HomeGood Morning!
There are a number of things I want to speak about this morning. First today is Father’s Day and I want to take some time to celebrate fathers and fatherhood.
The image of “Dad” that appears in the media at this time of year is of a strong but gentle, caring person who has deep wells of wisdom and patience. As a father myself I see and know the deep truth of that image.
But as a father myself, I know how often some of us fail to live up to that image. I think this morning of those fathers who, far from feeling strong and powerful, know their own weakness; who rather than feeling courage know fear; who rather than feeling wise know only the sense of being lost and unsure.
It is largely because I am a father myself that I am able to see the astonishing ability to be a parent that my own father had. And it is because of my own experience as a father that I find I am ever more understanding of my own father’s small failings.
I have dichotomous feelings about Father’s Day. On the one hand, I feel my father deserves to be honored on this day. He was a great father, a great parent. On the other hand, I don’t feel that I ought to be honored on this day; rather I feel blessed to be a father. My daughter is the greatest gift I have received in my life. One neither needs nor deserves to be honored for a gift one has been given.
Nevertheless, I am gratefull for my father and feel he deserves to be honored on this day. Let us pause now, remembering those who gave us life or taught us how to live. Whatever their ability or lack of ability, they bequeathed to us the abilities that we have, including that of change and being better.
Let those of us who wish to name their names.
(Naming.)
We honor these names. May we live lives worthy of the gifts they gave us.
June 19, also called Juneteenth. In reading about this day I found information about Juneteenth on a website for the state of Texas, and the heading on that website stated that it was on this date that Texas freed its slaves. Not so. It is fascinating to me how often we human beings report historic events in ways that put a positive spin on us or on our ancestors, and on our behaviors.
Former Senator Jess Helms has a book coming out in which he states that the Civil Rights movement of the 1940’, 50’s and 60’s was pushed too hard and too fast by “outside agitators” with their own agendas. He claims that given time the South would have ended segregation on its own. I have no doubt that without the Civil Rights movement the South would still be segregated. He also says that because things were pressed to soon and to fast, the Civil Rights movement engendered racial tensions that we still live with today—as if segregation itself did not engender racial tension.
It was on June 19, 1865 (140 years ago today) that Union forces arrived in Galveston, Texas bringing news that Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, that the Confederacy had collapsed, that the Civil War was over and that President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation two and a half years before. The general who led the Union forces read that proclamation at a public gathering in Galveston on that day. He then ordered the local plantation owners to take copies of the Proclamation back home to their plantations and read them to their now former slaves. This was the first that the 250,000 slaves in Texas had heard of the Emancipation Proclamation.
In the years to come, June 19, called Juneteenth, was celebrated in Texas and then beyond as the date that slavery ended. The hymn that we will sing immediately after this sermon, Lift Every Voice and Sing, was written in 1899 to commemorate Juneteenth event and became so connected to Juneteenth celebrations and so popular among the descendants of slaves that by the 1920’s it was being called, in the language of the day, the Negro National Anthem.
As is true of many events, there arte two ways to look at the circumstances surrounding Juneteenth. The first is the Pessimistic viewpoint: It took two and a half years for news of Emancipation to reach the slaves. Of course, the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to those states and territories in rebellion on January 1, 1863 and clearly had no impact on anyone until Union forces arrived in and took control of any particular area. People were not free simply because Lincoln said so. One of the issues of the Civil War was the issue of slavery, and only if the Union were successful would slavery end.
To a pessimist, the fact that it took two and a half years for emancipation to reach Texas is a sign of all that is wrong with the world.
But there is another view. To an optimist, this is not merely a story of freedom delayed or a dream deferred; it is a story of hope. People living in bondage and yearning for freedom did not know that already liberation was on its way, that already hope and dream had been fulfilled.
And that speaks to all of us. In the midst of sadness or despair, it may be that change has already happened but we are unaware of it. Even in the longest, darkest night of our suffering, even when there seems to be no hope at all, news may be winging its way towards us of a great shift in the world or in our world. The news of freedom may be on its way; freedom from sorrow, freedom from bondage, freedom from the paralyzing power of despondence.
Whatever our theology, the message is: never give up hope. Never give up on God or on goodness or on the future. The transformative moment may already have happened, and angels of mercy may already be on their way.
Hold on to hope.
Hold on to promise.
Never give up.
Flower Ceremony
Today is the last time I am in the pulpit until next September, so it marks the beginning of our summer season. Starting next week, we have only one service each Sunday and they are on are on summer hours and there is no religious education program for the children. For me, then, though I will be in the office until the end of June, this is my summer farewell. And the congregation moves into a different mode, a quieter, more relaxed time—a reminder of the days when we shut down completely for the summer. And a reminder of the human need for some time spent in quiet reflection, for rest, for calm.
So we treat this service as if it is the last service of the year, even though it is not.
Just as we began this year last September with an ingathering and water ceremony, so we end the year with a Flower Ceremony.
This service is a Unitarian Universalist tradition begun by Rev. Norbert Capek (Cha-peck) at his church in Prague. He wanted a ceremony that would be meaningful to all of the members of his congregation without causing discomfort to any. His congregation, like ours, had people who came to it from varied religious backgrounds. Some had been Catholic, some Protestant and some Jewish. Capek wanted a ceremony that would unite this diverse congregation without emphasizing one tradition over another or excluding anyone. Some Unitarian Universalist congregations call this ceremony their Flower Communion, but Capek did not like that name as it implied that this was a Christian ritual. He called it a Flower Ceremony, and so I call it that today.
We each have brought with us a flower, and have placed them in the vase in front of the room; if anyone has not yet put their flower with the others, I invite them to do so now.
This is a special and particular bouquet. It is unique to this congregation and to this day. If any of these flowers were missing, were not present, the arrangement would be different. It is symbolic, then, of our community. One flower added or one flower subtracted and everything is changed; it becomes a different bouquet. We each add something of ourselves to this community, even if only for a brief moment. We each help to make this place what it is.
I would ask each of us to come forward now and take a flower from the arrangement, a flower other than the one you brought with you.
Just as each of us takes from here something new and beautiful, so each of us leaves behind as a gift to others a part of ourselves. It is this sharing that makes a community. It is this sharing that makes any congregation a place of hope and strength. It is a symbol also of the beauty of diversity and difference. Because we have different strengths, we are all stronger. Because we have different life experiences, we can gain wisdom from one another. Because we have different theologies, we gain spiritual depth from one another. Because we are different people, we are a healthy community.
As we leave here today, we will each we carry with us a flower, a transient symbol of a deeper and longer lasting beauty. As we leave here today, may we know that we carry with us, in our hearts, a piece of this community.
As we go into out the world, let us not fear difference. Let us work for a world of acceptance, love and community for every person.
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