Rev. Gretchen Woods
Reading: “Prophets” by
Clinton Lee Scott
Always it is easier to pay
homage to prophets than to heed the direction of their vision. It is easier
blindly to venerate the saints than to learn the human quality of their
sainthood. It is easier to glorify the heroes of the race than to give weight
to their examples. To worship the wise is much easier than to profit by their
wisdom. Great leaders are honored, not by adulation, but by sharing their
insights and values. Grandchildren of those who stoned the prophet sometimes
gather up the stones to build the prophet’s monument. Always it is easier to
pay homage to prophets than to heed the direction of their vision.
SERMON: Prophetic Women
and Men
In the November/December
2002 issue of UU World, my colleague, the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, tells a
surprising story about an interview she had with Coretta Scott King:
During an hour of
wide-ranging conversation, I mentioned to her that I was in seminary to become
a Unitarian Universalist minister. What frankly surprised me was the look she
gave me, one of respect and delight.
“Oh, I
went to Unitarian churches for years, even before I met Martin,” she told me,
explaining that she had been, since college, a member of the Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom, which was popular among Unitarian
Universalists. “And Martin and I went to Unitarian churches when we were in Boston.”
What
surprised and saddened me most was what she said next. Though I am
paraphrasing, the gist of it was this: “We gave a lot of thought to becoming
Unitarian at one time, but Martin and I realized we could never build a mass
movement of black people if we were Unitarian.”
It was
a statement that pierced my heart and troubled my mind, then and now. I
considered what our religious movement would be like if the Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. had chosen differently, had cast his lot with our faith instead
of returning to his roots as an African-American Christian. Certainly no one
with King’s gifts would have lived in complete obscurity. I realized, however,
that our liberal religious movement would have neutralized the greatest
American theologian of the twentieth century. Certainly his race would have
been the primary barrier. In a religious movement engaged until the 1970’s in
the active discouragement of people of color who wished to join its ministerial
ranks, King might have found his personal struggles to serve Unitarian
Universalism at least as daunting as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. (p.30.)
Rosemary has a meaningful
and prophetic view of her experiences in this interview. She also happens to be
African-American and the minister of Fourth Universalist Society in New York
City. She has, I suspect, had to wrestle with how much of herself she must give
up to serve in UU congregations. Hers is a prophetic voice, one to which we
need to heed.
Today we examine the second
source from which our living tradition draws: “words and deeds of prophetic
women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with
justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.” Today, we also
celebrate the life and prophetic work of Martin Luther King, Jr, an almost Unitarian Universalist, who passed us up
because he could not serve his people as effectively in our movement.
So, let us consider what it
means to be prophetic, who has been prophetic in Unitarian Universalism through
time, and how they have been treated. I hope this will inspire us to step
forward, beyond the label of “sunshine liberals” that often has been placed
upon us by those who lead us in prophecy.
First, what does it mean to
be a prophet? Often we take the last meaning from Webster: “ 4. A person who
predicts future events in any way.”
This generic meaning seems to be used most often in our culture to infer
some sort of precognition. Consider, however, the first definition: “a person
who speaks for God or a god, or as though under divine guidance.” (Webster’s
New World Dictionary of the American Language.) In most of our congregations,
this would be seriously called into question if one of us claimed to have this
power. Still, a prophet is understood to have a deep sense of speaking truth to
power.
From John B. Noss, we learn
that the early prophets of Judaism were calling the Jews away from a view of
God as “a mere local nature-power” which “threatened to submerge the moral and
spiritual elements” of the historical God of the Jews. (John B. Noss. Man’s
Religions. 6th edition, p. 367.) The prophets saw God as
separate from nature and active in history, They feared that Yahweh would come
to be viewed as similar to Baal, a local nature-power. Noss also points out
that the Hebrew prophets did not agree as to the nature of Yahweh’s message or
will. Thus is it ever. . . (Ibid., p. 368.) Ultimately, prophets use the name
of God to add power to the concerns they have about conditions of their times.
Jesus served as a prophet
when he turned over the tables of the money changers in the Temple and called
the people to return its use to a place to prayer. “He cried out: “Does not the
Scripture say, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?
But you have made it a robber’s cave.” (Ibid., p. 429.) He spoke truth to power
– and paid with his life.
Another way to look at this
is to consider what a contemporary prophet might do. I believe that a true prophet
looks at the conditions of one’s culture and sees clearly what needs to change
to improve the situation in which she or he lives. Certainly that was the case
with Dr. King, who not only spoke out about racism but also opposed the Vietnam
War and classism of economic power. A true prophet has to have a sense of being
deeply grounded in a value or values that are not being followed in her or his
culture. Susan B. Anthony’s strong and faithful feminism comes to mind. In
addition, such a person needs to feel support and energy from a Source beyond
one’s self, as did Ralph Waldo Emerson, who simultaneously asserted the value
of the individual and the value of community, finding his support in
transcendentalism and Eastern mysticism.
From this perspective, many
Unitarians and Universalists have served as prophets: Ralph Waldo Emerson
called upon Unitarians to leave the confines of narrow Christianity and open to
religions of the East, most notably Sufism and Vedic religion. He would be
fascinated to learn how many UUs now treasure Hafiz and sit Zazen. Theodore
Parker’s home was a stop on the underground railroad for slaves escaping from
the southern United States to Canada. Susan B. Anthony lectured and organized
to improve women’s rights for most of her life, as did Universalist Mary Rice
Livermore. Whitney Young dedicated his life to the improvement of the
conditions of African-Americans in our cities. Newly minted Unitarian
Universalist, Christopher Reeve, is speaking out for improved scientific research
around spinal injuries. All these folks are or have been influential in
changing the conditions of their times.
One of the things that
bothers me most about this is that every one of our UU prophets has had to
endure strong negative feedback, not only from society in general, but from
within our own movement. Being a prophet is not a guarantee of appreciation –
far from it. Excoriation is more likely! Emerson had to leave the pulpit,
moving to publication and the lecture stage to maintain his personal integrity.
Parker was shunned by his fellow Unitarian ministers who would not exchange
pulpits with him as was the practice with accepted preachers in Boston. Susan
B. Anthony endured horrible epithets from both men and women of her times, as
did Mary Rice Livermore. So it goes…
We seem to appreciate
prophets best when they are dead and no longer a threat to the status quo.
Prophets are what Starhawk calls “ the snakes” of society. They consider the
parts of our culture that we don’t want to see or hear from, the conditions
that call our whole life style and comfort into question. The “Whistleblowers”
that Time Magazine made “Women of the Year” are certainly prophetic figures who
have suffered for their efforts to improve our lives. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert
Kennedy, John Kennedy, Karen Silkwood,
all died because they threatened those who hold power and fear that the light
of truth will force them to lose that power.
What are the conditions
about which we, as Unitarian Universalists are called to be prophetic, to
challenge the powers and structures of evil of our lives? Start with the
degradation of our planet; the dissipation of our civil rights; the
institutional racism and classism that drove Dr. King; the possibility that we
may go to war with people who are already starving under their own leaders;
skewed economics that puts the fortunes of corporations over education,
services to the elderly and impaired, and health care. We can speak up, write
letters, organize coalitions of resistance.
I would suggest that no one of us can do this alone. It is only in
coalitions that we can truly be effective.
We need to open our minds
and hearts to the realities around us, to acknowledge the seriousness of our
situation, and join with others in concrete, prophetic action to challenge the
structures and powers that dis- empower the majority of us. As individuals,
this is too scary. We know what could happen to ourselves, our children. So, we
may not be able to accomplish change alone, but we certainly can let others
know that we stand together in opposition to that which degrades human
possibilities. We can at least support our prophets, instead of getting in
their way or shunning them.
We need to do this in our
own town and congregation. I would like to speak up for some of our local UU
prophets: Janet Farrell and Mina McDaniel who improve conditions for battered
women; Louise Ferrell, Charlie Ross, and AllenThroop, who enhance the quality
of life in the Corvallis Greenbelt; Craig Leman who quietly and effectively
improved health care for Siletz Indians; Nancy Leman who continues to encourage
the NAACP; Bob Ozretich, Richard Hervey, Joe Magner, and Charlie Miller, who
work for peace and civil rights; Judy Rudolph and Judith Fisher who actively
support universal health care; Til Tillitson and Valerie Hervey who constantly
work to improve services to the elderly. We are blessed with many prophets who
act for the betterment of all. I only know the tip of this iceberg of engaged
prophets in this congregation.
How would you like to be
one? Do you feel able to confront powers and structures of evil with justice,
compassion, and the transforming power of live? That may be too much to ask.
However, if we support one another in our enterprises, we shall truly be known
as people who live our principles. Yes, we shall have to confront our fears.
Yes, we shall not avoid conflict. Yes, we shall face approbation from those who
gain from the exploitation of others. Yes, we shall have to develop spiritual
practices that ground and center us in our values and support us when
frustration and despair are imminent. Then, we shall truly come to know
ourselves more deeply and fully as valuable people on this planet. The values
in our Purposes and Principles certainly give us guides along the way.
Olympia Brown, the first
woman ordained by the Universalist Church in America in the United States in
1863, captures the enthusiasm of prophethood when she writes:
Stand
by this faith. Work for it and sacrifice for it. There is nothing in all the
world so important as to be loyal to this faith which has placed before us the
loftiest ideals, which has comforted us in sorrow, strengthened us for noble
duty and made the world beautiful.
Do not
demand immediate results but rejoice that we are worthy to be entrusted with
this great message: that you are strong enough to work for a great true
principle without counting the cost. Go on finding ever new applications of
these truths and new enjoyments in their contemplation, always trusting in the
one God which ever lives and loves.
So Be It! Blessed Be!