Sermon by Dwayne Hunn, 1986-10-19

Two-sided letter-sized sheet with a sermon by Dwayne Hunn."First Presbyterian Church of Novato, 10-19-86Pace Making Sunday. Sermon.Dwayne Hunnpscermon/ pal-can-pcHaving been educated by Jesuits at St. Ignatius, I must admit that the non, Sister Jay Martin, you had walk in here reminded me of the Jesuits who intimidated me during my youth…. Than of any sweet nun I had ever met. (Regarding humorous ceremony performed earlier in the service.)Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you on your “Peace Making” Sunday.I was raised in an alley on the rough east side of Cleveland. Mr. best friend, Frankie Boris, was 5-6 yrs older than me.He was the toughest kid in the neighborhood. He could take any two kids his age in a real fight, and play fight 4 kids my age and teach us all new tricks.Frankie was so touch he never had to fight. He was soft spoken, never swore or raised his voice. He was skilled — he could fix biked and kites, knew sports, and he even knew how to talk to girls.He was accessible and always helpful to others. He made friends easily.During our friendship, Mom forced my dad to take what to Dad was a huge monetary gamble and move from that alley to the then fastest growing suburb in America - Parma, Ohio.It was prettier living in Parma. We had a much nicer house — even though only 12’ separated ours from the next house — in Marin most Neighborhood Groups would fight and die to stop such tracts from devaluing their neighborhood.I haven’t forgotten Frankie…..As years piled on… I made other best friends.One was Michael Clarke Rubel. Almost 25 years ago he bought 3 acres with some run down tin shacks and a 5 million gallon reservoir on it that used to be the lemon packing factory for a tract of citrus groves.Michael is probably the strongest man I know. For years he had been lifting boulders to build his dream — a castle.Five of us lived there with him for many years. While living there, he let us build whatever we wanted for ourselves — never asking or requiring us to help him with this dream.The materials we used were — America’s throwaways — bottles, rocks, rail road ties, used lumber, recycled tools….The neighbors — hated, opposed us. We were an.. eye sore, junk collectors, motor bike riding hippies,……. Strange. different.Today Michael’s dream Castle is 7.5 Stories high. Nothing’s built by the code. Yet it is registered as a state historical museum. It’s filled with $5-10 million dollars, or more, of antiques. Harry Reasoner’s done a TV special Barbara Walters tried to…Michael pushed her away for being too pushy. “It’s Incredible,” “Believe It Or Not,” “The Washington Post” and the “LA Times” have all done more than one special on the place.Today Michael needs an 8’ gate around the place token admiring neighbors and tourists out.Michael seldom has anything harsh to say about anyone… Although he has lectures me when I dropped a word that sounded the least bit foul to him, and he lets me tell only the most sanitized of dirty jokes.Sitting in his castle, sipping wine with him is one of the most tranquil things I or his army of friends do.I love those two guys.You probably all have best friends who elicit similar responses in your soul.They are strong — yet gentle.They build for themselves and ask for little — yet teach you to build so you too wellness little.They give — not material things —— but things so much more essential.The make friends— not by catering to your whims and desires, —— not by flexing their muscled or using their power,But by merely being the good persons they are.By sharing the good that they know and love doing with those who gather around…By sharing, they make everyone who comes in contact with them better.Just tow people.On a larger scale, however, THEY ARE PERFECT NATIONS.American is like Frankie Boris. The toughest kid on the block. America can knock anybody out.Frankie & the neighborhood knew how tough he was but also how fair… so he never had to hit anybody.Instead he just went around on his bike making friends and breaking up fights. Like America often is…. but always should be.Everyone, except maybe Michael’s Mom and a couple old timers who raised him, was against Michael’s dream of building a castle.Everyone from neighbors to banks to City Councils attacked him. … But he just kept piling rocks in search of completing his dream.He used the few resources he had at any one time to build his dream — river bed rock, bags of bottles people left in the driveway, lumber discarded from tunnels and collapsed freeways,He got stronger.His friends and helpers grew. His resources expanded.His opponents got weaker.His opponents became his admirers & the community became a richer place to live.Michael was a lot like America — when she started out…"