“Abolition”

I never thought I’d live to see the day that Nascar would ban the waving of the Confederate flag at their races. I’m continually learning how small my imagination has been during this pandemic, and during the movements that we are seeing gain fierce momentum worldwide. I never would have thought that we could convince enough people to temporarily halt our entire economy for the welfare of each other. Again, another indicator of how small my imagination was. It is astounding what we have learned about ourselves in the last three months. We have learned we can completely halt our way of life – and this can be done with just enough people who want it, not everybody. All we need is just enough people to completely reorganize how our society functions. We are also seeing this with the Black Lives Matter movement. It is a worldwide force of power and energy, because just enough people (quite a lot, actually) are speaking out, and doing what they can to provoke change toward a more welcoming and just society. Again, not everybody needs to participate – just enough.

            This month’s worship theme is abolition. The term is most often associated with the abolition of slavery in the United States, and the movement of persons including many Unitarian ministers who were abolitionists leading up to the civil war. Theodore Parker, one of our faith ancestors, famously preached on Sunday mornings with a revolver in his pulpit in case any slave owner came to his congregation to retrieve a runaway slave, which was perfectly legal under the Fugitive Slave Act. Yet given the heroism and courage of many women and men during this period, there still seems to be a lot that we don’t understand about the nature of slavery in the United States. In a recent poll, only 38% of Americans thought the Civil War was primarily about the institution of slavery: its preservation or abolition. More people actually think the Civil War was about states’ rights to make decisions for their own communities, and federal infringement on those rights.

            All of this to say, it is no real surprise we are in the predicament we are in today. There is still much confusion and disagreement about the role abolition plays in the preservation of true freedom and democracy. It is as fraught and divisive today as it was in 1863.

            A church community like ours has a unique role to play in the unfolding narrative of this nation, and who our people will become. We understand it is possible for a person to transform, and undergo a change of character, and grow a soul. This is possible. We also understand this transformation is not an isolated event, but it has the power to change other people’s lives in deep and profound ways. A single person’s transformation is connected to the growing pains of the society within which that person lives. A single person’s transformation has the power to influence generations in untold ways. The inverse is also true: the more we transform the way our society functions to better welcome the vulnerable, the deeper and more profound an individual’s transformation is. It is a feedback loop, where one influences the other, perhaps for eternity.

            In this time of high energy and intensity, let us dig into our history. Let us dig deeper in our commitment to our community, and to an imaginative and consistent path toward justice. Let us discover the joys of continually growing our soul, both individually, and as a nation.