The Temple above the Clouds* Berkeley 1968-1995 - From Viet Nam to Misogi “He who has a Why to live for, can bear with almost any HOW.” Nietzsche as quoted by Viktor Frankl in Man’s Search for Meaning

Dedication The name comes from American Baptist Missionaries to Western China Dryden and Margaret Phelps who became Unitarian) They gave that name to their retirement retreat at Big Sur +,-- feet above the Pacific Ocean) Dryden and Margaret Phelps felt the term equally fitted the new Unitarian Church on the East Bay Hills) Many mornings both looked over “Marine Layer” clouds from the Pacific)

This is a book I never intended to write) However several encouraged me to tell the story including Karl Ruppenthal who once flew Chang kai shek over the “hump” from China to India ) So for Karl Hy Roudman Joe 8 Judy Fabry Lucile Green Lucille Parker Norbert Bischof Ladd Griffith Francis Hanna Joan Swift Edith McGrew Bernie Loomer 8 still living friends here is Prologue: Challenge Partnership Epilogue 8 Coda) Prologue From +;<-s to +<=-s the Unitarian Church was next to the University of California and linked to what is now the Starr King School for the Ministry) The church became a safety valve for the “steaming unrest” on campus) Speakers from Albert Einstein to Timothy Leary came to preach their gospel) As the McCarthy period began California passed the “Levering Act” ?+<@-A which required public employees to declare that BI do not advocate

nor am I a member of any party or organization political or otherwise that now advocates

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the overthrow of the Government of the United States or of the State of California by force or violence or other unlawful means)))B

An amendment to the California Constitution was passed by popular vote in +<@, to require churches to do much the same)) Religious institutions had until March of +<@C to decide whether or not they would comply) The Berkeley Unitarian Committee refused to sign) Just as D@ U)C) professors refused to sign including psychotherapist Erik Erikson) At the church meeting a committee member said “To support my family I felt the need to sign) But I would

be proud if my church refused to sign)” In +<@; the U)S) Supreme Court declared the Levering oath applied to churches was an unconstitutional violation of First Amendment Taxes paid were refunded to the four churches which took the case to court ?D Unitarian 8 + MethodistA) To get “this centre of unrest” off the edge of the campus the University Regents took the old church by imminent domain) The church rejected the $;@ --- offered) Once again the church went to court and the jury awarded over $D-- ---) The old church is now a landmark and home to the University Dance Studio) Once the congregation left the old church “all hell” broke loose on campus) Perhaps closing the “Unitarian Safety valve” was part of the cause) The congregation voted to follow Dr) J) Raymond Cope to build a new building on ; acres offered by Architect and church member Bernard Maybeck+ on top the East Bay Hills three miles north of University of California)) The Architect chosen to design the building was Wurster Bernardi and Emmons ?see

Google articles on the firmA) In +<@- Wurster had become Dean of Architecture at UC Berkeley) In +<@< he brought together the departments of architecture landscape

A US Postage Stamp was issued in honour of Maybeck, one of the creators of the California Style of Architecture.. 1

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architecture and city and regional planning together to form the College of Environmental Design) It was said “Wurster builds barns)” Some saw the new Church as a “barn ” long as a football field alienated from the world below it) Dr) Cope had joined in the design for worship space linked to the nature around it) Ten dozen precast pebbled concrete slabs were lifted into place to become the walls) Three great rooms are all under a single “barnGlike” roof) On the south is the sanctuary with only narrow vertical windowsH Ancient abbey or Acropolis this is a cave for the soul) In the centre is the atrium with sky lights and rubber trees looking out on San Francisco Bay) On the north is the Social Hall with the gracious Fireside Room home to many philosophical discussions) Outside are five acres of landscape over an acre of parking two Religious Education Buildings and playground) The congregation made the move in +<=+) At the new church in +<=; Dr Cope concluded his ,, year ministry to the Berkeley as protests against the Vietnam War peaked) That year Martin Luther King was murdered in Memphis and Robert Kennedy was murdered in California) Back east

I was one of eight

ministers elected as antiGwar delegates to the +<=; Democratic Convention in Chicago)

,

In

the caucus room at the Convention Hall we watched demonstrators outside the Hilton Hotel being clubbed by police) Over three hundred joined us in buses for a candlelight procession at the Hilton)

The Temple above the Clouds The Challenge “Face the realities, only the realities Nothing is so terrible when you face it, As when you run away from it.” G A) Powell Davies All Souls Church ?UUA Washington DC)

Richard Boeke, Article in UU World on the Democratic Convention, October 1968. The article closed with this quote, “Politics is the art of the possible.” 2

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As I candidated for the Berkeley ministry in +
)

From Kimball and others I learned that a Starr King Teacher was teaching a class using

Peter Raible’s book HOW TO CASE A CHURCH) I was told one discussion used First Unitarian Berkeley as an example of a “failing church)” I learned the congregation had split) Sixty ?=-A families refused to move up the hill formed their own congregation and bought a building one mile northwest of the University) One wit said “The church blew it’s brains out)” A local black minister called the new building “The

abomination on the hill)”

My family accepted the challenge and we bought a home on the flattest piece of high ground we could find facing the valley just west of the new church) In autumn +
minister who was our custodianA Erda Labuhn the bookkeeper and two or more Starr King Students) Over two dozen students served as MITs “MinistersGinGTraining ” during my ministry) Most went on to successful ministries ranging from Mike Schuler current minister

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of the Frank Lloyd Wright UU Church in Madison Wisconsin 8 Bryan Jessup current minister in Fresno to those who died too soon like Freddie Lepore and Shannon Bernard)

+A There were challenges to face) We brought in Rosemary Matson who interviewed members and studied our situation) She pointed out to us that

the

Church is no longer in the centre of Berkeley Life) While the proverb says “the city that is built on a hill cannot be hid ” The trees between the church and the Bay create a green hilltop) Unlike the Mormon Temple in Oakland the church is almost invisible from San Francisco Bay) Rosemary Matson made several recommendationsH we needed programmes that would appeal to a variety of people we needed to promote these programmes in the six or seven nearby cities of East San Francisco Bay) While the great musicals such as “Guys and Dolls” and “The Merry Widow” put on by our choir helped we needed something more) H

,A

AA I made home visits or group parties to meet more of the =-- members some of whom had dropped out) I visited the parties of the choir and of the large Singles Group) As most of them were working it seemed good sense to meet them at their parties) Jopie and I hosted Holiday parties at our home inviting the whole congregation with personal invitations) To the first party Sesame Street Star Malvina Reynolds came) A few months later she led our Sunday Service )with her songs “Magic Penny ” “Where are you going my young girl my pretty oneJ And “Bury me

in my overalls)”

BA It was a peak of sexual liberation in California)

A year earlier Jopie and I

attended the annual meeting of the Association for Humanism Psychology One event was a memorial service for the Gestalt Psychiatrist Fritz Perls in which three of his former mistresses told what a great lover he was) I was concerned when the District Liberal Religious Youth ?LRYA asked to hold a weekend retreat as a sleepover at our

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church) The Chair of Religious Education was angered when I insisted that we have a church member in the building as well as the District LRY leaders) On Saturday night I walked the half mile circuit from our home around the church as I often did) Looking in the window I saw about three dozen naked teens having a playful time) I walked to the church office and found the R)E) Chair crying) I walked out to the parking lot and found the three LRY advisors high on pot outside their trailer) I took it up with the District and thanks to Rev Anne Heller and others a more responsible youth programme was created) )

CA I started leading an early Sunday meditation group and an adult class that met Sundays at the same time as choir rehearsal) The adult class thrived as chapter by chapter we discussed Joe Campbell’s MYTHS TO LIVE BY and Julian Jaynes THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE BREAKDOWN OF THE BICAMERIAL MIND)C About +<;- the former Dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School started attending our church) On the advice of his wife I asked Dr) Bernard Loomer if he would like to take over the Sunday morning adult discussion) He agreed and delighted in leading or hosting “Personal Theology” ?Which still continuesA) Several weeks before his death this “Process Theologian”@ joined our church as the place where he had found a spiritual home) ) DA I joined a group applying for a TV LICENSE in the East Bay)) We met the

requirements) The FCC changed the rules) The group then applied for the public broadcasting rights for Monterey and was offered THE LICENSE The group didn’t have the million dollar startGup fee) They offered to give the license to the Unitarians if we could raise the money) Every Unitarian Minister in the area signed on a petition

Jaynes’ work is fine as Karl Jaspers or Karen Anderson on the Axial Age. Sadly, he uses the word “consciousness” where we might say “reflective consciousness” to distinguish it from “awareness.” 5 See Bernard Loomer, The Size of God. A forerunner of today’s “cosmic theology.” 4

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to Bill Schulz the President of the UUA) Bill came with his financial advisor who said it was not a good investment) Later Cable TV came to our neighbour city of Richmond and they gave us a weekly slot) The mayor of Richmond saw it and she and her husband joined our church)

EA We had almost two hundred thousand dollars in mortgages to pay)

We had two unused acres of land downhill) A few years after I came the Finance Committee voted to sell the two acres as two building lots) It happened that IARF Member Tsubaki Shinto Shrine wanted to establish a small shrine in America as a centre for worship dialogue and understanding) They offered the full amount that the Finance Committee requested and their offer was submitted to the Congregation for approval) I had visions of Japanese gardenersL Jopie and I were away when the congregational meeting to approve this came) Dr) J) Raymond Cope and his wife had come back to live in the parsonage he had been given by the church) Jopie and I welcomed them) At the congregational meeting without any warning or discussion with me Dr) Cope offered to give the church Ten ?+-A thousand dollars if the church would not sell the lots) The sale of the lots was defeated and Dr) Cope’s Ten thousand dollar offer was refused) I was ready to apply for another church) Jopie reminded me of my pledge to stay as minister until our daughters finished high school) I went to the minister of our San Francisco Church) He listened M and told me to sit tight) I don’t know what happened but within a month Dr) Cope and his wife moved) Later they sold the Parsonage they had been given))

Soon after the start of my Berkeley Ministry with the help of many two events happened that set the future tone of my ministry

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+A I delayed my installation until the sermon could be given by my friend Huston Smith in January when he and his wife Kendra would be in Berkeley to visit their daughters) Sociologist Robert Bellah welcomed me on behalf of the University of California) The organist and choir were magnificent and in the congregation was Dr) Howard Thurman and his wife coming on the invitation of their friends Dr) and Mrs) Dryden Phelps and to hear their friend Huston)

When Huston retired from the U) of Syracuse he and Kendra moved to

Berkeley

where he rewrote his book THE RELIGIONS OF MAN in gender inclusive language as THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS) He also added a chapter on Primal Religions) Huston became a regular guest speaker at Bernie Loomer’s Personal Theology= His wife Kendra asked me if a Buddhist could join a Unitarian Church) Of course I said “yes” and she joined) Huston remains a Methodist) His parents were Methodist Missionaries to China) I

,A I had done my master’s thesis at Columbia University on Robert Jay Lifton) Reading his new book HOME FROM THE WAR on Vietnam Veterans I was inspired to draft portions of the text into a REQUEIM FOR VIETNAM adding a few extra songs) I took it to our church organist Arthur Hills) He looked over the text and said that he would be glad to write the music) I wrote Lifton our plans); He wrote back news of a weekend when he could come) I picked Lifton up at the home of his friend Erik Erikson across the Bay in Tiburon) ) Erikson greeted me at the door and we enjoyed coffee while Robert finished getting ready) At the church the service opened with

At the University of Chicago, Huston’s Doctorial Advisor had been Henry Nelson Wieman. When Huston became engaged to Wieman’s daughter, Kendra, Loomer became his advisor. 7 For several years after moving to Berkeley, Huston taught one class at the U. of California. It was fully enrolled with 200 students. I attended his last lecture. He was given a 10 minute standing ovation. 8 At Columbia University I wrote my Master’s Thesis on Lifton’s work. He gave a sermon at our Flushing Church as did Alan Watts, author of THE WAY OF ZEN. 6

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beautiful South Sea sounds blown through a Couch Shell The music moved from mourning “Our land became as the face of the moon

Defoliated trees and craters of doom ”

To the closing choral “Peace on earth let it be

Let the mountain come down to the sea And the joy we will share When there’s peace everywhere Peace on earth Let it be ”

In Fear and Trembling Kierkegaarde agonizes over the riddle of Abraham and Isaac) In a dialogue Woody Allen does the same) In Woody AllenOs version God says BYou stupid) I

was testing you to see if you had the sense not to blindly follow authority)B

Lifton’s book HOME FROM THE WAR asks “How can you be a man todayJ” In World War II you could be a good soldier) But the Vietnam Veterans came home to scorn) In Vietnam they were hooked on drugs and shame) They came home to blame) They became the scapegoats for the collective guilt of our nation) By the end of last year more Vietnam Veterans had died from suicide and drug related deaths than were killed in Vietnam)

Especially since Vietnam

male identity is in trouble) ) Robert BlyOs Iron John points to a problem not just for men but for our whole culture)

This was a subject the mental health professionals group in the church took up with interest) Many were Jungian therapists) They preferred sermons with soul and great music) On the other hand the Peace Committee seemed to want us to battle for

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peace) Especially in the time after Watergate I saw dozens of people in pain) Remembering my few weeks of daily Zen Meditation I gave a sermon titled “THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO DO NOTHING) The sermon affirmed three thingsH +A the importance of short periods of meditation each day) ,A the importance of taking a Sabbath a day off without feeling guilty) DA In a time of crisis rather than rushing to action it is important to step back and get perspective)”< The Peace Committee was enraged. What should I doJ Dr) Howard Thurman had been at my induction service) He had been friend and minister to Martin Luther King Jr) I invited him to give our second Lawrence Lecture) He asked “What should I speak on( I told him about the difference between the Jungian Therapists and the Peace Committee) After a little thought he chose the topic MYSTICISM AND SOCIAL ACTION) To sum up his beautiful images he said

“my heart must be a swinging door that opens in

and opens out)”

The Partnership “Life is yours in you I grow tall Seed will come to fruit I know Trust that after winter’s snowfall Walls will melt and truth will flow”

Quoted from the “Emptying” section of my 1982 Doctor of Ministry thesis. PISTIOLOGY, AN ESSAY ON FAITH. I have continued to write on “Faith as Trust” as differing from “belief as an idea.” I found “Pistiology” an awkward word. As the 21st Century begin, instead of the Greek, “Pistis, I went to the Latin “Fides” and organized several conferences using the term “FIDEOLOGY.” For the 2012 GCGI I spoke on “FIDEOLOGY AND ONENESS.”

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Last verse of “View the Starry Realm of Heaven”

+-

Written by Norbert Capek in prison before being taken to Dachau and death in +
Howard’s lecture inspired me to work more closely with Dr Lucile Green President of the World Citizens Assembly one of six church members born of missionaries to China) Lucile was a dream member intelligent fluent in Chinese and who welcomed our family at her swimming pool) She was a main stay in several weeks of discussion before the church voted to become a Sanctuary Church for political refugees from Central America) When the vote was taken two members resigned) Five new members joined) Soon our first refugees arrived Dr) Ricardo Calderon and his family) They were assigned to our church because he had been Chancellor of the University of El Salvador) From that beginning the doors opened as we became a church with an international mission) We hosted a dozen ethnic Chinese refugees driven out by the policy of Vietnam for the Vietnamese)

Then I got a call from the YMCA in Hong Kong) They had several refugees from Tiananmen Square) The refugees could get US Visas but only if they had sponsors) Lucile Parker another great lady in our church said she would take two men for two months) Thus we had the joy of helping Jing Chang and Arthur Liu as they learned English and helped clean the church) Jing earned a master’s

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“View the Starry Realm” Hymn 28 in Singing the Living Tradition. UUA Hymnal

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in business and lives near Los Angles with his wife daughter and son) Arthur is an Oakland Lawyer with wife and @ children))

The World Citizens invited me to join them on a trip to Japan) The Church Choir ha come with us to sing at the +<;+ IARF Congress in the Netherlands) Then @of us shared the top cabin of a ICI as we sung our way to the great +<;C IARF Japan Congress ) In +<;I I was CoGChair of the Host Committee for the IARF Congress at Stanford University) Our choir sang as Rev Mark Belletini led two beautiful services in the Stanford University Chapel)

In +<<- came the dream trip to the IARF Congress in Hamburg at which Hans Kung told us “There will be no peace in the world until there is peace among

religions There will be no peace among religions until there is dialogue among religions ” The Berlin Wall had come down) We took a fragment to bury under bricks on our church patio)

Then to Prague and Vienna led by Dr) Joseph Fabry)

There is no

Unitarian Church in Vienna) Joe who had been awarded the CROSS OF GOLD by Austria arranged for our concert to be one of the evenings of a concert series in the Vienna Town Hall) It was a career HIGH for choir director Edwin Barlow) Then we went on to Budapest and Kolozsvar and the Homorod valley to sing and start afresh two of the many partner church connections) Four other bus loads of Unitarians Led

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by UUA Moderator Natalie Gulbrandsen made similar partnership connections in Prague Budapest and Romania)

From this beginning with Dr) Judith Gellerd Rev) Leon Hopper and others we organized the Partner Church Council linking UU churches in North America with churches in Eastern Europe India and the Philippines)

Back in +
Joe came to the

phone and poured out his heart to his friend DR) VICTOR FRANKL)++

Thanks to Howard Thurman the refugee program IARF Joe Fabry and Viktor Frankl we found the greater purpose that could inspire the veterans and help the church come together)

I became Vice President of the American Shinto Shrine rejected by the church) I helped Gugi Yukitaka Yamamoto establish Tsubaki Shrine of America first in Stockton California and now in Granite Falls Washington) Yamamoto received Frankl gave lectures in our church and at the U. of California. He inspired the adult study guide, UNIQUEST, which had 10 issues before Joe Fabry transformed it into the JOURNAL OF LOGOTHERAPY, published by the U. of Chicago. 11

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an honorary degree from Starr King Seminary) I introduced Guji to Professor Delmer Brown) Delmer had been Chair of the History Department at U)C) Berkeley) We arranged for him to teach a course in Shinto at Starr King) Doctorial students from U)C) joined seminarians in taking the course) Each year Tsubaki continues to pay the airfare to Japan for a UU Seminary Student) On the beautiful grounds of Tsubaki Grand Shrine they experience Shinto life including Misogi purification under an ice cold waterfall) Most also travel to the Grand Shine of the Sun Goddess at Ise and to the unforgettable experience of the Atomic Bomb Park at Hiroshima)+,

Since High School I have been fascinated by Japan) It is the closest thing we have to visiting an advanced culture on another planet)

As we immerse

ourselves in Japan two thoughts are importantH

+A Surveys of Japan show their values are similar to American values) We note similarities) For example the BfeelB of Shinto is like ThoreauOs experience at Walden Pond BAll intelligences awake with the morning)B or John Muir doing a BPurificationB under Yosemite Falls) Native American Spirituality has similarity to Shinto)

,A In Japan the values are put together in a different way) Unitarian Universalist values focus on the Planet and the Individual Person) Guji Yamamoto wrote Yukitaka Yamamoto’s life story is in his book, Kami no Michi (the Way of the Kami), which is available free on the web. Yamamoto’s story is also a chapter in Marcus Braybooke’s, Beacons of the Light., “100 holy people who have changed the history of humanity.” 12

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BShinto is Unitarian Universalism)B The BReverence for NatureB is similar) But our mental focus pushes for ONE TRUTH) While in Japan millions are both Shinto and Buddhist

Shinto for weddings) Buddhist for Funerals) Japanese values

cluster around not simply family but what we might translate BClanB and BPlace)B To the Japanese Japan itself is a holy place) And KAMIs are in trees waterfalls mountains) Each place has a holy spirit ?KamiA) And persons have their identity as part of a village or a company in which mutual loyalty is expected and given) For example workers at Mazda Motors all voted to take a ,@Q cut in pay rather than accept the dismissal of ,@Q of their coGworkers) In contrast the workers at the Berkeley CoGop de facto preferred to see it go out of business rather than take a cut in pay)

In America labor and management tend to be adversaries) The

cluster of Japanese values is part of what Hans Kung has called BThe Third River of Human Culture)B The ShinRTAO of China Japan and KoreaH For years after our church received the phone call from the Hong Kong Council of Churches refugees from Tiananmen Square and Tibet continued to come to our church)

Liu Xiang joined us by way of New York)

custodian in our church)

Liu had his first U)S) job as

He encouraged us to take a group to China) Our first

spring tour was so beautiful I went again) This time Lucile Green had arranged a dialogue with the Philosophy Department of People’s University in Beijing) After listening I said to the chair of the Department “It sounds to me like soon you will be doing weddings) He replied “O Yes I married /00 couples in Tiananmen

Square last month ”

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In August I attended IARF India and IARF Japan) +<
We marked the +--th anniversary of the Chicago World

Parliament of Religions) In August +<
While religious traditions

remain plural theology is now moving to be what I like to call a “Fideology” of the world) In Paul TillichOs last lectures on Christianity and the Encounter of World Religions he said H BThe way leads into the depth ))) there is a point at which any religion breaks through its own particularity and points to the divine present in all forms of life)B

BBreaking through its own particularity)B Discovering what Martin Buber would call the Bultimate Thou)B We can sense something of this in Huston Smith’s film BRequiem for a Faith4 the story of Tibetan Buddhism)B

The film carries us

through dances mandalas and the chanting of monks to the riddle of God and self) We look at these demons and gods) At first many see them as external forces working on us) Humanists may see this as part of the bad experience of religion which they are rejecting)

Through meditation we can discover that these

demons and gods represent forces inside of us) The task of spiritual practice in any religion is to transform the demons into workers of grace)

In a course World Religions for Parents with Huston SmithOs book The WorldOs Religions

as basic text we explored the triple theme of Bteacher teaching and

communityB as they occur in each world religion)

This course was inspired by a

UU booklet titled Parents as Resident Theologians) For individualistic Americans

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this is a good contextual way of looking at religions) Not just Joseph CampbellOs The HeroOs Journey)

But instead looking at the riddle BHow does my belief

affect my children and my family(6 of us is a resident theologian)

argument)B

Whether we have children or not each one As Albert Schweitzer said BMy life is my

If your life is your argument what are you arguing forJ And what

can you learn from The ShinRTao of China Japan and KoreaJ

For the coming Fideology of the WorldOs Religions there is the Western Stream of

Human

CultureH

Judaism

Christianity

and

Islam)

There

is

the

HinduRBuddhism Stream of India) There is the Third Stream of the Tao and the ShinRTao of China Japan and Korea) Finally there are two hidden riversH the Experience of Women restricted in every tradition: and Primal Religion bubbling up from the underground river of life itself) Much of Shinto is ancient primal religion) Misogi may be an original form of baptism) The early Christians divided on the issue of reGbaptism) But in many religions and for Henry Thoreau repeated plunges in “Holy Water” renew the soul) Unitarian William Ellery Channing said BI am born again and again and

again)B Misogi is a ritual you can take home and perform in the shower every morning or evening) Last years as Berkeley Minister: Sermons Sermons of partnership. In the /780s the First Unitarian Church was one of four churches which successfully challenged the California Loyalty Oath

In June /77/ the church

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again called upon the U S Supreme Court

I gave “a friend of the court brief”

as a sermon

A Friend of the Court Brief to the United States Supreme Court JUNE 1991: case of Nordlinger vs California From: First Unitarian Church, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington, Contra Costa County, CA. 94707. SUMMARYH This case provides a legal opportunity to provide basic funding for the schools of California)

The unequal valuations in Proposition +D are

unconstitutional)

Ann McDonald a teacher in the Richmond School District gives this pictureH BIt will be a very bare bones budget next year)

One third of the teachers in the district

will be laid offH @,; teachers) High School students will have no counselors no school librarians only one school nurse for the entire district) no school police) In some sections of the country you may not be familiar with school police) However for many students in our district the school police help make the school a safe place for them to go to) It is going to be not nearly as pleasant a place to teach in) Teachers will do the best that we can with what we have)B ****

BWhere are you going my little one little oneJ

Where are you going my baby my ownJ Turn around and youOre two turn around and youOre four Turn around and youOre a young girl going out of my door)B

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G Malvina Reynolds How shall we teach our childrenJ How shall we treat the Blittle one little oneB that Malvina Reynolds sang of years ago in our sanctuary where she was a church member) There is another way of looking at itH as one woman spoke to another she said BYou better take good care of your daughter because she is the one

who will decide which nursing home you go to)B And that is a serious concern) Because if we maltreat our children the next generation may decide that all these lush benefits that are being put aside for the elderly are no longer appropriate) And IOm serious) There is nothing automatic about what is happening in this country today) It is up to people who care enough to see that the whole system works for everybody) There are no automatic forces in economics that are going to keep producing money to keep benefits going and to keep schools open) Once we passed Proposition +D somewhere down the road the price had to be paid and it is being paid by Richmond School Teachers and kids today) One way or another this section of our county is going to have to raise more money to educate children)

Today in the Richmond Unified School District I feel the most important sermon to be preached is to the Government especially to courts) Even if your children are grown and gone parents are concerned with all children) As Carl Sandburg said BThere is one child in all the world and the name is all children)B

In our three part system of government the judicial branch has equal responsibility for keeping the great virtues of society alive) An ancient tradition allows friends of the court to submit petitions on important matters) These BamicusB briefs have

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had an important contribution in civil rights cases)

I believe that there is no more

important civil rights case in America today than the crisis in public education) Some see this crisis as the result of an effort to shatter the public school system and to open up thousands of new private schools under a voucher system) Without major changes in public and state support for education there will be drastic changes)

We are not willing to spend even $C --- per year for the

education of a child while we spend $C, --- per year for each prisoner in jail) The average class size in California is the largest in the United States)

It used to be that Berkeley made the national news) Here in West Contra County we felt weret in a back water of the Bay) But in late April our school district became international news)

Like Selma Alabama during the Civil Rights

Movement or Kent State during the Vietnam War our Richmond School District is a lead story)

At our Hotel in Beijing China our group from the church watched

the story on Cable News Network ?CNNA)

While in China families are

encouraged to have only one child that child is very well cared forH

For tens of

thousands of Chinese children there are even state provided after school programs in music art and dancing)

But here in the United States in a rich school district

home of a a major refinery of one of largest corporations in the world ?ChevronA our public school system is broke and threatened with closure) The Richmond School District is bankrupt) It was due to shut down the end of April) Thanks to a lawsuit brought by +< parents to the court of Judge Ellen James the District received a loan from the State and will remain open until the

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end of the current term) Judge Ellen James is to be commended for a wise ruling full of common sense) Her ruling statedH If a school district cannot provide a public education Bbasically equivalent to the education being provided in the rest of the state B It is up to the state to remedy the situation)

BThe State as principal has the

ultimate and residual supervisory power

over

education and bears final

responsibility for the state school system)B

An early shut down of the schools

is Bconstitutionally unequal education)B

Following the ruling of Judge Ellen James, California has appointed an administrator, Fred Stewart, who has taken the power of the school board and will run the schools with serious cuts for next fall. 528 teachers have received pink slips that they will not be rehired. Many after school programs are over. But not all extracurricular activities will end. In a few rich schools they will continue funded by the PTA. A fund raiser held at our church will help keep music and art going at the Kensington School next fall. But at El Cerrito High many cuts are coming. The El Cerrito Jazz Band won the 1991 Monterey Jazz Festival. The Jazz Teacher leaves for Graduate School. He will not be replaced. It will take a miracle for Richmond and the other schools of California to get the public and financial support needed for quality education. The Richmond Unified School District is 60 million dollars in debt. But miracles are possible. One of our church members is Frances Hanna. Her husband, Warren Hanna, wrote the multivolume legal text on Workman’s Compensation in California. If you pull out volume two, you will find a chapter titled, "Thaumaturgic Thaumaturgic Hermeneutics." This means Hermeneutics "miracle making interpretation." To the courts I say there is precedent to make a "miracle miracle making interpretation" as you will find in court rulings on workmen’s compensation. For that "miracle making interpretation" you need simply say, as the Supreme Court of the United States recently ruled in a case concerning West Virginia Coal Mines, that unequal valuation of property for tax purposes is inherently unconstitutional. In West Virginia certain coal mines were given "Grandfather", or if you wish "Grandmother," status, that their property would have a low evaluation in perpetuity while other values and taxes in the states rose with the current value of the land. This was ruled unconstitutional and those coal mines are now paying the full tax paid by other property in the state. Simply citing that 21

precedent, the U.S. Supreme Court can give us the miracle by saying that all homes and businesses must pay the full 1% tax on real estate, and that the "Grandfather clause" of Proposition 13 is unconstitutional. In my opinion it is not only unconstitutional, it is wrong. And I am one of those who benefit from it. Let us have the miracle! For 16 years my generation and the established businesses of California have received unfair tax break for which school children are paying the price. When the court rules for equal tax, some older citizens will have difficulty paying their 1% tax. The law does provide that they may defer taxes on their property until they leave their home. Because of this provision, almost no one would have to leave home because of property tax. We call upon the United States Supreme Court to exercise its moral and legal responsibility to set aside the provision of Proposition +D which freezes the valuation of property) ?endA

Sadly it was not the same court we had in the /780s William O Douglas and other liberals were gone The petition was dismissed by the court With the help of Winnie Sayre the church gathered two dozen volunteers to give two to four hours a week to keep the school library open and to read to students who had learning difficulties Others volunteered for the Richmond soup kitchen and for a week in mid
California remains near the bottom of 80 states for per pupil spending on

public schools?

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

First Unitarian Church of Berkeley Preserving the Vision October 25, 1992 Friday night D- Tibetan monks sat in our Fireside Room and held a healing service) Yesterday afternoon almost +-- Sufis sat in our Fireside Room and chanted BForgive me Forgive me Forgive me 6 I hope you will forgive me

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this morning as I talk about that forbidden five letter word money)

Think how

those Tibetans or those Sufis would love to have a building like ours) What a gift we have been given)

I remember a story of a preacher and a bus driver arriving together at the Pearly Gates) St) Peter greets the bus driver with a hug and a scarlet cape) He says BWell done thou good and faithful servant) Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord)B The bus driver enters the Gates)

The preacher asks St) Peter BWhyJB St)

Peter says BThat bus driver has scared the hell out of more people than any preacher)B

For a text this morning let us consider these words from the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy

BTheir foot in due time shall slide)B The text of a famous

preacher before the Revolutionary WarH Jonathan Edwards)

His sermon was

BSinners in the Hands of an Angry God)B Like Stephen Hawking Edwards was a child prodigy) He wrote a scientific study of local spiders at the age of twelve) He was one of the first men in America to read and understand Isaac Newton and John Locke) Edwards learned from John Locke that BSensate Experience is the source of all understanding)B Edwards reasoned that if preaching was to be effective it must build on sensate experience) Therefore his sermons were filled with vivid sensate images) He is still a major theologian for Calvinist Christianity) BSinners in the Hands of an Angry GodB was his most famous sermon)

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BThe God that holds you over the pit of hell is an angry God) You are to him as a spider or some loathsome insect) Yet it is nothing but his grace that keeps you into hell this very day this very hour this very minute

)))) B

So spoke Jonathan Edwards) If an earthquake struck today and this building collapsed on us we would feel very much like the spider in hands of God) If we do not retrofit when earthquake strikes in +<
Even

if no one is in the building it will be a tragic loss) But the double columned windows will make a beautiful ruinH A little like the ruins of the Parthenon on the Acropolis above Athens) Perhaps the congregation will build a small chapel at one end of the property) Tourists may come to view the ruins) Like the tourists who visit the old Kaiser Wilhelm Church near the Bahnhof Zoo in Berlin) But the church would never be rebuilt)

Granted the odds are better than @-R@- that this church as is will survive an earthquake) Therefore why not go with the oddsJ

Give the money to the

Philippines or Transylvania) Use it as seed money to build a million dollar Unitarian Universalist housing project in Richmond) Use it to build a Center for Spiritual Development that will transform this nation and this world) Yes with some of you I regret the need to sacrifice to the God of the earthquake) We have two wonderful church managersH Diana Bracy and Betty Webster) Dave

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Strom our new sexton is painting toilets caring for people and property) I would prefer to spend the time this fall working with them to welcome new adults and children to our church) I would like to spend more time being a host to hundreds here this weekend for concerts lectures Tibetan and Sufi Chanting the Pigford Memorial Service and the Gonzales Wedding)

Some of us would like to see skylights added to the sanctuary and to build a small childrenOs chapel) Others would love to start a new church south of campus or near Hilltop) But the angry God of the earthquake and parking lot demands our blood sacrifice) O we can shake our fist at this parental figure and say NOL Or we can eat our vegetables and find if we donOt overcook them they taste pretty good)

A church is made possible when we give up some of our egos for the sake of a greater loving) The goals of our fund raising campaign are a cooperative effort to see our church through to the year ,---)

To reach this goal some members are giving four and five times their annual pledge) From most of you we need three or at least two times your annual pledge to reach our goal)

You may say BI have all these other charities which send me

mail every week)B

Why I receive a personal request from Bill Clinton or George

Bush almost every day)

Well millions of people receive those requests) There

are only about C-- of you here to response to this request)

Like Stephen

Hawking you can do the Math and realize that it will take $,@ --- pledges

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$+- --- and $@ --- and $D --- pledges to reach our goal) Our aim is not equal dollar amounts from everyone but equal loving)

In traditional language

this is a time for a tithe to take our church to the next century) If each of you gives +-Q of your annual income to this fund drive we will reach our goal) Jopie and I have done that) We hope you will consider doing the same)

There is a tradition in Japan that every ,- years the Shinto Grand Shrine at Ise is rebuilt) A new building is built next to the old building) In the middle of the night the sacred objects are carried from the old shrine to the new) The new generation then dedicates the new shrine they have built) Thirty one years ago our church was raised as BThe Temple above the Sea of Clouds)B

If we succeed in our fund drive in about two years there will be a

dedication service in which this present congregation will celebrate the rebuilding of the shrine) I hope most of you will make your tithes and be part of this dedication) I hope some of you will want to be new members of this church) Join us in this rededication)

If you have not signed up IOll stand by the

membership book after the church service)

May each generation rededicate the shrine and be able to say BThis house shall be the cradle of our dreams and the workshop of our common endeavor)B In faith, love, and hope, Richard F. Boeke

Epilogue

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Washing hands taking a shower plunging in the ocean baptism

HinduOs

washing in the Ganges) In a million ways humans seek to wash off the past and start clean) Misogi is one of these)

But what ritual will workJ Does not the very effort to try a ritual focus your mind on the very thing you are trying to fleeJ Is it the riddle of the Zen Master BTry to stop thinking about the monkey on your backJB As I came to the service for our Choir Director who died of AIDS) I thought of the “Kol Nidre” which was played in our church every year on the Sunday nearest to The Jewish Day of Atonement) Ruth Saphir Harden was our Cellist) She had been with the San Francisco Symphony) When she told the conductor of the symphony “I’M PREGNANT ” the legendary Pierre Monteux who had introduced the world to Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps replied YOU’RE FIRED)” I prepared the service for Edwin Barlow.. The death of a friend can often be depressing. It was a low point for me. I tried to stop being chief administrator and let others direct the staff. But a minister cannot simply drop the staff to write sermons and do parish calls. In trying to keep trust with one, I sometimes broke trust with another. I wanted to drop out of the game of building a "successful church." The endless task of rescuing events that broke down no longer appealed to me. Inside, I felt the victim "co-dependent" of a neurotic congregation. Somehow, I need to change my relationships to staff and leadership to make the church more functional: To share a team vision of an ideal religious community. What elements would it have? A community that practiced 27

forgiveness, reconciliation. Sensing the Holy in Nature and in every person, as Howard Thurman did. .

I thought of Three events of the week Wednesday the death of Edwin Barlow Yesterday the Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Tomorrow the Anniversary of D Day)

Then the service began featuring the Requiem chosen by Edwin Barlow

First Unitarian Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd, Kensington, CA. CA.. 94707. Our service on Sunday, June 5, 1994 is the Durufle Requiem. It is dedicated to Edwin Barlow, who died June 1st, 1994. Dr. Barlow's Barlow's Memorial Service will be here, 11 AM, July 9, 1994. When a friend dies there is a stirring of a thousand memoriesH joys regrets anger frustration a sense of loss) Edwin Barlow was a wonderful rose with determined thorns) For my few words of reflection prior to the Requiem there are at least three subjects which deserve the whole timeH

/? Yesterday I gave a prayer at the unveiling of the statue of

the

Goddess of Democracy at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco) I said BAs the Statue of Liberty honors freedom on our East Coast So may the Goddess of Democracy Honor the vision of Democracy for the Pacific Rim 6 We prayed for freedom of prisoners of conscience

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in America in China in Tibet and in almost every land of this suffering earth) In a way this Requiem is for them) 2) Tomorrow we observe the @-th Anniversary of DGDay)

We remember the eight thousand who died on the beachesH The beginning of the end of World War II) In a way this Requiem is for all the dead of war)

DA But most of all today honors Edwin Barlow) Dr) Barlow his wife Paula and their daughter Juliana were part of our church for almost ten years) Edwin led our choir on trips to the IARF in Japan and Germany)

Edwin had a gift for

bringing out the best in voices) He attracted singers who wanted to sing under his skilled leadership)

Thirty of us remember singing together to an audience of seven thousand in Tokyo) We learned Japanese words BMichi Wa Kokokara B the Way begins here) Hiroshima on August =th a solemn service of remembrance) And EdwinOs head turning red in the hot sun as we sang at Suzuka City)

Edwin was away from our church a few years) He changed his life and Eric Howe became his partner)

In +<<- Edwin and Eric took us on a wonderful

singing trip to Hamburg to the Unitarian Church in Prague where Norbert Capek used to preach) Thanks to our member Joseph Fabry we sang to an audience of

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D-- in the Festival Hall of the Vienna City Hall) We sang in Budapest and Cluj and in our partner church of Homorodujfalu Transylvania)

In +<
CODA In Autumn +<
Minister of Essex Unitarian Church in Kensington London) January +<<@ we said our “goodbyes” to Berkeley at a wonderful banquet) Two years later we moved to Horsham West Sussex ?still our homeA) Jopie served as IALRW President ?International Association of Liberal Religious WomenA I served for C years as Secretary of the International Council of UUs ?ICUUA)

I

am chair of the British Chapter of the IARF www)iarf)net which will help host the events of the IARF Congress in Birmingham England ,-GD- August ,-+C) I am also a Vice President of the World Congress of Faiths www)worldfaiths)org

A few years after our move to England on Saturday +I February we drove to Morehouse College in my home town Atlanta to see the memorials there to Howard Thurman and to M)L) King Jr) Both were graduates of Morehouse) We were joyfully surprised to join over + --- in celebrating the +@-th Anniversary of

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Morehouse College) For , hours eight great African Americans gave their testimonyH From the first African American Georgia State Senator to actor Sir Sidney Poitier knighted by Queen ElizabethH Enough inspiration for several sermons)

Senator Leroy Johnson told us that after he was elected to the

Georgia State Senate for C months he was SHUNNED by his white colleagues) Then a committee needed his vote) Both sides of the committee sought his friendship) The Senator told us 6It is not what you deserve but what you negotiate 6

Richard Boeke in Sussex Forest

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Homorodujifalu – partner church of Berkeley

The Temple above the Clouds copyright Richard F. Boeke (draft 2013) 2013 16 St. Mary’s Gardens, Horsham RH12 1JP U.K. With thanks to the congregation and all who shared my Berkeley Ministry especially Harold Rosen Grace Ulp Erda LaBuhn Ann Greenwood Steve Furrer Holly Horn C Johanna Boeke

With thanks to THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH OF BERKELEY A History E by Merv Hasslemann /7F/

Footnotes + G A US Postage Stamp was issued in honour of Maybeck one of the creators of the California Style of Architecture)) ,G Richard Boeke Article in UU World on the Democratic Convention October +<=;) I closed with “Politics is the art of the possible)”

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D G Jaynes’ work is fine as Karl Jaspers or Karen Armstrong on the Axial Age) Sadly he uses the “consciousness” where we might say “reflective consciousness” to distinguish it from “awareness)” C T B) Loomer The Size of God4 forerunner of today’s “cosmic theology)” At the University of Chicago Huston’s Doctorial Advisor had been Henry Nelson Wieman) When Huston became engaged to Wieman’s daughter Kendra) Loomer became his advisor) @ G For several years after moving to Berkeley Huston taught one class at the U) of California) It was fully enrolled with ,-- students) I attended his last lecture) He had a +- minute standing ovation) = G At Columbia University I wrote my Master’s Thesis on Lifton’s work) He gave a sermon at our Flushing Church as did Alan Watts author of THE WAY OF ZEN) I G Quoted from the “Emptying” section of my +<;, Doctor of Ministry thesis) PISTIOLOGY AN ESSAY ON FAITH) I have continued to write on “Faith as Trust” as differing from “belief as an idea)” I found “Pistiology” an awkward word) As the ,+st Century begin instead of the Greek “Pistis I went to the Latin “Fides” and organized several conferences using the term “FIDEOLOGY)” For the ,-+, GCGI ?Globalization for the Common Good InitiativeA I spoke on “FIDEOLOGY AND ONENESS)” The essay is on their website)

; G View the Starry Realm” Hymn ,; Singing the Living Tradition) < GFrankl gave lectures in our church and at the U) of California) He inspired the adult study guide UNIQUEST) It had +- issues) Joe Fabry

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transformed it into the JOURNAL OF LOGOTHERAPY published by the U) of Chicago) +- G Yukitaka Yamamoto’s life story is in Kami no Michi ?the Way of the KamiA available free on the web) Yamamoto’s story is also a chapter in Marcus Braybooke’s Beacons of the Light) “+-- holy people who have

changed the history of humanity)”

There are many more stories I could tellH especially of the Congregation of Abraxas an experience that I wish I had done more to preserve) The Original Five especially Brother Vern the Void and the late Fred Gillis helped guide many of us to a rhythm of universal worship) Vern Barnett has put much of ABRAXAS on the web) Several in the Berkeley Congregation joined in the retreats of Abraxas West ?two at the UU Church of Berkeley Freestone Retreat in Sonoma CountyA) Abraxas West produced THE RITE OF RELIGION a booklet edited by Mark Belletini Richard Boeke Ted Tollefson and Grace Ulp) Then Mark Belletini chaired the Commission which created our UU hymnal SINGING THE LIVING TRADITION)

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