(Version 2a) A Sunday service led by the Reverend Michael Walker, Interim Minister Presented on MLK Day January 17, 2016, at the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
CALL TO WORSHIP (by Rev. Michael Walker) Our Flaming Chalice has a history it is a symbol of justice, a beacon leading to freedom, a light-house showing one way on a long and dangerous journey. It is because justice matters to us, Because freedom is something we seek for all, Because life s journey is difficult And we would help others find their way, That we light our Flaming Chalice, again, today. May it ever be so and blessed be you all! MEDITATION (by Rev. Michael Walker) In honor of the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who we celebrate today, I thought it fitting to offer some of his words for our meditation. 1... [C]oncern beyond one's tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted concept... has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that 1 King, Jr., Martin Luther, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. January 17, 2016 Page 2 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. May it be so here in this little community of ours, where we hold each other in times of joy and sorrow. We are community of caring, in which compassion is our strongest value. May it ever be so and blessed be you all! OFFERING This congregation offers a liberal spiritual home to seekers from all walks of life. We are proud of the work we do in the community, the classes we offer for children and adults, for the care and concern provided by this community and it s staff, and for these two beautiful campuses that have each become a spiritual home for so many. If you are here for the first time, we invite you to let the offering basket pass you by, because you are our honored guest. And if you have made this your spiritual home, we thank you for your continuing generosity. Every month, we also collect donations during the Offering to support a worthy cause. This month, our Share-the-Plate Recipient is. January 17, 2016 Page 3 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
If you are writing a check, please specify on the Memo line whether this is for your Pledge, an offering to UCH, or for the Share-the-Plate recipient. Thank you, all, for your generosity. This morning s offering will now be received. Reverend Michael Walker In one of my favorite hymns, we sing: For the world we raise our voices, for the home that gives us birth... I note how this hymn, like many, speaks of peace and harmony; how we raise our voices in praise of our world. And yet, we are all too aware that our world is not at peace, and people of differing identities do not always live in harmony. When I hear this hymn, I understand it to be an aspiration as a goal we wish to achieve. Before we can do so, we need to be aware of some injustices in the world and how we all can offer an answer to injustice. January 17, 2016 Page 4 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as even some of the Unitarian ministers of that time, often spoke of a Social Gospel that called on people to build a society of peace and harmony, and to seek out and overturn injustice. It was preached as a moral imperative and duty that heaven was not just a reward at the end of life, but that life s work, itself, was to create heaven here and now. This theology particularly pointed out poverty and hunger, access to health care, as well as the care of orphans, elders and other disadvantaged peoples. It called on those able to help, to do so. Over the years, it seems that the Protestant movement of the Social Gospel and the Catholic movement of Liberation Theology have influenced and informed each other. Liberation Theology began as a response by Latin American, Catholic people to abject poverty, exhorting the church to work at the grassroots level, focusing on the people in this world, here and now rather than focusing only on the hereafter, as in Catholic orthodoxy. This theology also teaches a doctrine of universal salvation, that all people can and will be saved, which it holds in common with our own Universalist forebears. Liberation Theology has caused much friction in the Catholic hierarchy, but the grassroots movement has been gaining ground. One description of this brand of thinking is this: 2 Liberation Theology... [asks us]... to think clearly about the meaning of religious faith in the context of oppression, war, poverty, inequality and environmental destruction, and the effort to live a 2 www.liberationtheology.org January 17, 2016 Page 5 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
compassionate, courageous and life-sustaining response to those conditions. Over the past several decades, people inspired by different strands of Liberation Theology have sought to give that could collectively change institutions that had caused, or at least had not prevented, inequality and injustice from becoming enmeshed in the fabric of society. voice to a response that both addresses the needs of those who are injured and oppressed in a particular place and time, and also a response that works to change the structures and ongoing processes of injury and oppression. I believe this resonates with the message of Dr. King, when he spoke about those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight. King believed as do I, and perhaps everyone here that it was the conscience of an individual, brought together with others of similar values, In recent years, we have heard voices across the country, raised up and saying, Black Lives Matter. I think Dr. King would have supported this grassroots movement, which is, perhaps unfortunately, not all that different than the movement he lead. With all that has changed since his assassination in 1968, there is still so much that has not changed. The Black Lives Matter movement arose in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin, when his killer was acquitted. This movement has grown due to outrage over the killings of Michael January 17, 2016 Page 6 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; 12 year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland; and Eric Garner in New York City, and many more since then. The people I ve just mentioned represent thousands of African American people, over countless many years, who have been killed in extrajudicial actions by police or vigilantes protected by Stand Your Ground laws. They further speak out about inequality in civil and voting rights, a problem which some thought had been solved in the 1960s, only to reappear in recent years. Martin Luther King preached against what were collectively known as the Jim Crow laws, yet we find ourselves in a time in which people are rightfully concerned about what one might call the New Jim Crow. That phrase comes from Michelle Alexander s book by the same title, and is about: 3...race-related and social, political, and legal phenomena in the United States and applies the term 'The New Jim Crow' to the situation of African Americans in the contemporary United States. The name derives from the original Jim Crow laws that prevailed in the states of the former Confederacy of the U.S. through the 1960s. I suppose King might be depressed by a lack of progress. Or, he might recall that changing society is a decades long process, and it requires the sweat equity of thousands of people in order to make that change happen. We cannot rest, he might say. One can point to socioeconomic disparities, the difficulty of advancing in life so 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_new_jim_crow January 17, 2016 Page 7 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
as to move one s family out of the Projects and ghettoes, and institutional racism, as some of the reasons why young black men run afoul of the law. Addressing these underlying causes, changing that dynamic, is the whole point of social justice movements, such as the Black Lives Matter. All such movements may be thought of as Liberationist Theological movements, as well. Here, I m using the term to encompass social justice movements beyond Catholicism. I quote: 4 Liberation theologies vary greatly according to the cultures in which they arise, but their underlying truthfulness and justice. Liberation theology and theologies, singular and plural, are works in progress, born out of enormous pain and extraordinary hope, efforts which are sure to inspire many and probably offend many, as well. I think that describes just about every social justice movement I ve ever heard of... Another example that you may recall is Occupy Wall Street and the 99%. It describes the Social Gospel Dr. King and others, it even describes the social justice work of a great many UUs in our own denomination s history. themes are immediately recognizable across the world: the transformation of everyday life through a new awakening of compassion, courage, 4 www.liberationtheology.org But let us return to the work of Dr. King and his compatriots. In particular, one may recall events in Selma, Alabama in 1965. That city became the ground January 17, 2016 Page 8 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
zero of the Civil Rights movement for a short time that year. In particular, many activists, including Dr. King, were working for voting rights for African Americans in the South. A young African American man, Jimmie Lee other not, although they happened in the same city, a few days apart? A good thing that came of all this was the passage of the Voting Rights Act, but it came at great cost. Jackson, was killed in the days leading up to the marches that began in Selma and would eventually lead to the state capitol in Montgomery. Outrage over the killing of Jackson fired up the marchers and others, but received very little attention from the national media. It took the murder of a white Unitarian minister, the Rev. James Reeb, to catch the attention of the media and the nation. This outrage could well be encapsulated in that small phrase that we hear so often now, Black Lives Matter. Both murders were horrible; neither should ever have happened. So why did one receive attention, and the I keep returning to Liberation Theology, because it is egalitarian and equitable in its methodology for responding to injustice. This way of thinking shows us how some institutions may by action or inaction sustain a state of poverty, war, or other oppressions that affect the soul of society. This is a part of the picture for all of the African American struggles we have discussed today, but also relates to others, including everyone here at some level or another. I d like to delve into that a bit. It is called Liberation Theology, as it is a theology January 17, 2016 Page 9 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
that seeks to liberate people from the shackles of injustice and oppression. This refers to the fact that some people, through no fault of their own, are trapped in cycles of poverty and hunger. It also refers to the fact that some people are victims of circumstance, such as when their town is being bombed by a foreign military in a war that they did not seek or wish to participate in. It addresses oppressions that arise from income inequality, and teaches a rather socialist ideal of wealth redistribution to equalize society. Most of all, Liberation Theology is, as suggested earlier, a grassroots movement. Power to the people, so to speak. Some of this has caused critics to label it as a form of Marxism. I disagree with that label because Liberation Theology is not about replacing governments or controlling the redistribution of wealth, as then the liberators would become just like those they sought to replace. Rather, they are advocating a societywide development of an ethical system engrained in all people, raising up compassion as the highest value, so that all are treated equally. To my mind, that does not differ all that much from the intent of our country s Founding Fathers, although there would be those who would disagree with me. In fact, this reminds me of some other words by Dr. King, which I share now: 5 On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the 5 King, Jr., Martin Luther, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. (Speech given on April 4, 1967). Accessed at http://www.commondreams.org/ views04/0115-13.htm. January 17, 2016 Page 10 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. That is the message of the Social Gospel of Dr. King; the message of Liberation Theology from South America; the message of the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement in the US; and in fact is the message of social justice and civil rights movements from all over. institutions that perpetuate such. I would say what so many before me have said, not the least of which was an exemplar of social justice like Dr. King. That is to say, it s We, the People, who are the answer to injustice. You and I are the answer. You and I, working alongside so many others, who raise their voices in praise of all that is good in the world, and in protest of all that is not. It is the 99% saying that institutionalized inequality cannot stand; it is African Americans being supported by people of all races, preaching the message that Black Lives Matter; it is every activist who speaks with conviction and courage; and it is every civic leader who acts for justice and promotes equity. The government and the The act of liberation comes from the response of the people to oppression and injustice, and a response to police, the military and other institutions, are not inherently evil. But, they do need to hear our message, January 17, 2016 Page 11 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
and they will only hear it when we speak up. We are the answer to injustice. I will close with these words by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, from South Africa. He said: 6 Liberation is costly. Even after the Lord had delivered the Israelites from Egypt, they had to must be ready. Some of us will not see the day of our liberation physically. But those people will have contributed to the struggle. Let us be united, let us be filled with hope, let us be those who respect one another. May it ever be so and blessed be you all! travel through the desert. They had to bear the responsibilities and difficulties of freedom. There was starvation and thirst and they kept complaining. They complained that their diet was monotonous. Many of them preferred the days of bondage and the fleshpots of Egypt. We must remember that liberation is costly. It needs unity. We must hold hands and refuse to be divided. We 6 SLT # 593. January 17, 2016 Page 12 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
BENEDICTION (by Rev. Michael Walker) When you see something that looks wrong, Raise up your voices, Lend your hands and heart, Offer your support and compassion, And speak to all who will listen, So that this wrong thing may be changed. When called by others who see injustice, Answer the call, Bear witness to this thing, Seek not to hide your eyes, Rather, be brave and stand shoulder to shoulder, So that this injustice does not go answered. On this MLK Sunday, this is our lesson for the day... May it ever be so and blessed be you all! January 17, 2016 Page 13 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg