Love and Justice 2008: Journey Into Justice

Reverend Barbara Fast   March 2, 2008

OPENING WORDS  

Good Morning. Each of us comes here for a reason. Wanting something. More love, understanding, forgiveness.  Looking for reconciliation. Justice. Kindness. Less noise. One hour of peace.  

Sundays put me in mind of the Rolling Stones’ lyric: You can’t always get what you want…but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.

A poem by Raymond Carter

And did you get what
You wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.

Whatever you want from this day may you keep on until you find it.
and if you don’t find what you want, you just might find some of what you need.
Let us sing.

Sermon LOVE & JUSTICE 2008:  Journey Into Justice
Reverend Barbara Fast   March 2, 2008

Molly is so funny. She comes by her humor honestly. She loves to ask. “Where’s the love? Where’s the love? Show me the love!”  

With the work of justice you always start with love. Love is the mother of Charity and Justice.  First you start with ‘the Love.’

I was on my journey home to RI last year, just after Easter. After a needed root canal. I was taking the train from Stamford Station, Ct. Jonathan dropped me off in the morning. I carried my laptop, handbag and cup of tea as I headed to the up escalator.  

A young man, neatly but poorly dressed, was pacing uncomfortably, and said as I passed:  “Excuse me, do you…?” I glanced and saw that he had a dollar bill and a train schedule in his hand.  I turned away saying “I am sorry, I have my hands full.”   I left him behind.

FYI:  Usually I give a dollar to those who ask. I just do. I had a friend who was grievously harsh about pan handlers, who made righteous speeches about the virtue of not giving handouts. He didn’t. I did.

Literally it was true: I did have my hands full.  Spiritually it was true: I was full of Church matters, family matters and tooth matters.  One could not accuse my life of not being full.  I stepped onto the escalator.

I stopped at the first level. Put my bags down and looked in my purse. I found a five and a twenty. I decided five was too much to give to him, besides what I wanted was to get my train ticket.

But my inner monologue included the imperative of the story of the Good Samaritan. I was just another busy priest with hands full on his journey back to his flock, head full of ‘to do’s’, thinking about talking about virtue as I walk by the need.

I purchased the ticket. I had fifteen minutes. Now what I wanted was someplace to sit. The waiting room was full.  One woman had a seat empty on one side of her, her handbag on the other.  I went to sit in the empty seat, she indicated it was taken. I walked away.
I wanted to sit.  She called me back as she removed her handbag.
“Sit”, she said.
I said, “ Thank you.’
She replied. “Denada.”

It was the Tuesday after Easter. Lots of students traveling back to college. Trains were full. I did not see him up in the waiting room.  What did he want? Where was he headed?  We are all worthy. We are all stardust I reminded myself.  We are interconnected!  

I tasted the tea. It tasted like, well, what old socks soaked in hot water might taste like after you added creamer.  Exactly! I threw out the tea.  $1.59 into the trash. My mood was growing gloomy. I could afford to buy another cup of something.

What did I want?  

I had walked by the least of these.   Master, when did we feed you or house you or clothe you? He was Jesus for me. “As you do to the least of these…

I had 10 minutes. What I wanted was a small decaf. It cost $1. 68. I got change for the five and sat down at one of the free tables – let me correct that- one of the empty tables - they were definitely not free. You had to buy something to sit in the eating area. Wouldn’t want someone sitting there without paying something for it!

Charity is interesting to think about. And we do. Why was $1 too little and  $5 too much?  I looked at the three singles. I started to go to the down escalator to see if I could find him, to give him the money. Then I started thinking.  Would he think I was crazy? Or worse, would he start to talk to me? I turned back.
 
Instead of getting on the escalator, I ‘got on’ a ladder. Maimomides’ Golden Ladder of Giving. It is an ethical approach to charity that we examine in the Adult Ed. program Build Your Own Theology, that Rev. Dick Gilbert created in the 60’s.

The Golden Ladder of Giving (Maimonides, 13th c.) has 8 rungs:

To give reluctantly, a gift of the hand, but not of the heart

To give cheerfully, but not in proportion to need

To give cheerfully and proportionately but not until solicited

To give cheerfully, proportionately and unsolicited but to put the gift into the poor persons hand thus creating shame

To know objects of our bounty but to remain unknown to them

To give so the benefactor may not know those who he she has relieved and they shall not know him/her

All these rungs are about giving, until your each rung 8.

To prevent poverty by teaching a trade setting one up in business or in some way preventing the need of charity.

We have all those rungs here at church.  From individual giving of money and time, to shared action, clean ups, community service to Justice and Advocacy.   

Justice is when in some way [we] prevent the need of charity.  That is advocacy work these days.

I decided that there was also a golden ladder of why we do the work of justice?
Or was that the Golden Wheel? Here are the 8 rungs (spokes) of the UU Wheel of Justice?

1. We are called to the work of justice by the Western Canon. Our Jewish and Christian tradition.

Poverty is one of the Bible’s big topics. The writers spend lots of lines discussing poverty and what people need to do about it. What it cares about, it talks about, a lot!  Poverty is one hot topic.  And it is not just spiritual poverty but the real deal. It is day to day, dirt poor poverty.

From taking care of the widows and children, to leaving gleanings in the field’s for the poor to pick over. From jubilee years for the forgiveness of debts to who will inherit.

It probably talks about it because correcting the problem seems to be a challenge. It is not so easy! It would not be so prominent in the bible over thousands of years if we did it easily.  

2.  Our Nation’s history calls us. The impulse of America tends toward enlarging and universalizing justice. ‘The arc of the Universe is long, but it bends toward Justice’ wrote Rev. Parker over 150 years ago. Rev. Dr. King reminded us, in his letter from a Birmingham jail that Time is “neutral” and to cure the “ills’ of society takes “good people doing the work’. From universal Suffrage to gay marriage, our Constitution and Declaration of Independence bending persistently toward justice for all.

3. Our UU History calls us.  As a denomination Unitarians and Universalists were important reformers of the 19th century.  From  Public Education, universal Kindergartens, economic reforms, abolition, mental health reforms, the Red Cross, to Suffrage! When I go to Boston with the COA classes our great UU History is written at 2/3 of the sites that folks visit when walking the freedom trial in Boston.

By which I mean to say is that UU’s are GOOD CITIZENS.   We affirm the democratic process in all our institutional dealings.

Civilizations built on democratic principles require the participation of educated, free and responsible citizens.  People who know how to participate in a diverse constituted democracy. Who know how build up community that is not exclusive, but inclusive.  Who can defend the rights of marginalized. Who refuse to be force fed religious orthodoxies and who affirm the healthy separation of church and state.  

Membership in a democratic community, whether a congregation such as ours, or a country such as our, carries with it obligations, responsibilities. How we live as citizens of the world, is for me the singular challenge of our lives.   It seems to me that UU is a perfect religion to teach all ages about good citizenship. Our faith calls us into practicing being good citizens. It seems to me of any denomination in world, ours is the one to be teaching good citizenship! 

Last year I told this justice themed story I had heard at a Religious Education Conference. About how people down stream found babies drowning in the stream.  So they pulled them out and saved them but there were always more Then one person got on the bridge and looked upstream and asked. Why are babies getting into the water?

Then I think that I learned the source of the story. It is over 150 years old.
In his clear work: A Theological Basis for a UU Legislative Ministry in Maryland, the Rev. Dr. William R. Murry quotes Rev. Theodore Parker:  

There is a hole in a dim lit bridge, where many fall through and perish. Our mercy pulls a few out of the water; it does not stop the hole nor light the bridge nor warn people of the peril.
 
We need the great charity that palliates the effects of wrong and the greater justice which removes the cause.”

The Great charity and the Greater Justice

4. Our Values, our Principles and Purposes call us:  We affirm the worth and dignity of all human beings and justice and equity in human relations.

In RE, I always ask. What does this big idea look like?  What does worth and dignity look like? What does an equitable relationship look like? When it comes to fair working wages or children growing up in poverty, in a toxic environment?

How do we both palliate the effects and remove the causes of poverty. Justice is how we correct unfairness on a systemic level.

5.  Our congregational life calls us to do this work. Not just from our affirmation and now our mission. It comes out of our day to day and Sunday shared lives.  Today we read that the central task of the religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to all. Once felt, it inspires us to act for justice… the religious community is essential, for alone our vision is too narrow to see all that must be seen, and our strength too limited to do all that must be done. Together our vision widens and our strength is renewed.  
Mark Morrison- Reed.

Congregational life calls us to love, charity and justice.  It teaches us about love because day to day, year to year, as we struggle and celebrate, share our joys and our sorrows, big and small, as we watch our children grow up and we grow older, we can’t help but grow in love.  We are every Sunday and every week day unveiling the bonds that bind each to all...”

It is our responsibility as a religious community to enlarge our vision and renew our strength. Justice work has it ebb and flow in our lives. We are responsible for the health of our individual lives, the congregational life, and larger life of the body politic.

And that means we will, as a ‘freethinking” group of people disagree with each other. It can be a challenge in a congregation that is diverse theologically. We are a liberal religion, as opposed to an orthodox faith. We are not a liberal political party. There should be no orthodoxies here.  Let me affirm that we do make room for a spectrum of political opinion, let me encourage us to embrace our differences, religiously and politically.

Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done, not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow.  W. E. B. DuBois

Carolyn Mark asked me to preach about Social Justice this Sunday because the Rhode Island UU’s for Social justice are meeting this afternoon at First Church in Providence.

She wrote me this e mail:  “We're just looking for a connection between the sermon and the work of this group to inspire participation.  My only hope would be that people come away understanding social justice as the expression of love that we believe it is…  

This is a time for UUs to participate in our democracy, let their legislators know what they  think, and generally participate in a manner that is consistent with our UU values and principles.

RIUUSJ has a purpose:  to make a measurable difference in the
lives of Rhode Islanders by working across congregations for social and
economic justice through the democratic process.

Please visit the Social Justice table in Fellowship Hall to learn more.

Dick Gilbert, UU Minister Emeritus and now, professor,  said this:  “We are called by our conscience, called by our history, called by our won religious community – called by God if you prefer- to be there in love and justice. How we name the source of our call should not be our primary concern. I am not worried about its theological geography, but its power and authenticity. My question is:  Have you heard your call?”   Serv. Liv Trad. June 24 2001

There are people here who would love your help, your support, your encouragement. Social Justice work is joyful energizing work, best done with one another. When you are alone in it, it can be lonely. So you know, last weekend it was so exciting to see 30 people from 5 congregations gathered here at Westminster for the Interfaith Keeping Faith with Creation Panel.

“We are called by our conscience, called by our history, called by our own religious community..called by the Carolyn’s …to be there in love and justice.  The Carolyn’s are calling you!

7. We are called to do the work of justice because we are Human Beings.  We are the one’s responsible . We are connected. Helping is one basic human need.  It is in our DNA.  It is irrepressible actually.

Justice is what LOVE looks like. The Great Charity and the Greater Justice are sisters. They grow our capacity to love. It is why we come here. To practice and when we practice loving, our capacity to love grows more universal.

It is love that saves us. Which brings me to the last rung.

8. Salvation.  When we work for larger justice is for our sake, really. We do it for our soul life.  We are oneness of body and spirit, we are whole human beings, that is what we want to be. To feel ourselves whole.  We know it when we feel connected within something inexpressibly wonderful and awe ful.  

I spoke to issue of salvation at the Keeping Faith with Creation conference. I said for UU’s generally being saved is not about going to heaven after we die.  For UU’s it is where your behavior and your beliefs are united. Where what we believe is in sync with how we behave.   Salvation is not at some other time and space but here and how, here and now.

We sang  ‘There is more love somewhere… ‘ and we know that it is true. There is more love in here, in our hearts. It may be a cliché, but it is a truth. That is why it is a cliché.

Salvation is in the realizing that it is there inside you already. The love you need to build heaven on earth, here and now. Salvation is working for, and living as if, the world could become heaven on earth, in this time this age. Our time. We build equity in human relations, peace and justice for all for our own salvation.  

Old time Universalists said faith was a matter of right living (orthopraxis)  and not just right believing (orthodoxy).

Paul Tillich wrote:  an Ultimate Concern must express itself socially.

A. Powell Davies wrote : Life is just a chance to grow a soul.  

Universalist Humanist Dick Gilbert wrote:  “…Life is both our only chance to grow a soul and to repair the world. We really can’t do one without the other.”

Life is chance to grow a soul & repair the world.

Rev. Dr. Murry wrote that salvation is found by helping others find it for themselves.

And so we come around and back to that top rung on the Golden Ladder where we prevent poverty by teaching a trade, setting one up in business,  or in some way preventing the need of charity.  

In this way there is Universal Salvation!

We need the great charity that palliates the effects of wrong and the greater justice which removes the cause.”

Two sisters. Charity and Justice. Charity matters. Charity is not a substitute for Justice.  Both are needed. They are different ways to respond in love.
 
We must persist in love. We must out grow disappointment and learn from it,
out last frustration and transform it into persistence, out live failure and transform it into success. We must persist in love.  And so we go round and round the great wheel of life.

Back in that train station I brooded over decaf. It tasted bitter in my mouth. It must have been an old pot.  I still wanted something.  I have so much. Work I love, with people I love. Family I love.  

I vowed that next time I would not pass someone by like that, no matter how full my hands were. I had given up on that encounter, but the next time! I was reconciling with my imperfection, again. I think it was like a prayer. I made peace.   

Then he came up the escalator. I got up…I walked over to him. It was then that  I noticed he was older – there were grey strands in hair.

Without thinking, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if I was his minister, or he my rabbi, my teacher. I said, “Did you get what you need?
He said, “No.”
I said, “Here.” I handed him 3 dollar bills.
And he couldn’t even look at me.
He was, what?  Surprised? Ashamed? Relieved?
He raced to the ticket area.

I got on the down escalator to the platform. That was what I wanted! I got what I wanted, even so. I was happy! Bound for Rhode Island. Back to you. To the work.
He was bound somewhere too. We were bound together.

Root canal:  $800. 00
Tepid tea:         $1.59
Bitter coffee:    $1:68
Train ticket:     $32.00
Feeling happy on rung #3….priceless.

We go up and down escalators, up and down the golden Ladder of small and great Charity and greater Justice and round and round the wheel of life and our life values.   

There is more love…In here!
Did you get what you wanted?   To grow your soul?
Are you giving what you want to give?  To grow your soul? Repair the world?
 
And did you get what
You wanted from this life, even so?
I did.  
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved. To feel myself
Beloved on this earth.

The train arrived. I got onboard. Coming home.
Which is to let you know this, that you are beloved. Blessed be and Amen!
END    Reverend Barbara Fast, copyright 2008

Closing Words:  If you want to be heard listen,   If you want to be loved, love
What you seek from this world, bring to this world. And remember to keep the faith.  Barbara Fast c. 2006


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