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    <td valign="top"><p class="section"><a href="../../default.htm">MINISTRY</a></p>
      <p class="bold"><a href="../../kiely.htm">OUR MINISTER</a></p>
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        <p><img src="../../../images/chalice_end.gif" width="38" height="40"></p>
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        <p>A collection of sermons to describe our sometimes hard to pin down 
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        <p><a href="../../unitarianism101.htm">Click here</a></p>
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          <p class="section">Our Journey Together</p>
          <p class="bold"> Meg Roberts, Intern Minister, 
            Unitarian Church of Edmonton, September 16, 2001</p>
          <p>We are on a journey together, a journey that has led us here today,
            to be together in community. We have all arrived here out of our
            own experiences, at different places in that journey called life.
            As your new intern minister, I am with you for 10 months, so we will
            be sharing at least that time together. And for that I'm grateful</p>
          <p>But there is also another part of the journey, a sharp turn in the
            road that we all took this past week, that went beyond the beginning
            of a new church year. Some of us may have seen the warning signs,
            many of us didn't. The attacks on the World Trade Center and on the
            Pentagon in the United States sent reverberations through us and
            through people from around the world. Through the mediums of television,
            radio, and newspapers, we witnessed the acts of terror. We saw the
            plane crash through the second tower, we saw the billowing grey smoke,
            the fire, the people jumping, and then the two towers dissolving
            into rubble and twisted metal, becoming a tomb to thousands of people
            who worked there and to those rescue workers who were trying to save
            them. We saw these moments in history repeated again and again on
            TV, as they became embedded in our minds.</p>
          <p>            Each of us has had a different reaction to these events, and yet
              there has been some common ground many of us have covered: disbelief,
              shock, numbness, We may have spent hours watching the TV, listening
              to the radio, absorbed as we normally aren't as if the sheer repetition
              would help us take in the enormity of what just happened. Many
              of us sought to connect with those we love, to know that they were
              safe (whether they live in NY or Washington, or not), just to know
              that they were OK. Others of us at different times needed to take
              a break from the intensity and go for a walk, turn off the TV and
              radio and just be by ourselves, to be reminded that there are other
              things in our world, That there are still things that matter to
              us.</p>
          <p>Being in a community means that as individuals, we may be at different
            places along the path of response: Some may still in shock, some
            sad and perhaps feeling disheartened, others sick of hearing of it,
            others not even surprised that this happened. What do we do when
            we feel differently, when we think differently about what has happened? &quot;You
            need not think alike to love alike,&quot; is what Transylvanian Unitarian,
            Francis David would tell us. In this moment in our history, what
            does it mean &#8216;to love'?</p>
          <p>In the reading today, Mark Morrison-Reed writes about what it means
            to be in religious community. Mark is co-minister at First Unitarian
            in Toronto and is now also the president of the Canadian Unitarian
            Council. Mark reminds us that in this community we search to understand
            the bonds that bind us together. We are connected even though we
            have differences, even though we have conflict, and even though we
            may at times feel alone. Together we have strength to act for justice.
            Together we can form a vision of what is real, of what is true, of
            what it means to love.</p>
          <p>I find myself at times like this feeling as if I am lost in a large
            ocean. The waves are rising and falling, sometimes crashing over
            me. The sky is dark, and threatening, and I'm not sure which way
            is land. How will I find my way? Will I have the strength to carry
            on? Will I be able to battle the elements and not be overcome?</p>
          <p>The enormity of what has happened this past week certainly, to my
            mind, has to do both with the loss of life, but also with the sense
            of not knowing what will happen next. Will we be involved in another
            world war? How many more innocent lives will be lost? And what can
            I do about it?</p>
          <p>At times like this, I find it helpful to remind myself that I am
            in a religious community. I can turn to my tradition to find inspiration
            about how to respond. I can remind myself of what I believe in, what
            I am willing to act on:</p>
          <ul>
            <li> I believe that we are all one,
                  we are one humanity, we are connected in this small world of
              ours. I am called upon to do those things I can to help others
              in need.
                  I am called upon to speak out to protect those who may be persecuted
              and threatened just because their skin may not be white, because
                    they come from a country in the Middle East, because they
              are Muslim. How can I do this?</li>
            </ul>
          <ul>
              <li>I believe that each person must be
                    free to search for what is true and right in life. When I hear
                  the reports on the news about the latest update, the latest news
                  release,
                    I can question what I hear, I can notice the rhetoric, I can
                search for the facts, I can respond to my elected politicians and
                to others
              about what I am concerned about.</li>
            </ul>
          <ul><li>I believe that people
                        should be treated fairly. When innocent people are killed,
                  those responsible need to be brought to justice. I am concerned
                  about
                        words such as retribution, and revenge. Certainly we can
                  learn from history
                        to know that this is not the first time humans have created
                  such atrocities in the world, and in our lifetimes. Can we learn
                  from
                        these instances? What is different about this instance? And
                  how do we seek for justice in this instance? It seems to me important
                        to
                        understand the roots of what caused those to act as they
                  have
                    and address those root causes without causing the deaths of other
                    innocent
              people who get in the way when retribution is sought?</li>
            </ul>
          <ul><li>We live in a world community. How can I work for peace now, and
                  in the long run?</li>
          </ul>
          <p>These are some of the beliefs I have turned to this past week. What
            are the beliefs that have sustained you this week? Where do your
            roots grow?</p>
          <p>I had thought, when I first wrote about this service being about &quot;Our
            Journey Together&quot;, that I would have an opportunity to discuss
            with you what our time together might look like, how we might share
            the ministry of the church, what might be your involvement this next
            year at church. And what pulls us back more to the essentials of
            our lives, those things that give our lives meaning and worth, than
            tragedy, than the reminder that we are fragile, we are mortal. What
            are the things that we are willing to die for? Or rather, what are
            those things that we are willing to live for? Now, more than ever,
            is the time to consider these things as individuals and as a community.
            Now is the time to embody that loving compassion in our relationships
            with each other.</p>
          <p>As is said,</p>
          <blockquote>
            <p>              If not now, when?<br>
                If not me, who?          </p>
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