"This past year, there were many Sundays when we spoke or sang together these words by Libby Roderick..."
Rev. Tim Kutzmark
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading, Massachusetts
July 31, 2008
This past year, there were many Sundays when we spoke or sang together these words by Libby Roderick. We chanted these words to our infants and young children as they were blessed and dedicated. We sang these words to our teens as they went off to New Orleans for their journey of service and rebuilding. We prayed these words for our loved ones who were ill. We reached out with these words to those who had passed into the mysteries of death. We meant these words for each other and our world:
How could anyone ever tell you
You were anything less than beautiful?
How could anyone ever tell you
You were less than whole?
How could anyone fail to notice
That your Loving is a miracle?
How deeply you’re connected to my soul?
And yet, there are many ways we tell others they are less than beautiful, they are less than whole. There are so many ways we fail to notice that loving is a miracle, how deeply we’re connected.
When Jim D. Adkisson walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday, he had forgotten these things. He was so confused, so angry, so totally lost, so ill in mind that he committed an unconscionable violation of life, innocence, and sacred sanctuary.
Reports suggest Jim D. Adkisson targeted the Unitarian Universalist church because he wanted to strike out at liberals, who he had come to believe were the source of his problems. He wanted to strike out against gays and lesbians, who he had come to believe were one cause of this country’s misfortune. He wanted to do something to end his helplessness and despair. Rage distorted his humanity into something unrecognizable. And a liberal church community became his battleground.
(And yes, let us never be naïve: rage and helplessness can so easily distort our humanity.)
And so, two lives are lost.
So many souls are shattered.
The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that the word liberal is rooted in the word “liberty;” it comes from a Latin word meaning “”free.” Throughout history, in Roman times, through the Renaissance, through the Age of Enlightenment, through the period of American and World Revolution, “Liberal” has been meant: "befitting free people, noble, generous"; "free from restraint in speech or action,” "free from prejudice, tolerant."
To be a religious liberal should not be and will not be a death sentence.
To be a religious liberal should not be and will not be a danger.
To be a religious liberal should not be and will not be a label of derogation or dismissal.
To be a religious liberal is and always will be a specific way of living and loving.
To be a religious liberal is and always will be a way of looking at the world
through open hearts and open minds.
To be a religious liberal is and always will be a way of relating to our world with reason
and reverence.
And so, on this night, to our world,
To the members and friends of the Knoxville area Unitarian Universalist Congregations,
To those whose humanity has been distorted,
To our sisters and brothers of this faith, other faiths, and no faiths,
To one another, to those who are afraid of us, to those who stand with us,
We, in one voice, will proudly stand and always say:
How could anyone ever tell you
You were anything less than beautiful?
How could anyone ever tell you
You were less than whole?
How could anyone fail to notice
That your Loving is a miracle?
How deeply you’re connected to my soul?
© Copyright 2008 Rev. Tim Kutzmark
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Last updated on Thursday, June 3, 2010.
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