“Tikkun Olam”
Unitarian Universalist Church of
Rev. Jennie Ann Barrington, Minister
11 September 2005
Reading:
From the Ethics of the
Fathers:
“Adam was created
alone to show that should anyone destroy a single life, he shall be
called to account for it as though he had destroyed the entire world;
and if anyone saves a single life, he shall be rewarded as though he
had saved the whole world.”
Sermon
(“Tikkun Olam”):
“A disaster of Biblical
proportions--” that’s what singer / songwriter Paul Simon
called the devastation of Hurricane Katrina-- Friday
night he sorrowfully sang his old song, “Come on, Take Me to the
Mardi Gras,” for a fundraising concert. Also
in that concert, Ellen DeGeneres, who grew up in Louisiana, said that
everyone she knows in New Orleans has lost everything.
For a super-star event, the program had an impressive dignity,
the recording artists visibly mourning Katrina’s loss of human
life, of animal life, arts and culture, unique cuisine, architecture,
and several colleges and universities. Two
weeks’ time is not long enough to really take it all in. I have been learning all I can about this, the
worst natural disaster in our nation’s history.
But our emotions need extra time to catch up with our
intellectual knowledge. On Tuesday night, when the police chief of New
Orleans said, “The city is destroyed,” then I cried. And I have imagined God crying, too.
I am deeply sad about this, but I am also
furiously angry-- The wake of Hurricane
Katrina has shown us who in our nation is perpetually left behind-- people who are poor; people who are old;
people of color; people with medical needs, particularly chronic ones;
people with developmental disabilities; people with little formal
education; and children-- hundreds of
children are still separated from their parents because the evacuation
of the Gulf Coast was bungled so badly. I
do not enjoy blaming public officials, and I am not blaming one
political party more than another when I say this--
But for many, many years, no one has put attention and resources
toward the people who are continually pushed to the margins. Government policies have benefited corporate
entities, to the neglect, and the harm, of ordinary fellow citizens
like you and me.
I am heartened that, even though this Hurricane
has been so tragic, it has birthed public discussions about issues
I’ve not heard anyone talking about for far too long: the need to alleviate poverty; the need for a
livable wage; the need for housing which is affordable, decent, safe,
secure, and attractive; the need for affordable health care (an
alarming number of the hurricane victims has serious medical
conditions); the need for properly-funded public education; and the
need for jobs in our nation in all the areas bereft of them because
they have gone overseas. Why aren’t
these things possible in our nation? Who ever started saying these
things were not possible in our nation? Of
course these things are possible in our nation-- They
must become a reality, and they will-- if
only we, the citizens of the United States, do not stop insisting on
them until they are a reality.
I was furious, and I still am, to see the tens
of thousands of people, abandoned and trapped in the Superdome and the
Convention Center in New Orleans, amidst filth, and broken plumbing,
with no food, no water, no responsible leadership, no comfort, no light
of hope. No one should ever live in
conditions like that, not even for five minutes. No one.
The images in the press of those beloved trapped people were
familiar to me. As many of you know, I
have worked, for years, with people who were formerly housed in
institutions for the mentally retarded. Some of them have intellectual
impairments. Some do not, but were abandoned in institutions because
they were deaf, or could not speak, or simply were unwanted. The conditions in such institutions in our
nation have been exactly the same as the conditions at the New Orleans Superdome and
Convention Center. Such conditions are
inhumane and deplorable. And now, as was
the case in the sixties and seventies, it is the press that brought
these conditions to the public view and to the embarrassment, and
hopefully accountability, of public officials on all levels. For years I have advocated, in both word and
deed, for people who are marginalized to be treated with dignity,
respect, love, and empowerment. The
decency and worth of any society is measured by how it treats its most
vulnerable people. Since Katrina struck,
our nation has looked indecent and poor in the eyes of the world.
Public officials have a duty and swear an oath to serve and protect the
commonwealth-- The people neglected and
harmed after Hurricane Katrina are the commonwealth-- They are the
people who make our nation a rich tapestry of honesty, integrity,
talent, compassion, wisdom, insight, and hope in the years when we are
gone. Public policy must change so that
the needs of the poor, the chronically ill, and the very old and the
very young, are –not invisible, off the radar screen- but at the center-- at
the center-- at the center of our
nation’s resources and at the center of our love and respect.
While my colleagues and I are advocating for these policy
changes, for public officials to do their duty, what is our duty, as
citizens and as people of faith? We are
members of this religious institution, a church which learns from all
the greatest teachings of world religions. The
Buddha taught, “As a mother watches over her child, willing to
risk her own life to protect her only child, so with a boundless heart
should one cherish all living beings, suffusing the whole world with
unobstructed loving kindness.” One
of the seven pillars of Islam is to give alms to the poor.
The prophets of the Hebrew scriptures taught that part of the
people’s covenant with God is to care for the poor and eliminate
economic injustice. And Jesus welcomed the
poor and infirm and aged and little children to his side. The first
Christian communities cared for the widows and orphans.
All the great religions of the world teach that religious
people have a religious duty to end the injustices of suffering,
poverty, illness, and societal neglect. Jewish mystical teachings,
specifically, tell us of “tikkun olam,” the Hebrew phrase
for “the repair of the universe.” [the
following is summarized from “Wikipedia:”
“According to the Kabbalah, the
initial creation of the universe by God was unstable, and the early
universe could not hold the holy light of God. So
the original form of the universe shattered into shards. Therefore, the
universe we see today is literally broken, and in need of repair
(tikkun olam – the repair of the universe). In
the Kabbalah tradition, practicing the Jewish laws has a real and
physical effect on the spiritual structure of the universe-- Doing so can repair the tattered shards of
creation and repair the universe as God originally intended it to be,
making human beings partners in God’s creation.
In the teachings of the Zohar (a classic book of Jewish
mysticism), one way to repair the world after the breaking of the
sacred vessel is by performing Mitzvot, Hebrew for good deeds. The more Mitzvot performed, the closer the
world will return to its original state of perfection.
Not all Jewish people believe that performing good deeds
actually changes the spiritual realm of the universe.
But all branches of Judaism teach that Mitzvot are a religious
obligation so as to bring holiness into the lives of individuals,
families, and the world at large. And many liberal Jewish communities
today interpret tikkun olam as an imperative to transform the world through social
action.”
Whether your sense of duty is more theistic
(God-centered) or more Humanist (centered on social justice in this
earthly world, here and now) or more aligned with the Eastern
philosophies of living in right-relationship with oneself, all sentient
beings, and the divine spark within us, it is important to discern the
sources of your beliefs and impulses.
Our
church is here to help you with that discernment--
through study, social justice work, worship, and conversations
with me, with people who share your views, and with people with whom
you disagree. Myself, my initial sense of
calling to the professional Unitarian Universalist ministry, over ten
years ago now, was a profound sense that I, and each of us, and
especially UU churches can be a vehicle for a higher wisdom and a
greater good. Because of our church, none of us need feel alone,
isolated, or futile in our efforts after a disaster like Hurricane
Katrina. Through our church, there is so
much we can do --individually, as a
church, and with the larger community-- to
repair the brokenness the hurricane has wrought.
I have learned of many charitable efforts this
past week, and I applaud them all. The children, led by little Veronica
and Sam Gomez, are collecting pennies and other loose change for the
Red Cross. Some of you have given to the humane societies which are
rescuing lost pets. Many people are having yard sales and giving the
money to hurricane relief. After the
service, I invite you all to join me in giving to the UUA-UUSC Gulf
Coast Relief Fund. All donations to that fund will go to victims of
Hurricane Katrina. There is more information about that fund on the
back of your order of service and at uua. org.
There are Unitarian Universalist churches in Louisiana, Mississippi,
and Alabama. Several of their buildings
will be unusable for a long time. Many of
those congregations are as small as ours is, or smaller.
Some do not have a minister at all. The
Unitarian Universalist churches in the Gulf Coast region are supported
by two district offices, The Mid-South District, in Oxford, Mississippi
and The Southwest UU Conference, in Fort Worth, Texas.
As I said to the children this morning, I invite us all to write
cards of sympathy and support, which I will mail to those two district
offices, along with candles we will collect. My goal is that everyone
in the Unitarian Universalist communities in the Gulf Coast region will
receive from us, a card, and a candle-- as a symbol of our concern for
them, and also for their practical use.
I’m sure you’ve heard that Otis Air
Force Base on Camp Edwards in Bourne, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, has
been set up to receive 2,500 evacuees from the Gulf Coast.
I was very impressed to learn of this gracious offer of
hospitality and practical help. As of today, only about two or three
hundred people have come to stay there so far. The evacuees at the
Astrodome are still shocked and traumatized, and are still looking for
the friends and family members they have been separated from. But whether or not more evacuees come to Camp
Edwards or not, I’m sure there are ways our church can help and
support the people who are there. If any of you are able to volunteer
for a five-day period, providing for your own accommodations and food
while you are there, I know you all have skills that could be of use at
Camp Edwards. And some of you may be
considering opening up your house to a family who is now homeless. If so, the website for MoveOn. org is matching
up people who need temporary housing with people who can offer it. One
of the saddest things to me last week, since I cherished my time in
college and seminary so dearly, was hearing a young woman say on NPR,
“The University of New Orleans is gone. It’s
just gone. They are telling us to transfer someplace else.” Yet a few hours later I was told that Franklin
Pierce College, in Rindge, New Hampshire, will be accepting one hundred
students from universities in the Gulf Coast, with a year of tuition
and fees waived. I’m sure our church can connect with those
students, and offer them our sympathy and support. And as time goes by,
there will be more opportunities for our church to be a vehicle for a
greater good in the wake of this tragic storm. The needs and
repercussions will continue for many years. My colleagues and I are in
good contact with each other, rallying support for the
ministers and staff of the UU churches in the Gulf Coast region,
that their pay and benefits will hopefully not be interrupted as they
continue this vital emergency work. The
Rev. Marta Valentin-Chase, newly-called minister of the First UU Church
of New Orleans led worship as a conference
call
from Houston last Sunday… I am thinking of her every day. Two of
my colleagues in Oklahoma have e-mailed to say that this looks to be
the largest migration of United States citizens since the Dust Bowl.
And here are the words of the Rev. James VanderWeele, minister of the
Community Church Unitarian Universalist in New Orleans. He wrote from
Pine Bluff, Arkansas:
“…Many of our
congregants have found refuge with family members.
Wd have a church e-mail list, and have heard from fifteen to
twenty of our 96 members… I believe
many of our members have lost all their belongings. We have evacuated
in the past, and returned in three days-- and
that is what most of us thought would happen again. Our members and
friends come from throughout the New Orleans area, and some are in
homes that weathered the storm. Unfortunately,
our church was not so lucky. It is located
within three blocks of the broken levee on the 17th Street Canal.
My estimate is that it has been filled with up to fifteen feet
of water… The city we loved is gone, at least for awhile, but
our faith in life, in the beauty of participating in the flow of life,
must continue to be a living part of who we will be.
This faith in life has helped restore a vibrant congregation. My
prayer is that it will continue with us, wherever we will be.”
The Rev. Jim VanderWeele Let us be silent for a time, in gratitude at
our good fortune to be here together, lovingly, this morning, within
the safety and security of these beautiful hallowed walls. Let it be
and, Amen.