A House of Hope

These last two weeks we have heard a lot of speeches on television at the political conventions.  One candidate used the word hope twice in his convention speech reminding people that the hope they had four years had not come to fruition.  The other candidate used the word hope 17 times often speaking about what still gives him hope.  And most of the examples he gave were the actions of ordinary citizens overcoming unbelievable hardships in their lives to reach their potential, and by doing so, they had the  ability to instill hope for others.  I think the juxtaposition of these two brings up an interesting question about hope.  Just because every hope does not come fruition, should we stop hoping.  Is hoping for something unrealistic appropriate? 

Just recently my cousin posted something on Facebook, mentioning that the NY Mets were only 8 games behind in the baseball playoff  race and he lauded them with hopeful abandon that they could still win it, if they just swept the St. Louis Cardinals this upcoming week. So knowing the Mets were not as talented as the Cardinals I pointed out to him that the Book of Ecclesiastes states, “the race does not always go to the swift, nor the battle always to the strong.”  Often do people, groups, societies overcome conventional wisdom.  It was once conventional wisdom that slavery should be legal, it was once conventional wisdom that there was no need for public education, it was once conventional wisdom that women should not vote, it was once conventional wisdom that people of the same sexual orientation should not marry. Those things didn’t change overnight, but through hard work, through the hard work of many people working together, over a long period of time, even generations, changes to conventional wisdom came to fruition.  And to see this come to fruition, to sustain the energy of ones purpose over such a long period of time, one needs hope.   This hope is not a magical thought, it is not something that you can turn on and off.  It is a way of being, a way of living, almost a spiritual practice in and of itself.

Just like anything that if we are to be good at it, or if it is to become a natural part of our personality and religious understanding,   it must be practiced, and it needs especially to be practiced in the onslaught of everything that tells us otherwise.  I think this is exemplified by Vedran Samilovic.  He was the principal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera, In 1992 Vedran heard a mortar shell burst in the street near his home, quickly followed by screams.  People had been standing in line to buy bread from one of the few remaining bakeries in the violence ravaged city.  When he looked out his window, Vedran saw the carnage.  The Shell killed twenty two people.  Grieved and shocked, he felt he must do something. but what? He did what he felt he, as an artist, could do.  Dressed up in his formal concert clothes, he went out the next afternoon and sat where the shell had burst and played the plaintive alinoni Adagio in G Minor.  He played every afternoon for the next twenty two days, one day of music for every person killed.  Then he kept playing As the Indian Buddhist writer/teacher Swati Chopra describes his discipline – “he played to ruined homes, smoldering fires, scared people hiding in basements.  He played for human dignity that is the first casualty in war.  Ultimately, he played for life, for peace, for the possibility of hope that exists even in the darkest hour.  Asked by a journalist whether he was not crazy doing what he was doing, Smailovic replied: You ask me if I am crazy for playing the cello.  Why do you not ask if they are not crazy for shelling Sarajevo?  It takes practice just as playing music does.”

In what ways are we practicing hope as a  Congregation. In what ways does our religion provide us hope for a better future.  I think one way we gain hope is from looking back and seeing our religious ancestors who as our sources say used  words and deeds which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love; By doing so we will be able to see the practice of an active hope over and over again lead to change.

We see hope the words and acts of Unitarian Minister Theodore Parker who was one of the earliest and most voracious supporters of the abolition movement in this country protecting runaway slaves, and financing anti slavery activist John Brown’s attacks into Kansas to prevent that state from becoming a slave state. Parker also famously said :

“Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the good. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.” 

Hope comes from looking back and knowing we are on that arc, but that we have only come so far, so we cannot rest.  We have a responsibility to carry on with the work of justice. This is the core of our religion, within our principles,  where we affirm and promote Justice equity and compassion in human relations as well as peace liberty and justice for all.  It is in the core of our vision and mission as a congregation, which asks us to devote ourselves to community good and to support social justice and social action initiatives in our congregation and the greater community. Hope comes from looking forward and knowing can we harness the collective power of our energies as a congregation so we can make this a more just and compassionate world.

So we can impact our community with our values.  This is what we are called to do. To stand up and speak the truth to power, to stand up and do the work that needs to be done. I have seen this in what our religion has consistently done over the years, from being the first religion to ordain a woman, to being the first religion to ordain an openly gay man, in our tireless efforts to see justice enacted wherever there are people oppressed as did in Phoenix Arizona at General Assembly this past year.  And knowing this gives me hope.

We see hope in the words and action of Unitarian Susan B Anthony who in one of her many works as leader of the women’s suffrage movement was arrested when she tried to cast a vote in an election at a time when women were denied the right to vote.  But she alone could not have made the right to vote come to pass.  It only happened through her tireless work and the work of many others coming together, both men and women, but it finally did come to pass.  And we are still working for the justice of gender equality, so that anyone regardless of gender receives equal pay for equal work.  And Susan Anthony said “a True Women will proclaim the "glad tidings of good news" to all women, that woman equally with man was made for her own individual happiness, to develop... every talent given to her by God, in the great work of life.”Through letters that Susan B Anthony wrote to her Unitarian Congregation we know her experiences at the Congregation transformed her.

As she wrote “my spirit was born  anew to listen to a cultured educated presentation about what it means to bring the light that lighteth every person that comes into the world”.   She knew it was special because she wrote on that day it was the first time she had ever seen her father put money in the collection basket at church.  We can gain hope looking back knowing that our religion  gave her the courage to continue on with the work that we all now benefit from.  Hope comes from looking forward and knowing that we can renew our own spirits as well. 

This is also at the core of our religion as our principles that ask us to encourage spiritual growth in our congregation.  It is at the core of our congregational vision that asks us to feed the mind and spirit. Hope comes from looking forward and knowing we can change, and grow and knowing that we will have good people to walk on our religious journey together with.  And that is a key to hope.  It is forever connected to trust.  First and foremost we have to trust in the universe that there is a purpose to our existence.  But even more importantly, even if there is no purpose, we have to trust each other. 

We have to  know that if we are going to risk opening ourselves up to new ideas, to risk allowing ourselves to believe in the potential for personal change, to risk letting go of some deeply held rigid beliefs, then we need to know that we can trust that the people we journey together with will catch us when that belief that held us for so long no longer buoys us, trust that we will not be judged for exploring ideas that are challenging to us, trust that we will be forgiven when we fail, and trust the good intentions of all we walk with.   I have seen this trust in our meetings, I have seen it in our classes, our connection circles and in our services.  And this gives me hope.

We see hope in the life and deaths of Rev. James J. Reeb and Viola Liuzzo both of whom were killed when answering the call to March in Selma Alabama in support of the voting rights act.  I think this is important to note, we usually only talk about Rev. Reeb, and ministers who answered Martin Luther King’s call back in the 1960s.  But it was lay people as well as ministers together who answered that call.  And that is also what gives me hope about our religion.  That unlike so many religions, we truly believe in what the responsive reading spoke of, the priesthood and prophethood of all believers. 

That each of us has a ministry, and we minister to each other, that each of you have a voice to speak your truth and we are willing to live out our shared values in the world, which may require sacrifice, and in the case of the two I mentioned the ultimate sacrifice.  And they helped create change in this country by doing so.  This priesthood and prophethood of all believers is also at the core of our religion, as our principles affirm and promote the right of conscience, and the use of the Democratic  process. And our vision and mission, speaks to us as a community doing this together, not as individuals, but as a community.

Together we can do exponentially more than any one of us could ever do alone.  Embedded in our religion is the opportunity to give people the opportunity to learn and to lead.   And I have certainly seen that here, as our caring team and other individuals care for each other as often life can leave us in the dark night of the body and soul. You see this in our worship as is our tradition, our lay leaders also speak from the pulpit.  We are all in this together.  And these things too gives me hope.

And lastly for today  I see hope in the actions and words of Universalist Clara Barton who among other achievements in her life, not only opened the first public school in the state of New Jersey, but during the civil war went to the battlefields to provide medical care to wounded soldiers and then after the war she founded the Red Cross in America. I think of her accomplishments and I think, perhaps I should do something more lofty than watching the Football game this afternoon. 

Clara Barton made one statement in particular that moved me. She said,  “I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.” This to me more than anything else is foundation that our religion rests on. We look at all things with new eyes based on new information and new experiences.  To know and to accept that we are not in possession of some final absolute truth, is in and of itself holy to us. To not only accept but to  welcome the fact that revelation is ongoing.

This too is embedded in our principles in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.  I see this here at our congregation as we incorporate new ways of thinking, feeling and being. I see it as we incorporate learning’s from science, not with a fear that it will invalidate our beliefs, but with a quest that it will enhance our understanding of our purpose in the universe.  I see it in your journeys as we all come together trying to find our way for ourselves and this Congregation to reach its highest potential.  This coming together learning from our past and moving forward towards our better selves also gives me hope.

Now sadly, my cousin was wrong, and the Cardinals won 2 out of 3 from the Mets, and I wont even try to console a Chicago Cubs fan, but the thing is, neither my cousin or I had any control over the outcome of those games.  That was hoping for someone else to do something.  That is not the kind of hope I speak of.  The kind of hope I speak of is not the kind of hope that Emily Dickenson wrote about never asking a crumb of her. The kind of hope I speak of is an active hope.  The kind of hope I speak of today is the hope that is born within us that we are capable of changing ourselves for the better and changing our community for the better, and by doing so inspiring others to be moved to hope for the same. 

Our religion shows us through words and actions that what was once thought impossible is possible. Let us continue to build on the foundation of this house of hope that has been bestowed upon us generation after generation. Let us cross the threshold together, and let us have hope and through our words and actions provide hope to others.  Remember, you have to have a dream if you want to have a dream come true.  May it be so.