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Rev. Chris Jimmerson and Kelly Stokes
May 21, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

One of our church ends (goals) states, “We embody the principals of Unitarian Universalism and invite people of goodwill to find a spiritual home with us.” Our church is growing in both numbers and multiculturally. This both provides all of us greater creative potential and requires greater creative efforts and openness from each of us.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Anthem

DREAM ON
Steven Tyler

Every time that I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
Oh, it went by like dusk to dawn
Isn’t that the way?

Everybody’s got their dues in life to pay, oh, oh, oh
I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it’s everybody’s sin
You got to lose to know how to win

Half my life’s in books’ written pages
Storing facts learned from fools and from sages
You view the earth

Oh, sing with me, this mournful dub
Sing with me, sing for a year
Sing for the laughter, and sing for the tear
Sing with me, if it’s just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away

Dream on
Dream on
I dream on
Dream a little, I’ll dream on
Dream on
I dream on
I dream on

Dream a little, I’ll dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
I’ll dream on
Dream on
Dream on
I dream on

Oh, sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, and sing for the tear
Sing it with me, if it’s just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away

Reading

THIS GRACE THAT SCORCHES US
Jan Richardson.

Here’s one thing you must understand about this blessing:

it is not for you alone.
It is stubborn about this.

Do not even try to lay hold of it if you are by yourself, thinking you can carry it on your own.

To bear this blessing, you must first take yourself to a place where everyone does not look like you or think like you,

a place where they do not believe precisely as you believe, where their thoughts and ideas and gestures are not exact echoes of your own.

Bring your sorrow.
Bring your grief.
Bring your fear.
Bring your weariness, your pain,

your disgust at how broken the world is, how fractured,
how fragmented by its fighting,
its wars,
its hungers,
its penchant for power,

its ceaseless repetition of the history it refuses to rise above.

I will not tell you this blessing will fix all that.

But in this place where you have gathered,

wait.
Watch.
Listen.

Lay aside your inability to be surprised,
your resistance to what you do not understand.

See then whether this blessing turns to flame on your tongue,
sets you to speaking what you cannot fathom

or opens your ear to a language beyond your imagining that comes as a knowing in your bones,

a clarity in your heart
that tells you this is the reason we were made:

for this ache that finally opens us,

for this struggle, this grace that scorches us toward one another and into the blazing day.

Sermon

– Kelly Stokes’ homily may be heard on the audio but the text is not available.

– Chris Jimmerson

OK, let’s have a moment of communal releasing of guilt or shame if we were sitting here thinking, “Geez, I have some of those scripts Kelly just described”.

We all do.

These scripts come out of our life experiences; The culture in which we grew up; The culture in which exist now; The very societal waters in which we swim.

We take them on without even realizing it.

Sometimes though, they are unhelpful or just plain wrong.

Sometimes they can harm others, even when that is not at all our intent.

Left unchecked, these scripts can arise out of what social scientists call, “implicit bias” – when we hold attitudes or stereotypes towards people without our conscious knowledge.

Importantly, we don’t have to hold any explicit prejudice for implicit bias to be lurking about outside our awareness.

So conveniently, you can uncover them by taking an implicit bias test online at projectimplicit.net.

And, there is good reason to do so, because research shows that unearthing such biases can be a first step toward changing these unconscious scripts.

Now, a few warnings:

First, It can be disconcerting or even upsetting to get a test result that says, “I’m biased”.

Second, our level of implicit bias can change depending on our social environment.

Here’s an example.

I was in a seminary class on racial justice in Chicago. The class was very diverse, so our discussions were rich and included perspectives from folks of a variety of different races and ethnicities.

During the class, we each took the implicit bias test on race. I was all proud of myself because my test showed no racial bias whatsoever.

And then three weeks after I got back to Austin, I took it again, and it showed a slight bias. I was pretty upset with myself.

And then, I got to thinking, “What was I was a seeing when I watched television? Who were most often the bad guys? How often did all the protagonists look just like me?”

That’s when I stopped watching network TV.

Though I will admit to streaming Ted Lasso religiously these days. Anyway, after a few weeks of cutting out network television, the implicit bias began to disappear again.

Finally, because of the potential for internalized oppression, when folks from historically marginalized groups take the test, it can sometimes show that we have a negative bias toward, well, ourselves. Not fun!

So, while I encourage you to explore these implicit biases and tests, please also know that I am available to you if you find yourself troubled by the results.

And exploring them is important, because implicit biases too often get expressed in behaviors that unintentionally marginalize other people.

These are often called “micro-aggressions”.

Please be aware though, that term can be problematic because the impact of such behaviors is often anything but “micro” for those on the receiving end of them.

Better descriptions include “exclusionary behaviors” or “unaware othering”.

For now though, if you want to delve into this more, you will still need to search the term “microaggressions”, as it is what has been used in most of the research.

And I am going to send you to a website – microaggressions.com where people have submitted their own experiences of these, exclusionary behaviors, because these experiences provide such a powerful way to truly grasp the impact of them.

And exclusionary behaviors can happen here at our church, as Kelly noted, even when our intent is to welcome and create connections with one another.

Let me give you just a couple more examples.

One exclusionary question can be asking, “What do you do?” For many other cultures, ones work is not as central to personal identity as it can be among white professionals.

In fact, I grew up in a blue-collar culture, where career and self- identity are far less bound together, so when I was younger and got asked this question, I was often confused by it.

“I hike? Go to movies? Read? Breathe? I dunno!”

Another example of potentially “unaware othering” is to assume someone was not born in the U.S. because of how they look or sound to us and then ask, “So, where are you from?”

A friend of mine, who was born in the U.S. to parents who had lmmigrated from Korea, told me she always wants to answer that question with, “Beaumont, TX. What’s your God-forsaken place of birth”.

Apologies to Beaumont and my family who still live in the area. So, let’s uproot implicit bias.

Let’s work hard to become more aware of our scripts and get creative about ways we might engage one another to avoid this unaware othering and instead create welcoming, connection, Beloved Community.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
April 30, 2023
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

With all that is going on in our social and political environment these days, it can feel overwhelming. How do we resist so many assaults on human worth and dignity? How do we sustain resistance long-term? We will look at how spiritual practices such as opening to joy, celebrating our bodies, embracing joy and humor, immersing ourselves in relationship and more can help us resist simply going into survival mode and instead thrive, even amongst so many challenges.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

Joy is a revolutionary force. We need it as much as we need anger. It is joy that will keep using these bodies long enough to enact justice.

– Evette Dionne (Free Black Girl)

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Reading

BREATHE
Lynn Ungar

Breathe, said the wind
How can I breathe at a time like this,
when the air is full of the smoke
of burning tires, burning lives!
Just breathe, the wind insisted.
Easy for you to say, if the weight of
injustice is not wrapped around your throat,
cutting off all air.
I need you to breathe.

I need you to breathe.

Don’t tell me to be calm
when there are so many reasons
to be angry, so much cause for despair!
I didn’t say to be calm, said the wind,
I said to breathe.
We’re going to need a lot of air
to make this hurricane together.

Sermon

The Texas Senate just passed a bill that would authorize the construction of an anti-abortion monument on the grounds of the state capitol. They also passed a bill requiring every classroom in a public school to display a copy of the Christian 10 commandments.

Here, and across the country, various forms of “don’t say gay” bills have been passed or proposed, limiting or outright banning the discussion ofLGBTQ issues in public schools.

Measures trampling upon Trans rights, such as prohibiting access access to life-affirming, life-saving healthcare and so many other punitive measures are being passed or considered. As are various ways of criminalizing drag performances. II

As is forbidding telling students the truth about the history of slavery, racism and other forms of oppression in this country, along with measures banning books, eliminating tenure in higher education, turning our schools into militarized zones, targeting funding for public schools by shifting it to private, often religiously indoctrinating, private schools … It keeps going …

Fees on environmentally friendly ways of producing energy, as well as such ways of consuming energy, such as an additional tax on owners of electric vehicles. Various ways of suppressing voting rights, particularly targeted toward BIPOC folks and young people.

Other proposals would take away regulatory authority from municipalities, curtail workers rights, ban diversity initiatives, punish businesses that assist their workers with obtaining abortions out of state or that promote clean energy.

Well, the list of legislative atrocities goes on and on and on. In April, we’ve been exploring the spiritual topic of resistance. With all of these seemingly never-ending assaults upon our religious values and principles though, it can sometimes feel like this:

VIDEO

Now, I’m not saying there is Star Trek Borg-like crusade afoot that wants to force us all into a white supremacy culture, hetero-cispatriarchal, radical capitalistic, caste-structured, fundamentalist Christian-centered hive mind way of being. – Oh, maybe I am.

Anyway, given the bombardment we are witnessing upon the very foundations of human dignity, the question becomes, how do we sustain resistance over the long-term – find new and innovative ways to engage in such resistance?

Well, fundamentally, we steadfastly refuse to accept the framing being foisted upon us.

So, for instance, when LGTBTQ+ folks and our loved ones and supporters get accused of “grooming children”, we do not respond with, “Nuh, uh. We don’t either.” That centers the argument on the frame being imposed by those with whom we disagree. Instead, we reject the frame altogether.

Or perhaps, we turn it upside down by asking something like, “Well, who is that is trying to indoctrinate our school children with a white supremacy culture, hetero-cis-patriarchal, radical-capitalistic, caste-structured, fundamentalist Christian-centered worldview.”

“Who is it that would deny our children an understanding of the history of slavery, racism and other forms of oppression in this country and the brave folks who have successfully fought against them.” “Who would deny them knowing of the metaphorical truths to be gleaned from all of the world’s wisdom traditions and the myriad beautiful forms of human flourishing?” “Just who is doing the grooming?”

And, activists and movement leaders have identified several ways we can sustain and our resistance while often at the same time flipping the frame like this.

First, don’t forget smaller acts of resistance. We often think of resistance as huge marches and the like. But speaking out through what we buy, what we eat, where we show up (or do not), for instance, can be powerful forms of resistance.

Author and activist Adrienne Marie Brown, writes as follows:

“small resistance historically has looked like a wrench in the gears, a slowing things down, a rancid ingredient in master’s food, enslaved people teaching each other to read and write … “small resistance these days looks like turning people who are supporting and promoting racist, transphobic and inhumane policies away from your door. it looks like stopping next to police cars that have pulled people over and filming them until the person stopped is allowed to leave … “

The Dalai Lama simply says, “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”

Number two: open ourselves to joy and pleasure and infuse them into our activism.

In her book, “Pleasure Activism; The Politics of Feeling Good”, Adrienne Renee Brown writes, “Feeling good is not frivolous, it is freedom,” that pleasure is the way we know, “… I belong, I’m safe … I have decolonized. I have returned to myself.”

Journalist and activist Evette Dionne, also known as @freeblackgirl, says it this way, “Joy is a revolutionary force. We need It as much as we need anger because it is joy that will help keep us in these bodies long enough to enact justice.”

Designer and author Ingrid Fetell Lee argues that autocrats throughout the world have attempted to stifle Joy because it is a “propulsive force”.

Joy is a sustaining source of energy for change.
Shared joy creates unity.
Pleasure reclaims our humanity.
It disrupts biases that separate us.
Joy is a form of care that allows us to move past trauma and reclaim our resilience and hope.

Inviting one another to enter, rejoice and come in can be a powerful form of resistance.

Number 2a: Remember that music is a powerful source of joy within our resistance. Our music can both provide us with nourishment for our social justice struggles and a powerful voice for proclaiming them.

In fact, the group Resistance Revival Chorus is one such powerful voice for justice. I want you to let you hear them and their music just a bit.

VIDEO

Singing, chanting, drumming, protests songs, popular artists releasing songs of justice – these tap into the emotional and metaphorical parts of our consciousness, making them formidable ways to inspire action and bring about lasting change.

2b.: Humor is a wellspring of joy and a remarkably effective way to deliver our message. The United States Institute of Peace outlines several ways humor can radically benefit non-violent social movements. A well targeted joke can upend power dynamics.

Each joke can become a tiny revolution. For instance, during the “Arab Spring”, as Mubarak in Egypt refused to announce his resignation, one protestor took to social media, saying: “He’s watching Egyptian state TV … He doesn’t know it’s his last day in office.” This snowballed on social media with a multitude of jokes portraying Mubarak as clueless – as someone to laugh at rather than fear.

The Institute also notes that humor can be nearly impossible for regimes to stamp out. It serves as a healing sort of pressure relief valve for activists and can attract more people to a movement. I found so many of examples of moments utilizing humor that I cannot possibly tell you about all of them. Have some fun and search it online sometime though.

A couple of favorites. The folks who decked themselves out as clowns to attend a Klan rally and informed the klans people that they were the ones who looked silly. And, how could I leave out the Raging Grannies?

VIDEO

Number 3: Relearning to love our bodies and ourselves is a radical act of resistance.

Performance and theatre artist, poet and activist Trisha Hershey says, “Loving ourselves and each other deepens our disruption of the dominant systems. They want us unwell, fearful, exhausted, and without deep self-love because you are easier to manipulate when you are distracted … “

So many of our systems of oppression exert their power and control by separating us from our bodies – assaulting our bodily autonomy.

Renee Taylor, who says it so much more powerfully in her poem, “Bodies of Resistance”.

VIDEO

BODIES OF RESISTANCE
Sonya Renee Taylor

It is Monday afternoon and Roberta watches her sons
spout laughter from their geyser throats;
sunchoked and full of joy when she brings them to the beach.
All family members a sanctuary slightly out of reach,
a raft against the lash of constant waves.
But undertow will be too savage for her to save them.
Today, the ocean is a tyrant appointed to swallow them all.
Until 80 Samaritans build a wall in the Gulf of Mexico,
single-mindedly summoned to ferry Roberta’s drowning family to shore.
Humans who intuitively know that every wall needs at least one door.
Today, 80 disparate strangers became bodies of resistance
Today, 80 people rebelled against an apathetic ocean’s insistence on a sacrifice,

And is life y’all, In these bodies. Breathless and beleaguered,
we coax one another to survive. We are alive
despite even our bones’ dissent. The slack-Jawed mutter that says
these bodies were not for delight. Who are we to smile
as the world spins in entropy, a hula hoop at our feet?
What right have we to meet this day with anything but fear?
We right now but out ther …
wails the tiny bloom of child
we hush from inside. And I know
she is, he is, they you are afraid,
convinced we beware and hide, …

… We saw no “they” in we, knew solidarity
was a word that must spring like water
forever beside a standing rock. The clock of justice
will not tarry while you question
whether you are worthy of the fight.

Forget all you have been told.
Resistance is an everyday act,
the work of excavating each artifact
of the oppressor that lives in you.
Your call to be a balm to every self~inflicted wound
is how movements are birthed.
In a world content to bid you endless slumber
waking unrepentant in your skin is a hero’s journey.
The only way we collectively prevail. Only then can we celebrate
in the words of the great poet Lucille Clifton,
that every day something has tried to kill us
And has failed.
And has failed.
And will fail.

Renee Taylor also says that allowing ourselves to rest, to slow down even within our struggles for justice, lets us dream and develop vision. She writes, “Today more than ever, I know that we need quiet, rest, and sacred, unapologetic community to most powerfully manifest the full possibilities of living in radical self love.”

And that brings us finally to number 4: Connection and Community are vital for successful social action.

We are most powerful when we are resisting together. We cannot sustain ourselves for the long haul without community. Movement building means building power. Building power requires building Beloved Community.

I’ll close by mentioning that with so many threats to our fundamental values going on in our world, we can easily slip into the survival part of our brain unconsciously – our flight, fight, freeze, or fawn responses.

• • Flight mode is when we kind of go, “Danger! Danger! Run away! Run away!”

• • Fight mode is “Danger! Danger! I kill it.”

• • Flee mode is “Danger! Danger. Maybe if I am very, very quiet and very, very still, it won’t notice me.”

• And fawn is when we go, “Danger! Danger! Maybe if I am very, very nice to it, it won’t try to kill me.”

We have to resist staying in that mode though, because it automatically shuts down the creative and thinking parts off our brains, and our bodies produce lots of chemicals that can be useful in the moment of danger but harmful if they continue unabated. We have to pull ourselves out of this mode if we are to not only to survive longer term but to flourish.

All that we have talked about today are practices that help us do that – have helped this church do exactly that!

Poet Maya Angelou said, “The question is not how to survive, but how to thrive with passion, compassion, humor and style.”

This religious community has answered that question, even while facing so many challenges in the past few years. Out of loss and a pandemic, we have built a new way. We have resisted merely surviving and instead chosen thriving. II And so, we are growing in numbers and in spiritual maturity – in passion, compassion, humor and style.

Small, simple acts, joy, music, humor, loving our bodies and ourselves, connection and community – these will continue to keep our faith alive, our resistance strong and our spirits flourishing.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 23 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776