Rev. Ann C. Fox
(508) 992-7081
minister@uufairhaven.org
Unitarian
Universalist
Society of Fairhaven
The Prophetic Vote
a sermon by Rev. Ann C. Fox
October 26, 2008
Note: A short reading is attached, which you might like to read first
This is my Election Day sermon. I had to do it a week early since the Women’s Alliance has traditionally had the first Sunday in November for their service. To protect our non profit status, I’m cautious about what I say. We are safe as long as I do not make blatantly partisan statements at “an official function” of our church. I believe that a Sunday service can be construed as “an official function.” So I’ll be careful not to be partisan, especially so close to an election.
Do you remember the first time you voted for a presidential candidate? Do you remember the year? I could hardly wait to vote but I had to become a citizen first, which I did in Newark, N.J. in 1972. Richard Nixon was in office (1969 to 1974) and 1972 was the year he visited China and stood on the Great Wall with Mao Zedong. Remember that? Some of you are too young, of course.
I was thrilled to receive a congratulations letter from our North Bergen, New Jersey, member of Congress, Henry Helstoski. He wrote, “You now have a direct voice in the decision-making process in the various levels of our government. I urge you to avail yourself of every opportunity to vote and to let public officials know of your views on the issues and problems that confront us….” Senator Clifford Case sent a much shorter but welcoming letter. I keep these letters with my Naturalization Certificate.
I treasure the right to vote. I believe that voting and lobbying are the primary mechanisms we can engage in to affect our lives. I believe that I am a responsible citizen when I do the hard work of pondering the issues myself, read all the assessments of political pundits, and listen to the candidates’ debate, which can be the hardest thing of all.☺ I’ve always felt that there was something special, almost holy about doing the right thing to vote for the person who will do the right thing for us all. All this is because I have an idealist streak about me but I notice that many others do as well.
Imagine how delighted I was in 1985 when I found the Unitarian Universalists in California who love to embrace issues of social justice and do it as a spiritual practice! In 1985, the UU Fellowship I joined was urging that the denomination do something about the low wages paid to migrant grape pickers and you might remember that Ceasar Chavez was their champion. In reviewing all the Statements of Conscience over the years (which you can do on line at uua.org), I noticed that the denomination used our first principle—the inherent worth and dignity of every person—to make a Statement of Conscience urging our congregations to boycott grapes. This was a whole new way of using my voting rights: to take a stand on social justice—voting in a church at the national level to take a public stand. And I found out that this religion I just joined actually had as its fifth principle “The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.” These people were like the ancient prophets of Israel who urged the people to be just. And I remind us that around this pulpit are sculpted the major biblical prophets. This is why I call my vote “prophetic.”
Unitarian Universalist theologian, James Luther Adams, urges us all to be modern priests and prophets, ministering to one another and being prophets of social justice—encouraging one another to do the right thing, not only for ourselves but for the sake of the wider community, or the common good. While we act as prophets of social justice in our lives, we expect those we vote for to act in our behalf but also for the good of the whole, and therein ‘lies the rub’ so to speak?!
For me to vote for a candidate, I must believe in him or her and his or her platform. But for the highest office in the land, choosing the presidential candidate is more complex. I look for special leadership qualities—a capacity for compassion and a far- sighted vision. How fortunate that recent the leadership article from the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation came in my mail only a few days ago and you heard some of it in the reading this morning. It spelled out so much of what I believe.
The article began: “From where inside do we listen when we decide for whom we will vote? From where do the candidates listen?” The author describes three possible levels of listening. One is the ego, the part of us that votes out of fear and self interest. The second level is that of the intellect, where we weigh the benefits not only for ourselves but will take into account the bigger picture that leads us to ponder the welfare of the common good. The third level has a spiritual component. The author calls it our “contemplative spiritual heart.” With our own contemplative spiritual heart we listen for our deepest wisdom far, far beyond our own self interests. We should look for no less in the leader we elect, the one who will not only affect our lives but millions across the world with the decisions he will make. In his hands will lie the orientation to more war or to peace. In his hands will lie the power to build a new economy, a green economy that may not give us all the comforts and toys to which we’ve become accustomed. In his hands will lie the imperative to turn the tide on an imperiled environment. And in his hands will lie the task of inspiring us to feel safe in treading a path of unprecedented change, renewal, and a far, less materialistic life.
In this election we must choose more wisely than ever before for we stand at the cusp of a great change of consciousness. We said last week that old structures of materialism and greed clearly are breaking down. We must replace these structures with ones that will benefit us, but also the earth, and all its creatures and its people (which must become fewer). Which candidate is the most able and far-sighted to lead us onwards and upwards in multiple ways?
It might happen that the vote we cast will not be for the one who wins. If so, we will have to learn to live with it graciously for we have few options. We don’t want to annoy the Canadians by stamping off to their country for they have enough of their own problems to deal with. One Canadian has even written a futuristic article for the Manitoba Herald, a very underground newspaper. The title of the article is “Canadian Illegal Immigration Problem.” He writes:
“The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration. The possibility of a certain election outcome is prompting an exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O'Reilly.
Canadian border farmers say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night. “I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry. "He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn't have any, he left. Didn't even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?"
In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers that blared Rush Limbaugh across the fields. "Not real effective," he said. "The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn't give milk."
Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves. "A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said. "I found one carload without a drop of drinking water. They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though."
When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about [a certain] administration establishing re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to shoot wolves from airplanes, deny evolution, and act out drills preparing them for the Rapture.
In recent days, liberals have turned to sometimes-ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers on Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney hits to prove they were alive in the '50s.
Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage… "I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them," an Ottawa resident said. "How many art-history and English majors does one country need?"
I hope that article wasn’t too partisan!
Seriously, though, we’ll have a real opportunity before us to blaze a new, exciting and more wholesome trail with a gracious and wise leader, if all goes well. If not, we’ll claim our own prophetic power and lobby for the righteous path and policies. Either way, we will strive for a brave new world. And no matter who wins we can listen from the deepest place of compassionate wisdom within us and act with the counsel of our contemplative heart. So may it be.
Reading:
“Voting from Our Spiritual Heart”
by Tilden Edwards,
from Shalem News, Fall 2008
From where inside do we listen when we decide for whom we will vote? From where do the candidates listen?
The greatest contribution a contemplative orientation can bring to such a question is its invitation to listen from a deeper place than those that might first show up, the most likely of which is our ego mind. In our ego mind we feel a sense of personal fragility…for our survival and for our physical and mental well-being…to protect us from harm…
When we listen to a candidate with our primary identity rooted in our ego self, we listen for policies and values that that will bolster our sense of power and well-being. We bring to the candidates the underlying question: “What can you do for me and mine?” This is a legitimate question, but it narrows and limits what we hear.
Another place from which to listen is our objective rational mind—listening from the accumulated knowledge and values of our conceptual mind and beyond the subjective filter of personal/family security to the larger political situation and common good. We bring to the candidates the underlying question: “How do your views connect with my cultivated, rational views of the political situation and of needed policies?”….
[One more place from which to listen is] our contemplative spiritual heart—that faculty of intuitive awareness that appears when we are present to deep reality before our thoughts and fragile sense of self arise. There we touch life more directly as it is, in its dynamic wholeness….With our contemplative heart, we listen from the deepest place of compassionate wisdom in us….
Listening from the heart can bring us to special underlying questions for political candidates….We live in a time of such complexity and challenge that more than ever we need leaders who draw from a deeper well than ego needs and established understandings. [May we] NOT vote primarily from the fears or [our] ego mind…[but] from the eye of [our] heart.
© The Rev. Ann C. Fox