Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tuscaloosa

January 15 2012 ©

In our story for all ages, we heard the story of Clementine Hunter, an artist from the mid 20^th century who lived the first half of her life working a plantation in Louisiana.  She found her voice as a painter creating her canvass from various items found around the house. Her paintings depicted life on the plantation; the good and the hard life. 

The prophetic is also a voice that gains expression from the events that surround our daily life.  It is also an art form of sorts that paints on the canvasses of people’s hearts. It has the ability to soften the heart of those who want change and to harden the heart in those who do not.  It is the prophetic voice so desperately needed that will stir the heart towards freedom.

I have been reflecting back four years ago and the message of hope that then Candidate Barack Obama offered the American people. The people responded to this message of hope in a visceral way.  And then what seemed like a cruel twist of fate, the markets collapsed, the deepest recession this country has known became rooted into the infrastructure and hope seemed to fade away like fog in the morning sun.  Was the hope that was offered merely rhetorical or was it real and delayed in delivery?

In the four years since that message of hope was spoken we have seen a hardening of the heart of America.  We have witnessed an attack on the fundamental freedoms this country has valued since the revolution of 1776.  The hardness of heart has been severe and it is filled with fear.

It did not start four years ago. It is not the result of this current administration despite what opponents are attempting to state.  It started way before this time in policies that our government has instituted, many before any of us were born. The words of Martin Luther King, Jr. still reverberate as true today as they were 40 years ago.  Here is a section from his Beyond Vietnam– A Time to Break the Silence, given on April 4, 1967:

“A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. 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 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. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: “This is not just.” It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: “This is not just.” The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: ‘This way of settling differences is not just.’ This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

“America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.”

We have witnessed the sad fulfillment of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s warning forty some years later.  We are no longer approaching spiritual death as a nation but have indeed experienced our spiritual death as a nation.  What we are witnessing in this country today is the putrification of white values that have failed this country.  Our arrogance, our policies of manifest destiny have run their course and what remains today is a dead corpse that is in need of burial. 

Without a resurrection of spirit, this country will only be able to revisit the policies of yesteryear which sought to secure white supremacy and privilege over the other.   While we are seeking to fulfill the American dream we are stomping over everyone else, forgetting that the dream of freedom, the dream of social uplift is universal and embedded into the foundation of this nation’s most sacred texts.   In pursuit of this dream we have lost our way by exploiting others, we may not call them slaves, but we treated these workers as subordinates and not worthy of the dream.  We failed to see that when we care for the least of these we care for ourselves as well.   We saw them as cheap labor, as slave labor that we could exploit and pocket the profits into the silk linings of the one percent.  Our greed, our disregard for others through our short sighted policies have destroyed the American economy at home causing the widest gulf between the richest and the poorest among us since the days before the crash of 1929.

We have sent our young men and women to fight a war designed on deceit and deception and now these soldiers are coming home with the severest post traumatic stress syndrome ever seen in our people.  These men and women will need years of treatment that is already being denied to them ensuring that our nation will deteriorate in violent behaviors. Our death as a nation has already occurred.  It is time to grieve for America. America is dead. Long live America.

Martin Luther King, Jr. voice still rings out today as purely as it did when it was spoken.  One could despair and say that nothing has changed.  Humanity is still as recalcitrant as it always is.  There is nothing new under the sun as King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes.  It is the same ole, same ole; same stuff, different day.   But this is where the prophetic voice comes in and perhaps more importantly the purpose of religion, and to narrow that phrase even further, the purpose of Unitarian Universalism.

There is a story from First Unitarian Society in Chicago from 1948 when that church, although located in a predominantly black neighborhood, did not allow people of color to join.  The minister, Rev. Leslie Pennington and Theologian James Luther Adams, who taught at Meadville Lombard Theological School across the street and sat on the board, decided the time had come to change the by-laws of the church.  While most board members supported the idea, one was opposed stating that this proposal makes desegregation into a creed. Debate at the board meeting ensued, each side believing that they were in the right. The board meeting continued into the early hours of the morning.  After everyone was exhausted from arguing, James Luther Adams remembered that listening was also an important piece of our faith and so he asked the person who was most opposed, “What was the purpose of this church?” The person responded, “The purpose of the church is to get ahold of people like me and change them. ^[i]“

Before religion can shape and influence society it needs to first shape and influence you and me.   So since we are Unitarian Universalists, the purpose of Unitarian Universalism is to shape and influence us in our lives within these four walls so that we in turn can shape and influence society beyond these doors.   

Walter Brueggemann in The Prophetic Imagination writes, “The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.”   This means that that the purpose of religion is not to preserve a culture, or to save people for some future heaven or to make a culture adhere to some legalistic standard found in a text thousands of years old but rather to find the liberating spirit that frees the heart and allows that heart to soar.

Brueggemann talks about the freedom of God that is to move where it wills and not contained in some box in a temple or in some book on a shelf.  The freedom of God is found in the manifestation of unfolding love and compassion, of increasing justice, and within humility in the interactions of humanity with one another.  Now this might be uncomfortable language for some of us but I encourage us to listen beyond the words to the heart of what this means for, I believe, this is at the center of what it means to be Unitarian Universalist.  We must again, reclaim this spirit when we seek to live our faith in the world; unfolding love and compassion, increasing justice, and within humility in the interactions of humanity with one another.   Another way to say this is found in the call to Abraham “to extend the boundaries of righteousness and justice in the world.^[ii]”

Our faith calls us to do this work.  It is a prophetic call.

The prophetic voice of Martin Luther King aimed towards a different way of being in this world. A way of being that embraced a core value of worth and dignity for all persons.  It is far different to the voices we hear demanding banning same sex marriage, or defining personhood as beginning at conception, or claiming not enough resources for Medicare or social security, not enough hospitality to be shared with the other.

The god of this culture is the god of self-indulgence, it is the god of white privilege, it is the god of I-get-mine-first.  It is the god of mindless consumerism that sedates a people into numbness unaware that they are being molded into sheep for the slaughter.

The policies that are being proposed claiming religious grounding are not representing the liberating message of Jesus but the imprisoning message of law and order to maintain an orderly submissive culture to a hierarchy of privilege.  This is a message where the rich can have life saving abortions but the poor are sent to jail for the same.   If the churches actually preached the true liberating message of Jesus, then the dream that Martin Luther King preached would forty years later be closer to manifesting in our midst.  But this is not what most churches preach in this country and it makes me afraid for our nation.

I ain’t afraid of your Yahweh^[iii]
I ain’t afraid of your Allah
I ain’t afraid of your Jesus
I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God …

That’s it isn’t it.  We gather here as Unitarian Universalists afraid of what others do in the name of their god. That is not what we are called to be.  We are not called to huddle here in Alabama in some enclave, safe from the onslaught of religious fanaticism, safe from the insanity of political rhetoric that scares quite frankly anyone  who actually stops and listens to what is being said.

We are called to be that prophetic voice in the wilderness.  We are called to be the leaven in the dough that makes the world delicious and edible to the taste.  We are called to make this world a more just, a more humane, a more hospitable, a more sane place to live.  And that takes a prophetic voice. 

It doesn’t mean that we do crazy things like Diogenes and walk around town with a burning lantern in the middle of the day looking for an honest person.  But it does mean that we speak out when crazy comes to town.  It means we engage our community by listening to what is happening around us.

Tomorrow is the day we honor the dream and vision of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And while I hope that everyone here will participate in some fashion in honoring the legacy of this man by attending any of the several events happening tomorrow, including marching, this is not what I mean by engaging our community.   Engaging means to listen to what is happening in our community with an ear towards justice. 

I met yesterday with Somos Tuskaloosa, the organization I helped found here.  The Latina women who are working in their communities to overturn HB 56 want to do something more than just repeal an unjust law.  They want to have Tuscaloosa realize that they are very much a part of this community.  They want the schools to realize that their children, many of whom come from families who are of legal status in this community are in pain after the double trauma of the tornado and passage of HB 56. They lost their homes in an instant.  They see that their neighborhood is not being attended to in the rebuilding efforts while the neighborhoods of the white children are being prepared for rebuilding. The children are traumatized and are acting out and there is no understanding by the schools as to why this would be happening.

Children are refusing to go to school; good studious children are refusing to go to school because they are traumatized by the tornado and by the passage of this heinous law.   They are being bullied in school by xenophobic students and teachers.  There are no substantial translation services enabling the parents to be able to communicate with the schools regarding these issues.  These children are invisible.

These are our children too.  All of the children of Tuscaloosa are our children.  We can engage in the prophetic work in the community to make Tuscaloosa more hospitable to our neighbors by speaking up, by engaging in the creation of multi-cultural events where we learn the values, the expression of common values where we can share and hear their stories and listen to where the freedom of god may be leading us to act.    

Clementine Hunter shared her story by painting on the everyday objects she found around her.  Our story can be told the same way by listening to the world around us and then asking ourselves what can I do with what I am hearing that will reveal a different way to be?  What can I do with what I am seeing that will spread love into this church, into this neighborhood, into this community and create a new way of living?  Be the change you wish to see in the world and in doing so we will experience the resurrection of love.  Blessed Be.

The civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s was more than just a demand for equality, it was a journey of living ones faith to the core of one’s being. As such it was transformative work; it was redemptive work beginning with the people doing the work and rippling out to transform the society at large.

As Unitarian Universalists we generally get the ‘act justly’ and ‘to love mercy’ part of Micah 6:8. We can look to our principles –acknowledging the inherent worth and dignity of every person; of seeking to live justice, equity, and compassion in human relations; and working towards the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all—as enhancing our understanding of acting justly and loving mercy. But where do we get our understanding of ‘walk humbly with your god?’ How do we translate that when seeking to create justice as people of faith?

There are many of us who do not believe there is a god, small or capital G, let alone asking us to walk with one. So how do we do this?

We begin with wrestling with what this means because in order to live Micah 6:8 we need to be fully understanding what god means not only in this context of Micah but also in our lives—even if we do not believe that such an entity exists.

Walter Brueggemann in his classic work, The Prophetic Imagination writes: “The liberal tendency has been to care about the politics of justice and compassion but to be largely uninterested in the freedom of God. Indeed, it has been hard for liberals to imagine that theology mattered, for all of that seemed irrelevant. And it was thought that the question of God could be safely left to others who still worried about such matters. As a result, social radicalism has been like a cut flower without nourishment, without any sanctions deeper than human courage and good intentions.”

I believe Brueggemann’s criticism of the liberal religious approach to creating justice is an accurate one in regards to embodying Micah 6:8 especially the third component regarding walking humbly with your god. If we, as a liberal faith, are going to create a powerful prophetic voice addressing the injustices that are happening around us then we need to come to terms with what Brueggemann means by the freedom of god in the context of today’s world.

We need to wrestle with the meaning of the phrase ‘to walk humbly with your god’ in the 21st century especially since it will most likely be this century where the choice to finally dismantle white heterosexual privilege in America will occur. The battle ground is already being developed to maintain white supremacy in America with the enactment of harsh anti-immigration laws targeting a specific immigrant population across this country.

The conservatives in this country have only produced potential candidates who are willing to enforce white supremacy… even Herman Cain was willing to maintain white supremacy through supporting corporate personhood’s desire for complete domination over American politics and economy. The falsehood of privilege diminishes the worth and dignity of all people, negates the golden rule, and elevates the narcissistic illusion of self-importance to a fundamental value worthy of preservation.

Brueggemann also levels on a criticism on the conservative religious: “Conversely, it has been the tendency … to care intensely about God, but uncritically, so that the God of well-being and good order is not understood to be precisely the source of social oppression.”

He later adds that a foundational element to social oppression is “the establishment of a controlled, static religion in which God and his temple have become part of the royal landscape, in which the sovereignty of God is fully subordinated to the purpose of the king.”

From my perspective this is what is happening in America today through out all corners of our society, a systemic wide subordination of a people under the guise of being faithful to god. The shift in society from majority white to majority of people of color represents a threat to this order. Until the recently passed laws in Arizona, Georgia, Alabama, and in other states creating enforcement through attrition this shift was to happen around 2030 and those who would lose their white privilege are fighting this shift through their xenophobia while claiming they are being faithful to our country’s founders’ vision and faith.

There is a false belief that god’s sole purpose is to protect our standard of living and our way of life. The god of well-being and good order as Brueggemann names it has become the god of America. America is the land of too big to fail. This is the god that preaches the American Dream. This is the gospel of prosperity that is dangled like a carrot in front of the poor and then holds them down in submission like a weight around a chicken’s neck to ensure their place as servants of the 1%.

This leads me to wondering once again about the question which I began; how do we as Unitarian Universalists walk humbly with our god? How do we dismantle our own sense of privilege?

Can we as Unitarian Universalists embrace the idea that there are unknown forces at play? These forces need not be supernatural but may simply be the words and actions of others that we are not privy to but have been said and done and are bending the arc towards justice and liberty even while we ponder our next move. Who could have predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall or the outcome of the Arab Spring? There was much happening beneath the surface.

Robert F. Kennedy is quoted as saying, “Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope… These ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

For me, walking humbly with my god means to feel the direction of the current of change, to sniff the wind of justice and follow it where it leads. It means being willing to change how I live if it will ensure that others will find freedom.

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tuscaloosa

Chalice Lighting:

Many years ago the stars guided people to navigate the seas, to find new lands, and to find the way towards hope and love in the life of a child.  We light this chalice tonight to recognize that we all need stars to guide us, some shine bright in the night sky and others shine bright in the faces of  our neighbors, and still others are found  shining within our own hearts.  May this light be a lamp unto our path.

Homily:  I Love to Tell the Story

When I was young, Christmas was a magical time.  The Christmas tree would be put up on Christmas Eve.  Now when I was really young, it always just seemed to just appear in the living room fully decorated on Christmas morn with presents beneath it.  It was like the tree itself just made itself some room in an already small room.  We made room for the miracle of Christmas unlike that first Christmas when there was no room in the inn.

Recently a childhood friend of my sister’s shared on Facebook a similar Christmas story at her house.  She writes, “When I was a child, we entered the living room to a fully decorated tree ablaze with lights, glass ornaments, and tinsel. This had been surreptitiously accomplished by my parents and grandparents.”  This surprise of joy she carried on to her own child, who would come home from Christmas Eve services to a tree fully ablaze with lights and his squeals of  “He came! He came!”

Later when I was older, I would go out with my dad into the woods to find the tree that we would make room for in our home.  We would decorate the tree with tinsel made of lead that had to be straightened out before hand and laid carefully strand by strand on the branches. I remember we had to be careful not to break the tinsel. And as we brought out the ornaments, we would hear the stories of the people who had given these ornaments.  Some of my favorite ornaments were so because of the people who had given them. The stories I would hear about their lives would bring their spirits alive at Christmas.

Every year we tell the stories of Christmas.  We sing the carols of the season.  It isn’t because we do not remember these stories or songs from last year.  We do remember. But we tell these stories because whether we believe the actual details of the stories or not, we resonate with the underlying truth of them.  The underlying truth of the Christmas story is that there are always people in our lives to shine a star to help guide our ways. 

There are always moments of transcendence that will lift our hearts out of despair.  There is always the potential to act in ways that would advance peace and good will. And there is always room in our hearts to be surprised by joy, if we would let it in.

The Christmas story whether it is the one found in the Christian Scriptures, the one told to children of a visit from St. Nick, or the rattling chains of the ghosts of Christmas past is filled with the values that we want to not only impart to others but also remind ourselves that these are the values that we hold most dear.

Marshall Ganz, grassroots organizer, lecturer, and public policy maker writes, “Stories not only teach us how to act – they inspire us to act.  Stories communicate our values through the language of the heart, our emotions. And it is what we feel – our hopes, our cares, our obligations – not simply what we know that can inspire us with the courage to act.”

This is the reason why the Christmas story is told again and again even by people who do not believe in the virgin birth, the star that shown above in the East, or the multitude of angels singing top the shepherds watching their flocks in the fields.

So what stories do you tell over and over again about your family, about our congregation, about our community, about our nation?  Within these stories is a narrative that reveals our values.  Tell them again and listen for the underlying values that are present.  What is being communicated in the telling?  Are the values they contain really what you want your narrative to include?

My grandmother had a bell jar that sat in the dining room.  It wasn’t used in the manner that bell jars were used.  This bell jar was used to create a terrarium.  In the fall, my grandmother would begin gathering the mosses, the small polypody ferns, and the partridgeberries with their small red fruit against the dark evergreen leaves.  She would plant them in a bed of humus with some rocks and wooden branches inside the bell jar.  The winter sun would warm the air inside the bell jar causing the moisture to rise and fall and these plants would continue to grow and offer some color for the cold winter months. 

Also in the dining room was a series of shelves along the southern exposed windows where her collection of African violets grew.  These would bloom all winter long with their deep purples, blues, and pink velvety flowers.  These plants made the cold dark winters a bit more bearable for my grandmother who loved walking through her wooded trails and visiting with the wide variety of ferns, orchids, and wildflowers that grew naturally on her property.

This is a story of her prized value; caring for the living earth.  She loved nature and all the beauty it contained. To carry the spark of green with her through the winter was an important tool for her spiritual well being.  This story also contains a value that is part of our Unitarian Universalist principles, respect for the interdependent web of all existence.

It is a value that is told in many stories shared this season.  Frank Capra’s classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” shares this value in a slightly different way.  The Bailey Building and Loan financial resources aren’t found in the bank, they are found in the homes of beloved neighbors built by money loaned.

It’s a value shared again in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” again in a slightly different way.  This time the value of interdependence is expressed in the effects of how getting mine first negatively impacts on the well being of us and others, including the life of tiny Tim Cratchet.

The story of the Christ child is the same only in reverse. It is the story of how one life; one solitary life can begin to change the lives and directions of so many lives towards the positive.  We are indeed interdependently connected, the law of physics of one action causes an equal re-action is true.  And for us living creatures it tends to be exponential.

There is an ancient text of what happened after the three Magi visited the infant Jesus. It is a story of how they took the message of hope of Emmanuel, which means god dwells with us and transformed their home community.  When the Apostle Thomas appears later after the death of Jesus, he finds a community already living the gospel message.  One event, even one so simple, yet profound as a birth of a child, can transform the lives of many.

My sister’s childhood friend’s surprise of Christmas joy is carried forward another generation and my sharing it with you expand it further.  The birth of Jesus has changed the world over and is incorporated as we have heard tonight into the fabric of two world religions, Christianity and Islam.

So it is important to tell the stories that highlight the values we most honor and want to live up to in our daily lives. Changing the narrative can change the way we live our lives in the here and now.  This is important for us seeking to become a vibrant religious community. What are the stories that members are telling about the congregation.  Are they stories that speak to the values that are going to compel others to say they want to be part of our congregation?  Or are they stories that say move along now, nothing to see here?

Listen to the stories being shared.  If they are not revealing the values the community wants to manifest then stop telling those stories and tell new ones.  Tell stories of transformation. Tell stories of lives being changed.  Tell stories of liberation.  They exist within our congregations.  

It is these stories that will invite others to join us. It is these stories that we will want to hear again and again because they call out to us to reach towards our better selves and to create a better world.  Tell the story of Christmas, not because you believe it to be true, but because the story contains a truth of how we are to live; aware of our interconnections, aware of how love shared transforms far beyond our own horizons.  Blessed Be.

OPENING WORDS : “The movement of the spirit of god in the hearts of men often calls them to act against the spirit of their times or causes them to anticipate a spirit which is yet in the making. In the moment of dedication, they are given wisdom and courage to dare a deed that challenges and to kindle a hope that inspires.”—Howard Thurman

 
READING FROM On the Waterfront:
Charlie: Look, kid, I – how much you weigh, son? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.

Terry: It wasn’t him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, “Kid, this ain’t your night. We’re going for the price on Wilson.” You remember that? “This ain’t your night”! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn’t have to take them dives for the short-end money.

Charlie: Oh I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.

Terry: You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Charley.

The film On the Waterfront is about Terry Malloy, the gifted boxer who coulda been a contender had he followed his heart’s voice instead of that of his brothers is a message of what could happen when you allow someone else to forge your destiny. Now to be clear rarely are destinies created outside the context of other people.

Fulfilling our destiny is not something that is done in a vacuum. It is done in the context of our relationship with others. There are many engagements with our destiny that would be essentially impossible if it were not for the positive relationship with at least one other person. An example of this is Helen Keller. At a young age before she fully began to talk, she suffered the ill effects of scarlet fever that left her deaf and blind. Her family and physicians thought she was also dumb as a result of this illness. The family’s hope was for Helen to be well behaved and so they brought in Anne Sullivan to work with her on her behaviors. Anne Sullivan sensed there was intelligence in Helen’s behaviors and began trying to break through in communication with her. And she did. Helen realized that things have names. Anne Sullivan became a mentor for Helen, teaching her how to communicate with the larger world. Helen eventually went on to be the first deaf blind person to receive a Bachelors degree and to write several books. There is a balance that is needed between the individual and the relationships we are accountable to in this life.

But what happened in Terry Malloy’s life is that he lost that balance between what his goals in life were and the goals of his brother. His brother wanted to get rich. His brother wanted to rise in the mob world of power. And Terry Malloy, out of his devotion to his brother agreed that his brother’s happiness, his brother’s dreams, his brother’s life were more important than his own. And when Terry Malloy did that he forfeited his own destiny in the pursuit of fulfilling his brother’s. And as we see in the unfolding story his journey back to forging his own destiny was difficult and painful but one that eventually would be regarded with respect and dignity.

In the first part of this sermon series, I talked about the different aspects of destiny as defined by Rollo May. There was the cosmic aspect of destiny such as birth, death, and acts of god like tornadoes and earthquakes. The genetic aspect of destiny includes the physical characteristics and limitations of our bodies and minds. The cultural aspects of destiny includes whether we were born into a family of wealth or poverty, the location where we spent our childhood, and the time in history in which we live. And there is circumstantial destiny; those events that happen around us that cannot be taken back or redone such as the loss of a sibling or parent at an early age or a nation declaring war or going into economic recession.

So Terry Malloy in our story was born with some athletic talents that enabled him to be a good boxer, potentially a great boxer. This is a genetic aspect of destiny. He was born into a working class family with an older brother who was smart and ambitious at a time when mobs ruled the way things went down. It is a family that taught values of sticking together. This is the cultural aspects of destiny. He becomes involved in the mob that abuses workers with intolerable working conditions and poor wages. Those who speak up about these issues are either replaced or removed by killing them. This is the circumstantial destiny he is surrounded by and he cannot redo what has already happened.

In order for Terry Malloy to redefine himself as a person of integrity and worth, he must choose to engage his destiny. He must begin to self-differentiate himself from his surroundings and relationships and not have his identity be fused with them. Self-differentiation is a term that Murry Bowen, founder of family systems theory, developed to describe the ability of being able to separate out ones emotional and intellectual awareness from that of the family or group. This comes from the person developing and considering thoughtfully their principles and values that they will seek to follow rather than simply adopting the views and values of others. This means when conflicts occur, the person is able to assess the situation from a clear perspective and not clouded with the emotional entanglements such as fears of criticism or rejection. This enables the person to hear the opinions of others, respect them, without feeling the need to either adopt those opinions or try to get others to conform to their opinions and values. Self- differentiation includes both a separation from the emotional entanglements and a connection to the person or group through listening to what is happening.

No one is 100% self-differentiated but it is a goal that individuals and groups can strive towards in forging destinies for themselves and for the groups where they have aligned themselves. This is not easy work. It is not something that happens over night and suddenly a person is self-differentiated. It is a process.

In the movie On the Waterfront self-differentiation resulted in push back from the system. When Terry began to self-differentiate his brother and the mob bosses began to get nervous because Terry was always a submissive person. Terry was the person who wanted above all else to please his brother and that even meant being silent when he witnessed a murder. So Charley, Terry’s brother, tries to get Terry to conform to the mob bosses wishes and desires or risk being killed. Self-differentiation can carry with it risks but in the long run it is a healthier way of being.

The prayer that Alcoholics Anonymous uses is a prayer for self-differentiation. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. It is also a prayer to engage one’s destiny. To have serenity over the things that cannot be changed does not mean surrender or helplessness; it simply means to accept them and then use them as the boundaries to redefine one’s path.

In the story of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip meets Miss Haversham. Now Miss Haversham is an aged spinster who continues to wear her wedding dress and has stopped all the clocks in the house at 20 minutes of nine. She was jilted before the wedding and now she waits eternally for her betrothed to come and marry her. Miss Haversham has tried to stop time and has tried to preserve the anticipation of her wedding that will never happen. This is not an act of engaging her destiny of circumstances. She has in the process of trying to control time become bitter and cruel.

Nor is this an act of accepting things that cannot be changed. True, Miss Haversham cannot change the fact that she was jilted by her betrothed but it does her no good to pretend that it is forever 20 minutes of nine, frozen in time. While we might chuckle at Miss Haversham’s absurd and possibly insane behavior, I dare say that this happens more times than not, perhaps not to the same degree of insanity.

Miss Haversham blames the way her life turned out on this man who jilted her decades before. She then allows her life to be defined by this tragedy instead of grieving the loss and then using her wealth and privilege to create a different life for herself. Miss Haversham did not engage in destiny instead she allowed events to define who she is and in the process became less of a person for it. Life is meant to be lived to the fullest potential and we each have a responsibility towards that endeavor.

So let’s bring this idea of forging destiny closer to home. There are many things happening in our little part of the world. We each have our own unique genetic destiny. None of us know when our bodies will give out so our time of active engagement is limited, for some that limitation will be here sooner than later. And that statement has nothing to do with age because we all have known people whose lives came to an end far ahead of season. So there is that part of engaging our destiny.

I have been engaging my genetic destiny by seeing to my health. I am losing weight, I am now walking three miles a day and I am on top of my medical stats of cholesterol, triglycerides, thyroid, and blood pressure. The question still remains to whether I will follow my father’s family or my mother’s in terms of years ahead of me. There is a sense of urgency for me if my father’s genes are dominant. My hope through my health actions is that I will tip the scales towards following my mother’s ancestry. How are you all doing in engaging your genetic destiny?

There is my cultural destiny. I was born in rural New York State to a working class family. The community I lived in was relatively homogenous. Being born white and male gave me privileges that I came to understand early in life through a friendship in junior high school with a person of color. We challenged each other to read about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. And we would discuss these books. Since she moved to the country from Harlem, her experiences were vastly different than mine. This gave me a desire to have different experiences than I could have in this rural community. I engaged my cultural destiny by moving to a city where there was exposure to other cultures. And I took risks to live in parts of the country that I never experienced before away from family and friends. All of this has given me a broader understanding of the human condition. And I continue to engage my cultural destiny by confronting racism and fear of multiculturalism.

Then there is the cultural destiny that results from living in the first quarter of the 21st century in Alabama and America. Some of this is also circumstantial such as the recent laws against immigrants and the banks too big to fail economic crash. How do we engage this destiny?

When I first moved to Mississippi and discussed where to begin addressing social justice issues, the response I received was point your arm in any direction and you will be pointing at an issue that needs addressing. It seems to be true here in Alabama as well. How do we engage this destiny? Can we have a say when history writes the final chapter on this era in American life?

The past two weeks my heart has been heavy as I hear from immigrants the fear they are now living, regardless of their status, with the enactment of portions of this law. Even though additional portions were blocked from enforcement this past week by the 11th circuit appeals court, there still remains much that is heinous. The nullification of contracts that will result in the shutting off of water to suspected undocumented immigrants is a flagrant violation of human rights. Water is essential to life. The potential for a public health crisis looming as families begin living without access to water is enormous.

I have begun exploring what I might possibly do to engage this aspect of our mutual destiny. I explored with the ACLU about the possibility of my standing in as contract holder for families whose water was shut off. This would be an act of civil disobedience. The consequence of this action could result in a Class C felony under HB 56 with fines up to $15,000 and ten years in prison. This new law has not been tested yet in the courts. Am I willing to do this? The idea of sacrificing my career which is what would happen because after ten years in prison, I would no longer be a good candidate for a long term ministry. I am not opposed to prison ministry but I would prefer to do it from this side of the bars. I am not sure that I am as brave as the Berrigan brothers were in the 1960’s and 70’s when they protested the Vietnam war by burning draft cards and then spent six years in prison. But I also do not want to be only an observer of this obscenity occurring in our state.

I recognize that any act of civil disobedience that I might engage in Alabama needs to be done in relationship with you as the congregation I serve. Any action that I take will impact this congregation and if I continue to pursue this path of engagement, that day will come when I will choose to be arrested in civil disobedience. For me, civil disobedience has to be more than just blocking traffic. It has to be geared towards either breaking the law itself or preventing the law from being enforced in some manner, other wise the point is somehow lost to the masses. I am telling you this because this is where my mind is these days. The pain and suffering this law is causing our neighbors is real and unjust. This law is not about their entry into this country with out papers. This is about how we as a nation have time and time again treated immigrants as less than human. Every immigrant group that has come to this country has been vilified by the dominant culture. And our despicable treatment of people from Mexico and further south is not a new phenomenon; it is over 200 years old. It is time we put aside our hatred and bigotry once and for all.

How do we engage this destiny in a manner that reflects our Unitarian Universalist values and principles? How do we forge a destiny that is more representative of a just and noble nation?

I also recognize that my engaging my destiny may not be the same as your engagement with yours or even the congregation’s. We have members here who are engaging their circumstantial destiny in ways that is every bit as important to repealing HB 56 or any other unjust law in our society. The reason why it is important is because in their doing so they are finding ways to be the most alive they can be.

In addition to the personal engagements to forge our destiny there are the engagements that are needed in order to forge our destiny forward as a congregation. And just as it is important for individual self-differentiation in engaging personal destinies there is the need for self-differentiation within the congregational setting as well. Leaders need to be self-differentiated because there are many opinions of what we should or should not be doing for our congregation. We need to be able to hear the words, hear the anxiety, without becoming anxious ourselves. Congregations are not about any one person, they are about the health of the group. How we handle conflict is important to this process.

As a congregation we have circumstantial events that we need to engage.. We as a congregation can also choose to allow our ship to drift on the sea of destiny or we can engage with our ship and determine its course. The choice is ours to make. We have some challenges that we need to engage in soon if we do not like the direction in which we are drifting. We currently have no director of religious education. We currently only have a half time minister. This is a down ward drift from last year. We currently have no one to chair our stewardship campaign for the second year in a row. What will be the result of our stewardship this next year if we have no one to help direct this particular aspect of our boat? It will do us no good to bemoan our misfortunes. It will do us no good to bemoan the lack of volunteers. These bemoaning behaviors only keep us drifting away from our goal instead of moving towards it.

We have the people here to do what needs to be done. If you have not done anything recently beyond attending Sunday morning, this is your invitation to get involved to help forge our future.

It will take all of us looking out for each other to steer this boat into the future we want. All of us together to create the destiny we desire. Our congregation can be a contender in making a difference in the lives of our larger community. May it be so and blessed be.

CLOSING WORDS: “There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.”—Howard Thurman

[This sermon is part one of a two part series on destiny.]

There are age old questions that humanity asks and one of them is ‘do we have a destiny to fulfill?  Is there something written in the stars that determines my fate?’  In every culture there is a methodology for telling the future.  Whether it is astrology, runes, I Ching, tea leaves, palm reading, or tarot cards; humanity in every culture attempted a variety of ways to discover its fate. And even if we do not use such external means to learn what lies ahead for us, we will do other things to help steer the course of this ship we call life.

These other things might be manipulating others, saving money for retirement, developing elaborate plans in the attempt of placing controls and securities on what our future may be. But even all of these strategies sometimes do not bring the success or the life that we desire so we are left with an even more crucial and perhaps more basic question:  ‘Does my life have a purpose that I am to fulfill?’

There is in Christian theology, a train of thought that God is outside of history and time. So all of history past, present, and future is moving towards the culmination of events as described in the Book of Revelation as the end of time where good and evil actions of souls will be judged either for heaven or hell.  So the purpose of humanity according to this theology is to move history towards judgment day.

This is the logic behind those who say we do not need to have environmental protections because to do so would thwart the culmination of God ordained events, the end of history. Or the rationale behind continued unrest in the Middle East because this is the place where the last battle will be fought before the second coming of Christ. It is certainly the logic behind the Dominionists who seek to create an American theocracy.  So one’s destiny, according to this theological discourse is to further the will of God towards the culmination of time. And when I say the will of God, I am referring to groups of people’s belief of what that will of God might be, not that anyone has the franchise on knowing such information.  Although there are many who claim to know.

Even if one does not subscribe to this particular theology, the question remains, is there a destiny, some purpose to my existence, some role that I am to play out that I am to fulfill? Is there a way for me to know what that role is?  Do I have any say at all in determining that role?  Is there a sense of Destiny that each of us have?

Rollo May, existentialist writer of the 20^th century, would say yes. But he also ties destiny with freedom and this I believe is a crucial point.  He writes, “The freedom of each of us is in proportion to the degree with which we confront and live in relation to our destiny[i]” So what is destiny?

May defines “destiny as the patterns of limits and talents that constitute the givens in life.” There are four aspects of destiny that we need to consider in these patterns. We have the cosmic level of destiny, birth and death.  These are two events that we have relatively little choice over.  We had no say in our birth and we all will die.  We might be able to have a say as to when we give birth to another or we might be able to postpone death by taking care of our health or even invite death through suicide but it is the destiny of each to die.

In this category are also the so-called acts of god; tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and the like.  We might choose to flee a hurricane or decide to take our chances in the storm but these events occur with no consideration of us. The positive side of this includes the beauty of a sunset, the rolling waves of the ocean on a silky sand beach, the breeze on a hot summer afternoon, a walk along a wooded path on a fall day.

Genetics play a role in our destiny.  We have physical characteristics that we were given in our formation in the womb even if those characteristics were falsely assigned like being born female but embodying male chromosomes.  What race we are born into, what color eyes were we given are part of this category. And May places our gifts and talents into this category as givens.

Cultural aspects play a role in determining destiny.  What family we are born into; wealthy or poverty stricken. We had no say in choosing our family or what country or in what part of the country we were born. And we did not pick the period of history in which we live.  Our lives would be vastly different if this was Alabama in the early 18^th century or mid 19^th century or even the mid-20^th century.

And the final category that May defines is circumstantial destiny. These are events that happen in the world that we cannot reverse, avoid, ignore, or even ask for a do over.  Events like 9/11, the invasion of Iraq or the collapse of financial institutions are events that have impact on our lives circumstantially and alter our world view. We may have little to no involvement in those events but they have changed the circumstances of our lives. We only have to think about airport security to see an example of how life has changed post 9/11.

May places all of these forms of destiny on a spectrum with the extreme left hand position as being those events that humanity has no control over such as fate, determinism. In the middle he places the unconscious function of the human mind; partly determined, partly influenced by human behavior.  Nearer to the right hand, he places cultural aspects because while we cannot control the culture we were born into there is freedom in how we engage that culture. And in the extreme right position he would place talents and gifts because while these are given to us, we have considerable freedom in pursuing or not pursuing the development of these talents.

This definition of destiny is very different than the theological statement that destiny is somehow an expression towards fulfilling God’s ultimate end point of a judgment day.

It is directly tied into our concept of freedom.  Stephen Hawking is a brilliant man but if all you knew about him was the books that he wrote, you would have no idea that he suffers from Lou Gehrings disease, a debilitating condition that slowly over time removes all ability for movement.  His destiny, perhaps genetic disposition, was this disease but he decided to engage the disability in a manner that enabled him to continue using his mind in extremely creative and liberating ways.  All of our lives are richer for his engaging with the limitations of his body.

May describes the freedom this way: “Freedom is honed in the struggle with destiny.  The freedom that develops in our confronting our destiny produces the richness, the endless variety, the capacity to endure, the ecstasy, the imagination, and other capacities that characterize the world and ourselves as conscious creatures, free but destined, moving in it.  In this sense destiny is personal.”

There is the story of Esther in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Born of lowly birth to a Jewish family, there was not much promise for her status in life.  She did have one thing in her favor, she was beautiful.  The King becomes enamored by her and marries her.  But there is also an advisor to the King who has a grudge against the Jews and plots with the King to have them killed.  Esther feels distressed but also helpless in this situation, since she is not the esteemed first wife of the King.  But her uncle, Mordecai says to her, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?[ii]”

For such a time as this.  Haunting words but words that were needed for Esther to engage her destiny and find a way to entice the king to give her an audience and perhaps save her people.

I think this question of having come to our royal position for such a time as this comes up to us in a variety of ways.  In what ways are we being called to engage our destiny, our talents, our gifts, our limitations, our pitfalls and rise up to address a pressing need at hand?  It might not be anything on a grand scale.  It might be something seemingly insignificant to us but means the world of difference to another.

There is a story [iii] that has been recycled through the internet several times, perhaps you have read it.  It goes something like this, a young man who became very successful and renowned in his chosen field returns home for his highschool reunion. There he runs into his best friend from high school.  He decides to tell his friend how grateful he was for having him as a friend all those years ago.  The friend is a bit puzzled by this overture of gratitude.  So the first one says to his friend, well do you remember the day we met. His friend laughs and says oh yes.  You were carrying all these books home and some jerks knocked them out of your arms and I helped you pick them up.  And we became instant and best friends.  Well, the first friend says, I never told you why I was carrying all those books.  You assumed I was just a study geek but you see, that day I decided to take my life.  I didn’t want my parents to have to bother with one more thing like empty out my school locker.  Your helping me that day when all was lost in my mind was the very thing that prevented me from choosing death.

The friend looks at him stunned, knowing all the great things his friend has done in his life since that moment.  His friend looked at him and says I was only doing what I would have wanted someone to have done for me if my books were knocked out of my arms. Exactly, and it saved my life, his friend says.

Who knows if you have come to where you are in life for such a time as this.

We do not always know how our lives impact another’s life.  A gentle word may give someone hope. A touch may be a moment of not being so isolated.  Many of these simple moments will be forgotten by you before the day is over but for the person receiving them, a world of difference.

Having a sense of destiny isn’t about some lofty achievement that revolutionizes the world as we know it.  Yes, lofty achievements can be a part of one’s destiny, one’s unfolding life as they grapple with the limitations that life has given them.  But a sense of destiny can be in taking the time to examine the issues of the day against the values you hold dear.  In doing so, you may be preparing yourself to be able to speak up against injustice in the world, whether that world refers to the culture as a whole or the classroom or the job site. A sense of destiny is found in discovering the freedom one has even with the limitations presented.  There are new opportunities that can be found in those limitations especially when we decide to take risks.

I know that I have shared with you some of my story regarding the founding of Interfaith AIDS Ministry but this is a story about my parting Interfaith AIDS Ministry.  I had been with the organization that I co-founded for just over twelve years. I knew it was time for new leadership.  I had taken the organization about as far as I could and I had accomplished my number one goal which was to develop an organization that when I left could continue on without having to revert back to ground zero.  I thought that I wanted to work with another agency that was slightly larger that would bring new challenges.  I began searching and no nibbles.  So I decided that I needed to reexamine what my goals truly were.

What did I want to accomplish in my life?   What sorts of things did I really enjoy?  Well I enjoy writing and I had ideas for some novels but some of these ideas needed different life experiences than I had had to that point in my life. I enjoyed doing the liturgies for the interfaith prayer services we offered at the agency.  I enjoyed the pastoral care aspects of the position.  I enjoyed the opportunities to give sermons.  So I took those aspects that I enjoyed and began pondering what I might need to do in order to find a position that would give me more of those experiences.

This was engaging my destiny.  I was in one place that had limitations for me and I wanted to be in another place that I perceived would open some new experiences for me.  I took my time to listen to the silence between the spaces.  I enjoyed this aspect of my life. Pause.  I enjoyed that aspect of my life. Pause. And in taking the time to listen not only in the midst of performing an activity that I enjoy like writing, but also listening in the midst of not writing, of not doing anything, I began to gain a sense of what I wanted in my life.  And perhaps more importantly, I began to get a sense of what my destiny might be unfolding for me and the willingness to take a risk and go to seminary in a different state far from anything I had ever known before. The classical pianist Artur Schnabel is quoted as saying, “I don’t think I handle the notes much differently from other pianists. But the pauses between the notes—ah, there is where the artistry lies!” It is in the pauses that we get a chance to find the artistry of living life.

May writes, “Pause is the prerequisite for wonder.  When we don’t pause, when we are personally hurrying from one appointment to another, from one ‘planned activity’ to another, we sacrifice the richness of wonder. And we lose communication with our destiny.”  To engage with our destiny we need to take time to pause and simply be in the stillness of that moment, to savor all the richness of that which has gone before and that which is about to be.

What is our individual sense of destiny?  And what is our collective sense of destiny?  These are very different questions and they are worth taking the time to pause, to ponder, to wonder.  Perhaps we are being prepared for just such a time as this. Blessed Be.

[i] Rollo May, Freedom and Destiny, 1981, WW Norton & Company.  All quotes by Rollo May in this sermon are from this text. Personal note:  This is my favorite book, I have read this text  many  times since it was first published in 1981.
[ii] Esther 4: 13,14
[iii] Source of this story is unknown. It is most likely a fictional story used to spread a moral message.

Since writing that post The Southern Poverty Law Center has confirmed a report that a school district in Northeast Alabama called their Latino students into the cafeteria and asked them if they knew their legal status in this country.  Those that stated they were undocumented were culled out of the group and were arrested by ICE.

Here is what the law states regarding schools:

Section 28. (a)(1) Every public elementary and secondary school in this state, at the time of enrollment in kindergarten or any grade in such school, shall determine whether the student enrolling in public school was born outside the jurisdiction of the United States or is the child of an alien not lawfully present in the United States and qualifies for assignment to an English as Second Language class or other remedial program.

Here is what Genocide Watch writes to describe stage 6:

6. PREPARATION:Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious identity. Death lists are drawn up. Members of victim groups are forced to wear identifying symbols. Their property is expropriated. They are often segregated into ghettoes, deported into concentration camps, or confined to a famine-struck region and starved. At this stage, a Genocide Emergency must be declared. If the political will of the great powers, regional alliances, or the U.N. Security Council can be mobilized, armed international intervention should be prepared, or heavy assistance provided to the victim group to prepare for its self-defense. Otherwise, at least humanitarian assistance should be organized by the U.N. and private relief groups for the inevitable tide of refugees to come.

Which of these statements does the actions of the school district in Northeast Alabama resemble most?  Now granted stage 6 has not been fully implemented in the state of Alabama but it seems to me that the actions of this school district did not follow the law as written but instead jumped to the next logical step of where this law is headed in spirit.  The school district identified and separated out the students who were undocumented and had them arrested by ICE agents.  This is indeed the spirit behind Genocide Watch’s Stage 6.

There was another event this time in Morgan County.  Committee on Church Cooperation, a non-profit organization,  whose mission is to help the poor  has decided that immigrants are not part of its mission, especially if they are undocumented.  The Decatur Daily reports this in their newspaper:

Gayle Monk, CCC executive director, said the organization has had to take extra steps to make sure undocumented immigrants do not obtain food, clothing and other assistance, much of which is donated to the agency by Morgan County churches.
“We thoroughly check everybody out,” Monk said. “We’ve even got wind that a lot of them have illegal Social Security cards. So I’ve tried to educate my staff on what to look for.”
As a condition of receiving assistance, Monk said, applicants must present government-issued photo identification showing residence in Morgan County. They also must provide a Social Security card for every member of the household, as well as documentation of income.
“The majority of the Hispanics, No. 1, can’t speak English when they come in here and, No. 2, have a Social Security card that is fake,” Monk said. …

Monk said the extra attention paid to documentation has been effective.
“It used to be about 10 percent (Hispanics) that we served,” Monk said. “Since cracking down, I haven’t seen anybody, especially in the last month. …

Monk said CCC has no connection to the controversy over undocumented immigrants because it receives no governmental funding.
“We operate strictly off of donations given to us out of the kindness of an individual’s heart,” Monk said.

In the ruling by Judge Sharon Blackburn  she stated the churches did not have a basis on which to argue that HB 56 would impinge on their freedom to practice their faith.  Yet, here is an example of an organization deciding to implement the law using the laws criteria to single out and deny services to people in need.  This organization decided to interpret their religious mission not on spiritual principles but rather on state law.  A response by CCC to criticism of their actions on facebook  states:

“Our acting Board Chairman, Mr. Greg Ethridge, states clearly “CCC’s charter is to serve those in need in Morgan County. Our policy, since 1973, has been that each client served present their proof of residency in Morgan County and thier [sic] Social Security card. This policy is regardless of race, color, creed, religion or nationality.”  

Social Security cards do not provide proof of residency within local municipalities, therefore there is no need to have them as part of this criteria of eligibility.    In this instance it can only be used to discriminate between residents who are citizens and residents who are undocumented which implies that nationality is regarded as a criteria for service by this charitable religious organization.  Comments in the story also suggests there is a bias against those who speak a different language.

Where does this story fit into the stages towards genocide?  I suggest this falls into stage 1:

1. CLASSIFICATION:All cultures have categories to distinguish people into “us and them” by ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality: German and Jew, Hutu and Tutsi. Bipolar societies that lack mixed categories, such as Rwanda and Burundi, are the most likely to have genocide. The main preventive measure at this early stage is to develop universalistic institutions that transcend ethnic or racial divisions, that actively promote tolerance and understanding, and that promote classifications that transcend the divisions. The Catholic church could have played this role in Rwanda, had it not been riven by the same ethnic cleavages as Rwandan society. Promotion of a common language in countries like Tanzania has also promoted transcendent national identity. This search for common ground is vital to early prevention of genocide.

There is the story in the Christian Scriptures where a Greek  woman is asking Jesus for a miracle for her daughter.  Jesus responds somewhat uncharacteristically that it is not right to take food from the children and cast it to the dogs.  The woman bravely responds that even the dogs get a chance to eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table.  Jesus gives the woman her miracle.

This is not a story that we should be offering the crumbs of our abundance to those who speak a different language.  Nor is it a story that suggests  different Christian and other religious  charities should discriminate between those who are like us and those who are not in offering services.  Rather it is a story that reveals that love transcends the boundaries of race and culture and what we offer to others who are different should be of the same quality and same intention as what we offer those who are similar to us.   Where better to transcend these ethnic and racial categories and boundaries than within the services of a charitable organization whose mission is to help those in need.

There is still time to stop the progression of the effects of this law.  We all must work together to prevent the dehumanization of even one child, one family, one community.  If we do not or if we cannot, we are all dehumanized in the process.

Since the law, commonly called HB 56, went into effect on September 29th municipalities have shut off water service to residents suspected of being undocumented.  This is a tactic that totalitarian countries use before they begin the final push towards genocide.  Yes, I used that word.   There are eight stages towards genocide according to Genocide Watch  and Alabama apparently is actively pursuing them.

Stage One: Classification.   We have classified Alabamans into us and them.  Citizens vs illegals.  And the “illegals” are of a specific nationality even though the law is any immigrant who is in this country without documentation.

Stage Two:  Symbolization. “names or other symbols  are given to the classifications”  Calling immigrants illegals, criminals, parasites, and rats are all signs of stage two.  This is happening in Alabama.

Stage Three: Dehumanization.  This is happening in Alabama.  We call residents who are here without papers, illegals. We are hearing people and some politicians use the terms rats or parasites or blights on society. This is for the sole purpose to dehumanize the plights of these immigrants who according to Federal law have not committed a crime.  It is harder to feel compassion towards a parasite losing its home or water but if we insist to  humanize our neighbors regardless of nationality then we have a chance for compassion and interrupting this stage.

Stage Four:  Organization.  The state has ordered that our police force which is to protect and serve to be trained outside of their authorization under federal law to arrest and detain  individuals that they determine are not here legally. In other countries where genocide is occurring these trained militias commit mass murder and that is NOT  happening here in Alabama. But it is worrisome that police are not adequately trained and therefore are racial profiling in their arrests.  The federal government is also actively engaged in this stage with its ICE raids and brandishing weapons with the sole purpose of terrorizing a community.

This past weekend a Latino minister and a minister colleague were stopped by police in Warrior, AL  in northern Jefferson County on the road en route to fix his car that had a flat tire.  He was asked for his papers to show he was here in this country legally.  He showed the police officer his passport.  The police officer “determined” the  passport was counterfeit and asked for additional identification.  He showed him a chaplaincy association card that stated he was a member of the clergy in good standing in that organization.  His colleague, who had documentation was allowed to leave.  But he was arrested on the charge of using a counterfeit passport.

When inquiries were made as to bond and charges, the charges changed to impersonating a clergyman.  What happened to the counterfeit passport?  It was a legitimate passport indicating that he had every right to be here in this country.   He was released after the jail was flooded with phone calls inquiring why they were charging someone  with  impersonation of clergy, when in fact he was and is a minister.  Impersonating clergy is a crime?   In a state where if a group of people declare that they avail a person’s skills as their minister  thereby making that person a minister; this becomes a bogus charge and reveals the racism that he has been subjected to by the police officer.

Stage Five:  Polarization.  We are seeing the beginnings of this extreme polarization.  When Farmers complained to Sen. Beason about not being able to harvest their crops, his attitude was ‘so what.’  Conservative press is becoming more extreme in their propaganda targeting immigrants. The passage of HB 56 is also an example of this polarization.

Stage Six:  Preparation.  “Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious identity.” We are beginning to see this after the passage of this law.  Municipalities are shutting water services to those they suspect are undocumented.  Landlords are evicting families from homes.  Schools are requesting proof of citizenship of new enrollees and,  while the state school board has said this would not happen, teachers are asking previously enrolled  students if they are undocumented.  Students,  this is a question that does not need to be answered.  Respectfully decline.

Stage Seven:  Extermination of people. Not happening.

Stage Eight:  Denial of the genocide. The seeds of this are happening in the guises of  “What part of illegal, don’t you understand.” This is the following the law even if it is morally corrupt and unjust.   Martin Luther King, Jr. countered such statements with arresting Jews was the law in Germany during Nazi Germany but it does not mean it is the right and moral action to take.

Many of these stages are developing to fruition at a faster pace than others. We need to be active in dismantling these stages to prevent genocide from happening in our beloved country.

Now, I know many will read this and declare, Fred, you are exaggerating. This is not what is happening in Alabama.  This would never happen in America. My reply would be it already has happened in America several times in our history.

It happened when our founding parents  first settled this country and rounded up the native people of this land,  massacred them en masse, and forced them onto reservations.  It happened through out the deep south after the civil war through the 1970′s.  Lynchings were a common occurrence, bombings of  churches and synagogues  happened regularly because they were of a different race or different religion.  Several of these stages were implemented during World War Two when the US sent thousands of Japanese Americans to internment camps.  And it is happening again this time against another people who only seek what we have;  the dream for a better life.

We need to repeal this law. We need to expand our education for tolerance and diversity.  We need to begin living our highest values as taught by all of our faith traditions of  treating others as we would want to be treated.

On October 2 I led such a walk around First Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa. This is the congregation that Governor Bentley attends. The congregation, however, offers hospitality to the immigrant community. They offer several English as a Second Language courses to the Latino and the Chinese immigrant communities here. They provide a vibrant worship community for these immigrants which empowers the ability to live here.  They are living their faith tradition which commands its followers to offer hospitality and welcome to the stranger, the foreigner, the immigrant.

So our walk had to be respectful of this ministry and yet point out the contradiction. We decided to thank First Baptist for their hospitality and point out that HB 56, where at least one of their members is a strong proponent, seeks to violate theirs and many others’ faith traditions call to be hospitable.

As we walked around the building, some of the people within looked out the windows and waved. We showed them our signs, “Thank you First Baptist: Hearts Immigrants,” “Somos Tuskaloosa,” “Repeal HB 56,” “Tuscaloosa Welcomes all people,” and “One Family Una Familia.” The on lookers gave us a thumbs up. People in cars going to the church waved. They seemed to get it.

The walls are tumbling down. We will win this. The ram horn of justice is about to blow loud and long.

Members of Somos Tuskaloosa in front of First Baptist Church.

We only truly embody our faith and values when we live those values in the culture.  It is in the culture that our faith is put to the test to strengthen our mettle.  Currently our culture is resisting attempts to be compassionate towards others.  There are loud voices that claim  the individual is above all others; disregarding the worth and dignity of others.   Moves in our government to reduce taxes on the über wealthy and corporations  to the detriment of life giving services to the poorest in our country is received with high praise by politicians and citizens alike.  The recent GOP debate had an audience member shout ‘let him die’  to the hypothetical question  of a young man who chose not to get insurance and then had an accident which left him in a coma, should he be treated?  A bad decision on the young man’s part and lack of compassion by the Ayn Rand neophytes who place individual rights and a disdain for minor impositions above collective societal rights.   It is in this world where we either live up to what we claim to profess on Sunday morning or we fail to meet the challenge.

This is the test of our values as Unitarian Universalists. How well do we represent these values in the day to day? Do we speak up when we see someone being abused for being gay or discriminated against for being an immigrant? Do we talk with our friends about the deep matters in life or do we hide away to keep the peace when a disparaging word is said about another group ?

If being Unitarian Universalist is only good one day a week then our faith is weak and ineffective.  We should not continually wonder why our congregations are not growing and or why claims of irrelevance surface. If we are not seeking to live the principles that we covenant to uphold then our voice will continue to grow weak against the din and noise of the popular cultural shift towards Ayn Rand’s extreme individualism.

As a faith, as congregations, as individuals we need to examine how we embody the values our faith teaches out in the world where we breathe, and eat, and have our being.  This is not an easy challenge. It is hard work  this path we have chosen. Dag Hammarskjold wrote these words “This is your path, And it is now, Now, that you must not fail.”

I repeat Connie Goodbread’s words with mine added at the end:

Faith development is all we do;
Unitarian Universalism is all we teach;
the congregation is the curriculum;
and the culture is the crucible.

This is our task and our path. We must not fail.

I attended the federal hearing of HB 56 in Birmingham. Judge Blackburn just wasn’t getting the religious argument and the attorney was not presenting a very strong argument to enable her to get it.  In fact, I thought she erred in her strategy altogether. The attorney went doctrinal and this law is not about doctrines but about resources that religious organizations offer in practicing their faith that enable immigrants (undocumented and documented) to remain in AL.  So there is a very good chance that the judge will rule for the state in regard to first amendment rights being violated.

But this is indeed about first amendment rights being violated. And so I have been wondering, what are the next steps?  I have been reading about the New Sanctuary movement.  The original sanctuary movement in the 1980’s was in response to supporting refugees from El Salvador fleeing their country from the US backed civil war. These refugees were not given asylum in the US because the US maintained they were allies with these countries. But this reason hides the deeper truth that the US was providing military training and arms to the governments that were killing their people involved in liberation theology in El Salvador.  So congregations of many faith traditions became sanctuary congregations and gave hiding places to refugees and moved them from congregation to congregation to Canada which was offering asylum.

In 2007 the New Sanctuary Movement was born, “with the goal of protecting immigrant families from unjust deportation, affirming and making visible these families as children of God and awakening the moral imagination of the country through prayer and witness.”  This movement is also comprised of a broad interfaith coalition including the Unitarian Universalist Association.  (See the UUA’s involvement with the New Sanctuary Movement here. )

These congregations support a family undergoing deportation with American born children perhaps by providing meals, transportation to work, and other material and spiritual support.  Congregations may also offer their locations to alternative labor/employer match sites.  I encourage you to thoughtfully examine the New Sanctuary Movement website and pay close attention to what are the expectations and roles of participating congregations as found here.

This site also discusses briefly the federal Immigration and Nationality Act which includes section 1324 regarding harboring.  According to this site, all cases regarding prosecution of this act were aimed at individuals who secretly harbored or concealed but not those individuals who notified INS of the undocumented person’s presence but continued to shelter them.   They surmise the same would be true for congregations who alert INS of the undocumented person’s presence but continue to shelter them. But this has never been tested in court and therefore the UUA legal counsel advises that congregations contemplating this stance to consult with an immigration lawyer.

In most states sanctuary is not a criminal activity but in AL under this new law providing sanctuary or creating sanctuary for undocumented persons is a crime.  Mickey Hammon, State Representative, during the public hearing of his version of HB 56 stated, after I spoke against this bill, that if any congregation has undocumented individuals worshiping in the church that he will ensure that the clergy with the undocumented persons are arrested. He has also stated that HB 56 was to impact all aspects of the immigrant’s life.

I am quite aware that in AL, if we were to have sanctuary congregations we would be asking our congregations to be willing to face the criminal charges as defined in Alabama’s law. People harboring undocumented immigrants could be charged with a class A misdemeanor unless ten or more individuals were harbored and then the charge is a Class C Felony.  What are we willing to risk to create justice?