To Be Patriotic By Rev. Caitlin S. Cotter Preached July 3, 2016 Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. This is my first Fourth of July in Santa Barbara, but from what I ve read online, I imagine when many of you think of the fourth, you think immediately of fireworks on West Beach, a Spirit of 76 parade down State Street, and of fried food and live music and face painting and sand between your toes. This holiday may taste to you of hot dogs or cotton candy or corn on the cob or something else entirely. Just saying fourth of July evokes for me the feeling of grass tickling the sides of my feet while fountains of light boom and bloom over my head, the songs on the radio synchronized to the explosions. I think of vendors selling knock off light sabers in Oxford, Pennsylvania, and of the time in Juneau, Alaska, where I went to fireworks at midnight, because we had to wait that long for it to be dark enough. I ve been to Fourth of July fireworks in towns so small I had real concerns about bits of fireworks falling on me, and lived in urban areas where I could watch the fireworks display from four or five cities at once. For me the Fourth is the epitome of Americana - the ultimate American patriotic moment. Not everyone likes this holiday, of course. It s a pretty tough holiday for family pets and for veterans and others with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or just sensitive ears. I ll admit I prefer to watch fireworks from afar and I worry about loved ones who have been shot at and find all those explosions difficult to bear. And many people have complex feelings about this country, and about patriotism. There are some pretty different ideas about what it means to be patriotic, though some versions of it may seem louder and more prevalent than others. There are some real questions about patriotism, too. Questions about what it means to be devoted to a country founded on about 250 years of legal chattel slavery, on the genocide of Native Americans peoples, on many types of violence large and subtle. A couple of weeks ago I visited the Whitney Plantation museum with our youth during their service trip to New Orleans. Our guide reminded us that it s only been a couple of generations since legal chattel slavery was a reality for most of the African American people of this country.
And it s only been 74 years since our government interned our Japanese citizens for no reason other than their ancestry. It s been even less time since the divisive trauma of the war in Vietnam, since the work to defeat the Jim Crow laws, since the LGBT s community s resistance to police brutality first rose to visibility with the Stonewall Riot. It wasn t until the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 that Native American families were given the option of keeping their kids out of the often abusive boarding schools built to assimilate them. The violence and inequality in our country are inescapable. The Brock Turner Case up in Stanford reminded us how unsafe it is to be a woman in this country, the tragedy at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando reminded us how much hate against LGBT people, and particularly LGBT people of color, is on the rise again. We ve watched on the news as the killing of people of color by law enforcement has gone unpunished again and again. We ve watched as rhetoric against immigrants and those of the Muslim faith has risen to a fever pitch, with violence against those groups rising to match. Ours is a deeply flawed and wounded country, hurting and imperfect. It s also a beautiful country, full of wonderful and amazing things. I think that s why I ve always loved Woody Guthrie s song. This country of ours is breathtaking as well as heartbreaking. It s never lived up to its promises, but the promise is there. I object, as I imagine many of you do, to the slogan Make America Great Again. I resist the idea that there was ever some great glowing moment when everything was fantastic and all our ideas were realized. Because our ideals have never been fully realized. We ve had no true moment of equality, justice, and freedom for all. And while some have prospered against great odds, it is, in the literal sense, impossible to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. This is, of course, why we needed and continue to need the Labor movement and the veterans rights movement, why this congregation stands in solidarity with the farmworkers and joined the Fight for Fifteen but that s another sermon.
Today when I mention that there are no shining perfect moments in the History of the United States, I m thinking about the spirit of 76 parade that s moving through downtown Santa Barbara tomorrow. I have been thinking about the time of American independence a lot recently, because like many of my peers I have been listening to the new musical Hamilton on repeat for the past several months. If you aren t familiar with it, Hamilton is a musical about Alexander Hamilton - the Federalist who started the treasury and whose face appears on the ten dollar bill. Hamilton was a revolutionary war hero, aide, and speech writer for George Washington - a poor scholarship kid from the Caribbean who married money and ended up dying dramatically in a duel before the age of 50. He also produced the first big public American sex scandal. If you haven t had the chance to listen to the musical and you have an interest in American History, or genius hip hop and rap music, I highly recommend it. Some of you may have already heard bits of it spilling out of my office if you ve come by during the week lately. One of the primary things I like about the musical, aside from its sheer magical catchiness, is that it makes the humanity of those we call the founding fathers so very clear. The people who set the guideposts for our country were people. People with ideals and also grudges and vendettas, personal aspirations and motivations and very personal stories that guided their thoughts and decisions. None of them were saints. Some of them were Unitarians. I must admit I m amused by how unflattering the portrayal of Unitarian John Adams, second president of the United States, is in the musical. One of my colleagues serves as the minister of our congregation in Quincy, Massachusetts where Adams is buried. I wonder if she ever plays Hamilton in her office, and if the sound ever carries down to disturb Adam s tomb in the basement. Poor guy, he may have been an important figure in the early history of the United States and one of our most illustrious religious forebears, but it doesn t seem like he won many popularity contests. Our Unitarian forebears were imperfect, and not always on the side of justice. Thomas Jefferson, for example, someone who has often been proudly claimed as a Unitarian, not only owned slaves, he advocated for slavery. We don t get a free pass, we Unitarian Universalists, we don t get to claim we were always on the right side of history.
Still, there is much in our heritage we can draw from. Thinking about John Adams makes me think about the specific question I brought with me into today about being Unitarian Universalist and patriotic. Thinking about our Unitarian ancestors being in the room where it happened in the past, makes me wonder how our theology, our thoughts, our questions can shape the future of our country. Thinking about this reminds me that we may be a small religious tradition in numbers but that we are also MIGHTY. SO. What is it to be patriotic? I think the answer must go back to love. To be patriotic is to love the land where you live, to love the country you are a part of. And love is a verb. To love one s country is to appreciate it, sure, but also to see the truth of one s country and face into that truth boldly. To love is to go courageously into difficult conversations, even and especially with those we care for most deeply. The group SURJ - Showing up for Racial Justice - posted a free, printable place mat for the holiday with tips for talking to families on the fourth of July. If you find yourself talking politics tomorrow they suggest: Breathe Listen mindfully before formulating a thoughtful response Ask questions when people express strong opinions Affirm. Clarify the difference between good intentions and the impact Speak from a place of mutual values, sharing personal experiences, vulnerability, and emotions
And remember -to work for peace and against violence is patriotic. To dissent and to speak up and give space for those who are oppressed by the larger society is patriotic. As historian and activist Howard Zinn put it, dissent is the highest form of patriotism. As ACLU lawyer Clarence Darrow reminded us, True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else. To dissent is at the core of what it is to be a Unitarian Universalist. We are a religious tradition built on dissent and proud of its heretical roots, a religious tradition that is as American as the Boston Tea Party. The Boston tea party museum, by the way, with accompanying tea room and gift shop, is a short walk from our new Unitarian Universalist Association headquarters. I love that, not just because their tea room is a nice place to hang out on a cold day, but because Unitarians were leaders among those who threw tea in the harbor way back in the day. We threw tea in the Boston harbor in reaction to unfair taxes. What zany bit of civil disobedience might we get up to next? It s not like we ve stopped doing things like that. A bunch of my colleagues were arrested in Boston just this week for putting their bodies in the way of a pipeline. Unitarian Minister Rev. Heather Concannon posted a picture of herself being taken away from that protest in handcuffs. Above that picture she wrote: There is so much violence and oppression and only together can we imagine a more sustainable and just world. Only together can we imagine a more sustainable and just world. Let s make America great, going forward - not trying to recreate some myth of a perfect past but working in solidarity to create a better future. Let s continue to educate ourselves, to question injustice and inequality and strive to speak up for what is right, to act on the side of justice. Let s make the Fourth of July a holiday about becoming, about striving, about celebrating beauty and acknowledging pain. Together let us rise up. Together let us love this country into a better tomorrow.
And please join me now in the spirit of prayer or meditation. Spirit of life and love, be with us this foggy morning. Be present with our aching hearts, our searching minds and tired bodies. Be present with us as we continue to grieve the tragedy at the Pulse nightclub, as we add to our grief the bombing in Istanbul and the lives taken in the Bakery in Bangladesh. The news of the world breaks our heart yet again. Spirit of life and love, May we find some quiet this holiday weekend, Some piece of joy and wonder and even frazzled fun Whatever it is we need to ready us to face all the beauty and pain yet again. This week may we be curious and compassionate May we live into this world some righteous peace, some justice, some hope May be the ones we are waiting for, and dream a new day. For now, let us rest in silence together for a moment. Amen, ashe, and blessed be.