December 1, 2010

Dear Members and Friends,

Have you ever wondered whether what you do between Sundays means anything at all; and what does your daily life mean to the universe, your continent, your country, your state, Berrien County and the city of Saint Joseph? The poet Rilke said, “Believe that with your feelings and your work you are taking part in the greatest; the more strongly you cultivate this belief, the more will reality and the world go forth from it.” This is difficult to believe when there is so much negativity and meaninglessness thrown at us by the popular press, the billboards, and the steady stream of the vulgar and the banal, which appear unbidden on our computers, that it is difficult to believe that our ordinary lives mean anything at all --- except to our families. Will we lie in unvisited tombs without having forked the lightening even once?

Let me tell you about the Mayor of Lemgo, Germany, in 1944, when the American army was approaching the city with the intention of destroying the city by fire. The Mayor explained to the American General that the city was undefended and did not manufacture material for the war effort. He said that all the men were in the army, leaving behind defenseless women and children. The American officer spared the city. When the Mayor was on his way back to the city square to announce the good news that the city was spared he was shot by super patriots who thought the Mayor was a traitor, for even having spoken to the enemy. I cannot find the name of this Mayor --- for he is not even a footnote in the history of World War II. This reminds me of some lines from Vachel Lindsay’s poem The Eagle That Is Forgotten: “Better to live in the people, than to live in a name.” He was speaking of John Peter Altgelt, a former Illinois governor (1893-1897) who was a leading figure of the progressive movement and who improved workplace safety and child labor laws.

So we, in our ordinary, extraordinary lives, working for justice and peace in our non-spectacular way, living our daily deeds of kindness and generosity, bless all who touch our lives. When I think of the work our members at BUUF do, adding colors to the rainbows of our lives and creating small beginnings which silently change the world, I see that in the silence of our hearts, we are moved with compassion over our suffering world. No one lives an ordinary life. Each person brings a unique gift of unrepeatable treasures. May we see each other with fresh eyes as we greet each other in Holiday Joy. I’m always moved to tears by the words with which George Eliot closes her novel Middlemarch: “Her finely touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus* broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

*Cyrus, founder of Persia, punished a river by dividing it into 160 channels as punishment for drowning his favorite horse.

Frank joins me in wishing you a blessed holiday with family and friends.

Love,