Sermons

The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions. Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinions? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up—ever—trusting our fellow citizens to join with us in our determined pursuit of a living democracy?
~ Terry Tempest Williams, “Engagement”

 

READING  Anthem  by Leonard Cohen

The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
Has passed away
Or what is yet to be
Yeah the wars they will
Be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
Bought and sold
And bought again
The dove is never free

Ring the bells (ring the bells) that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That's how the light gets in

We asked for signs
The signs were sent
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
Of every government
Signs for all to see

I can't run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
A thundercloud
And they're going to hear from me

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That's how the light gets in

You can add up the parts
You won't have the sum
You can strike up the march
There is no drum
Every heart, every heart to love will come
But like a refugee

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That's how the light gets in
Ring the bells that still can ring (ring the bells that still can ring)
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That's how the light gets in
That's how the light gets in
That's how the light gets in

Source: LyricFind    Songwriters: Leonard Cohen
Anthem lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

 

READING  from Parker J.Palmer. Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit. Wiley. Kindle Edition. 2011. (pp 8-9)

In January 1838—when Abraham Lincoln was twenty-eight years old and the Civil War was twenty-three years off—a prescient Lincoln addressed the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, on “the perpetuation of our political institutions.” Exhorting his audience to understand the responsibility to protect American democracy against its enemies, he said:

At what point shall we expect the approach of danger?… Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined…could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a Trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.⁹ [1]

The Cold War made it clear that America was vulnerable to attacks from abroad despite the protection of two oceans, a fact underscored by the events of September 11, 2001. Still, Lincoln's case holds. If American democracy fails, the ultimate cause will not be a foreign invasion or the power of big money or the greed and dishonesty of some elected officials or a military coup or the internal communist/socialist/fascist takeover that keeps some Americans awake at night. It will happen because we—you and I—became so fearful of each other, of our differences and of the future, that we unraveled the civic community on which democracy depends, losing our power to resist all that threatens it and call it back to its highest form.

Our differences may be deep: what breaks my heart about America may make your heart sing, and vice versa. Protecting our right to disagree is one of democracy's gifts, and converting this inevitable tension into creative energy is part of democracy's genius. You and I may disagree profoundly on what constitutes a political failure or success, but we can still agree on this: democracy is always at risk. Government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” is a nonstop experiment in the strength and weakness of our political institutions, our local communities and associations, and the human heart. Its outcome can never be taken for granted.

 

SERMON

“A parent recently shared that her son had gone by himself to a justice march in their city. When he got home, the first thing he said was, “Mom, I found our people! I found the UUs at the march.” He saw people in their yellow Side with Love shirts and quickly joined them.

Beyond Unitarian Universalist circles, one thing I hear consistently about us is that we show up. And right now, we need people who show up. …”

SUSAN FREDERICK-GRAY | 11/1/2019 | WINTER 2019

 

Our fifth principle is:
We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.

There is talk everywhere and, frankly, evidence everywhere that suggests we Americans are on the verge of sacrificing our democracy to anti democracy forces within our own country. These are intentional forces that oppose the very foundations of liberty and justice for all. We feel this weakening of democracy in our hearts and our hearts are breaking. Friends, there is a crack in our democracy.

Our democracy is not something we can take for granted. Abraham Lincoln knew this long before the Civil War broke out and before he was President.

As then, our democracy now seems very fragile. The forces working against democracy are strong and have support in high places in business and government, in living rooms and back alleys, and in newsrooms and pulpits. If you want more detailed descriptions of our recent descent into anti-democracy, I refer you to these authors:

• Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want by Frances Moore Lappe and Adam Eichen  | Sep 26, 2017 Beacon Press
• Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer  | Jan 24, 2017 Anchor; Reprint edition (January 24, 2017)
• The Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement Is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear  by by Rev Dr. William J. Barber II  and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove   – October 18, 2016  Beacon Press
• Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing  by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Rick Lowery Paperback – December 4, 2018 Beacon Press

What do we do? Let me start with what we don’t do. We don’t give up and we don’t give in. We don’t hold on to our frustration and anger for a nanosecond longer than it takes to validate our emotions and then, we move on.  Remember Willie Greyeyes talking with Terry Tempest Williams?  “Terry, it can’t be about anger. It needs to be about healing.”

Healing is a great deal of what we must do if we are to get beyond the divisiveness and antagonism that characterizes public discourse and political speech. Healing is not easy. It does not come without pain. It may not come without interventions that temporarily dismember the body before we can re-member and restore the unity of purpose that will keep us strong. We cannot be bystanders.  We must be engaged.

When I suggest that what we now need to find is unity of purpose. That purpose is democracy, not even necessarily a perfect democracy, but a functional democracy that has the possibility of moving us toward a more perfect union.  A democracy that is by, for, and about the people.  And when I say people, I mean all our people. I know very well that our founders were burdened with a culture and a worldview that valued property holding white males and dismissed the legitimacy of all others when they spoke about the participants in and stewards of the democratic process being created and practiced in our new nation. Perhaps they can be forgiven for their blindness to the equality of all. We cannot. We cannot be forgiven if we continue to privilege some people over others based on little more than personal characteristics that are an accident of birth.

Unity of purpose does not imply agreement or capitulation or sacrificing our deepest truths and clearest visions for ourselves and our country. Unity of purpose means that we agree that we are a single nation, a democratic republic, made up of millions of individuals. Yes, we revere our individualism. However, we revere the common good more. Without a strong commitment to the common good, we are reduced to being separated individuals battling each other for ownership and control of limited resources. And friends, we are in that battle right now and I fear we are not winning.

Well, I said that what we do not do is give up or give in.
I said that we must replace anger with healing.
I said that we must replace divisiveness with unity of purpose – to be one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

A tall order to be sure. The risk of not following this course toward reinforce democracy is so great that all kinds of people are inventing new strategies and finding new ways of working together.

The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II has now devoted his life and ministry to this work for unity, equality and justice – for all. He knows that the work is hard, the time required is long and the climb is steep. He cannot lead the effort alone. The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is not a single monolithic thing. Rev. Dr. Barber talks about fusion politics – where many politically active groups, each with a mission and focus that is in general alignment with the Poor People’s Campaign, come together to achieve a join result.

Frances Moore Lappe and Adam Eichen speak about a Movement of Movements in their description of how people must come together from different starting places to work together to achieve better results than any of them can achieve alone. It’s more than just coalition building. Fusion politics or a movement of movements will be successful in strengthening and preserving our fragile democracy because their members share a unity of purpose. They span many issue areas of focus (there are 14 areas within the Poor People’s Campaign) and each continues work in their domain. Here, however, is the big difference … when something huge or monumental or extremely time sensitive comes forward from one of the members; the call to action comes and everyone treats that issue or concern as their own.

Frances Moore Lappe shares Rev. Dr. Barber’s description of fusion politics this way ….

“Because our agenda . . . [covers] fourteen issue areas where we could move forward together with specific action steps, many asked us in the weeks following our [first] assembly . . . ‘Which issues are your priorities for this session?’ . . . We explained that, for us, every issue was equally important. In a fusion coalition, our most directly affected members would always speak to the issue closest to their own hearts. But they would never speak alone.”4 The whole idea of a movement of movements is that everyone accepts that there is no “first issue.” They fight for fair and democratic policies and take part, in solidarity, when any member in the coalition needs help. Rev. Dr. Barber and his allies embody their slogan: “Forward together, not one step back.”

(Lappe, Frances Moore. Daring Democracy (pp. 112-113). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.)

When the call to action comes, everybody shows up. Unitarian Universalists show up – often wearing Siding with Love yellow.

The Maine Unitarian Universalist State Advocacy Network – MUUSAN – uses fusion politics on a smaller scale. Within MUSSAN, we have four issue groups – Health Care, Climate Change, Democracy in Action, and Racial, Native and Immigrant Justice. There are times when one issue group is pursuing a goal or a piece of legislation that is so important that the call to action goes out and everyone in all the issue groups comes together to follow the lead and engage in joint action.

Not surprisingly, this year, the Democracy in Action group is calling for coordinated joint action from every member of MUUSAN and every congregation in Maine. That call includes all of us, and the willing among us will find a way to show up to defend and protect democracy.

We’re doing two things and I invite you to join the effort.

UU The VOTE 2020 and The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival – June 20, 2020 march in Washington, D.C.

UU The Vote is a campaign to get Unitarian Universalists actively engaged in affirming and promoting democracy. Voter registration. Forums on the issues. Getting people to voting places. In fact, we just received an email with over 50 ways we can UU The Vote. Some are easy and can make a real difference. Ask me about the list during Coffee Hour and take a copy home to study in greater detail.

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival – June 20, 2020 march in Washington, D.C.  Here’s what they say …

On June 20, 2020 we will rise together as a powerful moral fusion movement to demand the implementation of our Moral Agenda! The fact that there are 140 million poor and low-wealth people in a country this rich is morally indefensible, constitutionally inconsistent and economically insane. We are building power for an agenda that lifts all people by challenging the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism!

Maybe you can’t go to Washington on June 20^th.  Ok, most Americans won’t be present that day. You can help support the ideas and the demands for a moral revival. You can help fund the folks who are going.  You can talk with people you know about the importance of the work of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

If you want to go to Washington or you want to sponsor someone else to go, talk to me. I’ll get you in touch with the Maine organizers.

Yes, there is a crack in our bell of Liberty. But let’s remember – that’s how the light gets in.  Well, the light is pouring through that crack and we can see more clearly the danger and the opportunity. The bells of freedom, liberty, and justice have not been silenced. We are here. We are strong. We are rising. It’s ok to feel demoralized, discouraged, and defeated. There is good reason to feel this way. There is, however, no reason to let those feelings keep us from doing everything we can to strengthen, preserve and protect our democracy. It isn’t perfect, but it has held for 200 years. Now is not the time to sit down or fall down in a heap of depression and despair.

The antidote to despair is engagement. Let’s get engaged with democracy – for us and for our children’s children.

UU The Vote
The Poor People’s Campaign
Leading the way through this dark night into the light of a brighter day.

I end with words from our readings…

Ring the bells (ring the bells) that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That's how the light gets in
(Leonard Cohen “Anthem”)

And from Parker Palmer …

“You and I may disagree profoundly on what constitutes a political failure or success, but we can still agree on this: democracy is always at risk. Government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” is a nonstop experiment in the strength and weakness of our political institutions, our local communities and associations, and the human heart. Its outcome can never be taken for granted.”

My Dear Spiritual Companions, the time is now, the call to action is loud and clear. We cannot simply watch our democracy be destroyed from within. Let us rise up. Let us ring the bells. Let us march together. Let us lead from a place of faith and service. We are Answering the Call of Love. We shall not be defeated. Love shall overcome. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Don’t sleep through the revolution.” Let’s be awake and on the move.

Blessed Be.  I Love You.   Amen.

 

[1] Abraham Lincoln, “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions,” speech delivered Jan. 27, 1838, www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=157. Se also Ken Burns, “Commencement Address, 2006,” speech delivered May 20, 2006, http://college.georgetown.edu/43685.html