BEING CHANGED INTO FIRE
September 17, 2006 The Reverend Anne Felton Hines
Sometimes I listen to some of you talk about the political demonstrations you attend, the letters you’ve written to your legislators, the products you boycott in protest of corporate policies, the progressive television programs you watch and learn from, the books and magazine articles you read…and I hope and pray that you won’t ask me what I’ve done lately to change the world, because it would be a short conversation. I am much better at talking about peace and about social and environmental justice than I am at doing anything about them.
I was noticing the other day how often I choose not to watch something on TV about the war in Iraq, the policies of the Bush Administration, poverty in America, racism, the plight of the uninsured, or any number of other issues that are of deep interest to me.
And suddenly I realized that what happens to me when I do watch some of those television programs, or read articles in progressive magazines like Tikkun or Sojourners, is the same thing that happens when I read the newspaper each morning: I become so angry and bitter about what’s happened to this country – the almost unbelievable callousness and deception practiced daily by the Bush Administration, as well as the acquiescence of Congress and the media, that organized protests, peace vigils, letter-writing campaigns and the like pale in comparison to the kinds of actions I would like to take – actions that would be illegal and immoral!
And so I end up doing nothing.
Unitarian Universalist theologian James Luther Adams once said, “We liberals are largely an uncommitted and therefore self-frustrating people. We need a conversion within ourselves….Only by such conversion can we be possessed by a love that will not let us go.”
I cannot speak, of course, for all Unitarian Universalists; I can only speak for myself when I say that Adam’s words ring true for me. But my observation of our UU movement as a whole tells me that his words apply to others besides myself. We need a conversion within ourselves.
In a sermon delivered at our General Assembly in 2005, the Rev. Rob Hardies from All Souls Church in Washington, D.C., told a story about two monks, Abbot Lot and his teacher, Abbot Joseph. Abbot Lot was complaining to his teacher that no matter how much he meditated, and fasted, and prayed, and kept silence, and tried to cleanse his heart of all unnecessary desires, he still hadn’t found what he sought. “Father, what shall I do?” he asked his teacher.
Abbot Joseph stood up and reached his hands towards the heavens. It is said that his fingers became like ten burning lamps (or perhaps flaming chalices!), and he said to Abbot Lot, “Why not be totally changed into fire?”
Perhaps that is what is needed in these dangerous times. Perhaps we need – as individuals and as a religious movement – a “conversion” experience where we are “changed into fire.” When I extinguish our Chalice flame every Sunday at the end of my Benediction, I say, “Let us go in peace and with passion.” It is an invitation to us all to be “changed into fire” so that we can face the brokenness of the world, not retreat from it, and so that we can work with others to heal that brokenness.
But I know how much easier it is to talk about passion – about conversion – than it is to practice it. I know how many demands we all have on our time and our energy; the demands may be different for each of us, but they hold no less power. And as trying or complex or debilitating as some of those demands may seem, we can usually at least glean some way to resolve them.
But the demands of the world – those we may see no action that could possibly make a difference. And so we turn away; we do little or nothing.
But poet and essayist Wendell Berry wrote over a decade ago that “If protest depended on success, there would be little protest of any durability or significance. The protest that endures,” he said, “is moved by a hope far more modest than…success; namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one’s own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence.
“What we need to worry about,” said Berry, isn’t failure, but “the possibility that we’ll be reduced, in the face of the enormities of our times, to silence.”
Berry wrote those words before the rise to power of the current administration in Washington, and still he knew how great the need was for progressives to be “changed into fire” – not only for the sake of the world and future generations, but for our own “hearts and spirits,” for our very souls.
There are many examples of individuals who lived their lives with a prophetic fire in their hearts that fueled their courage and their passion.
Henry David Thoreau was “changed into fire” from his experience at Walden Pond. He developed, in the words of Rev. Dr. Patrick O’Neill, a “fierce moral conscience,” and was always “unafraid to speak truth to power…to name the evils that afflicted his day.” Thoreau, among others, taught us about civil disobedience, choosing a night in jail rather than pay taxes that would support a war he opposed.
Susan B. Anthony had a conversion experience and was “changed into fire” when, at a Temperance conference, she was told that as a woman, she was not to speak, but only to “listen and learn.” After that, she devoted her life to the women’s suffrage movement, even facing arrest one year for voting before women had won that right. When she was fined $100 for the offense, she refused to pay it.
Unitarian minister James Reeb had a conversion experience as a young Calvinist minister, serving as chaplain to the indigent patients of a hospital in Philadelphia. His experience there challenged his Calvinist views of God, opening him to a more compassionate and just God. “He was gripped,” writes Rob Hardies, “by a transforming and commanding Love that would not let him go.” He became a Unitarian, and ministered to America’s poor.
When, in March of 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. called on white clergy to join him one weekend for a march on Selma, Alabama, Reeb answered the call. Tragically, the night of the march, Reeb was murdered by some white supremacists. His martyrdom was apparently the tipping point that convinced President Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
But it is not only individuals who have been “changed into fire.” Entire faith communities have as well.
In the 1950s, congregations were told they’d have to sign a loyalty oath if they wanted to retain their tax-exempt status in California. Three Unitarian churches (this was before the merger) and one Methodist church refused to comply, and had to pay taxes while their case went before the Supreme Court. In 1958, in a case called FirstUnitarianChurch, et al versus the State of California, the court ruled in favor of the churches, stating that such a requirement stifled free speech and violated their right to express their moral conscience. It was a great victory.
But today, churches are again being threatened with loss of their tax exemption because they refuse to remain silent in the face of what they consider to be immoral or unjust government actions. As you know, one of these churches is All Saints Church in Pasadena, the Episcopal congregation that has for years made peace and justice the cornerstone of their public ministry.
Over a year ago, All Saints received word that the IRS was concerned about a sermon preached by their former rector, the Rev. George Regas, just prior to the 2004 elections. In his sermon, Regas imagined a debate between the two presidential candidates and Jesus, in which he had Jesus denouncing the war in Iraq, as well as other policies of our country that seem to go against the teachings of Jesus.
Nowhere in the sermon did Regas favor John Kerry over George Bush; he seemed to hold them both accountable for the wrongs of this country. As I think I’ve said here before, if one could accuse George Regas of any partisan politics in that sermon, it could only be that he was urging his congregants to vote for Jesus as a write-in candidate – which might not have been a bad idea! J But I have known George Regas for many years; he is courageous, but he is not careless!
This past week, after almost a year of no action by the IRS, All Saints received a hand-delivered summons from them, ordering the church to turn over “all documents and e-mails produced during the 2004 election year with references to political candidates.” They have until Sept. 29th to find any such documents, plus an accounting of “all expenditures” associated with the hosting of Regas’ sermon – utility bills, prorated salaries of any staff involved, etc. The current rector, Rev. Ed Bacon, has been ordered to testify before the IRS on Oct. 11th. All of this will be a huge disruption to the ministry of that church, and a complete waste of IRS time and money. But we are drawing close to mid-term elections, and they want to make sure that progressive congregations like All Saints, or Kol Tikvah, or maybe even Emerson, are intimidated enough to refrain from any criticisms of Administration policies.
This morning, Rev. Bacon will be offering two options to his congregation: They can comply with the IRS request and supply all the documents, or they can refuse – which, according to the newspaper article, could result in referral to the Department of Justice, and even the U.S. District Court in L.A. Knowing All Saints, I won’t be surprised if they refuse to comply, continuing the courageous actions of the Unitarian and Methodist churches back in the ‘50s.
I will be finding out what we, as individuals and as a congregation, can do to support All Saints during this time. For as Ed Bacon has said, “If the IRS prevails, it will have a chilling effect on the practice of religion in America.” In the meantime, I have written a letter to the people at All Saints, expressing dismay at the IRS actions, and solidarity in their struggle for religious freedom. The letter will be on the Social Action Alliance table after the service for anyone who wishes to sign it.
Here’s what it says:
To our sisters and brothers of All Saints Church:
We, the undersigned members and friends of Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church in Canoga Park, deplore the steps taken by the Internal Revenue Service against your church. As members of a faith tradition that has a long history of “speaking truth to power,” we stand in solidarity with you, and offer you our support as you meet this new threat to religious freedom.
We know you to be a people of great courage, with an abiding faith and a deep commitment to justice and peace for all people. You continue to be an inspiration to us, and we will hold you in our thoughts and prayers.
In faith…The Reverend Anne Felton Hines (and of course, any of you who choose to sign it).
I suspect that the people of All Saints will have another “conversion experience” this morning – that they will once again be changed into fire. And I believe that we are living in times where we, too, as a congregation, are called to open ourselves to being “changed into fire.”
For as Rev. Patrick O’Neill said in his sermon before the 2005 UUA General Assembly: “The church’s very reason for being is to make real the Beloved Community on earth; nothing less.” Not the Beloved Community just here at Emerson, but the “Beloved Community on earth. That’s why we’re here, says O’Neill.
Our Emerson Social Action Alliance offers us a number of actions that will move us toward that “Beloved Community on earth.” But I’d like to see that Pavilion overflowing with people every second Monday of the month; it should be the largest and liveliest committee at Emerson!
And to help ground our actions in our Unitarian Universalist Principles, I am beginning, on Wednesday October 11th (coincidentally the date of Ed Bacon’s appearance before the IRS!), a monthly study/ reflection/action group, in which we will read books and articles relating our faith to various social issues, reflect on what we’ve read, commit to some related action chosen by the group, reflect on the experience, read some more, and so on. I don’t intend to limit the number of participants, but I will expect, as much as possible, regular attendance by participants. More details will appear in the October issue of Leaves.
Anne Lamotte, in her most recent book, tells of waking up one morning “full of hate and fear….angry at our government leaders,” and having no desire to attend a peace march scheduled for the next day.
But the next morning she dragged herself to Market Street in downtown San Francisco. At some point, she said, “the ‘I’ became ‘we.’” Songs were sung. The barricades usually erected between races, ages, sexes, classes, nations, were broken down. “We’d done the most radical thing of all” she wrote; “we’d shown up, not knowing what else to do, and without much hope….” And we discovered “for once, we (were) a part of the stream…and of small pungent green shoots of hope.”
That’s the beauty of working for justice and peace within the Beloved Community; we not only are “changed into fire;” we become the “small pungent green shoots of hope.” And we discover that in that togetherness, we can move the world.
Amen and Alleluia!
© 2006 Anne Felton Hines. All rights reserved.
