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Our Journey Together
Meg Roberts, Intern Minister,
Unitarian Church of Edmonton, September 16, 2001
We are on a journey together, a journey that has led us here today,
to be together in community. We have all arrived here out of our
own experiences, at different places in that journey called life.
As your new intern minister, I am with you for 10 months, so we will
be sharing at least that time together. And for that I'm grateful
But there is also another part of the journey, a sharp turn in the
road that we all took this past week, that went beyond the beginning
of a new church year. Some of us may have seen the warning signs,
many of us didn't. The attacks on the World Trade Center and on the
Pentagon in the United States sent reverberations through us and
through people from around the world. Through the mediums of television,
radio, and newspapers, we witnessed the acts of terror. We saw the
plane crash through the second tower, we saw the billowing grey smoke,
the fire, the people jumping, and then the two towers dissolving
into rubble and twisted metal, becoming a tomb to thousands of people
who worked there and to those rescue workers who were trying to save
them. We saw these moments in history repeated again and again on
TV, as they became embedded in our minds.
Each of us has had a different reaction to these events, and yet
there has been some common ground many of us have covered: disbelief,
shock, numbness, We may have spent hours watching the TV, listening
to the radio, absorbed as we normally aren't as if the sheer repetition
would help us take in the enormity of what just happened. Many
of us sought to connect with those we love, to know that they were
safe (whether they live in NY or Washington, or not), just to know
that they were OK. Others of us at different times needed to take
a break from the intensity and go for a walk, turn off the TV and
radio and just be by ourselves, to be reminded that there are other
things in our world, That there are still things that matter to
us.
Being in a community means that as individuals, we may be at different
places along the path of response: Some may still in shock, some
sad and perhaps feeling disheartened, others sick of hearing of it,
others not even surprised that this happened. What do we do when
we feel differently, when we think differently about what has happened? "You
need not think alike to love alike," is what Transylvanian Unitarian,
Francis David would tell us. In this moment in our history, what
does it mean ‘to love'?
In the reading today, Mark Morrison-Reed writes about what it means
to be in religious community. Mark is co-minister at First Unitarian
in Toronto and is now also the president of the Canadian Unitarian
Council. Mark reminds us that in this community we search to understand
the bonds that bind us together. We are connected even though we
have differences, even though we have conflict, and even though we
may at times feel alone. Together we have strength to act for justice.
Together we can form a vision of what is real, of what is true, of
what it means to love.
I find myself at times like this feeling as if I am lost in a large
ocean. The waves are rising and falling, sometimes crashing over
me. The sky is dark, and threatening, and I'm not sure which way
is land. How will I find my way? Will I have the strength to carry
on? Will I be able to battle the elements and not be overcome?
The enormity of what has happened this past week certainly, to my
mind, has to do both with the loss of life, but also with the sense
of not knowing what will happen next. Will we be involved in another
world war? How many more innocent lives will be lost? And what can
I do about it?
At times like this, I find it helpful to remind myself that I am
in a religious community. I can turn to my tradition to find inspiration
about how to respond. I can remind myself of what I believe in, what
I am willing to act on:
- I believe that we are all one,
we are one humanity, we are connected in this small world of
ours. I am called upon to do those things I can to help others
in need.
I am called upon to speak out to protect those who may be persecuted
and threatened just because their skin may not be white, because
they come from a country in the Middle East, because they
are Muslim. How can I do this?
- I believe that each person must be
free to search for what is true and right in life. When I hear
the reports on the news about the latest update, the latest news
release,
I can question what I hear, I can notice the rhetoric, I can
search for the facts, I can respond to my elected politicians and
to others
about what I am concerned about.
- I believe that people
should be treated fairly. When innocent people are killed,
those responsible need to be brought to justice. I am concerned
about
words such as retribution, and revenge. Certainly we can
learn from history
to know that this is not the first time humans have created
such atrocities in the world, and in our lifetimes. Can we learn
from
these instances? What is different about this instance? And
how do we seek for justice in this instance? It seems to me important
to
understand the roots of what caused those to act as they
have
and address those root causes without causing the deaths of other
innocent
people who get in the way when retribution is sought?
- We live in a world community. How can I work for peace now, and
in the long run?
These are some of the beliefs I have turned to this past week. What
are the beliefs that have sustained you this week? Where do your
roots grow?
I had thought, when I first wrote about this service being about "Our
Journey Together", that I would have an opportunity to discuss
with you what our time together might look like, how we might share
the ministry of the church, what might be your involvement this next
year at church. And what pulls us back more to the essentials of
our lives, those things that give our lives meaning and worth, than
tragedy, than the reminder that we are fragile, we are mortal. What
are the things that we are willing to die for? Or rather, what are
those things that we are willing to live for? Now, more than ever,
is the time to consider these things as individuals and as a community.
Now is the time to embody that loving compassion in our relationships
with each other.
As is said,
If not now, when?
If not me, who?
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