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Then there’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said, “God is weak and
powerless in the world and that is precisely the way, the only way
in which God is with us to help us.” He believed that God’s
forsakenness pushes us to action because we don’t know if God is
really there, but we hope God is, and so we move forward even
without a working hypothesis. This concept of God empowered
Bonhoeffer. Where was God in Germany during the Holocaust? Was God
dead? Bonhoeffer found his theology in the midst of this struggle
and concluded that God’s greatest gift was stepping away and
allowing us to act, to use our power. Bonhoeffer believed that, “If
it is to be, it’s up to me!” We cannot wait for an external deity to
enter human history and fix up the world and make us love each other
forever and ever. We are not puppets. We have to be like Bonhoeffer
and live our convictions and understand that change in this life
manifests when we use our voice, our hands and our feet, our power
to make something positive happen. It is in this universal cosmic
energy that we find the true meaning of what it means to live! At
the time he wrote, Bonhoeffer was imprisoned for planning a coo to
overthrow Hitler. His plan was discovered and he was promptly
sentenced to death. He understood “zim-zum”. He understood
sacrifice. He understood exercising his power for the greater good
at the cost of his own security. He sacrificed his individualism,
the one thing he had, for the good of community. Sometimes that’s
necessary Yes friends, sometimes that’s necessary.
I want to bring it home now, round this circle out. As
Unitarian-Universalists, how long will we be an obscure faith in the
world? How long, with our great history, will we continue to let
others define who we are? How long will we continue to hide in the
corners and woods where it’s safe, as if we are a secret society?
How long will we shy away from mainstream religion? Are we ashamed
of our faith? Or have we become too aristocratic? Either way, for
me, it’s not right. We must use our POWER! How long will we wait to
teach the world about a faith that allows the practitioner to choose
his or her own creed for life? There are so many hurting and crying
out for a religion that embraces and nurtures whomever comes through
the door— “Come on in, we can help you. This is your home, your
sanctuary. Be at peace here.” This is who we are! People are crying
out for fellowship and friendship, we can provide that. There are so
many seeking a faith that does not condemn or codify, a faith that
is not dogmatic, but respects the individuals search for their own
truth. “You got your way, I got mine, hey maybe will meet at the
finish line, maybe not. That’s okay.” That’s who we are! We respect
the inherent worth and dignity of all humanity. That’s a mighty
great story! That’s who we are today, as Unitarian-Universalists,
and the world sorely needs to hear our message, now more than ever
before. Yes. We have the power. We have the ability to act. We are
not a social club. We are a spiritual community and somebody needs
to know! That’s our challenge this morning! And that will be our
challenge tomorrow and the next day, and the next and the next…
I close with a poem from a poet and prophet, Paul Laurence Dunbar, a
man who was truly before his time. He lived in the early years after
the Emancipation of Blacks, when slavery was supposed to be over but
was still enforced in many ways overtly and covertly. Dunbar was
frustrated with religion, Christianity in particular. Like those in
Anacostia, he felt powerless, but like Lord Acton, he took to the
pen as a way to exhibit his power. He was, as Fannie Lou Hamer puts
it, “sick and tired of being sick and tired” of injustice. This deep
sadness and frustration probably led to his early death at age 33.
He died of a broken heart, but nonetheless, Dunbar left us with a
provocative poem titled “Religion”. It fits our time and place well.
Hear these words as I close:
I AM NO PRIEST OF CROOKS NOR CREEDS.
FOR HUMAN WANTS AND HUMAN NEEDS
MEAN MORE TO ME THAN PROPHETS DEEDS.
AND HUMAN TEARS AND HUMAN CARES
EFFECT ME MORE THAN HUMAN PRAYERS.
GO! CEASE YOUR WAIL LUGUBRIOUS SAINT.
YOU FRET HIGH HEAVEN WITH YOUR COMPLAINT.
IS THIS THE CHRISTIANS JOY YOU PAINT?
IS THIS THE CHRISTIANS BOASTED BLISS?
AVAILS, YOUR FAITH NO MORE THAN THIS?
TAKE UP YOUR ARMS, COME OUT WITH ME.
LET HEAVEN ALONE, HUMANITY NEEDS MORE
AND HEAVEN LESS FROM THEE.
WITH PITY FOR MANKIND (Humankind) LOOK ROUND.
HELP THEM TO RISE AND HEAVEN IS FOUND!
We have power to act. We have the “poder”. Go change the world! Let
it be so!
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