Some days, I feel like I’m against the wall
But then, I look at you standin’ strong and tall against it all
Let your little light shine for the world to see
Amos Lee is the songwriter of the pieces our fabulous quartet performed this morning. And I knew nothing of him before this service.
As I said, I knew nothing about Amos Lee and so, in addition to listening to his songs (on UTube), I read a bit about him and his music.
His style is described as a mixture of folk, rock and soul. I hear a lot of country and blues…and some gospel…in his work too.
But my favorite description is that he offers up “country fried soul.”
Country fried soul.
I wonder…wouldn’t an artist who draws on so many strands in the musical tradition of this country…
Well, it almost sounds Unitarian Universalist…doesn’t it.
We have Jew-natarians and UU Christians, Buddhist and Earth Centered UU’s. Hindu and Muslim Unitarians. Humanist, Atheist and Agnostic UU’s.
The last time we asked folks which religious tradition they identified with…well 400 folks gave us over 600 hundred answers. We are, apparently, a hyphenated religious people.
Some of us get pretty creative: Humanistic Naturalist Unitarian Universalists. … Yes, that’s actually a thing.
Of “fuzzy theists” like myself.
“The Living Tradition we share draws on many sources.” I’m quoting from The Sources, the section of our foundational UU language that follows the Principles.
Our tradition draws on many sources:
Wisdom of all the world’s religions, direct experience of mystery and wonder, the words and work of prophets…Jewish, Christian, Humanist and Earth-centered teachings are all specifically called out…
Note, however, that in neither Amos Lee’s music nor UU theology is there any attempt to homogenize the result…we are not talking about a melting pot…but perhaps a smorgasboard in which the individual flavors remain distinct, sharp even…contributing to a new unity that is somehow more than the sum of its parts…a new unity that “is what it is” …to borrow a phrase that has gotten unfortunate use lately in our politics.
I wonder if Amos Lee might see the parallels?
Racially, Lee describes himself as simply “mixed.” And refuses to say much more.
How many of us…of you…could use that language? Mixed? Most I would bet if you go deeper than that constructed category of “white.” Scotch-Irish. French-Italian. Native American-English
Asian-American…so many identities live inside that phrase. And then there is the world of Latinx combinations.
I am Black…but for most US native born African-Americans that means that I am both African and white…Mixed…it is different for more recent and more voluntary Black immigrants.
The message, here, is that we want to be known in our particularity. We want to be valued for who we are…specifically.
We do not want to be loved…in general. We want to be loved for exactly who we are…hyphenated identities and all.
The inherent worth and dignity of every person. Our first principle captures that insistence on particularity. The inherent worth of each and every individual person.
And it is powerful good news…that we are…each and every one of us…worthy…lovable…already loved for who we are and as we are.
That Good News has fueled much of our work for justice…all of those yellow tee-shirts…
It is affirming and empowering
…and it ispowerfully individualistic.
Each and every one of us is worthy…individually. The individual is the center of concern and the lens through which value is to be viewed and worthiness awarded.
We can begin to believe…and, worse, even act like… we are the center of the universe…and that our individual concerns are THE concerns…that matter.
And I hope we have learned…through painful and difficult lessons…that individualism alone…that singular lens…obscures too much…leaves out too much of our humanity that is born in relationship. It can deny the gifts we have received from those who came before and devalue our deep reliance on others.
And it can allow, even encourage us, to see individual failure when we should see unfair structures and the action of oppression.
Just think of the way unemployed folks are criticized as lazy… just waiting for those extra unemployment benefits to be extended a few months…lazy…right?
Too singular a focus on each of us as individuals…as the location of worthiness or value…well, it can be deadly…we have a terrifying example of what can happen occupying the White House right now…well, Walter Reed right now.
Let me be clear. Individualism is a value for me and for us. That affirmation of our specific, particular individual lives is absolutely necessary…but it is not sufficient. Individualism cannot be our only value.
Some of you attended a workshop on the 8th Principle a week ago Saturday.
The 8th Principle would add explicit commitments to anti-racism and multi-culturalism to the 7 Principles we have affirmed since 1985. The Board will, I hope, consider putting the 8th Principle on the ballot for the congregation to vote on next spring. And there will be opportunities for us all to reflect on that possibility as the year moves forward.
But I want to share a bit from the small group discussions when the 8th Principle was paired with each of the other 7…the 8th and the 1st… the 8th and the 2nd…and so on.
What I heard, again and again was that the 8th Principle shines a light on just how individualistic the existing 7 Principles really are.
The inherent worth and dignity of every…single…person. I’m taking a few liberties for emphasis here.
The right of our…individual…conscience.
Acceptance of…one…another.
The free and responsible search for… our individual …truth.
Even our 7th Principle, about the interdependent web, is presented from an individualistic point of view.
“The interdependent web of existence of which we are all a part… all an individual…part.
The 7 Principles speak of world community but not about community where we live…
No language of ancestry or identity and all that we have received…for good and ill.
No language of legacy and what we hope to leave for those who follow.
And most important, perhaps, no language of accountability…to ourselves…to our neighbors…to our tradition…or to the vision of Beloved Community that calls us forward.
And, perhaps because our theological strength lies on the side of individualism…individual freedom…individual conscience…individual responsibility…
Because that is what our theology has centered…
We are underprepared to move forward into a world in which connection and relationship are the things we must rely on most.
If Covid 19 has taught us nothing else, one of its most important lessons is the truth that we need others… the isolation, forced on many of us, wore thin very quickly…
And we find ourselves confronting two uncomfortable truths:
First, the reality of our complete dependence on all of those lower paid front-line workers who have continued to show up while some of us have been able to shelter at home…
The inequality of our two-tiered system has gotten worse…it takes real effort not to see it…and our dependence…it is so clear. That’s the first truth.
The second truth is not that we cannot survive apart…because with the help of those front line workers we can survive…
The second truth is that we do not want to survive alone and in isolation.
We yearn for community.
But we find ourselves underprepared…we don’t have the habits of accountability, the habits of real community ingrained…
We are out of balance…
We need to develop a sense of “we” that is as compelling as our affirmation of “I”.
I’m trying to point to the spiritual work we need to engage on our path forward..
It would have been easy for me to preach this sermon about the specific plans and the specific decisions that confront First Unitarian.
When will we be able to gather in person again? How will our church have been changed by this time when we’ve had to be apart? How many of us will return? How many in person…how many will remain on-line? Will our church buildings be too big or not big enough for the community that will return? Will we stay in relationship with those who have joined us from a real distance…other states…and other countries?
There are a host of specific and important questions this congregation will need to answer.
But our path forward will be a spiritual path as well. In fact, I can argue that all those specific decisions need to be shaped by the spiritual questions and our answers…however tentative to the spiritual challenges we confront.
Rev. Victoria Safford, in a piece entitled “Map of the Journey in Progress,” writes:
“Here is where I found my voice and chose to be brave…
Here’s a time, and here’s another, when I laid down my fear and walked right on into it…
Here is where I was told that something was wrong with my eyes, that I see the world strangely, and here’s where I said, ‘Yes, I know, I [move] [toward love]…
Here is where, as if by surgeon’s knife, my heart was opened up…and here, and here, and here. These are the landmarks of conversion.”
The landmarks of conversion
The path toward Beloved Community is always being revealed. We may see the mountaintop in the distance but the path winds through tough terrain.
And I cannot tell you…because I do not know…exactly what we may need to do.
But there are some landmarks that are coming clear…
We need to live into a deepened habit of accountability…while preserving what is valuable and authentic about our individual lives.
We need to re-balance the way we value our individual lives and our lives in community.
From that re-balancing, I believe a deeper recognition of the privileges in which many of us live will become unavoidable…
And we…many of us… will need to be willing to lay some of them down…give some of those privileges up…
We will also need to begin experiencing the blessings of new, more balanced ways to be…
I don’t know but I think it is likely we will need to experience some those new blessings first…before the unearned privileges can be put down…because I have never seen a theology of relinquishment, a theology of giving up, that could be sustained.
We will need to recover a deeper experience of gratitude for all that we have received…a gratitude that can inform all of our living.
And a quality of humility that does not deny our strength or our value…a humility that will allow us to partner with others…truly partner… and to partner with the spirit of life, however we name it…so that we become accomplices to the power of love.
There will be many places we will mark on our journey. Places of struggle and places of grace. I believe that.
But perhaps the most important truth about our path forward…here at First Unitarian…here in Portland…here in this nation…
The most important truth about our path forward… is that we will move forward together…or not at all.
Together we need to hold a space in which healing is possible. There is so much repair work to do. So much harm that must be stopped and redeemed.
Our spiritual work needs to point toward healing…and the capacity to hold space where healing has a chance.
Healing, yes. But not restoration. We will fail if all we set out to do is to go back to where we were four years ago.
This may all seem like such serious stuff…we do call it work…spiritual work…and it will be difficult…there will be tears, no doubt…and disagreements…all of that is true.
But here is my October surprise for you. There will also be joy…even dancing in the aisles…Our path forward can be joyous, too.
“Community means strength,” writes the theologian Starhawk,
“Community means strength that joins our strength
to do the work that needs to be done.
Arms to hold us when we falter.
A circle of healing.
A circle of friends.
Someplace where we can be free.”
Our path forward will cover difficult territory…but if we make this journey together…we’ll get there…
From author Ruth King:
“Allow your … distress [your discomforts] to teach you how to be more human
Sit in the heat of it until your heart is both warmed and informed.
Then make a conscious choice to be a light.”
To be a light.
This is Our Church. Let’s let our little light shine…that’s what being a beacon of hope means…
Let our little light shine…for the world to see.
May that be so and Amen.
Prayer: “This is Our Church”
As our prayer, let’s return to our Responsive Reading. This is Our Church. Will you join me?
This is our church:
where it’s all about love.
This is our church:
where kids can learn about human sexuality.
This is our church:
where we cry sometimes when we sing Spirit of Life.
This is our church:
where those who have to stay home, celebrate those of us who bring our values to the streets.
This is my – our- church:
where we get pulled out of our comfort zone.
This is our church:
where we want our memorial services to be.
This is our church:
where online services have been a lifeline of hope during COVID.
This is our church:
where singing is a sacrament.
This is our church:
where we’re asked to walk our talk.
This is our church:
that says Black Lives Matter in big, bold, letters.
This is our church:
that says no to hate.
This is our church
where we all give so that this congregation might thrive.
May that be so and Amen.
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