Sermon : On Lighting the Way to a Brighter Future

Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa--the African American celebration of first fruits of the harvest--are three festivals of light in a dark December. It is dark from fear and violence. It is dark from AIDS and poor health systems. It is dark from inadequate education and insufficient social services.

Our children are scared. We have been witness to the violence in America, but never has there been such an assault on our children. From South Central to Hollywood to Woodland Hills, the three of us have buried too many children. Our children are rejected, neglected, malnourished, ill, beaten, molested, sexually assaulted, dying from AIDS, gunned down and murdered in all of our neighborhoods.

Poor houses or expensive homes aren’t any protection from the insanity of violent crime. The murder and molestation of our children are taking place right next to our synagogues and churches. No rhetoric from our pulpits is going to change certain humans’ violent behavior.

We are standing on a precipice. We can clearly see the devastation of our children. We cannot stand idly by and beat our chests or just pray. We can no longer be passive about guns, about a country that needs preventive health care for the anger that fills so many people who then beat and kill our children. Let us take seriously the fact that the “safety net” is all but disappearing and millions of Americans are desperate. Let us take seriously the fact that we don’t spend money combatting violence and its causes.

We are beginning to be shaken out of our indifference, which Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate, says is the greatest source of danger in the world. He writes: “Remember: The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. The opposite of faith is not arrogance, but indifference. The opposite of culture is not ignorance, but indifference. . . . And the opposite of peace is indifference to both peace and war--indifference to hunger and persecution, to imprisonment and humiliation, indifference to torture and persecution.

“Indifference leads to silence. There must be words from those who care. Ignorance leads to silence. There must be records of past and present cruelties done in the world so that each generation can remember--not only the evil of the past, but also the glowing goodness, the courage and the decency, which existed in the darkest days.”

If we remain indifferent, there will be silence. We need to scream. There need to be words for those who care so much, not words to bury a child. We have witnessed evil and violence, yet, every day, the three of us witness goodness and courage and decency that exist in these dark times.

This year, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and all other celebrations of the victory of light over darkness have a special poignancy. We need the lights of our mutual faiths, not only to give hope, but to light up a darkened world and a very dark Los Angeles. We have lived through riots, earthquakes, fires and so much more. It has made us stronger, with a greater resolve. Churches and synagogues must stand connected to one another and people of goodwill, regardless of our differences. Too much is at stake. No one is safe unless all are safe. The future of civilization and our great city is on the line.

Let this, then, be the challenge of this season. “Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit,” sayeth God.

Let us all be among those who light a candle instead of cursing the dark.

May the lights of December give us hope as we pray and act together.