"We need each other"*

911 has a new meaning that has brought grief, anxiety and uncertainty to our church community and to the world. We encourage you to reach out gently to one another while being aware of the sensitivities and passions of all. Share your feelings and thoughts and lend a compassionate listening ear to others needing to talk. If you choose, come to our beautiful, peaceful Miller Sanctuary to sit in silence or meditate or pray. Come to our many services and gatherings and be in company with friends who, too, are concerned and confused.

Let us remember the innocent lives, the grieving friends and families and the great heroes of 911. Let us recall our basic values and principles, especially the "goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all".

Let us remember and encourage the leaders of our nation and of the world for they have the almost impossible task of leading us in this most challenging of times to find the right answers and balances to the following dilemmas.
"...as a nation we shall be known by the steadiness of our resolve in leading the war against the perpetrators and sponsors of terrorism all around the globe .......as individuals...by how well we learn to recognize the tears in one another's eyes."*
"On the one hand, if hatred and vengeance spur our lust for retribution, rather than the greater quest for peace, we will but add to the world's terror even as we seek to end it. On the other hand, if we pray only for peace, we shall surely abet the spread of terrorism. Our hands will end up far bloodier than those that lift up arms against it."*
"With the war to be fought one between civilization and anarchy, our only hope lies in the balance we strike as we enter this uncertain and forbidding future. It rests in how well we balance justice and mercy, retribution and compassion, the might of weapons and the power of love. Our hope hinges on how effectively we unite a riven world against a common enemy."*

May our leaders and we have courage and the wisdom to know the differences and to choose carefully reasoned balances .

Thanks for listening,

Ed Porteus
UU Church of Ft. Myers

* Taken from the Rev. F. Forrester Church's sermon 9/12/2001 All Souls Unitarian Church, NYC