A venerable old sage once asked his disciples, “How can we know when the darkness is leaving and the dawn is coming?”
“When we can see a tree in the distance and know that it is an elm and not a juniper,” ventured one student.
“When we can see an animal and know that it is a fox and not a wolf,” chimed in another. “No,” said the old man, “those things will not help us.”
Puzzled, the students demanded, “How then can we know?”
The master teacher drew himself up to his full stature and replied quietly,
“We know the darkness is leaving and the dawn is coming when we can see another person and know that this is our brother or our sister; for otherwise, no matter what time it is, it is still dark.” (Richard Foster, “Prayer”, 1992, page 266)
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Will I ever stop saying “these are trying times”? Maybe someday, but not now because our local disasters and crises seem to have no end. Record breaking high temperatures, lightning and thunder, power rolling blackouts, wildfires from the lightning (causing 77,000 people in our two counties to evacuate), ash raining down like snow, air quality in the “very unhealthy” category—and that was all in the last 8 days. In last Sunday’s Welcome, I said that when you layer the events of the past 8 days on top of the COVID pandemic, economic collapse, overt and rising racism, and intractable political divisiveness—it can all seem too much. When will it end?

How do we know when the darkness is leaving and the dawn is coming?

When disasters abound and crises arise—these times are when barriers of perceived differences can rise up with intensity. Walls are a tribal response to threats. But walls of policy, policing, and media reporting keep us from seeing another person as kin—and walls keep the darkness intact. But times like these can also be a chance to overcome our fears of “the other” and take a look to see who is at the edge of our darkness. We have a choice to build walls and retain the darkness or let go of our fabricated threats—and look into the darkness.

Maybe this is what is happening with the Black Lives Matter movement. The crises allow some to see the connections and interrelationships that our non-crisis world hid from us. Maybe the walls are falling, and more and more people are seeing an “other” person and feel their pain—and react to the injustice as if they are our kin. But it is still dark, and we yearn for the dawn to show some sign of coming. Our fear of the continuing disasters of COVID, fires, and violent racism give us a choice as to what world we build next. When will it end?

How do we know when the darkness is leaving and the dawn is coming?

The master’s words are clear: “when we can see another person….” All dawns begin when we see another person as our family. For UUs, that’s when we not only repeat our first Principle (“the inherent worth and dignity of every person”) but when we embody it—when we act on it—and when we “see” another as brother or sister.

But for now, we are all in the dark together. We wait for the dawn. Perhaps the master was really saying that the dawn will come when we can see one another—and until then, the dawn waits for us…………waits for us……….

I pray for your safety and well being during these troubled times………….yours in shared ministry……………….Rev Russ.