I
wasn’t supposed to be sharing a message with you today.
If
you read the January Newsletter, you may have been looking forward to hearing a
message by Rev. Mellen Kennedy.
Mellen
is a UU minister serving in Vermont – and we were seminary classmates at
Meadville Lombard.
Mellen
will be sharing with you, instead, on February 28.
She
called me about a week and a half ago and indicated that her worship committee
thought they might NEED her in the pulpit the Sunday after the inauguration –
not knowing what possibly could happen on that day.
And
she added – I’m sure your congregations might need you that Sunday as
well. And so – whether you need me or
not – here I am.
I’m
certainly glad that Mellen’s fear of additional violence did not happen.
And
I didn’t really think it would happen.
But
I looked on this as an opportunity and challenge to share a post inaugural
service and message with you.
And
I decided on a title for it based on some of the words I heard in Biden’s
victory speech in November – Restoring the Soul of America.
I
looked to a book by historian Jon Meacham entitled,
“The
Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels”
published in 2018 to get a little help with
understanding.
Indeed Meacham and Biden use much of the same
language as they both
look
back to Abraham Lincoln’s words from his first inaugural address
in
1861 for inspiration.
Lincoln
said:
“We
are not enemies, but friends. We must
not be enemies.
Though
passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.
The
mystic chords of memory,
stretching
from every battlefield and patriot grave
to
every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land,
will
yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched,
as
surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
By
using these words – “the better angels of our nature,” I think Lincoln was
referring to that deep, good, Soul that we know we can be as a nation.
Of
course, a brutal civil war – where brothers became enemies followed,
with
our better angels silenced by some for a very long time.
It’s
helpful to know all of this history.
Because
indeed – we have been here before –
a
divided nation with efforts to move us backward to a less perfect union –
many
times before.
Our
nation was birthed with the sins of genocide and slavery
and
a deep patriarchy and white supremacy that still rears it’s ugly head. Meacham’s book details so many of these. Meacham states:
“To know what has come before is to be
armed against despair.
If the men and women of the past, with
all their flaws and limitations
and ambitions and appetites could press
on through ignorance and superstition, racism and sexism, selfishness and
greed, to create a freer, stronger nation,
then perhaps we, too, can right wrongs
and take another step
toward that most enchanting and elusive
of destinations: a more perfect Union.`
Indeed,
throughout history, we have moved forward.
Yes,
sometimes it feels like it’s two steps forward and one step back.
But
the movement is forward.
We
do call forth those better angels – our better selves –
and
we certainly need to do so at this moment in history,
as
President Biden has called on us to do.
In
his inaugural speech, President Biden called for Unity
with
strong words of inspiration and encouragement.
But
our president is a realist.
He
knows that we can’t get everyone on board this soul train,
and
we never have.
President
Biden reminded us of this with these words:
“The battle is perennial, and victory is
never assured.
Through Civil War, The Great Depression,
World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifices, and setbacks, our better angels
have always prevailed.
In
each of these moments, enough of us—enough of us—
have come together to carry all of us
forward, and we can do that now.”
I’ll
share some of Meacham’s ideas about how we might do this.
But
first, I think it would be good for us to move this effort down to a smaller
scale – to us as individuals, as congregations, and as communities.
For we have to restore our own souls as
well.
So,
I’m going to take a 5 minute break from this sermon
and
put you in smaller groups to just share with one another
what
some possibilities might be.
Don’t
try to save the world – you only have 5 minutes
and
each of you should try to contribute at least one thing -
it’s
not much, but it’s a beginning.
For
we have a new day now. Hallelujah.
What
will we do with it?
You
all try to watch your own time –
but
you’ll get a warning when there is one minute left to wrap it up.
I
encourage you to join a group when you get the invitation.
I
know from experience that some of you won’t – and I’ll encourage you to use
this time to make some notes about this – and perhaps share that in the chat –
or email them me.
(Break)
I
hope that some of you will email me some notes on what you heard discussed – if
anything – related to our congregations – and I’ll share those with our
leadership.
Now
here are those suggestions from Meachum that I promised.
1.
Enter the
Arena. The battle begins with political
engagement itself.
Those who disdain
the arena are unilaterally disarming themselves in the great contests of the
soul, for they are cutting themselves off, childishly, from what Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Jr., called the “passion and action” of the age. One need not become a candidate (though
that’s certainly an option worth considering) or a political addict hooked on
every twist and every tun and every tweet.
But the paying of attention, the expressing of opinion, and the casting
of ballots are foundational to living up to the obligations of citizenship in a
republic.
2.
Resist
Tribalism. “We know instinctively,” Jane
Adams wrote, “if we grow contemptuous of our fellows and consciously limit our
intercourse to certain kinds of people whom we have previously decided to
respect, we not only tremendously circumscribe our range of life, but limit the
scope of our ethics.”
3.
4.
Respect Facts and
Deploy Reason. “The dictators of the
world say that if you tell a lie often enough, why, people will believe,”
Truman wrote. “Well, if you tell the
truth often enough, they’ll believe it and go along with you.” Meacham – “To reflexively resist one side or
the other without weighing the merits of a given issue is all too common—and
all to regrettable. By closing our minds
to the even remote possibility that a political leader with whom we nearly
always disagree might have a point about a particular matter is to preemptively
surrender the capacity of the mind to shape our public lives.
5.
6.
Find a Critical
Balance. President Kennedy realized the
importance of this within the press. He
said, “I think (the press) is invaluable, even though…it is never pleasant to
be reading things that are not agreeable news.
But I would say that it is an invaluable arm of the Presidency. …
7.
8.
Keep History in
Mind. To remember Joe McCarthy, for
instance, gives us a way to gauge demagoguery.
Me --So many times as I read some of our history – or watch
documentaries or movies about it I realized – “We’ve been here before.”
And yet – with enough of us – enough of us calling on our better
angels – we can survive and move forward.
I don’t know about
you – but I’m ready to get on that SOUL TRAIN and know as Sam Cooke sang – A
Change is Gonna Come!
Yes it will!
Amen!
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