Here are some words by Mark Morrison-Reed, a dear colleague, and co-minister with his wife Donna of First Unitarian Church, Toronto. Mark is one of the Canadian Unitarian Council Board members who'll be coming to talk to us on Tuesday evening about the negotiations between the CUC and the UUA, the Unitarian Universalist Association. He's an African-Canadian, and he feels passionately about today's theme:

The central task of the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. There is a connectedness that we can know only through the story of life. It is a relationship discovered amid the particulars of our own lives and the lives of others. Once felt, it inspires us to act for justice. But it is the church, this loving, supportive association, that assures us that we are not struggling for justice on our own, but rather as members of a larger community. Thus, the religious community is essential, for alone our vision is too narrow to see all that must be seen, and our strength too limited to do all that must be done. But together, our vision widens and our strength is renewed.

The sixth of our Unitarian Universalist Principles -- those Principles our congregations have covenanted to affirm and promote, which are not a creed but a guideline for our congregational life -- the sixth is "the goal of world community, with peace, liberty and justice for all". It's the only one of the Principles which speaks of a goal, although none of the other Principles has been completely achieved, either -- surely, for instance, "justice, equity and compassion in human relations" is a goal rather than a reality. Perhaps the reason for speaking of world community, particularly, as a goal is that the framers of these Principles, representing a wide spectrum of views within our movement, recognized that for some people in our UU congregations, as well as in the wider context, world community is one of those ideals whose time has not yet quite come.

Whereas we may embrace justice equity and compassion in human relations with whole-hearted fervour, we may have reservations about world community and what it might entail in practice -- we may want to say, "Give us world community, but not yet!" Nevertheless, we surely hold to the bedrock belief that all human beings are kin to one another and must relate to one another as members of a family. At the very beginning of Unitarian Universalism, when it began as a merged movement in 1961, the purposes of the UUA had as a central element promotion of "a world community founded on ideals of brotherhood, justice and peace". That didn't mean it was unproblematic, however!

For those of you with an interest in the history of our Principles, I'd like to take a moment to trace the development of this 6th Principle from its first draft in 1982 to the final adoption of the current Principles, after much discussion and debate, in 1985. There were two major draft versions of the Principle, Version One reading: the vision of a world community founded on law, justice and peace, and Version Two reading: the co-operative and mutual striving for peace and world community, knowing that such is indispensible to the cause of human survival.

As you can see, the second version, with the word "striving," is more active than the first, with the word "vision," and the final version which we affirm today can be seen as a compromise between the two: affirming the "goal" of world community may not commit us quite as strongly as if we were "striving" for it. Along the way, many suggestions for wording were received. The Unitarian Church of Arlington, Virginia, offered the words,

To work for co-operation and peace among the peoples of the earth, as we would ourselves dwell together in unity of spirit and the bond of peace.

First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was a little less eager to affirm specifics; they suggested,

The UUA encourages its member congregations to be sensitive to the many issues confronting the larger society and to take what actions appear appropriate,

which is perhaps as non-committal a statement as can be imagined! The Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, also in New Mexico, was similarly vague in ending its suggested statement with the words,

We hope that such principles as these may lead to worldwide understanding, love, justice and peace.

In the end the General Assembly of 1985 adopted the current form,

The goal of world community, with peace, liberty and justice for all,

but there's still plenty of ambivalence, I suggest, about how to put the principle into practice.

My former colleague, Harold Rosen, was Minister of the Northshore Unitarian Church in Vancouver until he left to join the Baha'i faith a few months ago, feeling that there is more opportunity for pursuing the goal of world community in that context than in a Unitarian Universalist ministry. Harold has created a programme called Rainbowmaking, which tries to take some steps towards the goal of world community by encouraging us to open ourselves to an appreciation of the many different cultures and faiths which make up the world of each one of us.

It's a programme which was used here in Waterloo a few years ago, and which I've facilitated in another congregation. In one of the early sessions of the course participants are asked to consider some of the concerns that people have in relation to multiculturalism. I think the concerns which are usually voiced are similar to the reasons why some of us hesitate over the goal of world community and say that mental "Not yet!" to it. They include the concern that being committed to co-operation with many ethnicities and nationalities detracts from our sense of national unity, and that must come first -- just as loyalty to our own families and faith must be strong before we can reach out to other people and other faiths. In response, proponents of world community say that we can reach a point where our sense of national identity no longer depends on a competitive stance towards the rest of the world -- where we can see ourselves, Canadians, as one of the beautiful colours in a rainbow world full of other beautiful colours.

A related concern is that perhaps world community, if it is achieved will dilute or neutralize our national identity to the point where instead of being a vibrant colour in the rainbow it becomes a muddy tint indistinguishable from all the others. In response, proponents of world community say that the world will always be colourful to the extent that we learn to appreciate and encourage and build on the beautiful differences between us as individuals and cultures and nations, rather than attempting to eliminate them. World community could look more like a mosaic than a melting-pot, to use one of the analogies dear to Canadians.

And another of our reservations about world community may reflect our deep and perhaps guilt-tinged knowledge of our privileged place in this world as it now is. If the world were to become a true community, with peace, liberty and justice for all, might we not need to give up some of that privilege, might we not need to share our abundance with that vast majority of the human race who have so much less than we do? The prophet Mohammed taught that the root of human evil is the delusion that altruism, and giving to others, will result in poverty for ourselves -- in other words, we're greedy by nature because we're afraid of not having enough. I've been struck by the truth of this: everywhere we look these days we see people clutching at ways to improve their current finances or their future security out of fear that there isn't enough to go around, now or later. World community is sometimes seen as a goal which has to remain distant because its achievement would mean too much permanent sacrifice on our part.

Another complicating factor when we're considering the meaning of world community right now is the confusion which sometimes arises between this and globalization, which usually refers to an economic community. The two things sound so much alike - world community and globalization - and they certainly intersect and overlap in some ways, as attested to in the reading and the meditation words, but I suggest that the philosophies underlying them are very different. What our Unitarian Universalist Principle means by world community is a web of kinship and caring, La Gran Familia as that reading expressed it, the human family, whereas what people usually mean by globalization is the network of free trade, economic relationships and multi-national corporate ties.

One is based on spiritual connectedness and interdependence, the other on economic connectedness and interdependence. This is not to evaluate the pros and cons of globalization, just to say that it's not what we're considering when we talk of world community. It is true, however, that the complex reality of globalization means that renewed efforts towards world community are needed with particular urgency, not only because communication and free trade are bringing us closer in some ways, but because the factors which still tear us apart are crying out for the healing which our faith tells us is possible.

There are still other factors that make this the right time for new initiatives and efforts towards world community. New immigration patterns are making diversity a practical reality of everyday life. Fewer and fewer people are isolated from the urban cosmopolitanism of the global village. Issues of who lives where, where they came from and how they're treated, deeply affect us all. And there are theological reasons for being concerned with world community, reasons which gave birth to the sixth Principle. The world we're born into, though it provides much beauty, harmony and balance, also presents much suffering, tragedy and injustice. We sense that creation is imperfect and incomplete and many of us feel called by the spirit of life to be co-creators. As self-aware and choosing agents, we can, and do, change things both for better and for worse. The nature writer and poet Annie Dillard has expressed this involvement in words which I've sometimes used as opening words in a service:

We are here to abet creation and to witness it,
To notice each other's beautiful face and complex nature,
So that creation need not play to an empty house.

The faith which nurtures us builds upon many sources, including universal insights in the world's religions, such as Jewish and Christian teachings about love and service, and humanist teachings about the heeding the guidance of reason. Through lifelong learning, through dialogue with other faith groups and ethnocultural groups, we can intervene in positive ways to bring about world community. As Unitarian Universalists, while we learn from Eastern religions, our sense of participation in the world makes us not content simply to let things be and allow karma, or the Tao, to take its course. In Harold Rosen's words, written while he was still a Unitarian Universalist Minister, "Activism, or direct engagement with the social order, is an essential aspect of who we are as a religious people."

One vital aspect of working towards world community is the overcoming of racism, so that the colour of a person's skin will bear no relation to the way in which they're treated or the rights to which they're entitled. Both our country, Canada, and our Unitarian Universalist movement endorse the moral authority of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which defines racism as "unfair treatment of people on the basis of race, colour or religion." Racism is a clear violation of our ethical traditions and guidelines, and yet none of us is completely free of it. As Mark Morrison-Reed says:

Racism is like a virus. All of us, regardless of race, are affected by it; it is part of our socialization. In the individual, its most obvious manifestation is seen in stereotyping and prejudice, but it appears in many other and subtler ways. Yet no one was born a racist or would choose to be one. Racism is simply one of the givens of being raised in this time and place . . . but each one of us is nonetheless responsible for re-creating ourselves and our world to reflect the undeniable reality of our shared humanity.

Harold Rosen suggests that both our religious movement and our congregational life are dominated by such cultural realities and subtle forms of racism as white privilege and a Eurocentric perspective. White privilege can be defined as an invisible system conferring dominance on white people in North American society. It's a system of which we're mostly unconscious, because we think of the lives we lead in this white-dominated society as morally neutral, normative, average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow "them" to be more like "us". But in world community, it's equally likely that we will become more in tune with "them". This will seem like an opportunity, rather than a threat to us, to the extent that we can free ourselves from prejudice. And the good news is that this can be done!

Research shows that some of the things which help to free us from our prejudices are having a high degree of self-acceptance -- it really seems true that you need to love yourself before you can love others -- and interacting with a diversity of people, getting to know them as individuals on an equal basis, sharing common interests with an emphasis on co-operation. As Unitarian Universalists, our traditions and principles call us to transcend our discomforts in befriending strangers. We might consider sometime in the future befriending (becoming a partner with) a Unitarian Church in Romania or Hungary, close to where Unitarians first gathered in churches in Reformation times. Closer to home, the multiplicity of cultures and faiths in this area of Ontario also await our initiative and outreach. Many of our guest speakers have helped the congregation appreciate the richness of diversity, and there are limitless possibilities for educating ourselves. As Phillip Hewett challenged us in 1988,

We ignore local diversities at our peril. If we are to gain any real understanding of our own lives and the way we can effectively respond to the world, we need to open ourselves fully to our own local context, for it is there that what we think and do can make a significant difference.

Phillip has also spoken movingly of our need to open our eyes to the great spectrum of colour in the world and to embrace it -- skin-colour, religious colour, cultural colour. In a sermon which gave me a new insight about our conventional way of viewing the world, he said:

If I were to ask you how many colours there are in the rainbow, how many would you say?

In the Western world most people say seven, no doubt because seven is one of our traditional sacred numbers. In China, everyone says five. And artists say there are three primary colours and three secondary colours -- six. Really, I suppose you could make it as many as you like. [But] Consider this verse from an old hymn about world religions by a Scottish Presbyterian named George Matheson. Its references to light are all the more poignant because the author was blind.

Each sees one colour in thy rainbow light;
Each looks upon one tint and calls it heaven.
Thou art the fullness of our partial sight;
We are not perfect till we find the seven.

And just in case the colour analogies take over our thinking completely, let's remind ourselves that diversity is not only visible and exterior, but invisible and interior. While we have many commonalities inside, we're not all exactly the same, however much we look alike. The achievement of world community is not only about overcoming our racial prejudices but about our even deeper "xenophobia" -- that pervasive "fear of strangers" which prevents us going beyond tolerance to a true inclusiveness and appreciation of our differences.

So how do we do it? Because that's what matters, I think. Not whether we can recite this Principle without being too disturbed by it, but whether we can allow ourselves to be disturbed by how far we are from the goal and how much work we need to do in order to reach it. A goal is not a monument to which we pay tribute but a landmark towards which we strive, the holy grail of our religious quest. In the words of one of our hymns,

Since what we choose is what we are,
And what we love we yet shall be,
The goal may ever shine afar --
The will to win it makes us free.

And the will must translate into action for world community -- congregational action such as support for the UU United Nations Office and for the Unitarian Service Committee, and for Amnesty International, invitations to people of other races, cultures and religions to speak to us, participation in programmes such as "Rainbowmaking", informing ourselves in whatever old and new ways we can about the colourful and diverse ways of life on our doorstep and on the other side of the world. And personal action. For many of you, I know, the role of this congregation which you cherish most is not the corporate action which we undertake but the way in which you are inspired by this religious community to take action as individuals, and there's a plethora of ways in which each of us may "think globally and act locally" towards world community.

Those of us with money can travel and make friends with people all over the world, or in whatever parts of the world we're able to visit -- and every part of the world is worth visiting, whether it's round the corner or round the planet. I've always loved Thoreau's answer to those who asked him why he didn't leave his home town of Concord, Massachusetts, for Europe and Asia: "I have travelled extensively in Concord," he said. We can travel extensively, too, each one of us, and here in Waterloo Region we can meet people from all over the world without going far from our homes. Let's take advantage of those people, in the best sense, to work towards world community.

Another thing we can do with money is to help make life better for people in poor countries. We can support OxFam, or World Vision, or Amnesty International, or whatever our favourite international charity is. We can sponsor a child and make a real difference in at least one life. We can take steps to world community with monetary help. If you don't have any money but you have a television set, or access to a library, you can do some armchair travelling.

We can find out about ways of life other than our own. We can imagine what it's like to live on the other side of the world, or even the other side of this continent. We can discover the beliefs of a religion about which we now know nothing. We can imagine what it's like to believe those things. We can try not to shy away from finding out about the conflicts, too. This is my one of my own special areas of weakness -- I tend to turn right off at the thought of the endless wars fought over religion and ethnicity and territorial claims, but I know that our goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all can never be achieved unless we apply ourselves to understanding why peace is so elusive. We benefit from both sides of the stories.

And just in case some of you here can't travel, even locally, and have no money to spare, and have tired eyes which prevent you from reading or watching television, let me suggest that one of the best possible ways of building world community is to listen to others. Your friend, neighbour or family member is not a clone of you but someone with different and varied experiences of the world. Each one of us is a rich resource for every other person in making progress towards the goal of a caring world. The Chinese philosopher Lao-Tse has said it best :

If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbours.
If there is to be peace between neighbours, there must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.

May we all know peace in our hearts.