PEACE AROUND THE WORLDDECEMBER 20, 2015

WELCOME

Lisa. Good morning. Welcome to the Unitarian Universalist Community Church. My name is Lisa Furr.

We are that glad you have chosen to worship with us this morning. We hope you will find here food for the spirit, comfort for sorrow, and companionship in reaching your highest ideals.

If you are visiting with us today, we offer a special welcome. We hope you will stay after the service for coffee, tea and a chance for us to get to know each other.

Whoever you are, whatever your faith journey, whomever you love, you are welcome here. We welcome all who seek to know the Sacred, and all who seek to make our world more just.

As we begin our service, please make sure that your cell phone will not disturb others.

We have childcare downstairs for those who would be happier there.

If you have a joy or sorrow that you would like added to the Prayer of the People, please write it on one of the cards available on the back table and drop it in the basket.

Our wonderful church staff does so much to support and enhance our beloved community. If you would like to thank them by contributing to a holiday gift, please put a check in the collection plate or in the metal box above the water fountain across from the upstairs restrooms. Please be sure to write “staff gift” on the memo line.

PRELUDE

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Lisa. Our service this morning brings a prayer for peace for all the world. For our Prelude this morning, our Flute Trio will present “Dona Nobis Pacem”, which is Latin for “give us peace.” We thank them for offering this musical prayer on our behalf.

"Dona Nobis Pacem"Flute Trio: Rebecca Keller, Beth Turnbull, Andrea Westcot

OPENING WORDS

Lisa. At this season of the year, we are reminded that the idea of peace, while seemingly idealistic and ephemeral, is central to the themes of many religious holidays. For people having grown up in the Christian tradition, the idea of peace is embodied in the Bible passage from Luke when the angel says to the shepherds in the field, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace.”In the Jewish tradition, the greeting of “Shalom”- peace to you, is used to remind each other of how we find peace within each other.

And in the Muslim greeting, “As-Salaam alaykum, has the literal meaning "Peace be upon you".

Hope for peace is a universal religious intention, with prayers for peace found in every culture.

So, today we’ll celebrate that universal hope, Peace around the world through song, through story, and with prayer.We’ll start with the song we ended with last week, Let there be Peace on Earth. This song starts where we must begin, with finding peace within us all.

OPENING HYMN

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Lisa. Please rise in body or in spirit and join in singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” The lyrics will appear on the screen. Andrea Goulet is our Song Leader this morning. Please follow her for your cues.

Let there be peace on earth.And let it begin with me.

Let there be peace on earth.The peace that was meant to be.

With hands joined together,Seekers all are we.

Let us walk with each other,in perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me,let this be the moment now.

With every step I take,let this be my solemn vow.

To take each moment andlive each moment in peace eternally.

Let there be peace on earthand let it begin with me.

CHALICE LIGHTING

Amy. We offer these words from Kathleen McTigue:

This is a house of peace.Breathe in a grateful breath that you sit hereThis moment of your lifeSafely, and in silence.There is a war raging,Far from this place of comfort.We know it is there, we know our brothers and sister

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Suffer its poisonous touch.Our hearts are weighted with what we cannot resolve.So here we lift a banner in our own souls,And remember that in this place, in this moment,We are not at war.Breathing in, we rest our spirits.Breathing out, we pray for peace.

AFFIRMATION

Pam. Please remain standing and join me in saying our Affirmation. As we do so, let us remember why we are here, for our affirmation begins with that all-important word: (Pause)

Love is the message of this churchand service is our way.

This is our great covenant together:to dwell together in peace,to seek the truth in love,and to help one another.

MESSAGE FOR ALL AGES

Adena. [The Great, Silent Grandmother Gathering by Sharon Mehdi]

CHILDREN’S RECESSIONAL

TRAVELING SONG “As You Go”

As you go may joy surround you,As you go, go in peace.

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Know our love is with you always,As you go, as you go.

OFFERTORY

Lisa: It is now time to take up today’s offering. Your gifts of financial support, in addition to gifts of time and talent and prayer, support the ministry and life of this church.

[Lisa hands out plates & sits. Usher brings Joys and Sorrows cards to front. During the offertory, Amy previews the cards.]

Offertory Music"A Call to Peace"

by Brad CiechomskiPresented by the UUCC Orchestra

Lisa. All of your gifts weave together the tapestry of love that is this church.

READING

Pam. I love the story of the Great Silent Grandmothers Gathering because it shows the power of acting in the face of overwhelming odds. It’s a lovely story, but it is just a story, the creation of a real-life grandmother who wanted to give a gift to her new grandchild. If only the world worked this way. And yet, there are stories of individuals living in the real world who have the imagination and the courage to act, even in the face of overwhelming odds.It seems this year that we’ve been inundated with stories about war and violence—from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Paris to Colorado Springs and San Bernadino. When we hear these stories, we may begin to feel despair because we cannot see a way to counter the violence and war. But we can also find inspiration and hope in the stories of individuals who seem not to care about those odds.Let me share two stories of individuals who dreamed of peace and chose hope over despair.

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The first took place over fifty years ago during the Cold War and started in India with a 26-year-old Jain monk named Satish Kumar. He and his friend EP Menon heard that 89-year-old Bertrand Russell was sitting in a London jail after protesting the nuclear arms race. Kumar was inspired by this act of defiance and decided with his friend to take their own steps toward peace, visiting the heads of state of the nuclear powers to ask them to disarm. But they didn’t ride, drive, or fly--instead, they decided to walk. As if that weren’t difficult enough, they also decided to travel without money or provisions, at the advice of their guru, a disciple of Gandhi. As their teacher Vinoba Bhave said, “If you are walking for peace, then you have to trust people, because wars come out of fear, and peace begins in trust. Go without any money in your pockets. That will be the symbol of trust.” Their trust was rewarded, even in neighboring Pakistan. Undaunted by their friends concern that they would be walking into an enemy country, Kumar and Menon were greeted by a Pakistani who had heard of their mission, saying, ‘I’m for peace! This war between India and Pakistan is complete nonsense. We were one people before 1947.’ Let’s make peace.” They learned that day that all people want peace. Kumar said, “If we come here as Indians, we meet Pakistanis. If we come here as Hindus, we meet Muslims. But if we come here as human beings, we meet human beings. Our true identity is not that I’m an Indian, or a Jain, or Satish Kumar. Those are secondary identities. Our primary identity is that we are all members of the human family. We are world citizens.’They walked for two and a half years, spreading their good news. Sometimes they did not get food, sometimes they did not get shelter. When one of the friends felt despair, the other buoyed his spirits, and so they continued on. Early on their journey, they met two women who worked in a tea factory who gave them four bags of tea, asking them to “deliver these packets of peace tea [to the world leaders] and please give them a message from me: “Please tell them, If you ever get a mad thought of pressing the nuclear button, please stop for a moment and have a fresh cup of tea. That will give you time to reflect. These nuclear weapons are not only going to kill the enemy, they will kill animals, men, women, children, workers, farmers, birds, water, lakes, everything will be polluted. So please, think again. Have a cup of tea. Reflect.” 

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They walked from India to Moscow, delivering their message and their tea to the president of the Supreme Soviet and getting a letter in return from Khrushchev, who said it wasn’t him but the Americans who wanted war and asking them to go to the US. Then they walked to Paris and tried to see President de Gaulle, writing him letters in advance, but they were told de Gaulle had no time for their crazy ideas. Kumar gathered French pacifists and went to the Elysee Palace, where they were arrested and jailed for three days. They left their tea with the Indian ambassador to France to give to de Gaulle. Then they walked to London, where they delivered tea to the prime minister in the House of Commons and they met with Bertrand Russell, who was delighted to meet them. He had been afraid they wouldn’t get to England before he died, but they had made the trip in just a little under two years. Russell and others got together and bought them tickets on the Queen Mary to sail to New York. From there, they went to Washington DC to deliver tea to the White House and visit the grave of JFK. Kumar said, “We started at the grave of Mahatma Gandhi and ended it at the grave of John Kennedy—to make the point that the gun kills not only some bad person, but also a Gandhi or a Kennedy. Don’t trust the gun, trust the power of nonviolence, the power of peace.” They finished their trip in the US by going to Atlanta to meet Martin Luther King, Jr., whose message that the oppressor is as much a victim as the oppressed, Kumar carries with him for the rest of his life and work.We all know that this march for peace didn’t lead the nuclear powers to disarm, but it changed both the walkers and those whom they met. As Kumar said, “We gave a flier to people explaining why we were walking, why peace was important, why we trusted, why we carried no money, why we only took one night’s shelter and moved on. When people read it, they’d say, ‘Can we help you? Will you come and speak to our school? Our church? Our mosque? Our local newspaper?’ So the news spread. We were promoting public opinion in favour of peace. That was our mission.” Theirs is a story of courage and creativity in the face of overwhelming odds.The other story is more recent, starting in 2002 in Africa with a young mother and social worker working to heal the trauma of war named Leymah Gbowee. She was a volunteer leader for Women in Peacebuilding Network in Liberia, then in the throes of its second civil war, when she had a dream in which God told her to

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gather the women to pray for peace. She brought together the Christian and Muslim women of Monrovia. As one woman said, “Does the bullet know Christian from Muslim?” They wore white t-shirts and hair ties to call attention to themselves and their mission of peace, starting by praying and singing in the fish market. Thousands of women gathered in Monrovia for months, praying Muslim and Christian prayers, holding non-violent demonstrations and sit-ins, including in a soccer field that President Charles Taylor traveled past daily. He finally agreed to meet with the women in 2003. While 2,000 women stood outside his mansion, Gbowee came before President Taylor and said, “We are tired of war. We are tired of running. We are tired of begging for bulgur wheat. We are tired of our children being raped. We are now taking this stand to secure the future of our children. Because we believe, as custodians of society, tomorrow our children will ask us, “Mama, what was your role during the crisis?”The women’s pressure helped force Taylor to join peace talks in Ghana, where the women continued the pressure when talks started to lag. Gbowee and her delegation of hundreds of Liberian women sat in the lobby of the hotel where the talks were taking place, remaining for days until peace was achieved. Three years later, the support of the women in white helped elect Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the first woman president in Africa, and in 2011, Sirleaf and Gbowee were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The women in white—real-life mothers witnessing for peace and actually making it happen.These are just two stories of people around the world with the courage and creativity to seek and create peace. Let their stories inspire us to do what we can in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds.

SPECIAL MUSIC

Elizabeth. [Intro]

“Iraqui Peace Prayer”By Lori Tennenhouse

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Presented by the UUCC Choir

PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE

Amy. Let us pray together for peace with this prayer from Chaim Stern:

For the times when I could have made peaceWith my neighbor but picked a quarrel, forgive me;And forgive me, too,For the time when I could have accepted with graceAn offering of friendship or reconciliationBut did not choose to listen.At times, in my willfulness,I may have closed my heart to The possibility of a healing word:Today and tomorrow- Let my heart be open.

Let us remember in our prayers and reflection those who find difficulty finding peace in their own lives. Please call out their names.

[Names will be recited aloud.]

Amy. TBD

[Read cards of sorrows first, then joys.]

With the prayer for peace in our hearts, you are invited to come forward to light a candle for a special intention that you have.

[Lisa goes to assist. People come forward.]

May these candles be beacons of light for peace.

READING

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Amy. [Christmas Truce]

SPECIAL MUSIC

Elizabeth. [Intro]

"Silent Night for All the World"By Pepper Choplin

Presented by the UUCC Choir

REFLECTION“Building Peace Around the World”

Amy. We have told stories of peace, sung songs of peace, and prayed prayers of peace. We know that we can find peace within our own hearts. With the stories from Nigeria, Iraq, and with the story that even in that Great War, the soldiers could reach out to another in peace. So, we know that people given a choice will react with peace in their hearts. What remains is for us here, to take that thought, that ideal and take it out into the world. Take it into our families, for some of us perhaps the most difficult place for us to begin, in healing relationships if it’s possible. Take it into our friendships. Take it into our neighborhoods, taking down walls that divide us. And take it to our nation’s leaders to ask for different answers to those persistent problems.

RESPONSIVE PRAYER

Amy. We ask each other here in this community to make an intention to each other for peace with our responsive prayer.

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During those times in our families and our relationships when we experience chaos and conflict, we must intentionally look to create a calm and quiet place of peace for ourselves.

All. May we create peace within ourselves.

Amy. With our cities in uproar over issues of racism, religious persecution, and violence, we strive to find bridges to peace in our communities.

All. May we create peace within our communities.

Amy. With our nation increasingly polarized over politics and international relations, we pray for a country that puts peace first.

All. May we create peace within the world.

PASSING THE PEACE

Pam. [Introduction to passing the peace]

All. Shalom, Saalom, peace be with you.

CLOSING HYMN

Amy: Our Opening Hymn, “Let There Be Peace on Earth” was a plea and a commitment to a personal contribution to peace for all the world. We sang “Let it begin with me.” Our Closing Hymn is a prayer from our collective hearts, asking for peace to fill our hearts, our world and our universe.Please rise in body or in spirit and join in our Closing Hymn “World Peace Prayer.” The lyrics will appear on the screen and the music and lyrics are on an insert in your bulletin. Please follow Andrea for your cues. She will sing the verses as a solo, we will join her on the refrain.

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All:Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth,

From despair to hope, from fear to trust.Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace;

let peace fill our hearts, let peace fill our world, let peace fill our universe.

Solo:Still all the angry cries, still all the angry guns,

Still now your people die, earth's sons and daughters.Let justice roll, let mercy pour down,

come and teach us your way of compassion.

All:Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth,

From despair to hope, from fear to trust.Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace;

let peace fill our hearts, let peace fill our world, let peace fill our universe.Solo:

So many lonely hearts, so many broken lives,longing for love to break into their darkness.Come, teach us love, come, teach us peace,come and teach us your way of compassion.

All:Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth,

From despair to hope, from fear to trust.Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace;

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let peace fill our hearts, let peace fill our world, let peace fill our universe.

Solo:Let justice ever roll, let mercy fill the earth,

let us begin to grow into your people.We can be love, we can be peace,

we can still be your way of compassion.

All:Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth,

From despair to hope, from fear to trust.Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace;

let peace fill our hearts, let peace fill our world, let peace fill our universe.

BENEDICTION

Amy: O,God,May we ourselves be at peace withThe world, with ourselves, and with you.May we know that without love thereWill never be peace.- Egbert Brown

CLOSING WORDS

Amy: In preparation for our closing, let us reach out to each other and hold a hand or a shoulder.

Amy: When you go, go in peace.All: Salaam and Shalom.

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Amy: Leave this place knowing that you are good and knowing that you are loved.All: Blessed be.

Amy: Take your light and your love from this place. Share them with the world. And stay safe until we meet again.All: Amen.

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