The Possibility in Ambiguity Reverend Susan Frederick-Gray June 4, 2017

Transcription

1 Reading The Possibility in Ambiguity Reverend Susan Frederick-Gray June 4, 2017 Our reading this morning comes from American theologian, author and civil rights leader, Howard Thurman. In the quietness of this place, surrounded by the all-pervading Presence of [the Holy], my heart whispers: Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in fair weather or in foul, in good times or in tempests, in the days when the darkness and the foe are nameless or familiar, I may not forget that to which my life is committed. Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve. Sermon Have you ever had one of those times when you felt so overwhelmed with uncertainty, or anxiety when there seemed too much in front of you - that it actually made you feel immobile, stuck, unable to act? My confession is that I experience this and I have been having more and more moments like this lately. I am just being honest. It is not just about the UUA election and the uncertainty that brings; more than this it is the larger world, and the enormity and uncertainty and daily heartbreak of what is happening in our country. But this really isn t a sermon about ambiguity or uncertainty. It is a sermon about struggle, and courage and power and how much we need these very things these days. It is a message to all of us (me included) who know the pain of this moment, who feel overwhelmed by the challenge of finding effective ways to resist, who are trying to cope with the very real heartbreak of daily losses, of loved ones under attack, deported, arrested, killed and yet who are not interested in giving up or adjusting, but want to stay rooted in that to which our lives are committed. How do we do this? There are three things that seem essential. Number one, be clear in naming and honoring reality, and what it happening. Honor your pain, your experience, your analysis. Number two, remember history and take lessons from it. And number three, never give up on the core commitments and values you hold dear - keep them as your guide. 1

2 So number one name the truth. Honor it. I have been thinking about this a lot with respect to this incredibly challenging time that we find ourselves in. And I keep coming back to this idea that challenging is not a strong enough word. What is the word to describe this time we are facing? I would argue it is an increasingly dangerous time. I don t say this to invoke fear, but to name the reality of what is happening in this country, what is happening internationally, what is happening globally. It could take the whole morning to name all the dangers unfolding in the U.S. under the policies of this presidential administration. I can t name them all but I don t want to avoid naming some of them. The systematic dismantling of climate commitments and protections put in place to try to slow global climate change and reduce fossil fuel emissions. Withdrawing from international partnerships for collective action to address climate change, from shared commitments to provide funds to help communities deal with present and future disasters due to climate change. Isolating the United States from long standing global partnerships. Doubling down on militarization as the tool of foreign policy increasing deployments, bombing campaigns and weapons sales in areas already facing humanitarian disasters like Yemen and Syria -- these and the corollary effort to shut down borders and entry for refugees trying desperately to find safety, especially for their children. The doubling down on law enforcement and militarization with the United States, including amplifying the failed and racist war on drugs which has only fueled mass incarceration and led to the largest prison population in the world, here in the U.S. This also includes legislative efforts to outlaw protests, the conversations that have begun around limiting First Amendment rights and labeling protestors as insurgents. It includes using private military security firms for the surveillance and disruption of movements like the water protectors in Standing Rock. The rise of hate crimes, xenophobic attacks on Muslims and immigrants. The increasing rate of deportations and separation of families. The overt attack on the free press, on judges and the courts, even on law enforcement seeking to investigate the President. The dismissal of conflict of interest policies, and standard practices against nepotism for the executive branch. 2

3 To be very clear, none of these alone is new to the United States. But now it is a deluge, an unleashing of these instruments of violence and force coupled with attacks on the very institutions that provide checks and balances and accountability meant to guard against tyranny and authoritarianism. These are dangerous times. And they are heartbreaking times. And they are times of uncertainty, and it can be overwhelming. This can lead to stagnation and inaction, complicity which is the last thing we need right now. Can I get an Amen on that? So the first rule name the truth. Honor your experience. Practically, spiritually, this is a necessity. Mindfulness is a way to do this. When you feel yourself overwhelmed with despair or anxiety, just bring your attention to how you are feeling. Pay attention to it. Honor where it comes from. Don't try to push it away that only clouds your capacity for clarity and action. Honor the pain and heartbreak, it is a reflection of your humanity, your caring for others, your commitments. Honor the pain be present to it. Just because you are afraid, or feel lost or don t know what to do does not mean you are not also strong and courageous and powerful. It doesn t mean you won t in the next moment find the clarity you need. This is a time where we need to learn new strategies to combat fear and repression, to build stronger partnerships. We need to experiment and learn as we go. We won t always know the way, and honoring and naming when we feel that way, actually releases us from feeling confined by our fears and frees us for more courage and creativity. This is because courage does not mean an absence of fear. It is learning to act even when you are afraid. In this way we do courage, we grow courage. And this is what we need right now, as people living in the US, as citizens of the world, we need courage. We need to remember our own power (even when we feel powerless) and we need an ethic of love and an ethic of resistance to be strong and bold and committed to our core values in this time. And this brings me to rule number two - remember history. Remember what has gone before. There are words from the great American poet and author Alice Walker that have lived in my heart for many years and just keep asserting themselves in my heart and spirit in this time. Walkers tells us We remember because it is an easy thing to forget: that we are not the first to suffer, rebel, fight, love and die. The grace with which we embrace life, in spite of the pain, the sorrow, is always a measure of what has gone before. 3

4 This is a message about history, ancestry, to remember those who have come before that it might nurture our work and our lives. Over the past year or so, I have been following (and sometimes sharing with you all) the work of Timothy Snyder, an historian and professor at Yale University whose area of study is Central and Eastern Europe and the history of genocide and war, including the Holocaust. More than a year ago, I talked about his book Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning that described the way that Adolf Hitler embraced an ideological, Germans first, response to the environmental crisis of that time - food shortages. This ideology drove Hitler and Germany to trying to eliminate the Jewish people and invade neighboring countries to have more land to feed the Germans. In the end, scientists created modern fertilizer that eliminated the crisis of food shortage, but in the moment of crisis, Germany chose ideology and fear, over facts and collaborative answers to the crisis. Snyder reminds us (in a different way than Alice Walker) that we are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism or communism, but we can learn lessons from that history. Synder just released a new book called On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. It is an expansion of a piece he wrote immediately following November s election. You can easily find the original of this online, but I want to highlight a few lessons that Snyder shares. He says the most important thing, the number one lesson is: Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You've already done this, haven't you? Stop. Snyder says that historians of the Holocaust disagree on many things, but one of the things they agree on is that what was critical to the power that Hitler amassed happened right in the beginning when the populace began to adapt on their own, what he calls consent from below. Now this consent isn t active, it is rather a sense of going along, by-standing, making mental adjustments, curbing your willingness to speak out. All of these right away abdicate power away from the people and Snyder actually argues that it is in the beginning that resisting this urge is so important. 4

5 And it is not easy, because we are taught compliance so many of us want to get along. Really nurturing critical thinking, a plurality of points of view, naming facts and truth being visibly and outwardly opposed to racialized attack, rhetoric and propaganda is key. And it matters most right at the beginning. Snyder argues without this first lesson Do not obey in advance it is hard to do the others. The second lesson is to invest in institutions. This includes our constitutional institutions, which is difficult right now with the Congress being so ineffective. But look at the courts follow them, defend judges and lawyers and courts they are protections for democracy. And so too is the press, and journalists and non governmental organizations like religious communities because institutions are places where people have more power because we can speak and work and struggle together. It was actually one of the strengths of the United States our voluntary associations, but they too have weakened with time. So it is important to choose institutions that matter, that are seeking to resist and then to make a difference and support them. Following these two, there are many about being a critical thinker, investigating things for yourself, articulating your own ideas not just memes and sound bytes, nurturing dialogue. And other items about being ethical. In the face of corruption, we need ethical professionals maintaining high standards of practice and insisting upon them. And then, as the list goes on, there are lessons that are more personal, lessons that seem simple but we always need reminders. In lesson number eleven, Snyder says, make eye contact and small talk connect with people. Especially in a world so dominated by social media human contact reminds us all of our humanity, our interdependence. It breaks down unnecessary division and social barriers, keeps us from being isolated and keeps us in touch with our surroundings. He says take responsibility for the face of the world, remove hate speech if you see it as graffiti. Speak out, speak your truth, even if you feel alone in it. Be as courageous as you can be. These last lessons are about the truth and prayer that Howard Thurman shares the critical need to Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in the days when the darkness and the foe are nameless or familiar, I may not forget that to which my life is committed. Above all we must not give up on the values that are foundational to our lives. As Unitarian Universalists, love and compassion and our understanding of the interconnectedness, interdependence of life are cornerstones of this foundation. I 5

6 am reminded of Norbert Capek, the Unitarian minister in Prague who preached a message of unity and radical inclusion and dissent in the face of Nazi occupiers and who was eventually sent to Dachau to silence him. But even there, he wrote poetry testifying to the beauty of life, to the dignity of all people. Most importantly, we must not give up our humanity, our humaneness, our capacity to care about one another. We must not let our spirits or our hearts be isolated by fear and division we must be strong and bold and unwavering in our commitment to the inherent worth and dignity of all people. After all, we are not the first to suffer, rebel, fight, love and die and the grace with which we can meet this moment, in spite of the pain, is a reflection of those who have gone before us. And the grace with which we meet these moments today, with our deepest commitments and highest resolve guiding us, will offer grace and strength to those who come after. If we forget what matters most, it will not matter whether we resist - we will have lost already. In this struggle, in this resistance, may we carry two tools the first is love for all beings, all people, for life itself. The second is a deep understanding of our interdependence, the reminder that we are all in this this life, this planet, this creation together. In the quietness of this place, surrounded by the all-pervading Presence of [Love] my heart whispers: Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in fair weather or in foul, in good times or in tempests, in the days when the darkness and the foe are nameless or familiar, I may not forget that to which my life is committed. Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve. 6