Sermons

Minister: Rev. Margaret A. Beckman | “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” 
~ Malala Yousafzai

READING – Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai, Illustrated by Kerascoet. New York and Boston: Little Brown & Company, 2017.

READING – Penobscot Nation ambassador Maulian Dana speaks at the inauguration of Governor Janet Mills.
I ask you to be good neighbors to the Indigenous Nations in your state and districts. I ask you to help us on our journey to healing. I ask you to celebrate the beauty and rich heritage we bring to Maine. I ask you to come to terms with realities of history and not gloss them over to make them more palatable. I ask you to place the wellbeing of Indigenous Nations over the need for the comfort of the colonizers that have written history. When we walk forward in truth and mutual respect the unity will make us all stronger and a better state and country.
SERMON

She is not quite five feet tall and wears her hair in braids. She is responsible for an international movement with 1,000s of actions in hundreds of locations on a single day for in advocacy for responsible climate change management.

She was born in 2003.

Her name is Greta Thurnberg.

Greta began with her own unfolding awareness of the devastation of climate change. She asked herself and her family what they could do. She has changed the way she, and her family, live on this planet to be much more climate conscious and climate impact light. Her activism spread to her school. She began making every Friday a climate action day.

Six months after Greta Thunberg, at age 15, started her “school strike for climate” outside Sweden’s parliament, her protest has now gone global.

March 15th was a day for youth everywhere to conduct a Friday school strike for climate. Thousands of actions in hundreds of locations around the world responded to her call for public demonstration and call for climate justice.

Greta has become an international speaker for climate justice and the rights of youth to have a liveable planet. She is famous in Sweden – and now the world.

Here is what this 16 year old is saying.

”Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire.”

“You say nothing in life is black or white. But that is a lie. A very dangerous lie. Either we prevent 1.5C of warming or we don’t. Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond human control or we don’t.

Either we choose to go on as a civilisation or we don’t. That is as black or white as it gets. There are no grey areas when it comes to survival.

We all have a choice. We can create transformational action that will safeguard the living conditions for future generations. Or we can continue with our business as usual and fail.

That is up to you and me.”

Greta Thurnberg is a young woman we ought to be watching and encouraging.

She was born in Maine. She has dark penetrating eyes. She is the mom of two daughters. In May she will have her 35th birthday. She is the spokesperson for her nation.

Her name is Maulian Dana.

Maulian is Penobscot and a leader within the Penobscot Nation to wich she belongs and for whom she is the spokesperson. We may know her now for her work to retire the inappropriate use by non-native people of native images, symbols and heritage throughout Maine. Her public witness and testimony and story has helped the people of Skowhegan and many of us to see and understand that the use of Inadian as a macot is hurtful and racist. She is clear, strong and determined in her advocacy for her nation and her the rights of native people everywhere.

More, in her own words . . .

“The Penobscot Nation is one of five Wabanaki Indigenous Nations that span all corners of Maine. Our people have lived here for thousands of years and made countless contributions in both historical and modern contexts. Our stewardship of the lands and waters are part of what makes our state pristine and worthy of the nickname Vacationland. We have humbly requested that these contributions be acknowledged and appreciated in ways that may seem symbolic but is very significant in correcting the narrative of history and validating truth and what is worth honoring.”

Maulian Dana is a young woman we ought to be watching and encouraging.

Her stance is determined and she does not back down in the face of coordinated derision and redicule. She can organize a national march in support of our nation’s children and their future. You know her by her o-so-short haircut and uncompromising speech.

Her name is Emma González.

(born November 11, 1999)

As a high school senior she survived the February 2018 Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. She co-founded the gun-control advocacy group Never Again MSD.

Emma was part of a group of MSD high school students who organized and participated in the March 2018 March For Our Lives that happened in cities across America and around the world.

At the Washington, D.C. march, González gave a stunning speech against gun violence, proclaiming “We call B.S.” on the lack of action by politicians. Speaking at the demonstration, González led a moment of silence for the victims of the massacre; she stood on stage for six minutes, which she observed was the length of the shooting spree itself. If you saw that speech, live streamed or later in rebroadcast, you still remember her and the impact of the extended silence she created.

Variety Magazine 2019 – Emma Gonzales was the featured solo cover.

Here is the final interview exchange:

Are you hopeful about the future of America?

I most definitely feel hopeful because I’ve met so many people who are ready to engage in our political system, and these are exactly the people we need to engage. People who are devoted to the concept of keeping people safe, focusing on the rights of people who need to be kept in mind, who need to be kept alive. People who are looking out for each other, not just themselves. People who are sacrificing a lot because they feel like it’s their job. Because not enough people do that anymore. A lot of people have folded up within themselves, ignoring responsibilities because they don’t want to take on the task of fixing the country that has been broken for so long.

The fact that it is broken feels like a parent who has not done their job properly, and you feel embarrassed and ashamed for the fact that you don’t know how to change the country, how to change the way this parent acts. You don’t know how to have pride in a system, a situation that only causes many people pain and suffering. But we realize now that it’s not that the system exists — it’s that we have a direct hand over the system’s checks and balances. We are the checks and balances.

Emma Gonzales is a young woman we ought to be watching and encouraging.

 

We know her as the girl who survived.

She is a champion of education for girls in her country and other places where girls are not included equally in education and opportunity. She began her program of promtoing education for girls at age 11. She is now 20 and she is strong and determined. In addition to being an activist, she is a published author, a United Nations (UN) Messenger of Peace and in 2014 she became the youngest Nobel Laureate ever after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

Her name is Malala Yousafzai.

I think probably everyone here this morning knows about Malala and some of what she has accompished already in her uncompromising drive for education and opportunity for girls.

These are her words in a major speech “An Insight, An Idea” at the Dvos intrnational summit.

“I started speaking out when I was 11 years old and I had no idea if my voice can have an impact or not. But soon I realized that people were listening to me and my voice was reaching to people around the world. So change is possible and do not limit yourself, do not stop yourself, just because you are young.”

Malala Yousafzai is a young woman we ought to be watching and encouraging.

I want to demonstrate for you in a very real way the influence of these young women on our future. We heard the story Malala’s Magic Pencil.

Our children studied this story early in March in their faith formation session with Kay Hansen and Tom Miller. They thought about Malala’s story and the way she is changing the world with her big idea about education for girls. Each of our children has a pencil and a big idea too. Their big idea might change and develop as they grow up into teenagers, but their big ideas right now – at their tender ages – are spectacular.

I could go on and on and on. I won’t. But the list is impressive and growing.

These stories and these young women are all very great and we are all very happy that these women and thousands of others around the world are finding their way into leadership – young, strong, and determined.

In a sermon, I am obliged to offer some sort of answer to the questions, “So what?” or “How then shall I live?”

We find ourselves in a sometimes uneasy place. Part of becoming wise is realizing that life is complicated. If it seems too easy, it probably is. Sometimes, the best is the enemy of the good. Noone can be defined by either the best thing or the worst thing they’ve ever done. Time. How often do hear ourselvese saying, ”It just takes time, give it some time.” – and we might be talking about the peas we planted the last week of May or rehabilitation from hip surgery – but we might also be talking about justice for the marginalized for whom time has already been decades or centuries or even millenia. Paradoxically, the older we get, the less time we have for things that set us on fire as young people and the more time we have for making amends and appreciating the people close to us. Our youngsters want us to be on fire as they are. Our elders want us to slow down and sit with them as they ease into their long or short good bye.

As people of faith, we know that we live in these in-between places. We live with questions that have no easy or permanent answer. We live with doubt. We cherish moments of illumination and clarity, for we have come to know through personal experience that they are fleeting, but no less real for their short duration. Faith is stepping out when we are not sure where we will land but being confident in the call to move from where we are stuck. Faith is understanding our history for what it really has been – warts and all. Faith is trusting the future for what it might be. And, my dear Spiritual Companions, faith is knowing that we are together in all of this mess and that our companions are worthy and loving – elders and youngsters and all in between.

So, how than shall I live? We shall live in the presence of our young leaders. Today we’ve celebrated our young women, but we know that all kinds of youth will lead us. We shall not ignore our young leaders on account of their youth. We shall truly see them and hear them and do our darndest to understand them and their concerns. We shall, sadly or gladly, give way to them — supporting them whenever we can and stepping aside or offering a guiding hand when we ought.

What must we do? Pay attention. We alone did not create the mess we’re in, but we can be part of getting out of it and seeing what comes next.

If we do nothing else, the most important thing we can offer our young leaders, especially our girls and young women, is respect. See them. Hear them. Maybe – follow them.

 

Finally, I recall these words from the Hebrew scriptures.

Joel 2:28-29   (adapted)

God will pour out God’s Spirit
And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I, your God, will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old ones shall dream dreams,
and your young ones shall see visions.
Even on every one of the servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

Elders dream dreams – of things that were or might have been or may yet be – – – For their time has been.

Youth see visions – clear and in the daylight of what they are bringing forth – – – For their time is now.

We find ourselves in that in-between place where our gift is becoming wise and reaching both directions to achieve that wisdom.

May our blessed and sometimes weary older ones, continue to dream dreams. May those dreams give both rest and comfort.

May our middle generation offer, but never mandate, growing wisdom – – wisdom that acquired through decades of life experience to encourage the vision of young ones.

May our youth be strong and determined imagining and creating the way forward.

Blessed Be.   I Love You.   Amen.