Diversity: A Gift to be Received
Readings and sermon preached by Reverend Carolyn Patierno
October 18, 2009

The Reverend Mark Belletini:,
For religion to be significant, it has to provide more than the comforts of community. It also has to provide opportunities for deepening, for what I call spiritual growth, and for the casting down of false images, of stereotypes, which hurt us all. A good religion has to open us to the real diversity of our modern world. For our work as liberal religious people is not to be competitive with others, and to find ways to supersede others, but rather to find ways to supersede ourselves, to grow beyond our limitations and our constrictive boundaries, each and every one of us. Diversity ... must not end up being some sort of feel good slogan, a word we keep in our back pocket to make us feel like we’re broad minded. Diversity is a gift. But it cannot be a gift ... unless it is received. It is only received when there are hands and hearts open enough to receive it. And the opening of fists into welcoming hands and welcoming hearts is our spiritual work.

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In order to get a sense of what Reverend Belletini means when he says that diversity is a gift that is only received through the spiritual work that is the opening of fists into welcoming hands and hearts, I’d like to embark on said spiritual work together this morning. To this end – which is less an end than a new beginning, really - we’ll hear a series of three reflections offered by Unitarian Universalists of color. Reverend Rosemary Bray McNatt, Dr. Leon Spencer, and the late Marjorie Bowens – Wheatley have contributed a great deal to our movement’s engagement with multiculturalism. This morning we will be witnesses to their hope, pain, and wisdom.

First, The Reverend Rosemary Bray McNatt:
Do we really understand that in pursuit of this goal of an anti-racist association, we are risking more than we realize? Do we realize that we are risking being informed by varieties of religious experience not entertained in our churches for decades, if ever? Are we prepared to know what it is that informs the survival strategies used by people often on the margins? Are we prepared to accept that even among people of color at comfortable economic levels – as opposed to those poor, uneducated people who don’t know any better than to praise God – there may be not only a theological but a cultural understanding of the divine that travels with them into our sanctuaries?
…
I want it all: for us to be anti-racist, religious, and a movement. I respect that the theological stance of others will differ from my own. But I am as hungry to be freed from the narrowness of our religious assumptions as I am to be released from the wary dance we engage in around race, class, and gender. I am as eager to see my congregants – and my ministerial colleagues – emerge from their massive blindness to the last thirty years of theology as I am to see what we might do in a religious community in which praxis is a given. … Above all, I am praying for the transformation of the religious movement I love so much – and hoping for just one day when I won’t have to explain why I might choose to pray.

From Dr. Leon Spencer:
Frequently I am asked, “Why should the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) spend money, time, and resources on racial and cultural diversity?” I sometimes feel burdened with the expectation that I should have an answer because ... I happen to be an African American.
Often the person asking the question goes on to point out that not many African Americans would be interested in Unitarian Universalism, that African Americans and other minorities have a theology that is too different from Unitarian Universalism. ... Once, someone even invited me to leave and go back to whatever church I came from if it was so bad [in Unitarian Universalist congregations.]
The reason I want racial and cultural diversity in the UUA extends beyond issues of numbers [or] theology. It has to do with the fact that this is the right thing to do. The religious challenge of our time moves us to open our doors to all and to promote wholeness in the midst of diversity.
Many people seem to want racial and cultural diversity up to a point. I believe that true inclusivity removes that point. ...... To build a racially and culturally diverse community is to build a world of beauty and power. It is the right thing to do. Being able to honestly and lovingly share gifts, pains, and appreciations with each other is what religion is truly about.

From The Reverend Marjorie Bowens -Wheatley:
Why should we intentionally work for diversity? ... [F]or me, beyond any demographic or sociological justification there is a theological imperative. Affirming the inherent worth and dignity of every human being ... means working to create places of worship where all who subscribe to a liberal approach to religion can not only feel welcome, but enter into worship settings that reflect the diverse cultural realities of “we the people”. Congregations that reflect the pluralism of our society are one step in beginning to transcend the social boundaries that divide us from each other and from all that is, which some of us call God.
The task ahead is an arduous one. Indeed, diversity is one of the most challenging tasks we will ever undertake as a religious movement. What we are dealing with is not simply racial and ethnic diversity, but a paradigm shift that is rooted in a commitment to growth in a pluralistic community as well as readiness for and acceptance of cultural change within our congregations.

Perhaps you recognized a theme that recurs in each of the three reflections. Allow me to lift up an idea that will be the focus of my own reflection.

"Creat[ing]places of worship where all who subscribe to a liberal approach to religion can not only feel welcome, but enter into worship settings that reflect the diverse cultural realities of “we the people”." ... diversity is one of the most challenging tasks we will ever undertake as a religious movement. The religious challenge of our time. Do we really understand that in pursuit of this goal, we are risking more than we realize?

To answer Rosemary I would say that actually, we do realize it - if not explicitly than certainly implicitly. We have a gut feeling that the times, they are achangin’. Where do we recognize the most significant evidence of this cultural shift? Of course, it would be in the manner in which we worship. Consider this:

• We have a new hymnal that reflects our vision of a multicultural religious movement. These hymns speak to us in new ways literally, in languages other than English.
• On the other hand, we have increasingly allowed silence to have its way with us. We, the most talking-est religious tradition on God’s green Earth.
• The children spend the first part of the service among us lest we forget that we are a congregation that spans the generations.
• We pass the peace. We stand up, move around, and make some noise and embody a commitment to hospitality.
• We make time to pray together.
• Increasingly, our services reflect a range of religious traditions by which we are inspired.

So yes, our worship experience is different than it used to be. It’s more pastoral. It is as concerned with the heart as it is concerned with the mind. This shift has at its foundation a number of motivators, one of which is the commitment to multiculturalism. And indeed, there has been risk involved in this evolution and many Unitarian Universalists have been well aware of the risk. Members of this congregation have engaged in dialogue regarding this very issue. In online dialogue on the All Souls Chat ... during coffee hour ... in private conversation ... there have been some clear expressions of discomfort. It is a discomfort that I named nine years ago, in fact. It was my candidating week. April 2001. The question arose: What are your ideas regarding multiculturalism? I was a new minister at that time. (Actually I hadn’t even graduated from seminary let alone been ordained.) Somewhat naively, I shared what I’d learned in seminary and through personal experience. I said something like, “Well, to become truly multicultural, certainly we all know that some things will change; that we’ll all be giving up something or other.” I’m sure I was about as articulate as that. Several folks responded and the response went something like this: “Don’t you think that we are who we are? That anyone who is attracted to who we are, just as we are, is welcome? ” Clearly, we had stepped into something very deep. I had no idea at the time just how difficult it would be to engage a congregation in these conversations. But what I did sense that day was fear. Fear of risk, of change, fear of losing something held so dear.

And I’m sure that that’s what was also at the heart of the exchange that Leon Spencer recalled. You’ll remember that his fellow congregant imagined that the theology of African Americans is too far afield from Unitarian Universalism – as if both of these theologies are monolithic. Sadly, the rejection that’s sometimes leveled at those who pray, believe in God, or lean toward Jesus, the rejection that occasionally concludes with the suggestion that one would be better off at the church down the street – that type of rejection is one that is uniquely Unitarian Universalist. I shudder to imagine how many seekers we have lost – people of color and others – who would have brought the richness of diversity to our congregational life.

So here I am, 8 and a half years later, standing in this pulpit before you and once again saying, hopefully now with a greater understanding, that if we are to truly become the multicultural congregation that we dream of becoming, things will continue to change. And some of that change will be painful. But oh, what glory we will realize if through our risk, we see among us a broad diversity of people who all feel the lure of our redemptive, liberal, religious message. I can imagine that day. And I can’t imagine any of us excusing ourselves from the hard work of building the world we dream of.

Now you may remember that I preached a sermon in the spring of 2008 in which I said that we might not ever become truly multicultural. I had thought long and hard about that admission. I had said that if we didn’t become a multicultural congregation we had to at least be accountable to the people of color who are now members of this congregation as well as accountable to people of color beyond our walls. But since then I’ve been listening to others who are wiser and more brave than I was when I preached that sermon. One who has moved me is the UUA’s former president, Bill Sinkford. Bill is black and speaks about the challenges of being a person of color in a largely white denomination. He has said that if we wish to be relevant in time to come, we have to address this issue. The three Unitarian Universalists we heard from this morning have said the same. Members of this congregation have said the same. My daughter has said the same in fact, just recently after returning from yet another UU youth event at which just she and one other young woman identified themselves as a person of color.

So, I’ve changed my mind. We may never become a truly multicultural congregation but when have we ever let “we might never” stop us? It’s baloney.

We need to listen to what people of color who are part of this movement have been saying to the white majority these many years. This challenge is largely theological in nature. Here is the start of my response. I want us to be accessible to all people who are searching for a liberal religious home where they are free to be exactly who they are. I want a robust Unitarian Universalism that speaks a language that nourishes souls by speaking to our minds, yes, and also to our hearts. My interest in the essentially internal angst that has plagued Unitarian Universalism has been depleted. So, here is one example of how that translates into my daily ministry. I no longer stumble over whether we are a church or a society or a congregation or some combination of all three or none at all. We are All Souls. When I am in the world and talking with people who are unfamiliar with who we are, I use language that I know they can grab hold of. I say we are the church across the street from the public library. C’mon down and join us for worship. You’ve had a good week, you’ve had a bad week ... you make your way here. Come to church. Come meet this spectacularly welcoming, caring, justice-seeking congregation. Come to All Souls.

And to Rosemary I would say, oh, we know. We know how hard it is, and how hard it is going to continue to be. We know what we are risking. We’re risking real pain – as change always brings. But Rosemary’s pain means more to me than the pain that is change’s partner. My daughter’s pain means more to me than the pain that is change’s partner. The kind of pain that comes change such as this kind can and will be healed. It is healed through what Mark Belletini calls deepening and spiritual work. Remember he wrote that, “for religion to be significant, it has to provide more than the comforts of community. It also has to provide opportunities for deepening ... for the casting down of false images, of stereotypes, which hurt us all.”

You may ask – and some of you have and rightfully so – “Doesn’t this mean that we will risk becoming spiritual posers? “ To which I say not if we enter into worship sincerely, with open hearts and minds. Not if we mean it. Not if we mean it when we sing those spirituals. Really understand the heritage that undergirds those songs and honor the struggle they represent. Not if we mean it when at Yom Kippur we enter into a corporate act of atonement. Not if we mean it when at Samhain we throw that which we wish to banish into the fire and then truly seek to change our lives. Not if we mean it when we enter into silence together and focus on nothing more than our breath. We are Unitarian Universalists. That means that the sources of our faith are broad and deep. They are universal.

To prepare for this sermon, I reread The Larger Faith which is a short history of American Universalism. Since the 18th century Universalists in this country have dreamed of a religion that would speak to and welcome all people. In the late 19th century, our goals were described in these terms, to support an “undogmatic religion; to develop the church of humanity, democratic in organization, progressive in spirit, cherishing the spiritual traditions and experiences of the past, but keeping itself open to all new light and the higher developments of the future.” Inspiring, right?

Around this time, there was an effort made to bring together all the liberal religious traditions to form what was called the American Congress of Liberal Religious Societies. Not surprisingly, the more liberal Universalists were very enthusiastic about this endeavor. The more conservative Universalists, however, were doubtful. Fearful. This upset the liberals one of whom, JM Pullman from Lynn, MA stood up at the second meeting of the Congress and addressed his brethren. He said,

“You Universalists have squatted on the biggest word in the English language. Now the world is beginning to want that big word and you Universalists must either improve the property or move off the premises!”

And indeed, our ancestors had squatted on that big, beautiful word. As have we. If we want to be relevant in the world that is emerging, we must join with our UU brothers and sisters throughout the country and do the work of deepening – the spiritual work that Mark Belletini describes.

Diversity ... must not end up being some sort of feel good slogan, a word we keep in our back pocket to make us feel like we’re broad minded. Diversity is a gift. But it cannot be a gift ... unless it is received. It is only received when there are hands and hearts open enough to receive it. And the opening of fists into welcoming hands and welcoming hearts is our spiritual work.

Now is an exciting time and we have an opportunity for our congregations to be part of a new and rich dynamic. I imagine a beautiful journey ahead that is not without risk but will also provide this congregation with profound gifts waiting to be to be received.

Come and go with me to that land.
Come and go with me to that land.
Come and go with me to land where we’re bound.
Come and go with me to that land, come & go with me to that land.
Come and go with me to that land, where we’re bound.

Amen.

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