Last preached on January 16th, 2011
There once was a young African American seminary student,
attending the Theology School at Boston University,
and looking for his spiritual home,
both as a religious human being and as a future minister.
His wife had attended Unitarian Churches
in the years before they met,
and while living in Boston this African American seminarian
and his African American wife regularly attended
several of the Unitarian churches in that most Unitarian of towns.
We know this story in part from an interview of that wife,
many years later, where she recounted
to a Unitarian Universalist seminarian
how important their experience of Unitarianism in Boston
had been for them, and for the formulation
of her husband’s theology and sense of justice.
The woman the seminarian was interviewing stated
that her husband had seriously considered
becoming a Unitarian minister,
and chose not to because they realized
that they would never be able
to build a mass movement among Black Americans
from within the majority white denomination that was,
and still is today, Unitarianism.
I do not know if this became apparent
to this young African American seminarian all on his own,
or if someone in the Unitarian power establishment
said to him that there was not a place
for him as a Unitarian Minister.
There are rumors that someone
said something like that to this seminarian,
who later became known as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
There are rumors that someone
at our denominational headquarters in Boston
told this aspiring young seminary student
that he would be better off in another denomination…
one that would be willing to give
an African American minister a chance.
I do know that other Blacks who aspired
to become Unitarian Ministers during that same time
were directly discouraged from pursuing
the ministry of our liberal faith…
because it was felt that our many white congregations
would be unlikely to call black ministers.
Whether Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King
realized on their own that their ministry for change
would be more effective if they returned
to the African American Christian churches they came from,
or whether they were guided that way
by some probably well meaning
and undoubtedly condescending Unitarian leadership,
the fact remains that our liberal religious denomination
did not have the vision to welcome and empower
one of the greatest theologians, reformers, activists, ministers,
and dare I say prophets of our time into our ministry.
When Dr. King later came and spoke as the Ware Lecturer
at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association
on May 18th, of 1966, I wonder what he thought
of this denomination that almost was for him?
I wonder what he thought of this group
of well meaning people who had lacked the vision
for the ministry to which he was called?
He titled his message to this denomination
that almost was for him
“Don’t sleep through the Revolution”.
He warned us not to be put to sleep
by the illusion of separateness.
He warned us not to be put to sleep
by the myth of exaggerated progress.
He warned us not to be put to sleep
by the idea of dreams achieved.
He warned us not to be put to sleep
by the idea that problems such as violence, war,
equal housing, poverty, and power politics
were separate from issues of racial equality.
To keep us awake, he wished for us a kind of divine discontent.
He wished for us to be mal-adjusted…
to be mal-adjusted to poverty, to militarism, to racism,
to bigotry, to economic inequality.
He called upon us to be upset, to be uncomfortable,
to be discontent, to be unsatisfied.
To be awake. He called upon us, not the world as a whole
but us, Unitarian Universalists, his almost denomination…
he called upon us not to sleep through the revolution.
To sleep, perchance to dream, as Shakespeare said.
I have been struck by this paradox in the call from Dr. King…
the call that we remain awake,
that we do not sleep through the revolution…
and his most famous saying… “I have a dream”.
I have been struck that when he spoke
on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial,
he named the injustices
that had been visited upon Black Americans for generations…
he named that the promise of equality
in the Declaration of Independence had been a bad check
that had come back marked Insufficient funds…
He named the injustices and the injuries,
the racism and oppression. He named it all…
but for those to whom he sought to minister that day,
he did not leave them in the list of injustices…
no, he brought to them a dream.
A dream that one day his children would be judged
not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
A dream that the nation would one day live up to
the high ideals it set for itself.
A dream that across this nation, freedom would ring.
I have read that dream. I have been inspired by that dream.
I have heard the cry for justice that came
before the dream in that speech,
but it has been Dr. King talking about the dream
that has held my fascination, my hope, my ideal…
I have stood in Unitarian pulpits,
a white man with just enough native American ancestry
to feel it within without anyone else noticing without…
I have stood in such pulpits of privilege as this
and read the sermon of that dream aloud…
And it’s taken me awhile to realize a simple truth…
that dream was not meant for me.
It was not my dream to have.
That dream was not the message
that Dr. Martin Luther King jr. had for me.
That dream was not the message
that Dr. Martin Luther King jr. had for us.
He did not call us to that dream… far from it.
He called me to wake up. He called us to wake up.
He called us to wake up before we slept through the revolution.
The message this prophet had for us was not to dream
of a nation that would one day recognize the equality of all…
but to wake up and see our own responsibility for a nation
that had made promises it not only was not keeping,
but did not intend to keep unless it was forced.
Promises we’re still not keeping today,
no matter that a Black man is in the White House.
I’m willing to bet there are a few of you out there
who think I’m being unfair. I probably am.
Fairness does not come into this.
I know how seductive it is to dream.
Much of my theology, much of my personal practice of ministry
is based around helping people learn to dream,
to vision, to see an ideal, to set that ideal before yourself
and use it to inspire you to greater and greater wholeness.
I have said before that one of my wishes for this congregation,
long after my short time with you is done,
is that you are able to move beyond dreaming what might be
to visioning how to make those might be’s a series of realities.
Those dreams and the visions that might come from them…
those dreams for the future of this Fellowship
that we have countless times placed on white paper sheets
and taped to the walls all around us…
those dreams are our dreams to have, because they are for us,
for this fellowship, for this place
where we have invested our spiritual selves…
our time, our talent, our treasure.
And, as I look out at the congregation this morning,
I can’t help but think that there are few, if any of us present today,
to whom Dr. Martin Luther King was speaking to
when he said the words “I Have a Dream”.
Last week, I preached on the concept of what it means for us,
for Unitarian Universalism to understand itself
as a Prophetic Religious Tradition.
I know that was a challenging sermon.
I know that the idea that our faith tradition requires us
to speak prophetic truth to the world is a hard idea,
and that it might not be the same idea
of the purpose and place of our faith that many of you hold.
I know that. My intent last week, and again this week,
is to challenge you. Is to challenge how we think
about social justice, about prophetic witness,
and about what the purpose of our Liberal Religious Faith is.
What the purpose of our Fellowship is.
I am going to continue to come back to that question
from this pulpit over the coming months…
What is the purpose of Unitarian Universalism?
What is the purpose of Liberal Religion
in Midland and Mid-Michigan?
What is the purpose of this Fellowship,
of our Sunday morning services?
Of all the effort and expense that we go through
to keep these doors open?
For what are we called?
I can’t answer this question for you.
As an Interim Minister, I have to be very cautious
how much of myself, how much of my understanding of ministry
and my understanding of the purpose and place
of Unitarian Universalism I leave here.
I am not, and will not ever be a member of this congregation,
and so I have to be very cautious that my beliefs
do not overly shape what you understand
as the identity of this Fellowship,
the purpose of this Fellowship,
and the mission of this Fellowship in the world.
As I thought through how to do that,
I thought about staying away from challenging sermons.
I thought about not asking such core questions as who we are,
and what our purpose is here in Midland and Mid-Michigan.
As a Unitarian Universalist and as a Liberal Faith Minster,
I know that I have a particular call to be an evangelist,
to share this liberal religious faith in local communities
and in the world, because I think that at its best it saves lives.
I know it saved mine. I don’t know if I would be alive today
were it not for Unitarian Universalism.
I know I have a particular call to be a liberal religious prophet…
to speak often uncomfortable truths to power
in the communities I find myself in.
I know this call is a large part of what keeps me
in the military chaplaincy… as much or more than
my desire to care for soldiers,
because I feel the call to continually say to military command
and chaplain command the things that I think
are unjust about today’s military,
from the years of Don’t ask Don’t tell,
to the prohibition against women in combat,
to the overt and illegal proselytization
conducted by some of my colleagues in the Chaplain Corps.
I know all of this about myself…
and I know that if I were your settled minister
I would be doing my best to inspire you to come along with me…
to become evangelists with me…
to become practitioners of the prophetic voice with me…
And as an Interim Minister, inspiring you
to share my vision of who we are as a liberal religious faith
is not my role.
You must decide who you are as a Fellowship.
You must decide what your vision is
of your collective ministries here in Mid-Michigan.
You must be prepared to craft a dream from among yourselves,
with your new settled minister,
as to who you are, what your purpose is,
and what your vision for the future is.
You must decide what your vision of ministry is…
not what my vision of your ministry is.
My vision… the dream I have… it’s not for you.
Because I don’t get to stay.
So I thought about not preaching such challenging,
dream and vision filled sermons.
I thought about not preaching about my vision
for our liberal faith movement that we understand ourselves
as a religion focused on the Prophetic Voice…
focused on naming the ills of the world and of ourselves
in ways that transform and create.
I thought about bringing you sermons
on the history of the Unitarians and the Universalists,
on personal spiritual development,
on the practice of “doing church”…
because I did not want you to feel
that you have to be my vision, my dream.
And then I realized… Ya’ll are grown ups.
You all can hear and see my passion, my vision, my dreams…
and instead of thinking and assuming my dreams are for you,
you can use my passion and my dreams
to inspire you to your own.
Perhaps you will never become
the First Evangelical Unitarian Church
at the corner of Jefferson and Wackerly… that’s okay…
a little disappointing to me, but okay.
Perhaps hearing me preach about my passion
for a Unitarian Universalism that understands its purpose
as saving people from hatred, fear, and oppression
will inspire you to a passionate dream of your own creation,
your own choosing.
Perhaps hearing me preach about my passionate belief
that my purpose as a Prophetic Liberal Faith Minister,
the purpose of Liberal Faith Ministry,
is no less than to save the world.
To transform the world along the arc that Martin Luther King
said “Bends towards justice”.
Perhaps seeing my eyes on fire when I talk
about the way we as a nation treat our veterans, or our homeless,
both of which I have been at one point in my life…
perhaps seeing my fire will inspire in you,
both as individuals and as a congregation, t
o find where your passions lead you.
What dreams, what visions they inspire in you.
The mistake I made was to think
that the dream that Dr. King preached
on the steps of the Lincoln memorial was for me.
I spent hours reading and re-reading that dream,
trying to make it my own. I thought I had.
But that was his dream, not mine.
I was not even the intended audience
for his telling of his dream.
My mistake was to think that I could make
someone else’s dream my own.
Dr. King had it right when he wished us,
Unitarian Universalism, his almost denomination…
he had it right when he wished us to wake up.
When he called us not to sleep through the revolution.
Because when we are dreaming someone else’s dream…
we are surely asleep.
To be awake, to be in the revolution,
is to dream you own dream,
turn that dream into a vision of what you must do,
and then live that vision as a mission in the world.
It is what I wish for me. It is what I wish for you.
It is what Dr. King wished for us.
So may it be, blessed be, and amen.