2009 SERMON LIST

Rev. Ann C. Fox
(508) 992-7081
minister@uufairhaven.org

Unitarian Universalist
Society of Fairhaven

Growth in Diversity

a sermon by Rev. Ann C. Fox
upon the occasion of a visit by people
from our sister city of Tosashimizu, Japan

October 4, 2009

Note: A  reading is attached, which you might like to read first

We are fond of saying that we have “unity in diversity”, but how diverse are we? Though we are mostly democrat in politics, Republicans are attracted to us if they share similar values. We are theologically diverse in that there are many religious, spiritual, and philosophical beliefs amongst us. We welcome people of differing sexual orientations, and we have made many allowances for the differently-abled. However, we have not made much progress in being racially diverse but it has not been for the lack of desire.

Getting this far in diversity has taken us a long time. It was a question of growth, personal and spiritual. One of the first opportunities to being inclusive of those who are different occurred a long time ago, about 1843 when Nakahama Manjiro came to Fairhaven, brought by the whaling captain, William Whitfield. Manjiro must have been about 16 years old. (For those of you who do not know, Manjiro, a fisherboy, had been shipwrecked with four other boys off the coast of Japan. Captain Whitfield had obeyed the custom of the high seas by rescuing them. Four of the boys were put ashore in Honolulu but Manjiro wanted to stay with Captain Whitfield.) Our connection with Manjiro began when Captain Whitfield took him to the Congregational Church here in Fairhaven. The ushers at that church welcomed the captain but requested that Manjiro sit in the balcony with the Negroes. The captain was offended at this and walked out of the church vowing never to return.

The next Sunday, Captain Whitfield took Manjiro to the Unitarian church (which was then in the original building on Washington Street); they were both welcomed there and thus began our connection. So far as we know, this was the first time we had welcomed a person of a different race amongst us. It was our first effort at racial diversity. (As an aside: I have been assured by someone at the Congregation church that they implored Captain Whitfield to return. They likely apologized. But the Captain would not. Perhaps he found a comfortable and friendly place here.)

Can you imagine what it must have been like for the congregation in those days to see a Japanese youth in our church? Little by little, they must have become used to seeing him. Perhaps they would also greet him on Sunday mornings. We know that he was very much liked by those who knew him and many befriended him. And how brave Manjiro was to go with Captain Whitfield into the unknown when he could have stayed with his friends. So we are grateful to Manjiro and Captain Whitfield for giving us this opportunity to open our minds and hearts to a person who was to us at that time, very different. You heard in the reading how the young Unitarian woman saw the humanity in the Japanese prisoners who were about to be executed. She didn’t see only see enemies, she saw human beings with whom she identified. She saw with her heart not just her mind. Perhaps Manjiro encouraged this in us as well.

Did the people who saw Manjiro’s humanity begin to see the humanity of black Americans, too? It would have been only a few years earlier in 1838 that Frederick Douglass, the escaped black slave, settled for a time in New Bedford and worked at the Unitarian church there. He, too, must surely have helped that church congregation grow their spirit by being in relationship with him.

When I was a young woman in my native England, I recall my first encounter with people from India. When they saw my interest, they invited me to their homes and to their religious festivals. This is how we overcome discomfort with differentness—by exposure, by embracing our fears. When I came to America, I met and married an Indian man, Hemant Parekh. Today, you saw my daughter, Veena Fox Parekh, lead us in the responsive reading. Thank you for making us more diverse Veena! When the MFC, the Ministerial Fellowship Committee that examines prospective new ministers, asked me, “What will you do to make your congregation more diverse?” I thought for a minute and then said, “I’ll bring my children!”

As a denomination, we are keen to become more diverse. Perhaps you read recently in the 2009 Fall edition of the UU World Magazine about the largest church in the UUA, which is All Souls Unitarian in Tulsa. A year ago, it had 1,500 members. It is 1,800 now. The minister of that church, Marlin Lavanhar, had become friends with an evangelical Pentecostal minister, Carlton Pearson, whose church had more than 6,000 members. Rev. Pearson preached a gospel of exclusiveness—that is, that the only people who are saved are those who believe in their faith in only their way. He was, and still is, a very famous minister who flies around the country preaching to mega-congregations.

Rev. Pearson had a “conversion” experience one day. Out of his prayers, he heard a still small voice telling him that God damns no one but welcomes all, that God is inclusive. When he began to preach his Gospel of inclusion (which we called long ago Universalism), be began to be accused of heresy by the clergy hierarchy and some of his members. Eventually, Reverend Pearson’s “flock” of thousands dwindled to a few hundred people who were faithful to his vision, his current belief as revealed in his prayer life. They began to meet in the All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa Oklahoma after their two morning services. Eventually, Rev. Pearson told Marlin that he and his congregation wanted to join his church. He also brought with him his Praise Choir and Music Director. All Souls made the second service an alternate service, which rocked!

All Souls has lost some of their old time members but most members were delighted at the sudden diversity and they gained many more young adult visitors each week. All Souls is changing a bit too fast for comfort but most believe it is change for the better. The second service is basically the same as ours but the music is different and there is 10 minutes of sung praise before the service begins for anyone who wants to come and listen and there is more God language than many UUs are used to.

The early Christian churches were immensely economically and racially diverse. We are already economically diverse. What can we do to become more racially diverse? Please think about it. Meanwhile, on Sunday, October 18, we will have a special offering for the UUAs Diversity Campaign to help us in our diversity efforts. But it is our own desire and creativity that will make it happen.

In the last few weeks, we have been considering how the divine resides in every person. We call it Spirit with a capital “S”. If all the people of the world recognized this divinity in every person, there could be no prejudice, no hatred, towards another.

In recent years, we have had the practice during the cold and flu season of greeting one another not with a handshake but with a ‘namaste’, a Hindu greeting that means, “The divine in me recognizes the divine in you.” In India, it is sometimes simply a greeting like ‘Hello.’ But, a greeting from the heart is about the mutual acknowledgment of divinity in the other person. This is what Manjiro sparked in us—seeing the divine in each person (which some of us may call the spirit of humanity).

We, in our congregation, are grateful to Manjiro for awakening in us the courage to embrace those who are different. And we are grateful to our Japanese visitors who come here year after year and are here with us today, treading in Manjiro’s footsteps and reminding us that growing in diversity is growing in Spirit. Thank you.

When we greet one another after the service, perhaps instead of a handshake, we will say Namaste and also the translation, which is, “The divine in me greets the divine in you.” And I hope that you will especially greet our Japanese friends at coffee hour with a Namaste.

Reading:
“A Spark of Understanding”
by Bernadette Siegel”

from an article in the UU World Magazine, Fall 2009

“In late December 1945, I heard that my husband, Arthur, who was a doctor with the Coast Guard had been called to the South Pacific. I was disappointed because this was to be our first New Years together. But, Arthur told me that a shipmate had just arrived from back east with his bride. She didn’t know anyone, so he thought she and I might enjoy getting together for New Years. I called her, and we arranged to meet on New Year’s day for lunch and a movie.

Her name was Mariel Hoffman, and I immediately liked her for her warmth, intelligence, and naturalness. She and her husband had been married two weeks earlier in a Unitarian church in Connecticut. That really didn’t mean much to me. I had been raised in a rigid fundamentalist church that had totally turned me off religion, so I liked that she didn’t try to save my soul or pray before lunch.

I don't remember the name of the film, but I do remember the newsreel. This newsreel was about the trial and execution of the Japanese warlords and showed them walking to the gallows. I had been so propagandized by four years of war that it didn’t affect me much. But then I looked at Mariel. She was crying.

I was quite taken aback and wondered what in the world could have affected her so much. She must have felt my question because as she wiped her eyes, she turned to me and said, ‘They were human beings, too.’

In all my twenty-two years, no one had ever said anything remotely like that to me. The truth of her words so struck me, I knew I could never think of the Japanese in the same way as I had before; I could never look at anyone in the same way as before. Mariel had lit a spark of understanding in my heart.

            Twelve years later I joined a Unitarian church.”

Bernadette Siegel read this story to the congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno, California on November 18, 2008, when she lit a candle in honor of her eighty-fifth birthday.

© The Rev. Ann C. Foxstrong>