A Time Such As This

One each person is important, two be kind in all you do, three we help each other learn and four we search for that is true…and so the song goes, the UU principle song. I’ve been secretly relishing my inner (and outer) Maria Von Trapp singing that song for the past five years, and yes I have twirled down the aisles of a church proclaiming my heart will be blessed. (Don’t look surprised!)

But is it enough, not me twirling, but the principle song? Do I have confidence in Unitarian Universalism? Yes… but, sometimes, I feel as Unitarian Universalists, we pay lip service to our principles, to good old Inherent Worth and Dignity. We the creedless faith, proclaim principles as holy, which they are not, but they are something to strive to? Do we put our faith into action?

Today, I am thinking of a famous woman… a biblical heroine, any guesses? Here is a hint? “Who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” She is Esther…Queen of Persia.

In the interest of time, I’ll give you a killer Esther synopsis, minus many important details, subplots, and hard-to-pronounce names.

The King of Persia throws a party. The king's wife refuses to appear and display her beauty for the party guests and she gets the boot. Across the Persian empire, beautiful candidates are identified to succeed the queen. Esther, a Jewish girl, is brought to the capitol as one of the candidates. Her uncle, Mordecai, tells her to conceal her Jewish identity, and naturally Esther is chosen to be the queen.

Haman, is appointed by the king to be his prime minister and all bow in honor to Haman. Well all but Esther's uncle, Mordecai, who refuses to bow. Enraged, Haman vows to kill all the Jews of Persia, and prevails upon the king to issue a royal edict to exterminate the Jews and plunder their possessions.

Mordecai sends a copy of the royal decree to Esther, and asks her to intercede on behalf of the Jews with the king. Esther replies that to approach the king without being summoned is to risk death. Mordecai speaks his famous line: Who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Esther takes a deep breath, puts her shoulders back, and looks the king straight in the eye… Esther reveals her identity, and announces that she and her people are about to be murdered.

She identifies Haman as her archenemy. Haman is hanged, as fate would have it replaced by Mordecai. The Jews are victorious and Persia flourishes.

If you don’t know Esther, I encourage you to check it out; it’s considered the prototype for all novels….and subsequently is the only book in the Bible, that does not mention God.

When we strip away the glamour of a beautiful queen, and listen to her uncle “Who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” what do we learn? Unto whom is the kingdom? Today children will learn that like Esther sometimes we have come to kingdoms for exacting times, times like this when director’s of religious education pointedly asks, “ya sing it on Sunday but how do you live it on Monday?”

Times like the kid who doesn’t have a place to sit in the lunchroom at school, alone and sore afraid. The boy who can’t throw a foot ball as well as the rest and is picked last. Or the girl that regardless of intention, just doesn’t dress as stylishly enough and is mocked. Maybe it’s your grandson, who feels less than beautiful, or simply yourself; never good enough for you.

Times when every person needs to be treated with worth, times that make our UU values REAL. A time such as this, today when we seek to welcome all regardless of creed, but rather defined by our deeds. It’s those principles that remind me spring will come again, they are truly my favorite things.