I’d like to begin by acknowledging that yesterday was a big day for social action. Right here at Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church – across the deck in our beautiful shiny sparkling reclaimed Religious Exploration Building – thirty of us (raise your hand if you were here – one of the co-chairs is over in the RE building with our high school youth group right now) spent more than four hours of a gorgeous Saturday, all the more gorgeous in comparison to all the rain and humidity that we’ve had these past ten or so days, at the first-ever Social Action Kick-off event. It was a really well-executed event, with knowledgable speakers on the major areas we care about: rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, especially equal marriage; ….. Educating ourselves and each other and taking responsibility for what we will try to do this year and what we will forego for another time.
And down at the mall in the District, some of you joined in a much larger social action rally, described as the most multi-cultural, multi-racial rally ever in our nation’s capitol, attended by an estimated ___________. (raise your hand if you were there). At my house, we hosted an old friend and her three friends who traveled up from Asheville NC to attend the rally. What they said was…
This all ties in very well with our theme this morning, on being neighbors.
In preparation for writing this sermon, I listened to the recording of the excellent August
1st summer service here. It was planned by members of our Diversity Anti-Racism Transformation Team (aka DARTT). They called it “The Significance of Place” and it was an exploration of the county in which PBUUC is situated, Prince George’s County. Its purpose was to raise our awareness of and appreciation for its history, diversity, challenges and, to quote one speaker, Kweli Powell, its “gifts, both real and potential.” Another speaker, Brenda Ana, who was born and raised in Hyattsville and moved back to Prince George’s County after college, spoke about her father’s growing up years here as well as her own. And, Tricia Most, who moved to Upper Marlboro in 1967 and is white, shared her experience as a white teen of being warmly welcomed by the black and white farm kids who seemed to know each other and get along.
As a newcomer to the county myself only one year ago, there is so much I do not know about the county and I learned a lot from the service. I felt a lot in the service, too. And, I felt touched by the personal sharing of life experiences by all three speakers, as well as the Worship Associate, Don Henderson. Each effectively conveyed a level of understanding of the role of racism that is unusual to hear expressed openly in racially mixed settings like ours. I felt proud of that, and I felt proud to be the minister of a congregation that puts on such well-crafted lay-led services. I loved that we were challenged to stop referring to Prince George’s County by its initials, observing that no one ever shortens Montgomery County or Anne Arundel County, the names of which are even longer. Mostly, I felt provoked by the challenging questions they raised.
Three questions remained with me, which relate to our theme today, on being neighbors.
I will repeat them for those of you who missed that service. (I might add that it sounded like each of them spoke from a text which may mean, though I have not yet asked, that they would be willing to let us post their talks on our website and in the sermon display in the Meeting House foyer. Or, you can ask for a copy of the CD from the Building Manager who works in the soundroom on Sunday mornings).
Two of the questions were directly related: How might internalized racism for whites and internalized oppression for people of color cause the negative stereotypes that persist about our county? And, similarly, how might internalized racism for whites and internalized oppression for people of color impede us in our progress toward being a multi-racial, multi-cultural, mixed class congregation.
And the third was asked twice in the service, including as the Closing Words or Benediction, read in unison by all the speakers together for greater impact, “Do we live and worship we do simply to take care of ourselves or do we live and worship where we can make a difference in the world around us?”
In essence, what does it mean to us, as Unitarian Universalists, to have neighbors? Who is our neighbor?