I have a difficult relationship with Veteran’s Day because I have been a pacifist for my whole life. My parents were part of the Church of the Brethren, a pacifist denomination; I went to Quaker meeting as a teenager and marched with my mother in protest of nuclear weapons. The role models in my family were not soldiers but conscientious objectors.
 
There is a strain of pacifist thought that blames soldiers for the existence and perpetuation of war, but I don’t buy into that. Technically it is true that without soldiers there would be no war—“What if they held a war and nobody came?” reads the classic protest sign. But I say that we can honor soldiers while condemning war itself.
 
Many soldiers serve in the military through a pure sense of duty and honor, loving their country and its values seeking to protect it. Other soldiers are lured into service because the promise of decent pay is higher than their other options. All of these people deserve respect and gratitude for their service and the risks they take. And, I believe that our Unitarian Universalist principle of “The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all” calls us to reduce the military, not to increase it.
 
The tension between honoring military veterans and seeking to end war altogether is present in Unitarian Universalism, including among ministers. At General Assembly this past summer, the moderator made strong anti-military comments that offended some UU’s in the audience. Among UU ministers, some serve as military chaplains as their calling—choosing this instead of serving in a congregation or a hospital chaplain position. They train and deploy with their troops--all the training except for bearing a weapon. They serve as spiritual advisors and support to their military units.
 
As I wrote last week in the wake of the election, I don’t see any American political party advocating an end to war. Allegiance to the military seems to be required in public life in this country. But I am fond of quoting Dwight Eisenhower, World War II general and later the president, who said that
 
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
 
On this day, I honor those who serve and have served in the military. And I pledge to work for peace, both at home and abroad, creating a world where every nation’s army is small and its social services are huge.
 
Prayer:
Spirit of life and love, protect the troops of this nation, those training and those deployed around the world. Protect the troops of every nation, every one of them a child of God. May all the soldiers be well and safe.
 
May humans find our wisdom to see that war destroys and does not create. May the generals be wise and restrained. May the presidents, prime ministers, and leaders of the world resolve their differences at the conference table and not on the battlefield.
 
May it be so, for us and our children and our children’s children.
 
Amen.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz
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Today is the day after the election, and I woke up with new clarity.

Yesterday I spent the day near Detroit with Election Defenders, outside a polling place in Inkster supporting voters and watching out for voter intimidation. I was recruited and trained for this role through UU the Vote, who directed me to Election Defenders: a non-partisan, Black-led, multiracial organization. During my 8-hour shift I met four other Unitarian Universalists (from Ann Arbor and Traverse City), some ministers and some lay people, doing the same work. And I greeted dozens­—probably hundreds—of voters as they came and went from the polling place. I wore a clerical collar to indicate my clergy status and a bright yellow sweatshirt to indicate my affiliation with the non-partisan Election Defenders. It was a long and tiring day.

Before I even left home in the morning on election day, I was moved by a Facebook post from my friend Cindy (also a UU) doing similar work to what I was about to do. She was in Cudell Park, Cleveland—the place where Tamir Rice was shot and killed. The recreation center there is a polling place, and they were serving coffee and free breakfast to early voters. Cindy stood with a sign saying “Voter Assistance Here,” and the caption to her photo said, this is what democracy looks like.

We show up to make voting safe and smooth in neighborhoods where Black, Indigenous, People of Color are the majority of voters—voters whose rights have been suppressed. We show up because we believe in democracy as a human right and as one of our religious values as Unitarian Universalists. We who recognize our privilege seek to serve those who have less privilege.

It was a hard night listening to the election returns. This morning was better, but still bad. As I write, it looks like Trump will win Ohio by 8 percentage points and Biden will win Michigan by a fraction. Biden just may eke out a win in the electoral college. That matters….and it also matters that half of the voters in this country will have voted for Donald Trump. This, after four years of seeing his racism, his bullying, his lying, his selfish and destructive behavior.

This realization leads me to conclude what I must do in response: to hold what and whom I love more fiercely; and to work with greater dedication to create loving community. These are the antidotes, personally and socially, to the values represented by President Trump and by the many people who enable him. There is a clarity and hope in this realization: I can do what I can do. I don’t have control over national elections or public figures, or over the opinions of others, but I have control of my life and my work. As this election ends, the further work begins for love and justice and community.

Prayer:
Spirit of Life and love, God who blesses Maine and Oklahoma and Idaho and Texas, be with this nation today and show us the lessons of this election. Show us how to understand one another beyond the coarse language of voting; show us what our fellow Americans want and what they fear; what they know and what they grasp to understand.
 
May there be understanding and forgiveness, compassion and hope in Michigan and Ohio and California. May dialogue replace the shouting of slogans, may friendships be healed.
 
May it be so.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz