April 25, 2008
I feel for our church.
Here we are in the Melbourne area attempting
to put feelings and voice to our values in a
land where we are the minority. Churches to
the left and to the right refer to us as
being a cult. These churches seem to thrive
while we struggle in voicing our concerns
for the injustices in a culture that
cultivates and fosters poverty of mind,
antagonistic relationships and supports the
centralization of political power to
implement their theology. All of these
characteristics stand over and against our
values. We know our faith is true and we
find affirmation in the writings of the
sacred texts of the Hebrew faith, Christian
faith, Buddhist tradition, Earth centered
sources, Native American sources, and in the
Koran. And yet what we know and feel to be
right spiritually and economically we do not
find in the voices of our church
communities, government, nor the business
powers and our land. How are we to hold our
spirits up to sing songs of community, love,
peace, Justice when the darkness manifests
itself in people rioting because of food
shortages while our business communities and
government turn food into greenhouse gases.
Our church has never been
more important to us and our community than
at this time as we stand on the edge of a
cultural crisis. Even when there are no food
shortages in our country people are
stockpiling rice out of fear that has no
match in reality. But of course over the
last seven years we have been conditioned to
respond to fear rather than to seek out
facts and truth. We discern the truthiness
of our governing leaders, our governing
leaders both sources of governess, the
multinational corporation sphere as well as
in the halls of our legislators. Our
commitment to our principles of life and
light struggles under the oppression of
propaganda, yet we must be nurtured. Our
commitment to our faith, to one another, and
our community must persevere as we lean our
shoulders against the tide carrying the
toxic words and substances that are
threatening to our way of life. We have a
history of pushing back tyranny , evil, and
political oppression. Think of Theodore
Parker and his stance against slavery,
Margaret Fuller and her stand against the
false science of women’s inferiority to man,
Susan B. Anthony, Henry David Thoreau, James
Reeb, the lives of Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Kathy Stanton, Bill and Karen Whitehead,
Michael Nash, Linda Mason, to name only a
few. Let us being encouraged by our faith
ancestors and our brothers and sisters who
stand today in the path of darkness. I am
grateful to have the opportunity to serve
and participate in the community that
engages this world with a drive to justice
and compassion. Let us continue to celebrate
and worship with each other as we bring our
voice and action to the public green
supporting genuine liberty and justice for
all.
-Rev. Dr. Gregory Wilson
