Sermons

Homily

My friends, I speak to you this morning with a heavy heart. As you know, this past week has seen the United States initiate warfare in Iraq. Reports of destruction, injury and death as our troops advance are continual and sometimes graphic. The human family has again failed to resolve its disputes without violence.

As I understand the situation, the despotic and often cruel behavior of Saddam Hussein is clear. The Iraqi people have suffered greatly under his rule. Our disagreements center on the weapons he may have and how they may be used and on which methods are both effective and appropriate to change conditions in Iraq. Some of us see war as the only effective possibility. Some of us have worked actively to oppose a US attack. Some of us have watched with dread and sorrow as a seemingly inevitable chain of events proceeded. Now we are faced with the reality of active warfare.

It is my hope and my conviction that all of us want peace and freedom in the world; for ourselves and for people of all the nations. We join in anxious concern for the losses inevitable in war: loss of security, loss of homes and belongings, loss of health and loss of life. Our hopes and prayers are with all those endangered by this conflict: for the armed forces of all the countries involved, for the noncombatants on various assignments in the region and for the Iraqi people who have endured so much. May they soon see peace, be reunited with their families and friends, and begin to reconstruct their lives.

In the intervening days, we offer our hopes and prayers for a speedy end to hostilities. And we remain alarmed, and I hope, actively engaged in monitoring US policies at home and abroad. The implications of this attack will stretch far into the future. We need begin to act in shaping them now. What form will our economic and social policies take? Will we turn away from international cooperation? Will we follow through on our promises to rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq? Will we work to improve our relations with the Islamic world and with the Far East? So many questions. So many decisions. So much to do.

As we voice our hopes and prayers for peace, may we also yearn for the strength and perseverance to work for a better future. May we find our voices and the determination to speak and work for the common good both here and abroad. May we endure our discouragement and sorrow and not turn away from the paths of compassion, of justice and of peace. Amen. May this indeed be so.

Unitarian Universalist Association
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