"A Call to Courage"
Congressman Keith Ellison
Sunday, June 3rd 2007

Brothers and Sisters, Hope does not disappoint. Love always prevails.

As we move forward in these tough times, remember this. I try to remember this, and it always soothes me, no matter what is going on around me.

I have often said in the last four years I wish Paul (Wellstone) were here, as I am sure you have. If a heroic figure could just say the right thing, make the right move, to unify us, confront the abuse of power, or to help us to see a better way forward. Yes. I have thought of the critical times that we face, finding myself wanting and wishing that one of my heroes was around to handle the tough business.

I know that you know what I mean. Sometimes, it seems like times are tough, and we are not up to the circumstances of the day. But we are all that we have and if we don’t do it, it just won’t get done. Your mother, who took care of you, is now aged and can’t climb the stairs. You are it. You’re up to bat. Whether you’re up to it or not, you’ve got to come through.

Despite your brokenness, inadequacy, or lack of clarity, strength, disagreements between ourselves or with our leaders, there is just you and me and the rest of us and we have to “git ‘er dun.“

So our beloved America is fighting an immoral, ill-conceived and incompetently executed war in Iraq. Now, I can blame the president, and curse the war. But it must end.

I can curse the Dems. I can say they caved-in, and that I’m sick of them. But the war must end. I can say the movement hasn’t been sustained and strong. But the war must end.

Deep within my soul, I know, and I’m being told, love must prevail. Peace must prevail. Get in there. Get off of the sidelines.

Brothers and sisters, we all have a call. Our call is to establish Peace.

Peace must become the guiding principle of our nation.

We must do everything we can so that Iraqi grandmothers can make it to market without being blown up; that Iraqi children can go to school in peace. That Iraqi workers, preachers, and business people and everyone else can live without occupation, without violence and fear.

We must also do everything we can so that our soldiers can come home, and the carnage may end. 104 in April; 119 in May. This thing isn’t get better. It was wrong from the start.

Now I know that my call is to do everything I can to end this horrible war. But what is your call. Is your call a call for peace too?

Is your call a call to end the terrible war in Iraq as well?

Does your soul tell you that war is the enemy of the poor, who we are divinely enjoined to serve?

Does your call tell you that a war economy, a war politics, a fear-based politics, and a politics of scarcity are not the way? That God doesn’t want us to kill each other, to hoard goods, to terrorize and suspect each other and to live in fear? Mine does.

My call, and maybe yours too, is to a politics of peace, generosity, and inclusion. A politics of shared abundance. Is yours similar?

The question today is whether you and I will heed our call. Will we be like Jonah, running from our call? Sorry God, I know you created the heavens and the Earth, and that you’re the knower, designer, and the decider of all things, but you got it wrong this time. You’re calling me to peace, but I can’t go there.

The question today is are we going to be like Moses? Sorry God, but I don’t speak well. I stutter. I’m not articulate. Will we be like Abraham and tell God that we’re too old? Or like David and think I’m too young? Or like Esther and say, hey, I have a nice position with the top-dog and I can’t risk anything?

All of these people in the scripture had a call. Jonah to redeem the people of Ninevah, Moses to lead his people to freedom from slavery, Abraham to oppose idol worship and Esther to persuade to her husband the king to NOT persecute the Hebrews living within his Kingdom. All felt doubt, inadequacy, and even fear, but all step out on faith, not knowing what would happen. Not knowing the outcome. But trusting the call and the CALLER. We’re called to love one another, to treat our neighbor as ourselves, and to beat our swords into ploughshares and study war no more.

We are called to peace.

Will we hear the call but be sidetracked by ego, and thereby allow a fracturing of our unity by focusing only on differences of methods?

We are called to peace. Will we hear the call but back away because we clouded by our human frailty, thinking that we need some leader? The perfect leader will not take us to a community of acceptance. The perfect leader will not take us to an economy based on renewable energy and the perfect leader alone cannot save creation. What we need is for each and every one of us to have the courage to follow our calling. Our calling, what our nation’s founders called conscience.

In March of 2006 I was serving in the State legislature. I received a call late in the afternoon that Martin Sabo had just announced that he would not seek re-election. The person calling suggested I run. I talked to my wife Kim about it. I focused on how hard it would be and what we would have to give up. She answered, “If you complain about how things are in Washington you really have an obligation to do something.” I ran, we got the endorsement. At some point in the primary my advisors were upset with me because I would not distinguish myself from the other candidates in debates. It felt arrogant to say I could do the job better than they could. At some point in frustration one of my closest advisors said to me:” You know this is not about you. We chose you to be the candidate, but this is about the message and the fifth district, not you”.

When you realize it is not about you it is easier to follow your call of conscience. You don’t have to wallow in your perceived inadequacies. You can take comfort that you are called to do your best and speak the truth. Many religions teach that to waste your talents is to disappoint God. Rumi one of the greatest Muslim saints and mystics tells us:

If you gave it all away
Do you think Allah would be stingy?
When you sow seeds the barn is left empty,
But the ground is made rich.
If you leave the seeds in the barn all you have is a decaying feast
For the mice and weevils.
Jesus who Muslims call Isa tells the parable of the talents in describing the Kingdom of God. He tells the story of how the master was going on a journey and called three of his servants. He gave one 5 talents, one three talents and one a single talent. While he was gone the servant with 5 talents invested the talents and earned 5 more, the servant with three talents invested them and earned three more. The master was pleased with them. He was displeased with the one who he gave one talent. That servant did not invest it. He hid it away. He was afraid. Even though he had the least to lose he wasted his talent.

I hear that story tell us that to bring forth the Kingdom of God we must all be courageous, not bend to fear and use our gifts to follow our calling. Now what is the Kingdom of God? I believe it is a society grounded in generosity, acceptance and Peace. Many religious traditions describe it that way.

What are we afraid of? Why do we horde the seed or hide the talent? Are we afraid we will waste our time? Are we afraid that anything we could do won’t make a difference? Are we afraid to be disappointed? Are we afraid we will lose what we have? Where is our faith? Where is our faith? Where is our hope?

“[H]ope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.” -Romans 5:1-5
We are told through scripture; we are told through prophets that if we heed the call, plant the seed, use our talents we will be taken care of.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. -  Mathew 6: 28-29
I can tell you from where I stand in Washington that the difference between ending the war in Iraq and not ending the war is how many of us follow their call of conscience. The difference between having an economy that favors the powerful and privilege and one that is grounded in generosity and equality is how many of us answer the call and plant the seed. The difference between a country wallowing in fear and intolerance and one that celebrates our diversity is whether we stay asleep or wake up.

Washington is strangled by the myth of scarcity. We are knee deep in the politics of the impossible; the politics of what those in Washington thinks is realistic rather than what is needed. All of that can change if we all wake up, if we all answer the call; if we all plant the seed and use our talent. As always in critical moments of history the elected leaders are in fact the followers. Change has always come only when it is demanded.

I WANT TO CLOSE WITH THESE WORDS FROM Mark Morford, San Francisco Chronicle columnist

Stop thinking this is all there is… Realize that for every on-going war and religious outrage and environmental devastation and bogus Iraqi attack plan, there are a thousand counter-balancing acts of staggering generosity and humanity and art and beauty happening all over the world, right now, on a breathtaking scale, from flower box to cathedral…. Resist the temptation to drown in fatalism, to shake your head and sigh and just throw in the karmic towel…. Realize that this is the perfect moment to change the energy of the world, to step right up and crank your personal volume; right when it all seems dark and bitter and offensive and acrimonious and conflicted and bilious… there’s your opening. Remember magic. And, finally, believe you are a part of a groundswell, a resistance, a seemingly small but actually very, very large impending karmic overhaul, a great shift, the beginning of something important and potent and unstoppable.- (From the writings of Mark Morford, San Francisco Chronicle columnist as published in The Sun, March 2003.)
If we listen to our conscience, we will find our courage.

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