Dear Members and Friends,
A year ago today, we woke up hearing about horrific attacks on the Israeli people by Hamas terrorists. Images and stories followed that were traumatizing for many of us to receive. Over 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians. Hundreds of people were taken hostage, their fates followed by the media ever since.
It was no surprise that Israel attacked Gaza with a vengeance, seeking to destroy Hamas. Thousands and thousands of civilians were killed, nearly half children. The attacks continued such that now over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed. And in the last weeks, Israel has sent missiles into Lebanon to weaken Hezbollah in an attempt to prevent them from being able to launch an attack similar to October 7. Again many civilians are being killed or displaced.
While we have navigated great polarization as a nation for years, the polarization in the circles that I typically participate have become more intense this past year. My Jewish friends range in perspectives from holding Israel responsible for the ongoing attacks that will surely prevent peace for generations to those who vow to keep the memory of the horrors of October 7 front and center.
Meanwhile many UUs and progressive Christians want Netanyahu held responsible for crimes against humanity. My African American activist friends point out the double standard of how the Palestinian people have been oppressed for generations. I share their disappointment with the Harris campaign failing to have a Palestinian share their experience and perspective, especially when thousands of people were demonstrating outside the United Center to bring attention to how voiceless the Palestinian people have been colonized by the British and then the Jewish state of Israel.
And here we are in the middle of the Jewish High Holy Days. The Jewish people have always been a persecuted people while the state of Israel is the only state that has been governed by Jewish people. Ironically it is not democratic and won’t be as long as Israel includes the larger number of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. And this is why so many people advocate for a two-state solution—so that the Palestinians can govern themselves. However, Israeli leaders won’t consider this as long as fear and suspicion exists that the Palestinian people would simply destroy the state of Israel if they had the opportunity.
What can be our response as Unitarian Universalists who hold democracy as a sacred ideal and a commitment to build constructive relationships with people of multiple faiths? Especially for those of us that value the wisdom of the Jewish High Holy Days?
It was especially fitting to have Rev. Terasa Cooley lead a workshop on addressing conflict this past Sunday. The goals of the workshop were 1) To better understand our individual patters / processes related to conflict; 2) To gain common skills and language for addressing issues with one another; 3) To empower ourselves and others to grow in courage to face problematic issues.
I’m struck by how Rev. Cooley called us to hold multiple small groups rather than periodic large gatherings. I’m appreciative of how our Right Relations Team has already begun the work of gathering people together to respond to powerful questions in small groups. In addition, the Stewardship Team did as well last year at our Cottage Meetings—I trust more will be held this winter.
And there are many “problematic issues” in our wider community. The reality of racism raising its ugly head in our institutions should not be a surprise to any of us that understand how we all naturally have blinders to how our responses to race. Our congregation supports organizations addressing racism in our community. It is an honor that the Norwalk chapter of the NAACP shall present TUUCW the on October 18. If you have interest in attending, please contact me or the Black Lives Matter Team at BlackLivesMatter@uuwestport.org.
The work of culture change requires us to listening to the stories of others why they see the world or a certain situation the way they do—and sharing why we see the world the way we do. It’s not easy work, but it is meaningful.
There’s no question in my mind that those who abide by the wisdom of the Jewish High Holy Days shall change and grow, becoming more courageous, compassionate and clearer in their skin and conscience. I pray that the leaders who fail to see the humanity of others will come to recognize that peace comes not from brute strength but from honest sharing and real listening. This is a time for the challenging spiritual work of recognizing where we as human beings have fallen short of who we are called to be.
I will return to UU Westport October 26-30 and then November 6-10 and 16-20. Remember I am only a phone call or zoom session away if you are in need of checking in.
You can reach me at alan@uuwestport.org.
Warmly,
Alan
“You Can Talk” by Alice Walker
You can talk about the balm in Gilead
But what about the balm Right Here
What about the healing of the wounded heart
When someone you have harmed gleefully embraces you?
from Rev. Michael Shuler
Let us pause now to look inward, exploring, if we dare,
the secret places where motives are made and intentions live.
Beneath appearances, what kind of persons are we?
Is the inner self congruent with the one that rejoices with friends,
assists the infirm, comforts the crying child?
No. As we take inventory and remember mistakes we have made,
impure thoughts we have had, schemes we have hatched,
we know that all is not right within.
We are born to inconsistency, not purity,
and conscience is a dubious guide
that leads us stumbling along the path of virtue.
We are all fallen, all self-condemned—
for time after time we have succumbed to temptation
and chosen a lesser good, betraying the truth of ourselves—
the truth etched indelibly on our essential being.
This, then, is our estate and our inescapable humanness.
Let us recognize and not deny our imperfections.
Let us forgive and not condemn ourselves.
May growing awareness of our mixed motives and morals increase our humility
and make possible lives of greater sensitivity, sincerity, and serenity.
from Hannah Arendt as quoted by Richard Holloway in On Forgiveness
And this is the simple fact that,… we have no possibility ever to undo what we have done. Action processes are not only unpredictable, they are also irreversible; there is no author or maker who can undo, destroy, what one has done if one does not like it or when the consequences are disastrous. The possible redemption from the predicament of irreversibility is the faculty of forgiving, and the remedy for unpredictability is contained in the faculty to make and keep promises. The two remedies belong together: forgiving relates to the past and serves to undo its deeds, while binding oneself through promises serves to set up in the ocean of future uncertainty islands of security without which not even continuity, let alone durability of any kind, would ever be possible in the relationships between human beings. Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one single deed from which we could never recover; we would remain the victim of its consequences for ever, not unlike the sorcerer’s apprentice who lacked the magic formula to break the spell. Without being bound to the fulfillment of promises, we would never be able to achieve that amount of identity and continuity which together produce the ‘person’ about whom a story can be told’ each of us would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of his own lonely heart, caught in its ever changing moods, contradictions, and equivocalities. In this respect, forgiving and making promises are like control mechanisms built into the very faculty to start new and unending processes.
