The First Principle: Our Inherent Worth and Dignity

This service was presented by Rachel Alvarez on Sunday, January 31

Reading #1:  Reflection on the First Principle

“Reverence and respect for human nature is at the core of Unitarian Universalist (UU) faith. We believe that all the dimensions of our being carry the potential to do good. We celebrate the gifts of being human: our intelligence and capacity for observation and reason, our senses and ability to appreciate beauty, our creativity, our feelings and emotions. We cherish our bodies as well as our souls. We can use our gifts to offer love, to work for justice, to heal injury, to create pleasure for ourselves and others.

“‘Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy,’ the great twentieth-century Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote. Unitarian Universalists affirm the inherent worth and dignity of each person as a given of faith—an unshakeable conviction calling us to self-respect and respect for others.”

—Rev. Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker, minister, theologian, and author

Reading #2:

The following quote was written in the wake of September 11, 2001, by Rev. Sean Parker Dennison of South Valley UU in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In a time like this, it is important to remember that "inherent worth

and dignity" is not the same as blamelessness or freedom from

accountability. If we uphold the inherent worth and dignity of every

person we are not saying that whatever they choose to do is somehow

okay. What we are saying is that unlike the people that planned and

carried out these horrific events, we value human life—every human

life. When people behave cruelly and with hatred we will intervene,

but we will do so in ways that protect and preserve life. Even when

we are enraged and seek to redress a horrible wrong, we will measure

our acts by the standards of dignity, honor, and justice. Even in the

face of tragedy, we must not forget that every life—American, Arab,

Persian, Afghani—is precious. May we not waste a single one.

Inherent worth and dignity is not something we confer upon people

when they are good and rescind when they are bad. Inherent worth

and dignity is not something that resides in the other, but

something that is demanded of us.

Presentation

            As Unitarian Universalists, we don’t have specific creeds that we must all agree upon and follow.  Instead, our Seven Principles provide guidelines for us to live by.  Growing up, when friends would ask about the church I attended and our beliefs, I would struggle with how to respond, but usually, I said something related to the importance of “being a good person.”  In my opinion, the Seven Principles are the foundation for UUs to be good people.  Knowing that UUs may have different beliefs than me about the existence of a god or gods, heaven, hell, etc…  I generally understand that UUs share the Seven Principles as a common foundation, which is comforting to me in a very diverse religious community. 

          Today’s presentation will be kicking off a second cycle of a series discussing our Seven Principles.  To begin, I wanted to discuss the Seven Principles in general, before specifically focusing on the First Principle, promoting the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

          In preparation for this sermon, I found an article that resonated with me and made me think of the Seven Principles in a slightly different way.  I would like to share some excerpts from it.  In the Summer 2014 issue of UU World, in his article titled “I don't 'believe in' the Seven Principles: I don’t think of them as beliefs at all…” Doug Muder writes, “The absolute worst of the common answers [to the question of what UUs believe] is “[that we] can believe whatever they want.” In fact the exact opposite is true. Maybe more than any other religion, Unitarian Universalism pushes us to ask: “Is that really true or is it just what I want to believe?  Precisely because I am a UU, I question ideas whose primary virtue is that I want to believe them.  Once you step around that pothole, discussions tend to gravitate towards the Seven Principles. As a list of things that our congregations are committed to affirm and promote, the Principles have at least a formal resemblance to the creeds of Christian churches; we teach them to our children, introductory books are organized around them, and so forth. So if someone comes to a UU congregation looking for the Unitarian Universalist creed, the Principles seem to be it.  But if you’ve ever tried to present the Principles to creed-seeking newcomers, you’ve probably seen their disappointment. “And?” their expressions seem to ask.

          I can relate to this feeling.  In telling my friends that my religion promotes “being a good person,” I feel like I fall short of some deeper meaning.  Is “being a good person,” really such a great feat for us to strive for? Do we really need a religious community to remind us and encourage us to be good people? 

          Muder continues, “The Principles fail as a creed because they’re too easy. Billions of people who literally would not want to be caught dead in a UU church can nod along with them. Take the Second Principle: “Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.” Does some other religion take a bold stand for injustice in human relations? People may argue about what “justice” means, but everybody is for it.

The Principles are littered with feel-good terms like that: “spiritual growth,” “democratic process,” “search for truth and meaning,” “world community,” “peace,” “liberty.” If all Unitarian Universalism wants you to do is approve of such concepts, that’s not very demanding, is it? In addition to thinking that they describe a really wimpy religion, I have an even more serious objection to the Principles as a defining set of Unitarian Universalist beliefs: I don’t believe in them.  In fact, I don’t think of them as beliefs at all. I think of them as visions.

          “The point of putting the Principles in the front of the hymnal and teaching them to our children isn’t to assert their truth, or even to encourage you to nod along with the idea that they should be true. Unitarian Universalism is a commitment to envision a world in which the Principles have become true, to envision it so intensely and in such detail that it becomes a genuine possibility, and to join with others in making that possibility real.  That’s how the Seven Principles turn into a challenging spiritual path.  So, do I believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person? No. I am committed to envisioning it. Together with others, I hope to imagine it so well, so convincingly, and so beautifully that the vision becomes viral and takes over the world.

          “That’s much harder than just believing the First Principle is true, because truths can take care of themselves. The difficulty of our task is why Unitarian Universalists need each other. If the point of Unitarian Universalism were just to believe the Principles, I could do that on my own. But the path of not believing—or believing that the First Principle is not true yet—is more challenging. I can’t do it by myself. If I’m trying to envision the Principles into existence, then I need my congregation and all the other congregations and all the help they can muster.  So what do Unitarian Universalists believe? We’re not committed to beliefs, we’re committed to visions.  That’s much harder.”  [End quote]

          So, looking more specifically at our first principle, we as Unitarian Universalists we “covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person.”  According to Merriam-Webster, “inherent” can be defined as “belonging to the basic nature of someone or something,” “involved in the constitution or essential character of something,” or “belonging by nature or habit.” The definitions of “worth” include “the value of something measured by its qualities or by the esteem in which it is held,” “moral or personal value,” or “usefulness or importance.” Finally, “dignity” is defined as “the quality of being worthy of honor or respect.”  Putting all of these terms together, the first principle, to me, means consistently and deliberately recognizing and promoting the importance and value that is essential to each person’s very being.  According to our first principle, each person is unconditionally worthy of honor and respect.  Building off Muder’s assertion, this may not be true in our world yet, but we are envisioning a world in which all people are treated with unconditional honor and respect.  That is, indeed, much more challenging than just believing that it should be the case.

          Even this can potentially be a struggle for some of us when we encounter stories of crime, racism, terrorism, or even just a difficult co-worker.  How do we reconcile the inherent worth and dignity of people with their sometimes careless, hurtful, or downright tragic actions?  How do we treat people with respect, honor, and compassion, when we don’t feel they are offering the same treatment to others?  To skip ahead a bit, I’ll tell you now that I don’t know the answers to these questions, and I struggle with thoughts like these.  When challenged by a person I can’t seem to understand or with whom I cannot find common ground, I want to make a greater effort to treat that person with kindness.  I try to remind myself of the quote, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”  By acknowledging that every person is complex and that any number of factors can contribute to his or her beliefs or behavior, it is slightly easier to remember their inherent worth and dignity.  Beyond this, how can we commit to building a world in which this is, undeniably, the case?  I don’t know, but I feel that in coming to our services here and reading more about UUism, I feel closer to that reality.

          Finally, part of honoring every person’s inherent worth and dignity must be applied to the ways in which we perceive ourselves.  On the UUA website, a downloadable cell phone wallpaper reads, “Remember your inherent worth & dignity.”  I love this message.  Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies and critics, and UUs who may be extremely forgiving and compassionate toward others may put themselves down or be too hard on themselves.  In addition to treating others with respect, it is arguably more important to consciously remember and reinforce our self-respect. 

          As I think about raising my own daughter, who will be arriving in just two months, I remind myself of the messages I want to teach her.  I want her to be self-confident, curious, open-minded, and compassionate.  I hope that she learns to treat herself kindly, which has not always been easy for me to do for myself.  I also hope that she treats others with respect and kindness, no matter their gender, race, ethnicity, age, or background.  And I hope that she doesn’t just nod along in agreement to the first principle, but that she strives to contribute to the building of a community based on that vision of each person’s inherent worth and dignity.

Sustainable Spirituality: Thoughts on the 7th Principle

This sermon was presented on 28 December, 2014, by Ashley Hummel

Reading 1: Stuff from the Internet

It’s pretty amazing that our society has reached a point where the effort necessary to extract oil from the ground, ship it to a refinery, turn it in to plastic, shape it appropriately, truck it to a store, buy it, and bring it home is considered to be less effort than what it takes to just wash the spoon and be done with it.

Wisdom understands that in a world of ecological connectedness, there is no such thing as “away.” We don’t throw things “away,” we simply put them someplace where they defile the land, foul, the water, pollute the air, or change the earth’s atmosphere.

Reading 2: From In Praise of Weeds by Peter Friedrich

Pity the poor dandelion.  It is, in many ways, nature’s perfect plant.  With a tap root that grows more than a foot long, it can survive in climates of scorching heat and bitter cold.  Its tender, young greens make a tasty addition to any salad, or they can be boiled like fiddleheads or as a tea infusion.  The dandelion’s leaves contain more beta-carotene than carrots and more iron than spinach.  Its blossoms, when properly fermented, perhaps with a bit of orange or lemon, make a sweet white wine.  That tap root contains medicinal properties, and can be beneficial to both the liver and the kidneys as both a diuretic and blood cleanser.  It can also be dried, roasted and ground as a coffee substitute.  The flower’s white, milky sap can be used to alleviate bee stings and to remove calluses and moles.  And then there is the dandelion’s ingenious method of reproduction.  That beautiful yellow bloom is actually a composite of hundreds of tiny blossoms that mature into the familiar white globe of seeds.  Unlike most other seeds, dandelion seeds can germinate without a period of dormancy, and the plant is self-pollinating.  Each plant contains hundreds of parachute-like seeds that, to the delight of toddlers everywhere, who pluck and blow them apart, can be carried effortlessly on the wind for miles and miles.  Yes, the dandelion is perhaps nature’s perfect plant.

Yet, plunk a dandelion down in the middle of a manicured Main Line lawn and it is treated like a terrorist.
...
What, then, makes a weed?  Is a weed a weed just because we call it that?  Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Saint Ralph” to we Unitarian Universalists, once said that a weed is simply a plant whose virtues we haven’t yet discovered.  But I don’t think that’s quite right.  Long ago we discovered the virtues of the dandelion and the loosestrife, yet they are a public menace.  And the pachysandra, with no particular virtue other than its persistence in growing low and slow in shady areas, is spared this label.  In his book Second Nature, author and gardener Michael Pollan describes the strict hierarchy of plants, where the top spaces are occupied by what he calls the “hypercivilized hybrids” like roses, and the bottom tier is infested with the weeds, which he calls “the plant world’s proletariat, furiously reproducing and threatening to usurp the position of their more refined horticultural betters.”  Weediness, he tells us, is determined by several factors, including how highly hybridized a plant is (the more refined and cultured, the better), the ease or difficulty of growing it (the hearty and easily adaptable larkspur is more “weedy” than, say, a fragile, delicate orchid), and, finally, its color.   (White, of course, is at the top.)  Pollan goes on to tell us that there are two primary schools of thought when it comes to weeds.  The first holds that “a weed is any plant in the wrong place” and the other defines a weed to be “any aggressive plant that competes successfully against cultivated plants.”  “The metaphysical problem of weeds,” he writes, “is not unlike the metaphysical problem of evil:  Is it an abiding property of the universe, or an invention of humanity?”

Sermon: Sustainable Spirituality: Thoughts on the 7th Principle

When we first discussed in committee the idea of a seven principles series, I said, “Oh, oh, what’s the one about the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part?! I want to do that one!” I began looking into it and found so much wonderful information, so many amazing sermons, and I don’t think that I can cover everything I want to talk about. 

I’ll start with my interest in this principle. The seven principles are a how-to-be-a-good-person guide. With or without a belief in a sentient deity, we can rely on these principles to keep us steady in a sea of moral relativism and ambiguity. In my own attempt to eliminate “right” and “wrong” as labels for behavior, I see the principles as a map to appropriate behavior in complicated situations. The seventh principle, though, is more. Many religious groups promote environmentalism, but we have it written into the closest thing to dogma we have. The seventh principle makes me comfortable here. As a pantheist, I am used to weird stares when I get too earthy. People say, “Are you like a hippie or something? Do you smoke weed?” Being able to come here and express that my god is the earth and everything in it, being validated by people around me who may call something else god, but still understand and share my affection for nature, those things make this my home. 

My pantheism is a bit backwards when compared to other religious traditions. In most religions, God takes care of us. In my spiritual path, we take care of God, and God takes care of God. You could also say that God takes care of us, but it’s not an ask-and-receive relationship. It’s more like a, “Here’s a bunch of plants to eat and water to drink, don’t screw it up,” relationship. 

I don’t believe we have dominion over the earth, and, this offends some people, I don’t think we’re superior to any living creature. In fact, I find most living creatures are better people than we are. We just happen to be at the top of the food chain and have dominance at this time in Earth’s history. We have the power of creative problem solving and opposable thumbs, so I believe that we have the responsibility of stewardship, but we are still animals, not distinguishable from nature except that we produce luxuries and cook our food. We have a burden of responsibility that other animals, to my knowledge, don’t share. That being said, I want to touch on a few different points. 

The first is food. I love food. Preparing and eating food can be a spiritual exercise. Growing food can be a spiritual exercise. And, though some would disagree with me, slaughtering food can be a spiritual exercise. 

To explain a little: I have always been aware of where my food comes from. My dad’s family hunts, my mom’s family fishes, and no one was remotely concerned with shielding me from the truth of where dinner came from. I must have been six or seven when my dad took me outside to show me three plucked ducks in the back of his truck (say that three times fast). They weren’t completely cleaned yet; they still had heads and feet. My dad had me take the neck of one and roll it between my fingers. There was a lump, rather hard and round. Dad said that it was the duck’s breakfast—probably an acorn. The duck had breakfast, and we had dinner, and the wheel goes round. By the way, if anyone would like a lesson on the finer points of butchery, I’ll be happy to share my knowledge. 

For the first part of my life, it did not even occur to me that there was a meat industry. We did buy meat at the store sometimes. Beef, chicken, shrimp, and other things there’s not a hunting season for. My dad hunts on family land, where some of the relatives also raise cattle. The cattle roam free and at some point are taking for processing and sale, and I always thought it was like that everywhere. I thought all the meat from the store came from little smoke houses like the one my dad took his deer to. It didn’t occur to me that food came from factories until I started buying my own and heard about the evils of Tyson and antibiotics and corn-feed. Now, with the concerns regarding climate change, we are starting to see data on the greenhouse gas output and fossil fuel usage of modern agricultural industries.

Most of what I found on ethical eating focuses solely on a vegan lifestyle, because cattle cost more in fossil fuels to raise. There are also a lot of vegans who don’t eat meat because they detest the the brutality of the meat industry. These are valid concerns, but it is impossible to turn the world vegan as a solution. Some people, myself included, not only don’t want to be vegan, but actually can’t. In this matter, I see our dependence on environmentally damaging agricultural methods as the problem, not our food choices. The process is what we should lobby to change.  The solution that I hear most often is to vote with your dollar. This is good, but we should also remember that many people can’t afford to, and those people are also a part of our interdependent web. Grass fed beef is expensive, free range eggs cost about two dollars more than other eggs, and organic is even pricier. How can we promote the purchase of better food choices when the income gap keeps getting wider? (hint, hint, let’s regulate!) Extolling the virtues of voting with your dollar is, it seems to me, just one more way of shaming the poor. 

It is important to be conscious of where your food is coming from in a larger sense, too. How far did your oranges travel to get to your table? In the store I see California and Florida oranges—why? We can and do grow citrus right here in the valley! It takes a lot of gasoline to drive or fly from California to the valley. Buying local not only helps local farms, but reduces the fuel cost of your produce. There is also the option of growing your own food. I recommend gardening for both practical and spiritual reasons. 

I garden the pagan way. That is to say, I interact with my garden beyond just sowing and reaping. Most of the time I go out barefoot and dig in the dirt, planting and transplanting without using gloves. I feel instinctually connected to my garden and the creatures in it. I take time to admire the creatures and try to be considerate that my garden is also their home. The grub worms, bees, and spiders all have their purpose in the world, and when they take residence in a place that is also mine, I feel that I have done something right. I try to be welcoming.  I’ve even taken great strides in accepting the one bug that terrifies me, though I hope never to see it. I am aware that things live under the garden, and I am aware that this is their place. In the garden my phobia is somewhat less severe. 

In gardening, as in many things, we humans tend to be outraged by the presence of things we didn’t plan for: insects, weeds. I used to work in a tea shop that sold iron tea pots from Asia. They sold little matching saucers shaped like leaves and some of these leaf-saucers had holes in them. It was interesting to see customers admire the leaves and, one after the other, they all rejected the leaves with holes in them. My boss, a Chinese woman named Mei, explained that in her culture, holes in the leaves signify health, because bugs only want to eat healthy plants. In my own experience—particularly with affluent white Americans—we see just the opposite. A leaf with holes in it means there is an invader and we must immediately douse the poor, victimized plant with pesticides lest our entire garden be overrun by hungry caterpillars! How did we get to that state of mind? What drives this need to control? I learned an important lesson recently when a hungry caterpillar ate every single leaf of my spearmint plant: stuff grows back. The world has had five major extinction events, but stuff keeps growing back. Nature is truly a wonder. 

When my seeds sprout, I marvel in their growth each day, and when it’s time to harvest I practice active gratitude. In most pagan traditions, it is customary to ask the spirit of a plant before you harvest anything, and to thank it once you’re finished. Even if you do not believe the trees have spirits, this is an important meditative practice. We do not need to direct gratitude towards anything mystical in order for it to be beneficial. If you have a garden, try this the next time you harvest something. Sit in front of the plant a while if it is low to the ground. Inspect it: where are the cuttings you desire, are there new buds sprouting, is anything living there that you don’t want to disturb? Observe not just the fruit, but the whole plant, and the system that helps it produce. Smell the earth, hear the birds, feel the sun and the wind. As you cut what you need, keep all this in your mind. Enjoy the harvest as a ritual instead of a duty. 

Also, make room in your garden, and maybe in your heart, for weeds. 

I wanted to talk about climate change, but I am hardly an expert, so I will refer you to Shirley and her climate change reading group that meets every other Thursday. I don’t attend this group myself, because of a hectic class schedule, which brings me to my final point: what you can do to live a greener life without breaking. 

Are you busy? Do you have responsibilities? Do you occasionally ignore reality to cope with not being able to solve all the world’s problems? Well, friends, today is your lucky day! I have a reverse offering for you! In this basket are green cards (click here for download). Each card has a tip for green living. Take one and try it out. By making just one change at a time, we can feel good about our progress without becoming overwhelmed. If you find the tip works, pass it on to others. 

While the basket goes round, here is my other advice:

If you can afford to, vote with your dollar. If you can’t, try to spend ten dollars of your grocery budget on locally sourced produce. If you don’t make your own cleaners, purchase environmentally responsible products such as Seventh Generation. Help others become environmentally conscious by giving the gift of cute, reusable shoppingbags for birthdays and holidays. If you don’t have space for a full garden, plant a window box of herbs. For a more intimate connection to your food, you can place it on the dinner table and invite guests to pick their own seasonings. Hang a birdhouse or feeder in your yard, or make a toad home in the garden, or a feral cat shelter. 

Learn about recycling programs at local stores. Office Depot has an ink and toner recycling program, Wal-Mart and HEB have plastic bag recycling programs, Staples, Lowes, and Best Buy all have battery recycling programs, and Staples will also recycle any electronic item. By being aware of these programs, we can reduce our waste output without going out of our way, and again, we can inform others of the options available. 

It is unreasonable to expect everyone to be green in every area of life, and that is ok. We can still be aware. Awareness will help us make better choices and limit our bad choices. For example, I use paper plates during the school semester because I value my sanity, but during the breaks I go back to real plates because I have the time and the energy to wash them. It is more important not to burn out on environmentalism than it is to be perfect. Respect the web, but remember that you are also a part of it and respect your need for sustenance and growth. Start small, like a seed, and we will grow a healthier world. 

I would like to close with the Beatitudes forEarth Sunday by Richard S. Gilbert

Blessed are the heavens,
for they declare the power of creation.
Blessed is the earth, our beloved home,
for she is a planet of plenitude.

Blessed are the waters thereon,
for they gave rise to living things.
Blessed is the land,
for it is the source of life abundant.

Blessed is the air we breathe,
for it fires us to life and love.
Blessed are the beasts of the field,
for they are glorious to behold.

Blessed are the birds of the air,
for they carve a graceful arc in the sky.
Blessed are the mountains and the seas and the valleys,
for their variety makes rich our habitat.

Blessed are the fields of grain, the orchards of fruit,
for they give sustenance, asking nothing in return.
Blessed are the dwellers on earth,
for they cherish the privilege of living upon it.

Blessed are they who protect the earth and all her creatures,
from the plants of the field to the trees of the forest,
for their reward shall be harmony with the web of existence.
Rejoice, and be glad,
for the earth and her people are one.

 

Moving Toward the 6th Principle in Light of Ferguson

This sermon was given on 30 November, 2014, by Rachel Udow. We had an excellent group discussion afterwards, just between the sermon and the final hymn.

 

 Reading 1:

“The sixth Principle seems extravagant in its hopefulness and improbable in its prospects. Can we continue to say we want ‘world community’? ‘Peace, liberty, and justice for all’? The world is full of genocide, abuse, terror, and war. What have we gotten ourselves into?

“As naïve or impossible as the sixth Principle may seem, I’m not willing to give up on it. In the face of our culture’s apathy and fear, I want to imagine and help create a powerful vision of peace by peaceful means, liberty by liberatory means, justice by just means. I want us to believe—and to live as if we believe—that a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all is possible. There is no guarantee that we will succeed, but I can assure you that we will improve ourselves and improve the world by trying.”

—Rev. Sean Parker Dennison, Tree of Life Congregation, McHenry, IL

Reading 2:
(This excerpt is from the most recent issue of UU World and predates the grand jury’s decision on Ferguson)

“As we tentatively enter the aftermath of this summer’s events in Ferguson, we are all choosing to whom we will listen, deciding which accounts we will believe. Such times of not knowing can be transformative, when something new has happened, or something old has been seen in a new way, and the official story hasn’t yet been written.

Times of not knowing aren’t my favorite. I like to feel well-informed and smart, and it is unsettling to realize how deep my unknowing goes. Right now a lot of white people are saying, “Let’s just wait for the experts to tell us what really happened. I recognize the impulse: to find someone impartial and fair, who knows the truth, so that we can know what ‘really’ happened.

Pew Research statistics show that 76 percent of black people don’t expect official investigations into Michael Brown’s killing to be of any help, while most whites think they will help. How do we move forward, in a nation with statistics like that?”

-       The Rev. Meg Riley, Church of the Larger Fellowship


 Sermon: Moving Toward the 6th Principle by Rachel Udow

This is a different sermon than the one I was planning to give a week ago: “A Grant Writer’s Guide to the Sixth Principle.” Fortunately, I tend to work best under pressure – which is a nice way of saying that I tend to procrastinate – and so I hadn’t gotten very far with my original concept before the grand jury’s decision on Ferguson impelled me to change course.

Our first reading, from the Rev. Sean Parker, begins: “The sixth principle seems extravagant in its hopefulness and improbable in its prospects…What have we gotten ourselves into?” I’m feeling this as acutely as ever after this week’s verdict and ensuing events.

Regardless of where individuals throughout the United States stand on the verdict, I don’t think there’s a person in this country who would argue that the events surrounding Michael Brown’s death and the aftermath have been reflective of a “world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.”

In the face of the myriad ways one could unpack the relationship between Ferguson and the 6^th principle, I’d like to focus on one: the rallying cry “Black Lives Matter.” Black Lives Matter…I’ve been turning this over and over in my mind. To say Black Lives Matter implies that there is a need to say it – implies that we have a situation of Black Lives Not Mattering.  

In last week’s sermon, Emily referenced postcolonial and feminist theorist Chandra Mohanty, who said that “privilege nurtures blindness to those without the same privileges.” In my 29 years, it has never occurred to me to, first of all, think of myself as a “life” attached to one facet of my identity, and, second of all, state out loud that I matter as one of these lives. Let me unpack those two points.

The first point was that I’ve never thought of myself as a life attached to a facet of my identity. I have many “identity markers,” as we all do: White, Female, Daughter, Dog Mother, Friend, Musician, Employee, and Small Business Owner are some examples. Still, I think of myself primarily as “Rachel” and the unique configuration of identity markers that is me; I don’t think of myself as a “White Life” or any other kind of “Life.” Privilege is at work here; none of my identity markers has ever caused me so much trouble as to become particularly defining. As far as I know, nobody reads the visual manifestations of my identity – my skin color, for example – and feels threatened to the point of needing to kill me in order to feel safe.

The second thing that has never occurred to me is that my life does not matter. Of course it matters. Why wouldn’t it? I’m pretty sure this is what Mohanty was talking about when she said that privilege nurtures blindness to those without the same privileges. The statement “Black Lives Matter” is impactful to me because of my unfailing confidence in my own life mattering. While I’m painfully aware that injustice and inequality are rampant, I’m still able to be startled by the need to assert that the very lives of a whole race of people do, in fact, matter.

Yesterday morning, Melissa Harris Perry – writer, professor, television host, and political commentator – asked a diverse group of experts on her show to weigh in on the question, “Do black lives matter?”

Salamishah Tillet, Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, responded: “What does it mean to be part of a country that was predicated on black lives not mattering? Or mattering only in the service of property or service of maintaining the power of white, slave-holding society? It’s a founding principle, the fact that black people have been denied humanity as a part of the democratic experience. It’s not just shocking, it’s true, but now we’re at another moment where that same principle is just resurfacing, and we have to deal with it as a nation.”

Another response came from Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: “There’s a fascinating statement circulating on Facebook right now that says, ‘How interesting that we've moved from Black Power to Black Lives Matter.’ The diminishment of a social movement that helped to transform and make possible a black president has become about, ‘How do we save people?’”

We’re trying to make sense of and activate our 6^th principle, a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all, and our nation is trying to figure out how to save black lives because black children are dying.  This makes me feel the way that Shirley, in one of her recent sermons, described feeling about climate change – despondent, depressed, overwhelmed.  I was steeped in these emotions, feeling both self-indulgent and absolutely stuck, when I opened the most recent issue of UU World and came across the Rev. Meg Riley’s commentary on Ferguson, “Up to Our Necks.” She writes:

As a nation of diverse races striving to be one people, we are buried up to our necks in a history of violence and brutality against people of color. Where do we look for safety, for help, as we try to excavate ourselves from this sinkhole? For a long time I have been one of the mostly silent, but increasingly alarmed, white folks struggling to discern how to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. But standing silently, trying to figure things out may be a life-threatening course of action when you and your neighbors are buried up to your neck. So I’m looking on the local level for practical actions I can take. And I refuse to be silent or still anymore.

Without stating it explicitly, Rev. Riley is essentially saying that, even though we’re all buried up to our necks in a history of violence and brutality against people of color, she’s not giving up on the 6^th principle. Giving up would be, quite literally, a life-threatening course of action. So she acknowledges her starting place, holds the end vision in her heart and mind, and resolves to act.

I’m right there with her – and now I’m looking for practical actions. Fortunately, so are many, many others, and more fortunately still, there are people with far more experience and sophistication than I have regarding antiracism whose thoughts I have shared and will continue to share with you this morning. The following is taken directly from an article by commentator Janee Wood titled “12 Things WhitePeople Can Do Now Because of Ferguson.” For the sake of time, I’ve chosen to focus on ten of Woods’ twelve points. Also, for the purpose of today’s sermon, I’d suggest thinking about the following ten points as “Ten Ways to Move Toward the 6^th Principle in Light of Ferguson.” 

One: Learn about the racialized history of Ferguson and how it reflects the racialized history of America.  Michael Brown’s murder is not a social anomaly or statistical outlier. It is the direct product of deadly tensions born from decades of housing discrimination, white flight, intergenerational poverty and racial profiling. The militarized police response to peaceful assembly by the people mirrors what happened in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement.

Two: Reject the “He Was a Good Kid” narrative and lift up the “Black Lives Matter” narrative. Michael Brown was a good kid, by accounts of those who knew him during his short life. But that’s not why his death is tragic. His death isn’t tragic because he was a sweet kid on his way to college next week.  His death is tragic because he was a human being and his life mattered. The Good Kid narrative might provoke some sympathy but what it really does is support the lie that as a rule black people, black men in particular, have a norm of violence or criminal behavior. The Good Kid narrative says that this kid didn’t deserve to die because his goodness was the exception to the rule. This is wrong. This kid didn’t deserve to die because he was a human being and black lives matter.

Three: Use words that speak the truth about the disempowerment, oppression, disinvestment and racism that are rampant in our communities.  Be mindful, political and socially aware with your language. Notice how the mainstream news outlets are using words like riot and looting to describe the uprising in Ferguson.  What’s happening is not a riot. The people are protesting and engaging in a justified rebellion. They have a righteous anger and are revolting against the police who have terrorized them for years.

Four: Understand the modern forms of race oppression and slavery and how they are intertwined with policing, the courts and the prison industrial complex.  We don’t enslave black people on the plantation cotton fields anymore. Now we lock them up in for profit prisons at disproportionate rates and for longer sentences for the same crimes than white people. And when they are released, they are second class citizens stripped of voting rights and denied access to housing, employment and education.  Mass incarceration is The New Jim Crow.

Five: Examine the interplay between poverty and racial equity. The twin pillar of racism is economic injustice but do not use class issues to trump race issues and avoid the racism conversation. While racism and class oppression are tangled together in this country, the fact remains that the number one predictor of prosperity and access to opportunity is race.

Six: Diversify your media. Be intentional about looking for and paying close attention to diverse voices of color on the tv, on the internet and on the radio to help shape your awareness, understanding and thinking about political, economic and social issues. Check out Colorlines, The Root or This Week in Blackness to get started.

Seven: Adhere to the philosophy of nonviolence as you resist racism and oppression. Dr. Martin Luther King advocated for nonviolent conflict reconciliation as the primary strategy of the Civil Rights Movement and the charge of His Final Marching Orders.   East Point Peace Academy offers online resources and in person training on nonviolence that is accessible to all people regardless of ability to pay.

Eight: If you are a person of faith, look to your scriptures or holy texts for guidance. Seek out faith based organizations like Sojourners and follow faith leaders that incorporate social justice into their ministry. Ask your clergy person to address antiracism in their sermons and teachings. If you are not a person of faith, learn how the world’s religions view social justice issues so that when you have opportunity to invite people of faith to also become allies, you can talk with them meaningfully about why being a white ally is supported by their spiritual beliefs.

Nine: Be proactive in your own community. We are not limited to being reactionary and only rising up to stand on the side of justice when black people are being subjected to violence very visibly and publicly. Moments of crisis do not need to be the catalyst because taking action against systemic racism is always appropriate because systemic racism permeates nearly every institution and community in this country. Some ideas for action: organize  a community conversation about the state of police-community relations* in your neighborhood, support leaders of color by donating your time or money to their campaigns or causes, ask the local library to host a showing and discussion group about the documentary RACE: The Power of an Illusion, attend workshops to learn how to transform conflict into opportunity for dialogue. Gather together diverse allies that represent the diversity of backgrounds in your community. Antiracism is not a liberals only cause. Antiracism is a movement for all people, whether they be conservative, progressive, rich, poor, urban or rural.

Ten: Don’t give up. We’re 400 years into this racist system and it’s going to take a long, long, long time to dismantle these atrocities. The antiracism movement is a struggle for generations, not simply the hot button issue of the moment. Transformation of a broken system doesn’t happen quickly or easily. You may not see or feel the positive impact of your white allyship in the next month, the next year, the next decade or even your lifetime. But don’t ever stop. Being a white ally matters because your thoughts, deeds and actions will be part of what turns the tide someday. Change starts with the individual.

In closing, I’ll return to our first reading, a reflection on the 6^th principle by the Rev. Sean Parker Dennison. He wrote: “As naïve or impossible as the sixth Principle may seem, I’m not willing to give up on it. In the face of our culture’s apathy and fear, I want to imagine and help create a powerful vision of peace by peaceful means, liberty by liberatory means, justice by just means. I want us to believe—and to live as if we believe—that a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all is possible. There is no guarantee that we will succeed, but I can assure you that we will improve ourselves and improve the world by trying.”

If we truly believe in the ideal of a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all, let us leave here today and show, by our words and by our actions, that Black Lives Matter – and let us work for a world in which this sentiment is so innate that it no longer makes sense as a rallying cry.