VIGIL FOR PEACE OCTOBER 22 2023 UUFP
Led by Dorcy Erlandson
INTRODUCTION:
Today’s altar decorations were donated by Claire Harrison and Peter Jarrett, and dedicated to “the victims of recent violence both natural and man-made.”
Last month we were mainly concerned about the violence caused by Mother Nature: forest fires, floods, earthquakes……
This month, under the cloud of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, as well as the little-noticed military offensive by Azerbaijan into of the province of Nagerno-Karabakh, causing thousands of ethnic Armenians to leave their homes, we were horrified on October 7 to hear of new brutal violence in the Middle East. Following those developments day by day, then here in France, on October 10, we heard of the murder of a lycée teacher in Arras, almost exactly three years after the assassination of Samuel Paty..
With news of unspeakable violence, both far and near, we have decided that the rest of our time together this morning will be focused on a vigil for peace.
I suggest we begin by singing together, without standing, “Spirit of Life”. This song is a sort of prayer and I suggest we sing it through once with the words and then hum the tune through once with no words, with a short time of silence after that.
SINGING TOGETHER “SPRIT OF LIFE” IN A SPIRIT OF PRAYER
3-voices PRAYER FOR PEACE (from the UUA Worship Web)
Peace is more than the absence of worry.
It is the creation of safe havens for all;
It is the building of security for everyone;
It is the forgiveness of self, as well as one who would
harm you.
Let us seek contentment; let us learn peace.
Peace is more than the absence of discordance.
It is the intent listening to diverse points of view;
It is the intentional speaking of all voices,
one at a time;
It is the tension within silence that welcomes
all thoughts.
Let us seek harmony; let us learn peace.
Peace is more than the absence of tension.
It is studying the hard lesson of letting go;
It is breathing through pain into tranquility;
It is forming friendship out of enmity.
Let us seek serenity; let us learn peace.
Peace is much more than the absence of war.
It is observing the promised truce when anger would say, “no”;
It is finding the just compromise when the ego would
say, “my way”;
It is striving for reconciliation when the heart would say, “revenge.”
Let us seek amity for all the earth; let us learn peace.
TRIBUTE TO DOMINIQUE BENARD, the French teacher assassinated on Oct 13:
A message from UUA President the Rev. Sofía Betancourt, PhD. written on Oct.10
Beloveds, I invite you to stop what you are doing if you can and sit with me in the depth of this tragedy of continued violence between Israel and Hamas. How to reconcile the cost of occupation and of war? How to nuance two very real histories of oppression and violence? I am holding close the words of U.N. Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland who said: “This is a dangerous precipice, and I appeal to all to pull back from the brink.”
We as a people of faith can condemn violence against civilians while at the same time engaging the full legacies and histories of oppression that shape such devastating conflict. As a faith tradition, Unitarian Universalists have long worked for peace, and our principles and values call for the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. At the same time, we have not engaged the tangled issues surrounding Israel/Palestine in community since 2018, and our last engagement resulted in severed relationships, and deep pain.
I pray for the people of Israel and Palestine. I pray for leaders around the globe who must respond to this latest flare of violence and the untenable ethical considerations that abound. I pray for Muslim and Jewish UUs who experience the impact of this long strife acutely. I pray that those of us less likely to know the trauma of unending brutality and harm will not turn away from generational loss, from the devastating realities and their root causes, or from the relentless tragedy of war and occupation. Be gentle with yourselves when you need to be, but do not turn away unless you must. We are one global family living tenuously on the same human-impacted Earth. Let us center ourselves in justice as we call for peace.
THREE POEMS WRITTEN BY RABBIS SINCE OCTOBER 7:
POEM ABOUT THE WAR by Rabbi Naomi Steinberg, Eureka, CA
What shall we name this newborn war,
how honor its multi-national heritage?
Shall we call it ‘independence,’ after its father,
or “Nakba,” after its mother?
Maybe “World War,” after its illustrious grandparents?
Or will we pluck a date off the innocent calendar,
soiling forever the good name of October 7?
With what patriotic, pious words will we memorialize its dead:
children, elders, women, leftists, right-wingers, nationalists,
kibbutzniks, secularists, believers, fighters, peaceniks?
What stories will we tell this infant war, what songs sing to it?
Will we feed its voracious appetite and watch it grow,
or find a way to mercifully put it to sleep?
TWO PEOPLES, ONE LAND a prayer by Rabbi Sheila Weinberg
Jewish Community of Amherst, Amherst, MA
Two peoples, one land,
Three faiths, one root,
One earth, one mother,
One sky, one beginning, one future, one destiny,
One broken heart,
One God.
We pray to You:
Grant us a vision of unity.
May we see the many in the one and the one in the many.
May you, Life of All the Worlds,
Source of All Amazing Differences
Help us to see clearly.
Guide us gently and firmly toward each other,
Toward peace. Amen.
TAKING SIDES
This was written by Irwin Keller, Rabbi of theCongregation Ner Shalom, Sonoma County, CA, on Oct. 17
Today I am taking sides.
I am taking the side of Peace.
Peace, which I will not abandon
even when its voice is drowned out
by hurt and hatred,
bitterness of loss,
cries of right and wrong.
I am taking the side of Peace
whose name has barely been spoken
in this winnerless war.
I will hold Peace in my arms,
and share my body’s breath,
lest Peace be added
to the body count.
I will call for de-escalation
even when I want nothing more
than to get even.
I will do it
in the service of Peace.
I will make a clearing
in the overgrown
thicket of cause and effect
so Peace can breathe
for a minute
and reach for the sky.
I will do what I must
to save the life of Peace.
I will breathe through tears.
I will swallow pride.
I will bite my tongue.
I will offer love
without testing for deservingness.
So don’t ask me to wave a flag today
unless it is the flag of Peace.
Don’t ask me to sing an anthem
unless it is a song of Peace.
Don’t ask me to take sides
unless it is the side of Peace.
Dona Nobis sung as a duet and as a round
Ritual:
Passing a Candle of Peach around the room while we all join in either humming or singing “Dona Nobis Pacem”
CLOSING OF PEACE VIGIL:
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
—Taoist philosopher, Lao-Tse, sixth century BCE