovely folks again. This was a period of hope, a time for people to believe that everyone could prosper, all could get along.

Perhaps Ada Aharoni, who was born in Cairo, tasted the sweetness of that time of reconciliation:

My Palestinian sister, daughter of Abraham,

I do not want to be your oppressor

You do not want to be my oppressor,

Or your jailer

Or my jailer,

We do not want to make each other afraid

Under our vines

Sadly, this movement toward reconciliation - toward a fair and just resolution of the questions surrounding the rights of the Palestinians to sovereignty -- ground to a halt as governments around the world rigidly began to embrace war as the only valid response to terrorism.

But is war the only valid response to terrorism?

Listen to the words of Menachim Begin, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, as he spoke from the experience of being a zealous terrorist against the British -- as well as from the experience of being a grandfather who wanted more than anything to create a lasting peace for his family:

"Free women and men everywhere must wage an incessant campaign so that these human values become a generally recognized and practised reality. We must regretfully admit that in various parts of the world this is not yet the case. Without those values and human rights the real peace of which we dream is jeopardized."

Omar Bradley was a great American WWII general who came to understand that perpetual war was not in our nation’s or our world’s best interest. We would do well to consider his words today:

“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.”

Even Moshe Dayan, the great general who led Israelis in tanks and taxi cabs to rout the Egyptians out -- he came to understand that other diplomacy and strategic partnerships s might be needed to create lasting peace: “If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” - Moshe Dayan

I do not pretend to have the credentials to lead the U.S. diplomatic mission to restore peace between Israel and the homeless Palestinians.

But, I do know that all of the great religious leaders – from Pope John Paul the Sixth to the Dalai Lama -- all of these leaders have recognized that lasting peace will be but a dream – unless we work for justice.

As we pray for peace in the Middle East – peace for our world, I pray that leaders around the world and in our own country will return to powerful acts of diplomacy to help the Israelis and the Palestinians to build a sturdy bridge that leads away from death and destruction and toward peace and prosperity. I pray that Palestinians and Israelis everywhere will heed Ada Aharoni’s call:

So, my Palestinian sister,

Let us build a bridge of

Jasmine understanding

Where each shall sit with her baby

Under her vine and under her fig tree -

And none shall make them afraid

AND NONE SHALL MAKE THEM AFRAID.

So may it be.

Based on this Reading: My Palestinian Sister

By Ada Aharoni

'They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and

none shall make them afraid" (Micah, 4. 4)

My Palestinian sister,

Daughter of Abraham, like me,

Let us build a sturdy bridge

From your olive world to mine,

From my orange world to yours,

Above the boiling pain

Of acid rain prejudice -

And hold human hands high

Full of free stars

Of twinkling peace