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Rev. Kiya Heartwood
March 2, 2025
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org
In these challenging times, Joy is one of our super powers. Learning to stay in the struggle with rest, community, and joy. That’s how we win.
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 doesn’t betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated, and isolated, joy is a final act of insurrection.
– Rebecca Solnit
Affirming Our Mission
Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.
Reading
God of Shadows, our fear of the unknown keeps us from moving at all. Help us not to know. Protect our minds when anxious thoughts about the future refuse to leave us alone.
Deepen our breath. Bring us into communities who can be trusted when they tell us we are safe. Comfort us when our minds become frenzied trying to determine what we cannot possibly know.
When questions of what is to come or who will stay with us haunt us, make us kind with our own self-talk, tender to our bodies, loving with all we do have control over. When no amount of courage can diminish fear’s power over us, remind us that we too have power as we rise to meet it, provide a way to peace, we will not fear the dark. Ase.
– Cole Arthur Riley
Sermon
NOTE: This is an edited ai generated transcript.
Please forgive any omissions or errors.
This sermon is called, “Joy is Resistance.” The phrase “Joy is the act of resistance” comes from a poem by Black Poet Toi Delacorte. It is a joy in resistance mantra that bears repeating.
Let me hear you say it. “Joy is Resistance!”
You got the you got the gist of this. Okay. What do I mean by joy, now I mean joy is everything about us that helps us thrive. Our laughter, our food, our favorite bad TV, watching bad TV or dancing cat memes, podcasts that spice up our lives, our outrageous outfits, board games, line dancing, hand-drumming, cool tattoos, playing Sufi music while we vacuum, singing loud or living louder.
Why? Joy is resistance.
Yes. We celebrate our choice in families, our beautiful friends, our fierce happiness in the face of insurmountable odds and crushing oppression. We go swimming or hiking and drink coffee or bubble tea, let the dog take you for a walk or nap with our cats. We go sunbathe in our rip Scooby-Doo t-shirt with our pet turtle.
We take our time. We just be. Joy is a priority. It makes the whole world better. Those of us who have been activists most of our lives, those of us who come from marginal groups, a lot of us here you know what
I’m talking about you’ve got to build for distance. Change takes time – fighting takes time – and we can’t burn out we’ve got to stay alive the entirety of everything for everyone the whole world gets better.
Let me hear you say it – Joy is resistance. We don’t just survive – we Revel, Revel in our dreams, our sexualities, revel in changing our minds, learning new things, and reviving old things, fixin’ things.
Yeah, we innovate, we recreate, we do do-overs, find a way out of no-way, find a way out of no-way, that’s what we do. We’ve done it our whole lives, they’ve done it for more than 2000 years. That’s how we make change. That’s how we make the world a fit place to live for our kids.
That’s how we do it. Let’s do it find a way out of no-way. We are those people. We explore our gender expressions – our communities – our shared power structures. We are fierce and kind. We are here for everyone all of us. Nobody is left out. Nobody is expendable.
So we study our ancestors. They were scrappy, they were stubborn, they were resilient, they were underestimated. We stand in a long line of beautiful brave humans and we all matter.
We all matter. Let me say it one more time in a presbyterian kind of way. We all matter. Every single one of us. So we can learn to ask for help. We can learn to ask for help. Sometimes we need help. And help when and if we are asked. You get me? Okay. Don’t quit. Rest.
Because joy is resistance. Can I get a witness?
It is a gloom and doom, mega depression, cocktail nightly, with dire predictions at every turn. But friends, let me speak the gospel of change to you.
The future is unwritten. The future is unwritten. “The future is unwritten.” That comes from “The Clash”, by the way, Joe Strimmer (1952 – 2002).
Though those of you who are theists may think there is a master plan and that God’s got it, but at best I subscribe to a more universalist approach in that we are wonderfully made. Yeah, and we can change the stuff we want to change. There’s a lot of stuff I want to change, how about you?
We are resilient, persistent, and focused. We come from a long line of activist, stubborn, civil rights warriors, suffragettes who believed a woman could be president even before women could vote.
We are too blessed. We come from strong and sturdy stubborn people who knew they could make a world they wanted who believed The future is unwritten. If you don’t know any other clash lyrics. This is a good one.
Let’s take a moment and call our ancestors. Who do we need to emulate right now? John Lewis, Alice Paul, Medgar Evers, Shirley Jackson Lee. Pete Seeger. Molly Ivins, Woody Guthrie, “This land is your land and my land” and it’s its own land and the ones who were here before us and those who will be after.
Friends we stand on holy ground in a world that needs us to be ourselves. Call out their names. Who are you calling? Who are you calling? Call them out. Call them out. (Names called out from the audience.) Theodore Parker.
Amen my people.
We need to get a grip. Our one sacred planet needs us now. We must stand up for justice now.
The future is unwritten. The future is unwritten. That means we can write it. We can write it. We can R-I-G-H-T it.
Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, who wrote a book in 1920 called “I Thou.” He contrasted the relationship we have with everything in our capitalistic society as an “I it” relationship. Is it kind of user relationship? That’s kind of what we have right now. We think about how to market to people and we don’t treat them as three-dimensional beings with hearts and minds. We think of them as people who can do our laundry. That kind of thing. That’s what I’m talking about.
Ourselves and what we use relating to the planet other people and everything as if it was all put here for exploitation. In my opinion that is how we have gotten in this mess we are currently in.
We have used ourselves into the climate crisis and the clock is ticking down. Damage has been done but we are still here. We are resilient and creative and the future is unwritten.
It is time to adopt a new philosophy, an “I thou” philosophy, approach to each other, to other beings, four-legged, winged, green, the entire holy sacred gift that being alive brings.
The future is unwritten.
Now is our time. We are here. We have each other. Risk some stubborn optimism friends, tenacity, Grit, hard work, joy, rest, lives built for the distance.
I want us to try and get past our despair because we’re in the middle of it. And it’s awful. It is awful. And I am not doing that kind of, you know, focusing or thing where everything is just fine, because it’s not. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t built for this time. We are.
And we have enough friendship, and we have enough talent, and we have enough energy, and we can handle this. I don’t care how old you are. I don’t care what’s going on with you, it’s time.
Martha P. Johnson, she threw that brick. We’re going to put the T back in LGBT, right the hell now. You hear me?
So remember the joyous resistance – Don’t quit – Rest – Have fun, parties, dance, and cake. Cake – Tacos. Keep it going keep it going – Ice cream. What’s your favorite? Nice. Nice. Alright.
We know how to do this. We’re built for this. We’ve had plenty of people representing for us and now it’s our turn.
Alright. We’re reaching our goals. We’re gonna diplomacy, organizing, leadership, we’re going to get arrested when we need to. Y’all get me out of jail. I’m very claustrophobic.
We’re going to speak up and we’re going to love and we’re going to love and we’re going to love because the future is unwritten.
The future is unwritten and joy is resistance.
Amen.
Extinguishing the Chalice
We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we hold in our hearts until we are together again.
Benediction
Remember the way of the wind
And breathe and blow
Remember the way of the fire
Sparkle, Glitter and glow
Remember the way of the water
And ebb and flow
Remember the way of the earth
And grow.
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