Sermons

Readings:

From the Preamble to Constitution of the United States, 1787:

“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
 

From Exodus 21:22-25, Good News Translation:

“When men who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that she loses her child but she is not injured in any other way, the one who hurt her is to be fined whatever amount the husband demands, subject to the approval of the judges. But if the woman herself is injured, the punishment shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
 

THE SERMON

In the 1975 comedy film, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” King Arthur encounters a couple of peasants who appear to be collecting mud. King Arthur asks, “What knight lives in the castle over there?” But when the peasants chatter on, and King Arthur can’t get a satisfactory answer to his question, he becomes frustrated and finally exclaims, “Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!”

A peasant named Dennis replies, “Order”, eh? Who does he think he is?”

“I am your king!” says Arthur.

“Well, I didn’t vote for you,” says a peasant woman.

“You don’t vote for kings,” states Arthur.

“Well, how’d you become king, then?” the woman asks.

Arthur explains, “The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king!”

Dennis replies, “Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.”

King Arthur exclaims, “Be quiet!”

Dennis replies, “You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just ’cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!”

On July 4th, 1776, we decided that the British system of government, where the leader of the nation claimed to be appointed by God, or perhaps by a Lady in the Lake who handed the king a sword, was “no basis for a system of government.” And we thought the British Parliament wasn’t much better than the king when it came to meeting our needs in America. And thus we celebrate Independence Day, the 4th of July, when we decided that a representative government, chosen by white, property-owning men over the age of 21, was a better idea than a king chosen by a watery tart distributing swords.

In fact, when King Charles III was recently crowned, part of the ceremony included the presentation to the king of a large bejeweled sword.

Well, the Declaration of Independence declared our independence – it’s in the name – but it didn’t constitute a government. Our first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, gave us a weak central government that had no executive branch, and could borrow money but could not levy taxes! When that didn’t work especially well we wrote a second constitution, which we adopted in 1787, and which we still use today, with 27 amendments that we have added since then – with several of those amendments making our republic, that was originally made up of white property-owning men, into one that is a bit more democratic.

All governments are imperfect, because they are established and led by imperfect humans, but ours is better than most, and I believe it has largely stood the test of time.

Maine became a state in 1820, and, similar to the U.S. Constitution from which we read earlier, our state Constitution says its purpose is, “to establish justice, insure tranquility, provide for our mutual defense, promote our common welfare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty.”

Last year I became a reluctant candidate for the Maine House of Representatives. I was reluctant because I was enjoying retirement, and wanted be spending time with my wife, Michelle – “Mickey” – rather than spending time away in Augusta. But the Democrats really had no other candidate in my district, which is Ellsworth and Waltham, and many thought that the Republican candidate, John Linnehan, was simply too extreme and should not be running unopposed. And so I ran for state Representative, and won.

When Mickey’s health declined dramatically after Christmas, I regretted running. By February, she need me to be home, caring for her, 24/7. I couldn’t care for her and, at the same time, be away in Augusta. I contacted Maureen (Mo) Terry, the Democratic Majority Leader, and offered to resign. She said, “Don’t resign. Take all the personal time you need. If you need help with anything here in the Legislature, we will give you the help you need. But your family has to come first. Take care of your wife, that’s what’s most important.”

One day Mickey and I were in the Emergency Room at the Ellsworth Hospital, and I got a phone call from Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross, the Speaker of the House. She wasn’t calling to ask me why I wasn’t doing my job in Augusta. Instead, she was calling to se how Mickey was doing, and how I was, and whether she could do anything to help us.

After Mickey died on February 24, I went back to the Legislature the next week. Then I was glad to have work to do, and not be sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. Besides the expressions of sympathy and support from my Democratic colleagues, I received a card and a personal note from Rep. Amy Arata, the Republican Assistant Minority Leader. She signed it and said, “On behalf of the entire Republican Caucus.” When we had a short break I went over to where she and Republican Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham sit, and thanked them. Rep. Faulkingham said, “We are a family.”

When we have disagreements in the House of Representatives, I remind myself of his words, “We are a family.” There may be disagreements within a family, but in the end we come back together.

Now, here’s a fact you might not be aware of: About 60% of bills are reported out of committee unanimously, either unanimously “ought to pass,” or unanimously “ought not to pass.” In other words, both major parties agree more than half of the time. In fact, many other bills are passed, or disposed of, with most representatives of both parties voting on one side and only a few on the other side.

We agree and cooperate far more often than we disagree. But those are the bills you probably don’t hear about. Think of it this way: there are two banks in Castine. Neither bank was robbed last week, but that won’t be a news story in the Castine Patriot. It would only be newsworthy if one of them did get robbed.

So when we work together in the Legislature, which is the general practice and not the exception, when things go right, you probably won’t hear about it. The radio, television and newspapers report the conflicts. Conflict is news. Cooperation generally isn’t news.

And yes, we’ve had our share of disagreements. The biggest controversy this year has been LD 1619, Gov. Mills’ bill expanding abortion rights in Maine. Mills proposed the bill after a Maine woman had to go to Colorado for a third trimester abortion when her baby – and I say baby, because this was the third trimester – had a deadly form of skeletal dysplasia, a problem with bone growth that results from a random, rare gene mutation. The baby was suffering in the womb, and if he survived birth, he would not be able to breathe. And as strong as Maine laws are in protecting a woman’s reproductive rights, she couldn’t get her abortion in Maine.

The woman wrote, “Over the past three years, I have come forward to share my story to help people understand the complexity of abortion. Abortions are medical procedures that happen for a variety of reasons. It is impossible for politicians to regulate every medical aspect and complication of pregnancy. When they do, women and their families suffer.”

I have difficulties with any third trimester abortion, because by that time the baby is becoming viable. But ultimately, I voted for LD 1619 because it allows third trimester abortions when the woman and her doctor decide it is necessary. It should be the woman’s decision, a personal decision and medical one, not a political decision.

Of course, we know that many opposed the bill because they oppose all abortions. That wasn’t one of the choices here. We could either vote to keep the current law, which was liberal, or vote for a more liberal law. Anti-abortion folks really didn’t like either option.

Some oppose all abortion on religious grounds. I would point out that neither the word “abortion”, or any ancient equivalent, appears anywhere in the Bible, and abortion is never described in the Bible. It seems disingenuous to me to say that the Bible has a clear doctrine on a topic it never mentions.

And according to Exodus 21:22-25, our text, in that passage the life of the woman is held in higher regard than is the life of the fetus. If the fetus dies, the man who is responsible only pays a fine, but if the woman dies, he is executed. An eye for an eye and a life for a life.

Those who opposed the bill, including Representatives Faulkingham and Arata, who I mentioned earlier, were upset by the outcome of the vote. It passed, initially, by two votes. Those who opposed the bill had hoped that their side would win. Rep. Faulkingham was visibly angry because the Speaker had, during the debate, called for a ½ hour recess that turned out to be five hours long. During that time the Democratic Party leaders found the votes they needed. Rep. Faulkingham thought the five hour recess had been an unfair tactic.

We passed a number of other important bills, including a bill to expand background checks on gun purchases. The bill would expand background checks to private firearm sales, transfers and gun show deals.

We passed a bill to raise the minimum salaries of teachers and ed techs, but it looks as though that bill will not be funded in the final budget. We also passed a bill that would put farm workers under state minimum wage laws. “These folks gather in the food that we eat. They give us life,” Rep. Nina Milliken, D-Blue Hill, said at the end of a floor speech that she delivered mostly in Spanish.

And we passed LD 2004, An Act to Restore Access to Federal Laws Beneficial to the Wabanaki Nations. Because of Maine’s 1980 Settlement Act, Maine’s tribes get fewer federal benefits than the 570 other federally recognized tribes across the country that deal directly with the federal government. LD 2004 tried to correct this problem, but it has already been vetoed by Gov. Mills, who has been a big disappointment when it comes to relations with the Penobscots, the Passamaquoddy, and the other tribes of the Wabanaki confederacy. The Legislature will meet later this month to see whether we can override the governor’s veto.

The Maine House of Representatives also passed a bill for safe injection sites, but the Senate rejected it. So that bill is dead. We voted to put suicide-prevention fencing on the Penobscot Narrows Bridge that links Verona Island with the town of Prospect, and that is moving forward.

That’s a quick look at the past six months in Augusta. We are imperfect people, parttime legislators, paid only around $12 thousand per year. Our job under the state Constitution is “to establish justice, insure tranquility, provide for our mutual defense, promote our common welfare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty.” That’s a tall order. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we don’t.

But I come home, and come to you, reminding myself that we actually agree more often than we disagree. And I remember the kindness of Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot Ross, Democratic Leader Mo Terry, Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Arata, and many others. And I remember Rep. Faulkingham’s statement that “We are a family”, because I know that when people in the family argue, we almost always come back again to work it out, doing the best we know how.

Amen.