Sermon: Get Lost – Rev. Eric Banner

So I went on a walk Friday night. It was downtown, and I was not alone. I was there with hundreds of friends, though I had never met most of them. I went for a walk because I needed a community of people, and not just to be by myself with my worries, my thoughts, my anger, and my fear. It wasn't the kind of walk that Thoreau was writing about in our reading, but rather another kind of walk. The kind of walk that harkens back to one of the older roles that clergy have had, since before the founding of the nation. The people were gathered to be what was once called the public teaching of “piety, religion and morality.”

You may have come here this morning in need of what was published in our newsletter, and if you did, I want you to know that you will not have come in vain. To every purpose under heaven, there is a season, and sometimes it is a season to be lost, and sometimes it is to be the voice of values, morals, and the ethical foundations on which our common good resides. I was once told that every good sermon, however long it might be, should be able to be summed up into a single sentence, and if I had been able, in good consciousness to give the message I had intended this morning, it would have been summed up thusly - “Sometimes in our lives we are called to the spiritual work of getting off the beaten path, being lost, so that we might find ourselves.” It was the work that happened to the Buddha, who sought after enlightenment everywhere that people sent him, and who finally had to make his way to the boddhi tree. It was the work of Mohammed, who heard the voice of Allah not in the crowded marketplace, but in the cave of Hira. It was the 40 days in the wilderness that Jesus spent before he began his public ministry. I could go on.

But, there is a radical difference between being lost as a person, and being lost as a nation. There is a radical difference between being lost in your own woods, and loosing sight of the humanity and dignity of the people around you. And I fear that we have gotten lost as a nation, and must find ourselves once more, or we will lose much more than the respect and consideration of the world, we will have lost our souls, and the values that set us apart from the animal spirits insisting might makes right and “I want it” is sufficient justification for whatever act will give us the next shiny object that attracts our attention.

So, yes, if you are finding yourself in a season when it feels like you are lost, when you need to take a walk in the woods, do so, and in so doing join with the sages of the ages, until you can find what you've been missing. Not all who wander are lost.

But this week there was a shooting in Minneapolis, and another in Portland. Last week there was an extraordinary rendition of a sitting head of state. And what it all looks like from my perspective is governance by bullying, instead of by the rule of law. Now, I know, that there have been plenty of critiques, good, righteous critiques, of the rule of law by those on the left. It has been said that the Nazis acted in accordance with the laws they had passed, and I believe that is true, but it was not in accordance with the higher law to which we are all accountable. It is clear, without a doubt, that the generational enslavement of kidnapped Africans and their descendants in America was the law of the land, but it was neither right nor lawful when considered against the greatest commandment, treat your neighbor as yourself. Even still, I believe in the rule of law, even when there are laws I believe must be changed. I believe that “But he did it,” is never justification for “So I did it right back, and he deserved it.” Talonic law, it was once called, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But what we saw this week is what you see every time a bully moves to town. They find the most vulnerable, and the pick on them first. They go after the ones at the margins and at the edges and they wait to see what everyone does. They watch, carefully, to find out if their actions will go unnoticed, or at least unaddressed. So two days ago I went for a walk, surrounded by people I agreed with about much, and people I disagreed with about much. Strange times make for strange bedfellows, but what united us was far more important than what divided us. For the question before us when armed agents of the state kill our neighbors in the streets is no more than a question about the kind of nation we will be.

So yes, I want to talk about Renee Good this morning. And I want to talk about the immigration sweeps taking place across our nation, which you can be sure will be coming here as soon as they are able. But I think it's helpful to remember how we got here, not this year, or last year, or four years ago, or even eight years ago.

I want to turn your attention back to a moment that most of us have probably forgotten. There was a king in charge. He had a parliament that had no representation from the people of this continent. They imposed tariffs without a vote for those impacted. It was 1770, and the American people were incensed. They were unruly, in fact. They wanted their voice heard, and they wanted the taxes repealed. And on the evening of March 5th they went to the place where armed, government agents stood guard. The night ended with a shooting. Three of the protestors died that night, and another two weeks later from the wounds he sustained when the king's men fired upon them. It's unclear how much the Boston Massacre, as it came to be known, was involved in the revolution that would break out a few short years later, but what we can know is that when those founding patriots sat down to pledge their very lives to the cause, they felt they had to list the reasons why the government that claimed them from London could no longer claim legitimacy upon them.

“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States,” they wrote – and then they said this:

“To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

 

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

 

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for

 

Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither

 

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

 

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

 

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

 

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

 

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

 

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

 

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:”

I ask you, this day, how much of these complaints ring in the ear, not as relics from a bygone era, but as marching orders for an administration that seems hell bent on casting aside what has been so carefully built, by many of you, and by many who came before.

Just over a week ago American forces were sent on a foreign expedition, euphemistically called a law enforcement action, to capture the sitting president of Venezuela. Make no mistake about it, Nicolas Maduro was, and is, a bad guy. Millions of people were forced to flee Venezuela as the result of the violence and mismanagement that he was responsible for. Real, democratic elections that should have resulted in a peaceful transfer of power were ignored and suppressed. The streets of Caracas were roamed by gangs of armed thugs who reported to him and intimidated their neighbors by threat of arms. But to call the use of America's sailors & soldiers to bomb military installation in a foreign nation, killing untold dozens of people, and then to take a sitting head of state and transport them beyond the seas to be tried is exactly what our ancestors raised their voices, and their arms, against. By any reasonable measure, it was an act of war, done without the consent of congress, or the involvement of the Venezuelan people, or the consideration of international law.

Then, this week, we watched as armed agents gunned down a mother who had just dropped her six year old son off at school, and I will not go without making sure we remember her name, Renee Good, will not be forgotten. A young mother, who, not that long ago was a student at the very university where my wife teaches and my daughter is a student right now, dropped her son off at school, and then, while driving in her neighborhood was gunned down by an Immigration and Customs official who had intentionally positioned himself in such a way as to escalate a conflict, in violation of basic police procedure and practice, before shooting her while he was stepping out of the way. And rather than alarm at what had just happened, the tape recorded the next words spoken, a profanity laden expletive by either the man who shot her, or one of his fellow agents, describing her with words I will not sully this pulpit with.

All of this happened only months after the same agency cleared another of their officials who not only shot a non-violent protestor in Chicago, but bragged about his marksmanship in text messages so grotesquely that the US attorney's office was forced to withdraw charges against the protestor for fear that other, as yet unseen communications would come to light at trial.

You know this. You've heard the news. And you've heard what those in power have been saying. They've argued, intentionally, that Renee Good was a deranged leftist, violently and viciously running over the officer, when the video evidence shows anything but. Her last words were, “That's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you.” For attempting to leave a bad scene, involving officials who had no lawful purpose to engage her, she was murdered and then branded a domestic terrorist before her body was even cold.

Our founders are rolling in their graves, and people are dying in the streets, and if you are scared, you have every right to be. Just this past week I heard financial reporting from one of our partner organizations that they have lost funding from a long-time foundation partner that was worried they would be targeted for supporting organizations that support immigrants and their rights. Over the last year nearly 200 American citizens have been unlawfully detained by the current administration for doing things like going to work where an immigration raid was in progress, or lawfully crossing national borders to escape cartel violence, and refusing to release them when provided with a birth certificate proving their citizenship. My family maintains an emergency fund, which we once thought was in case one of us lost our jobs, but now feels more like a bail fund should we need it.

So let us tell the truth – bullies want to scare us. They want us to shut up and follow orders. They thrive on cruelty, for cruelty's sake. But that is not our way, and it is not the faith that calls us to live lives of justice, equality, and care for one another. Walking in the wilderness is filled with temptations, and even Jesus knew it. It's said he was tempted by the devil himself with power over all the world, and he said “No.” He said there is a higher law than power and violence, and that law is love.

Those of you who know me, and have heard me in this pulpit before know I am no radical. When the conservative Charlie Kirk was gunned down, I said, “It is our work to reject not just political violence, but all violence. To reject the idea that we can, or should, use the force of arms to make people agree with us. And to never allow ourselves to be consumed by hate, or vengeance, but instead to find the deeper love that recognizes our own human heart, however fragile or strong it may be this day, and, as we’re able, to remember the human heart that beats in everyone you see.”

But a conversation about the events of these past few weeks call us also to remember the place of the rule of law not just on you or me, but on those who have been charged with enforcing the law, most especially when so many who have taken the oath to protect and serve are standing up saying what has happened is in violation of the very training they give to every officer who joins the force. We have watched as sitting United Senators are admonished, and have their military service benefits cut for reminding our armed forces of the importance of following the law. If we do not hold the laws of the people and of the nation with due respect, we will find ourselves governed by the law of the knife, or the bullet, or the bomb.

I believe that there is room for a reasonable conversation about what immigration policy looks like. I believe that we have some measure of obligation to pay taxes that support programs we disagree with, because they were passed by a legislature elected by the people. I believe that there is role for the protective use of force when violent narcissists would subject their neighbors to unaccountable violence and intimidation. I'll even say that I think that there are some things, like fentanyl, that have no place in our communities, and that those who manufacture and distribute them should be brought to justice. But none of those are the things that have been happening in this country, and with our resources abroad these last few months. And I believe the implementation of just laws should be done with the support and the consent of the governed, not by armed gangs roaming our streets, harassing and intimidating anyone they see, while trying to manufacture a crisis so they can violently arrest, assault, and kill people doing nothing more than expressing their opinions, a freedom this faith has held dear since our very beginning.

Just yesterday our own UUA President said in a statement, that we are...

“...in solidarity with immigrant communities in Minneapolis and across the country who live under constant threat of detention, separation, and death at the hands of the state. We are in solidarity with the faithful masses of people showing up to build a world where the worth and dignity of all are held as sacred and unshakable truth.

 

As people of faith and conscience, we are called by love to tell the truth about this violence, to accompany those most impacted, and to keep organizing toward fulfilling the promise of our communities and institutions to make safety, belonging, and freedom real for all.”

So, yes, while I was intending to invite you to find time this year to get lost, this week I say something else, too. Sometimes what you need to find is already right there. In that same vein, I leave the final words to the same people who stood up to King George III, remembering that we answer not just the law of the land, but to a higher law, a deeper justice, and a greater liberty.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

May we make it so.