Sermon, Part 1: Freedom's Plow – Edie Sonn

As I was thinking about how to approach these remarks, I confess I was stumped. Last year, when I was privileged to share some thoughts with this congregation about Independence Day, was easy for me – thinking about “patriotism in troubled times,” I immediately thought of Mark Twain’s observation that “patriotism means supporting your country always, and your leaders when they deserve it.” That was a great platform to riff off of, and those words still resonate for me. What’s changed is, frankly, an even deeper sense of existential dread about our nation’s future - combined with deeper fury at our present - both converging with this monumental lookback on the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding.

But existential dread and fury don’t offer a great foundation for an uplifting message. I tried a few different ways in. I wanted to talk about taking back the 4th of July, and contemplate what the founders would think about where our country is today. I wanted to home in on the word “DECLARATION” and make a positive declaratory statement - remind us that America has always been an experiment that we’re still trying to perfect. I wanted to convey what Reverend Victoria Safford at Birch’s ordination last month called “joyful defiance.” But I wasn’t feeling very joyful. And everything I wrote felt either like a history lesson or depressing navel-gazing or a fist-shaking polemic. None of those were what I wanted.

So I did what I often do when my own words fail me. I went to the poets. And I found exactly the right tone in Langston Hughes’ poem “Freedom’s Plow.” This towering African-American poet wrote these words in 1943 - midway through America’s experience in World War II - exploring the idea of America as an ongoing, shared project. He conveys a sense of the difficulty but the unshakable commitment to moving toward “a more perfect union.” He reminds us that the founders gave us the tools and processes we need to do that. And even though he wrote this long before our current era, his words give me the fire of commitment to remember that WE built this country - and WE can take it back. His words are truly “fierce for liberty.”

The full poem is very long; this reading is an excerpt from it.

America is a dream.
The poet says it was promises.
The people say it is promises-that will come true.
The people do not always say things out loud,
Nor write them down on paper.
The people often hold
Great thoughts in their deepest hearts
And sometimes only blunderingly express them,
Haltingly and stumblingly say them,
And faultily put them into practice.
The people do not always understand each other.
But there is, somewhere there,
Always the trying to understand,
And the trying to say,
"You are a man. Together we are building our land."

 

America!
Land created in common,
Dream nourished in common,
Keep your hand on the plow! Hold on!
If the house is not yet finished,
Don’t be discouraged, builder!
If the fight is not yet won,
Don’t be weary, soldier!
The plan and the pattern is here,
Woven from the beginning
Into the warp and woof of America:

ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.
NO MAN IS GOOD ENOUGH
TO GOVERN ANOTHER MAN
WITHOUT HIS CONSENT.
BETTER DIE FREE,
THAN TO LIVE SLAVES.

Who said those things? Americans!
Who owns those words? America!
Who is America? You, me!
We are America!
To the enemy who would conquer us from without,
We say, NO!
To the enemy who would divide
And conquer us from within,
We say, NO!

FREEDOM!

BROTHERHOOD!

DEMOCRACY!

To all the enemies of these great words:
We say, NO!

Sermon, Part 2: This Land Is Our Land… Isn’t It? – Cynthia Phinney

One of my favorite patriotic songs is “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie. I have sung it at school events and Girl Scouts and I felt pride in my country when I sang it. I could see the entire country from its lyrics…and it all seemed to be wide open and calling to me. Now, I find it is calling to me with a kind of nostalgia for how life used to be. I find myself growing more nostalgic as the days go by; so much has changed.

Not too long ago, we were celebrating the Greatest Generation for all that they did and all that they witnessed during WWII. Now, I mention D-day to my cohorts at work and they don’t know what I am talking about. That makes me feel OLD!

I feel old trying to figure out where this country has gone in the last 10 years. I miss hearing speeches that were fiery and made me feel hopeful that change was on the way and things could really improve for everyone in the country. There was no discussion of how to make as much money as possible while in office or how to keep earnings information buried from the IRS.

I so miss having an intelligent, competent person in the Oval Office, I could scream. What happened to the three parts of government that were supposed to save us from one arm having too much power? My parent’s generation fought with everything they had to defeat facism in WWII. A power hungry idea that killed millions. Now, it seems to be back, alive and well on our very shores.

On the occasion of our country’s 250 birthday, let’s look at Woody Guthrie’s lyrics...

This land is our land: Not Venezuela, not Greenland and not Cuba. There are enough issues to work on here, let’s not let our eye wander off the ball.

This land is our land, so let’s take care of it! Do not remove buffalo herds off Federal land so that ranchers can use the land...that’s going in reverse. Remember Range Wars in the 19th Century? Oh, right, some of us don’t read history and therefore are dooming all of us to repeat it. The head honcho has also recently removed a ban on the use of M-44 cyanide bombs used to kill predators on government lands. That just doesn’t make sense to me. Wait…predators…

This land is our land: This one is problematic. There is the issue of literally pushing indigenous peoples off of what had been, THEIR land and forcing them onto little patches of Western land someone thinks no one will ever want. There is the “sin” of importing purchased people from Africa and making them slaves, that some Europeans have never really confronted, certainly not in this country. My country. On the contrary, Jim Crow seems to have returned in the South. It’s astonishing. Didn’t we fight a war regarding Slavery and States Rights?

This land is our land. Kind of like the White House belongs to the people of this land. No renovations allowed. I really didn’t think that we needed to write this one down or codify it into law. Or, maybe it has been, but that would not help…Law? What Law? The people of the United States of America to whom an oath was sworn to protect and defend: helping us to enjoy our liberty without going bankrupt trying to pay higher healthcare costs, rising housing and food costs. And whose money is being used for the destruction of the East Wing and the creation of an abominable Ballroom? I was under the impression that private donors were paying for it and then I heard something about Taxpayer funds. And don’t get me started on the war in Iran.

I used to love looking at overhead shots of the White House and now, the green grass is gone, the reflecting pool isn’t and there is a massive construction site where the East Wing used to be. And…how does this help the people of this country who are just trying to survive?

From early this spring, I have been participating in the No Kings Marches to try to heal my soul by joining with people who share a similar point of view. Many of us feel the country is going in the wrong direction and we are making our Voices fierce and walking with our Feet to be counted.

Talk about crowd size… At one event, I stood near the curb of the street and turned to my left to look at the crowd. What I saw was glorious! American flags flying everywhere. There were sooo many! It was amazing! (How large is your flag!!) Those are my people!!!

Can I ever enjoy this song again? Can I hope that over time, fierce love and action will help it mean something just as sweet to my heart? Can democracy truly prevail and remain fierce in my soul? Can I find a way to joyfully defiance?

I take a deep breath and say “YES”!