Story for all ages...

How many of you have heard of a guy named Jesus? [He lived a long time ago. People thought he had some of the answers to life's questions. Some people just wanted him to touch them, because when he did they felt better.]

Well, one day a young man (probably a teenager) came to him and asked: "Jesus, how should I live my life?" Jesus told him, "You know what it says in the books of Moses - you should love God and love your neighbor as yourself." The man thought a minute, then asked, "Well, Jesus, who is my neighbor?" To answer him, Jesus told a story. Somewhat like the one I'm going to tell. But Jesus' story was made up; this one is true, from the newspaper [the Nashville Tennesseean]:

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Tuesday, 6/27/2000
Unitarian teens chip in, assist city's homeless
By Ray Waddle / Religion Editor

Unitarian Universalist teens were hearing a lot about social justice at the UU national convention here, but not seeing much action.

Then a couple of them noticed an injured homeless man downtown, lying deathly still, not far from their denomination's meeting at Nashville Convention Center.

It was a rattling experience for the two teens, Phil Cochetti, 16, and Kristin Leigh Grassel, 17. They thought he was dead.

When police roused him, they were relieved. But they still felt bad. They wanted to do something.

So they started knocking on the hotel doors of their fellow teens. To raise money for the homeless. At 1 in the morning.

"We wanted the adults to see that people can do something without forming a committee," said Kristin...

Led by Phil, they raised $318 Saturday night, mostly the food money of other teens, mostly between midnight and 4:30 a.m. Then 11 of them used their own money to hail three cabs and head to Kroger to buy food stuffs. The grocery receipt, reportedly, was four feet long. By 11 a.m. Sunday morning, more than 30 of them hauled bags of food from their downtown hotel to the Nashville Union Mission.

"They get the credit," said ... the director of operations at the mission.

When the adult delegates found out during the UU General Assembly business meeting Sunday, they raised $2,700 on the spot for the same purpose.

"Our religion is keen on helping people who need it," said Jenne Beinart, 16.

...

"We believe in the power of people," said Kristin, ... "This has changed me as a person."
...
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I have a question for you to think about. Don't answer it now. Talk it over with your parents. Do you think the man lying in the street was a neighbor of those teenagers?

Chalice lighting...

Shall justice fail and perish out of the world? Shall wrong continually endure? Injustice cannot stand. No armies, no alliance, and hold it up. The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. - Theodore Parker

Readings...

Psalm 82- (Voice of God by a girl or woman in the audience)

God has taken [her] place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods [she] holds judgment: "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and destitute Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

[But] They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; ... the foundations of the earth are shaken. [God] says, "You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince." Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!

Matthew 5:38

We once were told, 'An eye for an eye' and 'A tooth for a tooth'. I tell you: Don't react violently against the one who is evil: when someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other as well. When someone wants to sue you for your shirt, let that person have your coat along with it. When a soldier conscripts you for one mile, go an extra mile.

Hymn #139, "Wonders Still the World Shall Witness"

Sermon...

When I entered "justice, equity, and compassion" into my favorite web search engine, one of the sites returned was the "Shame on UU" site, www.left-bank.org/antiuu. Its logo is the flaming chalice surrounded by a red O with a red diagonal through it. Kathy Hamill and Robin Slater, the keepers of this site, appear to be disgruntled former UUs. One page is devoted to critiques of our 7 principles, titled "The Hidden UU Creedal Test". Kathy rants about every principle, but Robin has the only good word to be found there, and it's about "justice, equity, and compassion in human relations", our second principle. She says: "If this principle annoys anyone, I would love to hear about why."

Well, lucky me, I thought, to have Robin's imprimatur. But Robin's good word is not surprising because this principle is claimed by all the brand-name religions---including the religion called atheism. And not only religions: it's about as universal and civilising a human principle as you can find. Putting the principle into practice, however, depends on what you mean by "justice". And "equity". And "compassion".

There certainly was, and is, a very efficient "justice system" in every well-ordered police state. And as for compassion, the story is told that one day in the 30s Hitler's motorcade was approaching a village. The people there had spread flowers on the road. Rather than crush the flowers, the Feuhrer got out of his car and walked, sending the cars around by another route. He was commended for his compassion.

Tyrannical concepts of justice are outrageous to be sure, but what about theological concepts? Traditional Christianity's god of vengeance and blood sacrifice, for example, is generally rejected by UUs. Rebecca Parker, president of Starr King School for the Ministry, has this to say: "Is it any wonder that there is so much abuse in modern society when the predominant image or theology is of 'divine child abuse'---God the father demanding and carrying out the suffering and death of his own son."

And the Jewish scriptures show us a God, who is quirky and unpredictable and frequently unjust. Manifestly and grossly unjust!

However... In addition...

Those same scriptures reveal an approachable deity who can be reasoned with and even admonished. When God told Abraham that he was about to destroy Sodom, Abraham challenged him, "Are you going to wipe out the righteous along with the wicked? You cannot do such a thing. You are the judge of all the world. You must do what is just!" After some haggling God finally conceded that he would not destroy the city if there were even ten righteous there---down from fifty.

The psalm this morning also illustrates the same point, I think. The psalmist in telling a story about God is in fact reminding the tribal deity, Yahweh, of his duty, and reminding human judges as well. The psalmist was well aware of his nation's history. In the year 587 BCE the ancient nation of Judah knew that Yahweh could spare them the suffering of being conquered and carried off into exile in Babylon. He didn't. The survivors had no doubt that bad things had happened because the nation had ignored the warnings of the prophets in the preceeding centuries.

Like Amos in 722BCE: (Amos 5) "... You trample on the poor and force [them] to give you grain. ... though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. You ... take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. ... [The Lord says] "I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. ... Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a ever-flowing stream!"

In the centuries following their return from exile a remnant of the Jews remained faithful. They could have given up on God, but to do so would have meant forsaking what gave their lives and their ancestors' lives meaning. God, after all, had delivered those ancestors from slavery in Egypt. Also, had they given up, we would not have those Jewish scriptures.

This faithfulness to God in the face of persecution has carried over to modern times. Karen Armstrong relates the following story in her book "A History of God":

"One day in Auschwitz, a group of Jews put God on trial. They charged him with cruelty and betrayal. Like Job, they found no consolation in the usual answers to the problem of evil and suffering in the midst of this current obscenity. The could find no excuse for God, no extenuating circumstances, so they found him guilty and, presumably, worthy of death. The Rabbi pronounced the verdict. Then he looked up and said that the trial was over: it was time for the evening prayer."

So, just as in biblical times Jews *demand* that God, the judge of all the world, do what is just.

I've been on a theological ramble here, but I'm fascinated with the concept of justice as developed in the Jewish scriptures. Two paths are put to us: we can choose to be righteous or wicked - there's really no middle ground. The righteous observe God's laws and, as the psalm says, they remember the weak and needy; the wicked buy into a system that ignores or exploits the weak and the needy.

The societies influenced by the Jewish scriptures have a proactive approach to social justice when compared to societies influenced by Eastern religions, which take what might be called a more fatalistic approach, or a more "accepting" approach, meaning you cannot refuse to accept what exists. For Hindus, this is the "middle world," and as Huston Smith says, "it will always contain the same amount of good and evil, pleasure and pain, right and wrong... All thought of cleaning it up is in principle misguided." Polytheisms of the ancient world also stressed the status quo. Things might not be good, but they could be a lot worse. Best not to disturb either the gods or the present order.

In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu wrote [mixture of translations here]:

"Do you want to improve the world? I don't think it can be done.
...
At times some force themselves ahead and some are left behind.
At times some make a great noise and some are held silent.
At times some are puffed fat and some are kept hungry.
At times some push aboard and some are tipped out.
The Master sees things as they are without trying to control them.
The Master lets them go and resides at the center of the circle."

Well, Unitarian Universalism, while rejecting none of this, comes out more on the side of the proactive Jewish prophets when it comes to justice, equity and compassion.

The prophets are not the only ones with a passion for justice. Philosophers have been writing weighty tomes on justice for millenia. There is even a last word! By any standard the most influential tome of recent times is a 1971 book by John Rawls called "A Theory of Justice". Many books have been written just about this book, with titles like "Undersanding Rawls," or "Realizing Rawls," or just "Rawls." I skimmed a few of these books; Rawls himself I could not penetrate. Rawls starts with two bedrock moral principles of a just society. The first is simple: individual liberties (such as of speech, association, worship) must be unalienable; the second is a bit more complicated: social and economic inequalities must be arranged to offer the greatest possible benefit to the worst-off in society while at the same time offering equal opportunity for all to participate in how those inequalities are arranged. (elaborate a bit)

The precise definition of all these terms and the development of the theory is very involved. For example, according to Rawls social justice applies only to classes, not to individuals. Statistics, not anecdotes, are the measures of social justice. Many have argued against this position, saying that the special needs and talents of individuals, the claims of particular persons, not the structure of social institutions, must provide the basis for a theory of justice.

Well, this is brainy, impassionate justice, "an artificial virtue constructed by reason for our mutual well-being" (Hume). To me justice is more gut-level. A matter of personal honor. Giving each his/her due. A sense of compassion. A natural revulsion at harming one's neighbor. A sense of fair play. Perhaps a keen sense of personal guilt about my own privileged place in the world. Also, pointing the finger of blame at those people or systems that cause injustice. Resentment toward those perpetrators of injustice.

At bottom justice is about "getting even." And by that I mean putting things right by making things more equal, whether by retribution or distribution. An eye for an eye is the ancient formula in retributive justice. From Hammurabi's code, 1750BCE. It put a limit on how far you good go. You could get even, but you couldn't demand two eyes for one eye. Jesus wanted people to reconsider this kind of getting even. He asks, in effect: Is it possible to get even by returning good for evil? Is it possible to be just by returning evil for evil?

Jesus might also have some questions about retributive justice in this country today. When compared to other similar countries, we imprison a much larger percent of our population. Does our society produce more lawbreakers? Are our laws and courts unjust? Are we extremely zealous in enforcing the laws? The answers may depend on what you think the purpose of justice is. Robert Solomon has said: "Wherever justice is at issue, the lingering shadow of vengeance is not far behind."

Even in distributive justice, there's more going on than merely redistribution, or even compensation.

Solomon, in "Morality and Social Justice", goes on to say that one of the emotions of justice that is the closest positive counterpart to vengeance is gratitude. The problem is that in modern American society gratitude is an undervalued sentiment when compared to vengeance. The implications for social justice are striking. "Rather than being grateful for one's good fortune and painfully aware of the contingency of the less palatable alternative, prompting sympathy for those who are not so fortunate, we tend to pride ourselves on our own accomplishments and view good fortune as a reward for our own (inexplicable) merit. In place of 'there but for the grace of God go I,' our culture and its philosophers tend to substitute ... abstract conceptions of equality and equal opportunity, ... and rationalizations for callousness: 'Why can't he pull himself up out of the gutter as I did (or could have)?' ... it is far preferable to see ourselves as independent and self-determining ... than as dependent on luck and on others and, if we *are* lucky, appropriately grateful for our advantageous role in life."

Well, I'm sure we UUs value gratitude more than vengeance. And there are a lot of UUs for whom putting justice, equity, and compassion in human relations into action is the best way they have to express their faith.

Now, a disclaimer. Like Al Gore when it comes to campaign finance, I am an imperfect messenger when it comes to social justice issues. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've personally participated in social witness demonstrations or marches. I remember in August of 1979 going to Eliot Institute at Seabeck on the Hood Canal. This is an anual gathering of Unitarians from the Northwest and BC. I heard an entire week of talks by Dick Gilbert, who more than any other UU minister is our prophet of social justice. He asked us to make a decision whether we wanted to be on the balcony or on the road. On the balcony as an observer or on the road as a worker and witness. Watching or doing. I remember thinking: balcony, definitely.

There was a "laboratory exercise" at that Eliot also - not so much to do with social justice as peace - that I did participate in. It was on August 9th, 34th anniversary of the Nagasaki bomb. We made a very long banner - about 75 feet long by 3ft high, that said something like: "August 9th, 34th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki". It took a lot of people to hold it. We stood across from the entrance of the Bangor nuclear submarine base for an hour or so around shift- change time. One fellow drove out and stopped directly in front of me. "What about Pearl Harbor?" he asked, and drove away. Unitarian that I am, I'd have liked to have had a discussion about that.

I didn't think at the time that I'd learned much by participating in that "laboratory exercise" 21 years ago, but I thought about it again recently and maybe I did. Mary Jane can certainly tell you that it can take me an overly long time to "get" something.

For example, I don't remember thinking about it at the time, but we weren't going up against any person or group of people that day, but up against a system. Of course what we were doing that day had more to do with peace issues than social justice issues. To bring this more into the realm of social justice, listen to Bruce Harris, who works with street kids in Guatemala. He says: "If we feed the children, they call us heros; if we ask why the children are hungry, they call us communists." Here he is making a point about an unjust system.

Systems can have a life of their own. Good people can find themselves helping to administer unjust systems. Unjust people can be in charge of just systems. By the way this was Kathy's (remember, the Anti UU Web site?) objection too; she would reword the principle: justice, equity and compassion in human systems.

It's seemingly harder to change systems than to help individuals change. But helping individuals and small groups by contributions of time and money is certainly one way to start changing systems. Of course other ways include taking to the streets when appropriate, and even civil disobedience when necessary.

Whatever the method, however, it's almost impossible to do alone. There is the occasional lone hero, but not normally. It took a lot of people to hold up that sign 21 years ago. And it takes organized groups of people to change things today.

Now, some claim to be unconcerned about systems. Here's what Mother Teresa said: "If I thought in terms of crowds, I would never begin my work. I believe in the personal touch of one to one. If others are convinced that God wants them to change social structures, that is a matter for them to take up with God."

Though she may not have admitted it, she did go up against unjust systems, and she could not have done it alone. The Catholic church (an organized group if there ever was one) helped her form the Sisters of Charity, and the Sisters helped her do her work.

The Unitarians can be organized too (sometimes!). The UUSC sponsors programs that helps people and groups all over the world. I don't generally use the word "empower", but it can be applied without question to what the UUSC does. We heard about one of their projects with Yakima farm workers here a few weeks ago.

And right here in this community we have groups such as Hopelink and KITH.

The group that I'm involved in as a board member, CHANGEInsight, also does its work one to one, one family at a time.

Now, Mary Jane and I have had a bit of a debate about whether what our group does comes under the category of social justice. We support families in which kids are exhibiting inappropriate adolescent behavior. For the most part, the people we help are not hurting materially. But they are hurting nonetheless, and they need assistance. I contend that what we do is social justice, because our mission is to provide support, education and service for better communities, parents and kids. Mary Jane contends that it's just another support group like AA or AlAnon.

Well, neither of us exactly have a calling to do this - it just happened. Six and a half years ago Sara, our own daughter, was taking drugs and running away. She still is doing drugs, and she's not unused to lying in the streets---like the man in that story. I point this out because, although such a sight is shocking---as it was for those teens---social justice programs can only reach those who are willing and able to accept assistance.

CHANGEInsight has, however, produced plenty of other success stories, and this is what keeps me there. And I'm better even if our kid isn't. I'm glad I have an organized way to put justice, equity, and compassion in human relations into action.

As for the arc of the moral universe, how does it bend these days? Wrong seems continually to endure. Injustice stands, to some degree, just about everywhere you look. Yet at the same time, justice does not fail, justice does not perish out of the world. For whether by means of the personal touch of one to one, or of more dramatic measures such as civil disobediance, actions like those called for by the prophets of old *also* continue to endure and stand right alongside wrong and injustice. Can you live with this? Is this an acceptable situation? We can talk about it. After the song...

Hymn #298, "Wake Now My Senses"

Closing words...

An old Jewish Proverb: "If you will always assume the person next to you is the messiah, waiting for some human kindness, you will soon learn to weigh your words and watch your hands. And if he so chooses not to reveal himself in your time, it will not matter."