Multiwhatchamacallit

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forwad by theee into everwidening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Sermon

Multiwhatchamacallit

"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends’ or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

We think of multiculturalism as a new phenomenon, part of our contemporary, global-village mindset. John Donne’s words from his Devotions, written in in the early 1600’s remind us that people have pondered our inextricable relationship to each other across languages and countries and continents forever. It is a part of human nature to see all that we share and all that divides us, and wrestle with that infinite labyrinth of self and other.

Multiculturalism is a particularly hot topic in Unitarian Universalism right now. Our broad inclusive attitude toward world religions and traditions carries with it challenges we are only beginning to perceive. Our annual convention, General Assembly, has numerous workshops and lectures for clergy and laity addressing issues of religious pluralism: the ethics of borrowing from other cultures and religions, the impetous to truly understand and honor faiths that are not our own, the necessity of respecting what is different if we are to establish peace and justice for all.

Our hymnal is full of material from world religions: hymns, chants, readings, prayers, reflections, declarations of faith. It was assembled when we were just beginning to embrace our burgeoning sense of the global village so it’s done in a simple manner. In contrast to the hymnals that came before there is material from every major world faith in history - but not all of it is translated. For a service like today’s that focuses on Indian religion and culture, we can sing a Hindu prayer like Daya Kar Daan Bhakti Ka, number 176 in our hymnal, or Raghupati, number 178. We won’t know what we’re saying beyond the brief note on the bottom that tells us we’re pronouncing syllables about peace, but is that a problem?

The answer is, of course, obviously it’s a problem. I’ve spoken before about my concern that Unitarian Universalism needs to make sure we don’t broaden at the expense of depth. We may sing that something, the same thing, sounds along the ages to different people in different places, but are we sure that it’s really the same something sounding? How do we know - we don’t even know what the Hindu songs in our hymnal are really saying? It maybe laudable to pronounce syllables in a language we don’t know about peace, but it’s a lot more laudable to learn what a song or prayer actually says, and explore the ways we grow or learn or don’t, from what another tradition sings or says or sees. Brahman seems to be saying the same thing his words that declare him as the foundation of all things in our reading from the Bhagavad Gita; the only way to know if he is in fact saying the same thing is to spend time reading and learning and thinking for longer than it takes to merely find the reading in the back of the hymnal.

Knowing a fair amount about two religious cultures, Jewish and Greek, makes me worry about my attempts to study and include traditions from those I am unfamiliar with, because I know how easy it is to make a mistake. We can’t know everything about systems of belief that are not our own - how do we know when we know enough to avoid presenting them wrongly or over-simply? And even if we do know what we’re talking about, what gives us the right to present or celebrate a belief or ritual that isn’t entirely ours?

Because I am half-Jewish and was raised knowing about the holidays and history and then studied them a lot in divinity school, I feel comfortable, perhaps more importantly, justified, in sharing them with you as part of my ministry, and to you as a congregation with members who come from Jewish backgrounds. But not all Jews think I am justified in doing this.

We do not all share the same ideas about who is entitled to explore or decide what about their own religion, let alone another’s religion. We have Native American material in our hymnal, and a minister in our denomination of part-Native American descent who thinks UU’s have no right to use the material. She says that UU’s know little or nothing about Native American worship, beliefs or practices and have no right to dip in when we feel like it, take some, diminish it by appropriating it so lightly, and then congratulate ourselves for being so multiculturally aware by using it in our own faith system.

My own response is that whether it’s right or wrong, interfaith appropriation has been happening from the dawn of time, and will continue as long as there are people with religious longings and sensitivity. Egyptian and Persian religion influenced Greek religion. Greek religion influenced Roman religion. Out of Judaism came Christianity which was in turn influenced by Roman and Persian religion. Out of Judaism later came Islam. All these belief systems we think are so separate just in the West, and they all share common roots of language, theology, description and experience, even when one is reacting against another.

But much as multiculturalism in religion is inevitable, it is still challenging. Until recently people have mostly been talking about religious pluralism and interfaith cooperation, rather than actually doing it. And now that we are beginning to actually do it, we learn how hard it really is. I’m preaching this sermon today because I fear that people will be put off from this challenge when we experience how difficult it can be.

Last week I was up in the Boston area meeting with UU ministers on some different projects. For the first part of the week I was with a study group of colleagues that meets twice a year, each time to explore a topic for 2 days together. We have reading that we complete before we meet and usually a writing assignment or two to do and present to each other. We have a worship service each day and spend part of each day discussing our responses to what we have read.

Last week, our topic was Indian literature. We had a number of books to read. Some were about Indian history and religion. Most were novels set in India. Towards the end of the second day, one of our discussions was on: sermon topics we can develop out of what we have read. We went around the circle - there were 17 of us there - and people each shared what they had gotten out of the reading and discussions.

I shared when my turn came: I had no inspiration at all that had come from what we’d read and learned. Very politically incorrect. And also astonishing to me. I love foreign cultures. I have lived abroad for years. I know and appreciate a lot about nature-based, polytheistic religion. I am sharing with you today music I have had and loved for years - contemporary versions of traditional Hindu prayers and chants that both lift my spirits and center me when I listen to them. I have always been fascinated by Indian culture and history, and always wanted to visit. My best friend is married to a wonderful man from India, and we have a plan to travel there together. I can’t wait. I love the art they bring back from their trips. I love the extraordinary buildings and topography of the country I have seen in photographs. And oh yeah, I love the food.

So what is wrong with me? How could I spend days discussing such a rich topic with insightful, creative colleagues and I come away with a whole lot of nothing? I was so caught up in my own frustration at my lack of resonance with the issue of Indian religion and culture that it took one of those insightful, creative colleagues to point out to me that that could in fact be my topic. Not everything resonates for each of us. Perhaps it is not my time for India. Maybe understanding will come later. Or maybe never, even after I’ve visited there. But I have to be honest and admit - on some fundamental level, right now, I don’t get it.

What makes my not getting it worth preaching about is that this is what I mean about multiculturalism being hard. Not every experience of learning about different experiences and beliefs and orientations is enlightening and deepening. Sometimes learning about ways that are different from ours make sense on a deep level and draw us in and help us understand not only others but ourselves and our lives better. And other times differences remain just that: differences. Not all pluralistic experiences will feel immediately rewarding, not all systems will make sense. Some may even just return us to our own ways with a greater appreciation for what we have taken for granted, rather than greater appreciation for the new experience we have just had.

We are invited to the Ahamadiyya mosque later this afternoon and a bunch of us are going over, as you heard. For some of us, it may be our first time in a mosque. What if we make a mistake? Should the women bring head coverings? What if we aren’t dressed appropriately? Should we sit on the floor when we’re in the worship space, the way Muslims do, or in the chairs they will provide for those not used to sitting on the floor? Will the men and women sit apart? Where should the children be?

What about next week, when the imam of the mosque, Imam Shamshad, who was raised in Pakistan, speaks here and brings members of his congregation with him? What if he makes a mistake? I’ve met with him and explained what Unitarian Universalists are and what we believe. He’s a very kind and considerate man, but what if he says something inadvertently from the pulpit that goes against our values? How can we welcome his people in a way that makes them comfortable? What will they think about all of us sitting together for worship? What kind of food can we serve them after the service, to offer them hospitality as is an important part of Islamic custom?

Ahmadiyya’s are a small, unrecognized group within Islam - how can we understand what he will tell us about his religion’s views compared with other Shi’a or Sunni Muslims? It would be a little like us explaining our UU views and someone unfamiliar with Western religion believing that ours was the prevailing view - how do we fit into their understanding of faith traditions? What if, what if....

This is the other thing about multiculturalism - before we even have the chance to find how much we can agree or share or understand with another, we have to risk, and so do they, whoever ‘they’ are. We risk embarrassment, we risk offence, we even risk misunderstanding or judgementalism or anger or rejection, both on our own and the other’s part. That’s a lot of risk, especially in church where we work so hard to make things easy and safe for each other. But multiculturalism is all about risk - if we can’t open ourselves truly to risk, trusting the other to be truthful and caring with us, and striving to be truthful and caring with them, there is no point.

We have heard before about how uniquely situated Unitarian Universalists are to lead the way in interfaith community because of our affirmation of diverse religious truths and ways. We are aware as never before how urgent interfaith community is, and how much more we need to do in order to bring it about. Events like this afternoon’s conference and next week’s worship service are integral, essential, exciting and stressful, because we take them seriously. We worry, we prepare, we study up, we do our best and will be pleasantly surprised by what works easily or humor that we share, and will be embarrassed or worse at gaffes we or others make as we learn who each other is and how we can work together.

Many people I know feel helpless to affect what is happening in the world, especially the war in Afghanistan. But there two battles America is caught in right now. Multiculturalism is the other, and it is right here where we are. Some people are fighting to establish multiculturalist encounters as the way to hatred, oppression, war and death. Nothing is more important that to risk ourselves - and to keep trying - to reveal multiculturalism as the road to peace through understanding. No one else can fight this fight for us. And right now, there is nothing more important for us to do.

You may already know how wonderful it feels to reach out your hand to another, and find their hand already reaching out to you. I invite you to join us in visiting the mosque for the interfaith discussion this afternoon and the reception following. I invite you to make sure you’re here next week to host Imam Shamshad and members of his mosque for a service on Islam. Think how it will feel to them to have us holding out our hands to them at a time when they are receiving, as Imam Shamshad put it: phone calls and letters that disturb their peace. Think how it will feel to you to find them holding out their hands to you, showing the peaceful face of Islam upon which so much depends.

And be ready for surprises. I have had tea in Imam Shamshad’s home with his wife Safia, which is how I know - they have taught their parrot so that when you give him a cracker, or cookie, or piece of spinach or cheese, he says: Salaam aleikum.

Peace be unto you.

Amen.