"We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Friends, this coming Sunday, when we will celebrate Memorial Day, we have a great opportunity to step forward into a new future.  How can it be that a day dedicated to memory can also be about the future?

When we stop to consider the root causes of war and conflict, what we see is the dual gestures of self-aggrandizement and self-protection.  (These are certainly identified, for example, as root causes of World War One among the European powers.)  These gestures reflect an understanding of reality at variance with our seventh UU principle of the interconnectedness of all things.

So, to renew our vision for a family, a community, a congregation, a world of peace, we must challenge ideas that deny our deep interconnectedness.

That is how we will honor Memorial Day:  by exploring how we can re-vision interconnectedness.  

As Rev. Forrest Gilmore writes in The Seven Principles in Word and Worship, (ed. Ellen Brandenburg), "Our seventh Principle, respect for the interdependent web of all existence, is a glorious statement.  Yet we make a profound mistake when we limit it to merely an environmental idea.  It is so much more.  It is our response to the great dangers of both individualism and oppression.  It is our solution to the seeming conflict between the individual and the group ... [our 7th principle] is a source of meaning to which we can dedicate our lives."

Come, let's begin again in love.

Rabbi Chava