The mark of a good holiday is that it gets hijacked by the powers that be. The winter solstice and spring equinox were both hijacked by Christendom and turned into Christmas and Easter respectively. These attempts by a superpower to repress free expression, or by the an attempt by orthodox to suppress heresy never work. The pagan aspects of both celebrations have gradually crept back into the observances. It really isn’t nice to fool Mother Nature.

But what about mother? You heard what Julia Ward Howe said about the purpose of the first Mother’s Day. It was intended to be a day on which women would rise up, speak out, throw off the conventional expectations that they be quiet and unassuming, and roundly condemn war and violence.

It seems to be that Mother’s Day has been so thoroughly hijacked by the powers that be – market forces with names like Hallmark and FTD, that there isn’t a shred left of the original intention. And that is too bad, because what this world needs right now is for peace-makers to proliferate. We need that more than we need flowers, or candy, or lacy cards. (For those procrastinators out there, please do not use this sermon as an excuse not to have sent your mother flowers!)

My mom was a peace-maker. She rescued stray animals, she was active in civil rights and anti-war efforts, she was an early advocate for gay rights. Her inclination to bring peace and comfort was a by-product of her faith. She was a committed Christian who read the gospels and heard the voice of Jesus saying, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

My mother was a peace-maker, but she was not a pacifist. She served in the Navy in World War II, and never regretted her decision to enlist. But she looked at the carnage of Vietnam, and at the moral and political quagmire there, and declared herself opposed. My mom followed the same path that Julia Ward Howe trod. Howe went from being the author of a stirring anthem that was a call to arms for the Union side in the civil war to being the author of the real Mother’s Day; a day for making peace a priority for all women.

I have followed in Julia and Jeanne’s footsteps. Those of you who have heard the story of the symbols on my stole know that this peace sign is here because of my own history of anti-war activism. My first involvement in the peace movement came during the Vietnam War. I did not have a terribly nuanced stance. I just knew it was wrong for the US to be there; that the price being paid for our involvement was too terribly high, and that we should get out. It was a situational pacifism.

I never considered myself a true pacifist; I couldn’t say, and I still can’t, that there is absolutely no situation that justifies a military response. And Unitarian Universalism is not a traditional peace church like the Quakers or the Brethren. As a movement, we have tried to look at each military incursion that America’s elected leaders have led us into since World War II on its merits, and have tried to discern the rightness or wrongness of the particular circumstances.

And now here we are, a nation once again embroiled in the carnage and the moral and political quagmire of a military incursion. And here I am, not a pacifist, not a member of a peace church. Just another mother for peace. When the first Gulf War started, Rev. Kim Beach gave a sermon in which he reminded the congregation about the ethical standards for a just war. I needed a reminder this week as to exactly what those criteria are. Maybe it would be helpful for all of us, as potential peace makers, to consider them. I found a succinct explanation on the web site of the United States Conference of Catholic bishops web site. I’ll quote them at some length, with some editorial comments of my own interspersed.

“The just-war tradition consists of a body of ethical reflection on the justifiable use of force. In the interest of overcoming injustice, reducing violence and preventing its expansion, the tradition aims at clarifying when force may be used, limiting the resort to force and restraining damage done by military forces during war. The just-war tradition begins with a strong presumption against the use of force and then establishes the conditions when this presumption may be overridden for the sake of preserving the kind of peace which protects human dignity and human rights.

In a disordered world, where peaceful resolution of conflicts sometimes fails, the just-war tradition provides an important moral framework for restraining and regulating the limited use of force by governments and international organizations. Whether lethal force may be used is governed by the following criteria:

• Just Cause: force may be used only to correct a grave, public evil, i.e., aggression or massive violation of the basic rights of whole populations;
• Comparative Justice: while there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to override the presumption against the use of force the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other;
• Legitimate Authority: only duly constituted public authorities may use deadly force or wage war;
• Right Intention: force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose;
• Probability of Success: arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success;
• Proportionality: the overall destruction expected from the use of force must be outweighed by the good to be achieved; (on this criteria alone the Vietnam War failed to meet just war standards)
• Last Resort: force may be used only after all peaceful alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted. (And on this criteria alone the doctrine of preemptive war proposed by the current administration fails to meet just war standards)

“Second, the just-war tradition seeks also to curb the violence of war through restraint on armed combat between the contending parties by imposing the following moral standards for the conduct of armed conflict:

• Noncombatant Immunity: civilians may not be the object of direct attack, and military personnel must take due care to avoid and minimize indirect harm to civilians; (Shock and awe, need I say more?)
• Proportionality: in the conduct of hostilities, efforts must be made to attain military objectives with no more force than is militarily necessary and to avoid disproportionate collateral damage to civilian life and property;
• Right Intention: even in the midst of conflict, the aim of political and military leaders must be peace with justice, so that acts of vengeance and indiscriminate violence, whether by individuals, military units or governments, are forbidden. (Guantanamo Bay, need I say more?)”

I have to conclude that right now there is an unjust war being waged in my name, using my tax dollars. As another mother for peace, inheritor of the legacy of Julia Ward Howe and Margaret Jeanne Oslyn, I have to do something about that.

As a Unitarian Universalist, even though we are not a true peace church, I have to do something about that. Our sixth principle calls us to work for a world community of peace, liberty, and justice for all. Fine words, big concepts. But you can take the vision of a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all and break it down into small, manageable chunks. Then you have the basis for doing something meaningful with your faith.

The best expression of this idea of doing what you can in service of our faith is the Hebrew concept of tikkun o’lam – mending the world. Every observant Jew is expected to do the work of mending the world. Nobody expects the job to be finished, but we are all presented with evidences of brokenness, and our faithful response to the awareness of brokenness is to heal what we can.

Rev. Ken Collier says that is what community is about – the community referred to in the Sixth Principle “It is,” he says, “about serving each other in humility and generosity. It is about creating ways to help each other. It is what Rabbi Moshe Lieb of Sassov meant when he said that there is always a way to help. And if there isn’t, invent one. It is about reaching to each other and touching, sometimes literally, with a gentle and healing hand, sometimes with food or clothing, sometimes with a place of shelter, sometimes with a mind or a heart, sometimes with the caress of a soul.”

There are many ways that you can choose to practice tikkun o’lam. There are many ways to be peacemakers. You already know many of them.

Our Sixth Principle is not about grand and impossible goals; it is about working, little-by-little, to move our world closer to an ideal. Sometimes we do that by praying or meditation. Sometimes we do it by writing a check, knowing that our small contributions will be pooled with others in order to take some effective action. Sometimes we do it by showing up with a bag of disposable diapers, or by picking up a hammer or a rake and doing some work, or by being present to somebody who really needs a sympathetic ear or a shoulder to cry on. And sometimes we do it with advocacy –marching, writing letters to the editor, lobbying, demonstrating.

Recall Lao Tse’s words from our meditation this morning. You being to make peace in your own heart, then move out in ever-widening circles until you are all making peace over all the world.

This is the 2nd Sunday in the Month of Peace sponsored by the Social Action Committee. I would like to think that by the time May is over, every single one of you will have done something tangible to bring about a more peaceful world. Where to start? Every Tuesday evening this month you have an opportunity to learn more about the art of being a peace-maker.

The month-long series of Adult Spiritual Enrichment offerings is rich and varied. The insert in your bulletin has details. And this Saturday, simply by showing up here at UUCF, you can participate in an interfaith dialog on making peace. Over the Memorial Day week-end you can be part of a community based witness to the terrible costs of the way our nation is waging war in Iraq. Your presence at these events matters. Please, show up.

Ken Collier ends an essay on our Sixth Principle with these words:

“And so we reach out where and as we are able. And we love as we are able. If we live within that creative, dynamic tension, constantly finding new ways and new places to extend our love and to accept the challenge of the acceptance of love, it is enough, it is good. Water flows and fills the tiniest crevices without judgment. It brings life equally to nematodes, slime molds, roses, great whales, and human beings. There is no judgment; it simply brings the world to life. So may it be with our love; so may it be with our families; so may it be with our communities. And may we find peace, liberty, and justice filling the days of our lives and spreading outward, touching the lives of all, that we may all grow ever more deeply, ever more fully, ever more genuinely human, connected, healed, and at peace.”