Sunday, March 17, 2024

Lessons from The Diary of Anne Frank

Shared in Brunswick, GA on March 17, 2024 and in Statesboro, GA on March 24, 2024 by Rev. Jane Page



The title of this sermon is “Lessons from the Diary of Anne Frank” –the final sermon in my series this year on Lessons from Banned Books.  However, in THIS year – 2024, I felt the need to bring you more than just these lessons that Anne teaches us – especially with the rise of white nationalism – and, indeed, what many consider fascism in Europe and here in America and with a national election that plays on the fears of white Christian nationalists. 

So, before we get into Anne’s lessons, I want to share a little about how her life began – and how all of that changed.  Then question, can this happen again?  Is it happening again?

 

Anne and her older sister Margot were the children of Otto Frank and Edith Hollander Frank. Edith’s family name was Hollander, because, indeed, her ancestors were from the Netherlands – a place where she eventually had to move. What was their life like before the rise of Fascism in Europe?


Both Otto and Edith were from prominent Jewish families. Otto’s family members were not very religious but did celebrate the Jewish holidays. Edith’s family did follow the Jewish dietary laws and were more religious. Both had fathers that were prominent and well-off businessmen. 

Otto had served in World War I as an intelligence officer and Anne was educated and worked some in her father’s business before they married.  This is a picture of the wedding party that was held four days after their marriage. 

They moved into a rental unit which was two floors of a building in Frankfort and had two daughters.  Otto had a successful spice business and interacted with all the community. Their neighborhood included Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. Their children attended special events of their friends held in their churches and their friends came to their home and celebrated Hannukah with them. We would say that their neighborhood and life was a model of diversity, equity, and inclusion – though we could not say that if we were teaching at a Florida school or University.  And later, the family moved to a fashionable liberal area of Dornbusch called the Poets' Quarter, also diverse. What happened? 

As the economy in Germany and elsewhere started sliding downhill – Otto’s business also suffered.  But that is not why they left Germany.  The appointment of Adolf Hitler on January 30, 1933, to the position of chancellor in Germany and the following rise of antisemitism and introduction of discriminatory laws in Germany

forced the family to emigrate to Amsterdam in 1933. Here Otto again established a successful spice business and Anne attended school with non-Jews. But as noted in the story for all ages, they eventually were forced to follow very restrictive laws

and finally, they had to go into hiding for two years before being captured and sent to the concentration camps.

We study this as history that happened – “over there.”  But it was happening in the United States as well. And the anti-Semitism in America during that war wasn’t new.

 

Description:  An anti-Semitic cartoon from an 1892 issue of Judge Magazine. At the right, Russian Jewish immigrants flee the whip of persecution to New York as the waters of the Atlantic part to accommodate them. In the center is a stereotypical Jewish businessman, well dressed and carrying a scroll labeled "Perseverance and Industry." Behind him is supposedly "Broadway in 1892," with Jewish names on every building from clothiers and fancy goods to bankers and brokers. At the left, elegantly dressed emigrants head west toward the setting sun in an endless stream - over the caption "Our First Families Driven Out."

Now while in the Netherlands, Otto Frank was trying to get his family here – but the documentation for them to emigrate was overwhelming – and they were unable to come.  Think of the possibilities for a writer like Anne Frank if they had been able to come.

 

Isabel Wilkerson, Book Caste, Movie Origin - based on the book

In her 2020 book Caste – Isabel Wilkerson shows how the German Nazi’s used the American system of race laws to enable Americans to subjugate African Americans, even though the Constitution’s 14th Amendment demanded equal protection under the law.  And they borrowed these ideas in their efforts to subjugate the Jewish population and others. 

Though race laws in America did not pertain to Jews, there were many lines drawn in society regarding participation – and it could have gotten worse.

Rachel Maddow recently published a book entitled, Prequel:  An American Fight Against Fascism – which demonstrates that (quote) “before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it. It was a sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens’ confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule.”

 

If you haven’t seen the short video – “A Night at the Garden,” featuring a huge pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939, check it out. You may say – well, yes – but that was then, and as Maddow shows, both the press and others were vigilant in uncovering the plans of these Fascists and exposing and opposing them before they could get any real power.  But what about now!


After Trump was elected in 2016, we all remember the scenes of pro-Nazi young men in Charlottesville – coming out of their closets and hoping to take over with chants like “You Will Not Replace Us” and “Jews Will Not Replace Us.”  What is all of that about?  Although Jewish people were encouraged at one time to attempt to replace those lost in the Holocaust, in today’s world, their birth rates have dropped along with everyone else’s – and they aren’t even replacing themselves. But the fear is not literally about them replacing white Christians with their numbers, it’s the fear that they and other “others” will dominate and replace the number and the power of white nationalist Christians in a country which they feel is their right to have. (Echoes of Manifest Destiny)

We thought when we turned out and voted Trump out of office in 2020, the white Christian nationalist movement would diminish – but the backlash has been horrific. Now, let me say – that I’m not usually one to talk about politics from the pulpit – but these are scary times, my friends.  Donald Trump did not give rise to this hatred and these fears. The dragon was already there with all its fiery power. Donald Trump just climbed up on it because it was the easiest way for him to gain power, money, and more.  And now, the Republican party has turned into a party based upon the fears of white nationalists.  And, folks, we progressives may be complicit in this situation.


Political scientist Anthony DiMaggio's book is titled “Rising Fascism in America: It Can Happen Here.” He points to a number of societal “enablers” who contributed to creating the fertile ground for “a neofascistic political movement” to flower. These include scholars, journalists, the Democratic Party, and neoliberals who, he says, all downplayed fascistic political movements and the dangers of Trump’s rise. One example he cites is the media’s use of the word “populist” to describe Trump, which “helps to avoid unpleasant discussions about the problem of a rising fascistic movement in the United States.”

In other words, we need to tell the truth, sound the alarm before it’s too late.  Too late – like it was for Anne Frank.


Which brings us back to dear Anne and her wonderful entries into her diary which has been published in more than 70 languages. What are the lessons she has for us?  In her well-written journal entries, Anne provides us with a good role model. I used several websites and artificial intelligence to assist me in narrowing down these lessons and finding supportive quotes. Here are seven attributes that can be lessons for us in trying times.

 

Anne is a model of Resilience.  She says: “Where there’s hope, there’s life.  It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.”

She enjoys looking out the one window that shows her the sky with clouds and occasionally birds flying by.  She writes, “Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”

 


Anne finds joy in small moments.  Though her circumstances are dire, she discovered joy in a sunbeam streaming through the window, the sound of birdsong, and the warmth of hearing others laugh and laughing with them.  She writes, “This morning, when I was sitting in front of the window and taking a long, deep look outside at God and nature, I was happy, just plain happy. …As long as people feel that kind of happiness within themselves, the joy of nature, health and much more besides, they'll always be able to recapture that happiness. Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again.”

Now, lest you think Anne is another Pollyanna story – let me share that she also shares her distresses - including those that come with puberty and discovering more about your own sexual desires. And sadly, that’s the reason given by many for banning her book.

Anne recognizes humanity amid inhumanity. This is especially exemplified in her recognition of the individuals – the helpers – who assisted the Franks and risked their own lives to protect them.  She writes: “Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness.” Then this excerpt from the passage we used for our reading today: “…in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

The two pictures on this slide are from the movie Origin – which is based on the book Caste that I mentioned earlier.  I’m showing these to share an example from that movie that is clearly one like Anne was seeing in the hearts of folks.  Isabell’s mother had died recently, and she was packing boxes when I water pipe broke and was leaking – so she called the plumber.  And here is the guy that shows up, wearing a MAGA hat.  He looks at the leak and shares with her that it can’t just be fixed – that it’s an old house and the pipes are all corroded and that it will take a massive repair that he can write an estimate for.  She keeps her head down and is obviously overwhelmed.  She apologizes for her lack of response and shares with him that her she is upset because her mom just died, then she looks at him and asks him if his mom is still living.  He says, no – she died two years ago.  “I’m so sorry,” she says, “What about your father – is he living?”  He says that his dad is living but they have absolutely no relationship.  “That’s really difficult, as well, “she responds.  Then he looks back at the pipe and says – “Wait, let me look at this again.  I think I can repair this for you.”  These two connected with one another’s own humanity – and their common grief.  They looked closer and saw the good in each other’s hearts.  That’s what we need to do more of – if possible.

 

Anne challenges the injustices in the world – and not just from Nazi’s who persecute them.  She writes, “Why is England manufacturing bigger and better airplanes and bombs and at the same time churning out new houses for reconstruction?  Why are millions spent on the war each day, while not a penny available for medical science, artists, or the poor? Why do people have to starve when mountains of food are rotting away in other parts of the world? Oh, why are people so crazy?”

 

Anne recognizes the Fragility of Freedom and the ease with which it can be taken away.  She writes, “I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I’m free, and yet I can’t let it show.  Just imagine what would happen if all eight of us were to feel sorry for ourselves or walk around with the discontent clearly visible on our faces.  Where would that get us?” Some of us understood more about how freedoms and rights can be lost easily when the three new justices came onto the Supreme Court.  And witnessing an insurrection on January 6 should have been convincing as well.

Although Anne has much good to say about people, she recognizes and warns us about the destructive urges in people that lead to war and the complicity of others who let it happen.   She writes, “There’s a destructive urge in people, the urge to rage, murder, and kill. And until all of humanity, without exception, undergoes a metamorphosis, wars will continue to be waged, and everything that has been carefully built up, cultivated, and grown will be cut down and destroyed, only to start all over again!”

And she writes: “I don’t believe that the big men, the politicians and capitalists alone, are guilty of war. Oh no, the little man is just as guilty, otherwise the peoples of the world would have risen in revolt long ago!”

 Anne realizes the Power of Words. In her confined world, her diary becomes a lifesaver as it gives her a means of self-expression that she hopes to one day share.  She says, “I can shake off everything as I write:  my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” In her darkest moments, she turns to her writing for solace.   She writes: “The nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings; otherwise, I might suffocate.” She also realizes that the written word can live on – even if she dies.  She writes: “I want to go on living even after my death! And therefore, I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me.”

And these last two lessons are the ones we may need to focus on as we face the rise in fascism today.  We need to be the people who DO undergo that metamorphosis (Be the change we want to see in the world), speak up or write up our own stories. 

We need to share the truth in whatever ways we can to combat the misinformation and manipulation of those who would have us give up our freedoms, give up our rights, and return to what they felt made America Great, which is the domination of patriarchy, whiteness, and a peculiar brand of Christianity that is NOT what Jesus would do.

 

This young girl left a legacy that is still being read all over the world today. But as the book we read during the Time for All Ages said, she didn’t get to grow up!

Anne did not get a chance to grow up.  But we have a chance to make sure all our children get a chance to grow up.

This sermon was a difficult one to write – because I’m worried, folks. I don’t want to be fearful – but I do want to be realistic in what is at stake here. So yes, let’s enjoy the beauty of the earth and the laughter of one another, and a good cup of coffee after the service.  But let us also remember the other lessons that Anne has taught us. And Be the Change we want to see in the world.

May it be so!

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Lessons from the Color Purple

 Shared with the Unitarian Universalists of Coastal Georgia on February 4, 2024.

 

What a wonderful book by Alice Walker! 

I loved the book when I first read it many, many years ago.  Then I also loved the movie starring Whoopi Goldberg as the main character – Celie – and so often that is not the case when one has read a book first.  But it was SO well down.  And more recently – I really loved the musical as well.  I did not see the Broadway Play – but I’m assuming the movie musical was based on that – so I would have loved it, too!  Yet – The Color Purple keeps showing up on Banned Books list – which is no surprise, because many of my favorite books are on these lists.

Today’s message is going to be twofold.  First, I want to explore the theology that underpins this work – and how the main character – Celie – changes her theology from thinking of the divine as the old white man in the sky to something very different, just as I did and maybe you as well.  And second – I will share some other lessons that this book teaches us all.  

Part One - The Theology

As you may remember, Alice Walker tells this story as a series of journal entries and letters written by Celie.  The first ones are all addressed to God. Then to her sister, Nellie, who is living in Africa with missionaries, then at the end – to God again, but a different God of her understanding.  In fact, she addresses it:  "Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God."

Celie was introduced to thinking of God in a different way by a flamboyant blues singer – and Celie’s lover, Shug Avery.  I’m going to share this with you by reading that portion of the book – because it’s so beautiful and poignant.  These are Celie’s words – sharing about a conversation she had with Shug. (Note to reader:  Shug’s words are in italics and were shared with a different voice.)

Celie and Shug from 1985 film

“Here's the thing, say Shug. The thing I believe. God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it. And sometimes it just manifest itself even if you not looking, or don't know what you looking for. Trouble do it for most folks, I think. Sorrow, lord. Feeling like shit.

It? I ast.

Yeah, It. God ain't a he or a she, but a It.

But what do it look like? I ast.

Don't look like nothing,
she say. It ain't a picture show. It ain't something you can look at apart from anything else, including yourself. I believe God is everything, say Shug. Everything that is or ever was or ever will be. And when you can feel that, and be happy to feel that, you've found It.

Shug a beautiful something, let me tell you. She frown a little, look out cross the yard, lean back in her chair, look like a big rose. She say, My first step from the old white man was trees. Then air. Then birds. Then other people. But one day when I was sitting quiet and feeling like a motherless child, which I was, it come to me: that feeling of being part of everything, not separate at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed. And I laughed and I cried and I run all around the house. I knew just what it was. In fact, when it happen, you can't miss it. It sort of like you know what, she say, grinning and rubbing high up on my thigh.

Shug! I say.

Oh,
she say. God love all them feelings. That's some of the best stuff God did. And when you know God loves 'em you enjoys 'em a lot more. You can just relax, go with everything that's going, and praise God by liking what you like.

God don't think it dirty? I ast.

Naw,
she say. God made it. Listen, God love everything you love? and a mess of stuff you don't. But more than anything else, God love admiration.

You saying God vain? I ast.

Naw,
she say. Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.

What it do when it pissed off? I ast.

Oh, it make something else. People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.

Yeah? I say.

Yeah,
she say. It always making little surprises and springing them on us when us least expect.

You mean it want to be loved, just like the bible say.

Yes, Celie,
she say. Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk?

Well, us talk and talk bout God, but I'm still adrift. Trying to chase that old white man out of my head. I been so busy thinking bout him I never truly notice nothing God make. Not a blade of corn (how it do that?) not the color purple (where it come from?). Not the little wildflowers. Nothing. Now that my eyes opening, I feels like a fool. Next to any little scrub of a bush in my yard, Mr. ____s evil sort of shrink. But not altogether. Still, it is like Shug say, You have to git man off your eyeball, before you can see anything a'tall.

Man corrupt everything,
say Shug. He on your box of grits, in your head, and all over the radio. He try to make you think he everywhere.  Soon as you think he everywhere, you think he God. But he ain't. Whenever you trying to pray, and man plop himself on the other end of it, tell him to git lost, say Shug. Conjure up flowers, wind,water, a big rock.

But this hard work, let me tell you. (That man God) been there so long, he don't want to budge. He threaten lightening, floods and earthquakes. Us fight. I hardly pray at all. (And) Every time I conjure up a rock, I throw it.”

Shug’s theology – imparted to Celie – is similar to what many of us espouse, seeing the Divine – or God if you will – in nature. 


But there is more to explore in this book than just that understanding.  Author Dan Cushing sees this entire novel as a type of theological writing.  He states:

“At first glance, most readers would not recognize Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple as a typical example of theological writing. After all, theological truths are usually revealed in ancient, often puzzling manuscripts which are neatly packaged and interpreted for us by doctrinal experts. Even some Sunday sermons take on an impersonal and other-worldly irrelevance which is a long way removed from the everyday earth-iness of Walker's novel. But whether they have been exposed to theology in its strictest, formal sense or not, many readers will finish The Color Purple with the suspicion that they have somehow been exposed to a deeply theological experience.”

In fact, Cushing sees it’s theological underpinning as the basic theme and structure of The Color Purple.  He summarizes it in the following passage.

“The central character, Celie, enslaved in a kind of physical, emotional and spiritual bondage, is led gradually to freedom (redemption, as the theologians would say) by her exposure to-and her response to-a kind of divine teacher (a redeemer), Shug Avery. The essential similarity to the Jewish experience in the Hebrew Scriptures or the Christian experience in the New Testament is not insignificant. The parallels are strong enough and real enough to qualify The Color Purple as a re-telling (a personal experience) of the basic Judeo-Christian understanding of redemption-in this case from the perspective of one particular black woman. Even more, in a broader and more prophetic way, it translates that traditional understanding into an experience of redemption for women in general.”

I’m glad that this man can see that this is a story of liberation for women.  Although, the book certainly addresses issues of race and colonialism – especially in the correspondence with Celie’s sister Nettie when she is in Africa – I see the primary theme as the liberation and empowerment of women (perhaps because I was previously in a church – and yes- somewhat in a marriage – in which I felt trapped by patriarchy and misogyny.)  And the interesting part of this theological story is that when the women are liberated – it leads as well to the liberation of men who perhaps felt bound to certain gender expectations.  Indeed, even Celie’s husband Mister – becomes more loving as he adopts what his society would see as more domestic, feminine traits. 

Part 2 – Other Lessons from The Color Purple.

There are loads of possibilities.  I’m going to share just four of these lessons that stood out to me. 

Slide


Lesson 1:  Stand up for yourself and what’s right. Here are some examples.

Quote – from Celie to Nettie:  “Don’t let them run over you, you got to fight.” 

Nettie offers Celie some sisterly advice, when she comes to live with her and Mister. She tells her that she has to stand up yourself, and can’t let Mister or the kids run over her.  Of course, this results in Nettie being forced to leave – thrown off the property in a agonizing passage.  But she doesn’t give in to Mister’s advances. 

Another example is when Celie finally stands up for herself and shares with Mister as she is leaving him:

Here’s a clip from the most recent movie.


Quote:  “I’m poor, Black, I may even by ugly, but dear God, I’m here! I’m here!”

And there are many more as Celie, Sofia, Mary Agnes (also known as Squeak), and Nettie all come to more self-realization and gain strength and resilience from their experiences and each other.

Lessons like these from The Color Purple and other books have helped me to lift up my own voice for what is right – even when the consequences of loss of the love of so-called friends and even family were inevitable. 


Lesson 2:  Make connections with people who understand and support you.

This was especially demonstrated in The Color Purple as Celie begins to connect and support other women who were abused and trapped in oppressive situations.  These women found strength in their numbers and were able to overcome their fears – or at least move with resilience through them. 

Now some of them were already strong. 

And the quote that exemplifies this is “Hell-no” shared by Sofia to her would be abusive husband – and explained to Celie in the cornfield as she confronts her about being accepting of men beating their wives and she uses the same phrase with the white mayor who demands that she come be their maid. They beat her, arrest her, and force her to serve the mayor for 12 long years.  But she becomes a role model to the other women.  The “Hell-no” quote is turned into a song for the play and musical.  I’ll play a bit of that.



I really felt the power of this lesson of connecting with others when I traveled to Washington, DC in January of 2017 – and participated in The Women’s March the day after Trump was elected.   


 

The Power of that solidarity was mind-blowing.  And women in the smaller marches around the country felt it too and some began to organize more – even here in Glynn County – where Women’s Voices of Glynn County meets in out building and works together for progress locally and nationally.  This was an outgrowth of the need to continue after many of these women traveled to Fernindina for the march there.

The Clergy for Equity – of which I and some others here are members was formed after the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and other local groups formed as well to make connections and help each other as we fight for justice.

And of course – our gathering here and working together as Unitarian Universalists is an example that I will always cherish.  Connections are so very important.


Lesson #3 –  (audio) - “You can’t always get what you want, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes – you just might find, you get what you can.”

This is exemplified by many of the characters.  Here is Sofia as a old woman.  Now – she would have liked to have raised her own kids.  When she got back home after 12 years of basically forced slavery that she had to do for the mayor and his wife, she realized that her kids didn’t know who she was and she really didn’t know them.  But in her old age, she softened and made the best of things – loving folks and taking them in – even the Mayor’s daughter she had raised who ended up cooking for her.  Her hearts longing as a young woman didn’t work out – but she had learned a good lesson and said – (click) “I try to teach my heart not to want what it can’t have.”

Celie also had to learn this lesson.  Celie and Shug had a complicated relationship – and passionate, steamy romance (that doesn’t really show up in the films – you have to read the book).  Celie loves only Shug.  But Shug was not made for one romantic partner.  And just as Mister had to give Shug up to Celie – Celie had to give her up as well.  In the end – Celie and Mister had a relationship of sorts – not a marriage – and not sexual, but caring.  She loved him because he had loved Shug – and he softened and they shared stories – and she even taught him to sew.  Later Shug did come back.  And so did Nettie, her husband and children – and Celie learned that she may be old in years – but there could still be happy. She said (click)”I don’t think us feel old at all.  And us so happy.  Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt.” – You may not get what you want – But if you try sometime, I think you’ll find – you get what you can.

Lesson #4– Pay attention.  If we rush by too fast, we may miss the forlorn, the forgotten, the lonely, and that which needs our love and care.  Of course, we may also miss the beautiful! Pay attention.

This is most famously demonstrated in the book by Shug’s declaration to Celie that “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field and don’t notice it.”

I think Sofia, Shug, Celie, and even Mister Albert would have agreed in the end with Mary Oliver who wrote:


Text of poem

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Amen and Blessed Be