I have been away to the EastCoast this week, studying and also visiting some family, but as always I leftpart of my heart in Chicago. And part of my heart is now broken. Not so muchbecause we lost the Olympics of 2016. That is kind of a disappointment, thoughfrankly I was ambivalent. No, it’s not the Olympic disappointment that piercedmy heart. It was learning of the death of Derrion Albert. Most of you probably know that Derrion wasbeaten to death. He was a 16 year old, not a gang member. An honor student.There were two feuding teen groups in his neighborhood. The anger between themled to violence as it too often does. The fighting escalated and continuedbeyond school time. Derrion was standing too close and became a needlessvictim.
I was in New York when I learned aboutDerrion. I had just seen my daughter’s dance company, Young Dance Collective,perform.
I had seen my granddaughter dance withexquisite grace. I didn’t know Derrion Albert but I know about being a mother,and a grandmother, and about how much love and hope you put into the raising ofa child, how proud and happy you feel when they are thriving. How much you wantto protect them. How deeply sad it must be for his family and also the familiesof those charged with his beating death. My prayers are with the families, withthe people of Fenger High School, the neighborhood of Altgeld Gardens and ourcity.
We strive torespect the worth and dignity of every person. We seek justice, equity andcompassion in human relations. I pray that we, the people of First UnitarianChurch, and we the people of the city of Chicago and its surroundings, I praythat we will seek ways to help love transform hate and violence. In the wordsof Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times: “We were prepared toraise millions to prepare the city for the Olympics. Without missing a beat, weshould devote our energy to preparing the city for a new generation of DerrionAlberts. This will require investment in a resource we have in abundant supply:Human beings.”
This morning,as we think about witnessing for love, I wonder what our part can and might bein such an effort.
This morning we are thinking about Witnessingfor Love, we are thinking about standing on the side of love. Why this morning?Because this month, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s initiative Standingon the Side of Love is coming out of the closet of invisibility andrecruiting everyone to join together for the sake of love and justice.
What is the Standing on theSide of Love initiative? It all started with our passion for the rights ofgay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. We saw the passage of DOMA, theDefense of Marriage Act. We saw adopted children being taken away from theirloving gay parents.
We saw that loving partners wereexcluded from the bedside of their dying beloveds. We remembered the words ofMartin Luther King, Jr., that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. Westarted witnessing for love at General Assemblies. Many UUs worked for equalityin marriage in Massachusetts and Vermont and elsewhere. We celebrated when afew states, one at a time, took a stand for equal marriage rights for non-heterosexualcouples. We mourned when California passed proposition 8.
And then, too, we noticed whatwas happening to undocumented immigrant families, how they were being tornapart as one parent was deported, sometimes with little or no warning. Howworkplaces, homes and neighborhoods were raided by the government agency, ICE,and constitutional rights were ignored. In 2007 the UUA General Assembly passedthe Action of Immediate Witness “Support Immigrant Families: Stop the ICERaids.”
Before and since, UUs witnessedfor love and justice for undocumented workers and their families who came herefor economic survival, who were being dehumanized by the language of racism,and whose human rights were denied. Some UU congregations joined other faithcommunities in making special commitments to this cause becoming new sanctuarycongregations or allies. Why do we stand on the side of love? Simply put, it isbecause we strive to respect the worth and dignity of every person and we seekjustice, equity and compassion in human relations. These are the first twoprinciples of Unitarian Universalism and they are the foundation of ourimperative for justice. Rooted in these principles, Unitarian Universalistsstruggle to end racism and work for economic justice.
Our history includes a longcommitment to gender equality and equality of human rights for gay, lesbian,bisexual and transgender people.
I learned this week that the ELCA(Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), a branch of the Lutheran Church, hasfinally voted to ordain gay and lesbian ministers. We can be proud of theirprogress in asserting this principle of justice. Our own former president ofthe Unitarian Universalist Association, Bill Sinkford, continues his advocacyfor love and justice. While president of our association, he alerted us to theneed for justice for immigrants. And on September 15, this year, he stood bythe side of Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D., NJ) at a press conference introducing theRespect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
Bill Sinkford spoke on behalf ofthe act which would give gay and lesbian couples the same marital rights asheterosexual couples throughout our land.
What is the Standing on theSide of Love initiative? It is a call to all people to join together inwitnessing for justice, wherever human rights are threatened or denied.
It is a call to answer hate withlove. It is a belief that the spirit of love is more powerful than hate andnegativity. It is a cry that we be both firm and loving in our commitment tojustice and that we value the spirit of compassion over life denying, communitydestroying expressions of hate and division. It is a mandate for human unity.
If you go to the Standing onthe Side of Love website, you will read these words: Standing on the Sideof Love is a public advocacy campaign that seeks to harness love’s power tostop oppression. It is sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association andall are welcomed to join.
Why is the campaignimportant? Because, the website continues “This is a time of great hope and possibility, yet our communities are threatened by the increased prevalence ofacts motivated by fear and hate. No one should be dehumanized through acts ofexclusion, oppression, or violence because of their identities. In publicdebates over immigration, LGBT rights, and more, religious people stand on theside of love and call for respect, inclusion, and compassion.”
As some of you know, I haveadvocated for justice for undocumented immigrants. Only a few may know thatawhile ago a friend of our congregation who worshipped with us, was herself anundocumented immigrant. The young woman who worshipped with us is a youngmother who had documents. But she lost them through a loophole. She foughtdeportation for a long time, and I walked beside her as she tried to fight thesystem that would take her away from her daughter who is a citizen. This momwas relatively private about her struggle, for she was a great risk ofseparation from her pre-teenage daughter. A few of our members helped her inone way or another.
But she lost the fight. And nowshe has returned to her homeland where she awaits another chance to come hereand be with her family. I want to wonder with you about how we can stand on theside of love and justice for undocumented workers, of whom there are so many inour city! How can we stand on their side and on the side of their families?
And this last July 4th,a day we commemorate the high value of freedom, I traveled, as many of youknow, to the state of Iowa. I went there to perform a marriage for my friendsBill, a Unitarian Universalist, and Bob, a Presbyterian. Now they are legallymarried in Iowa. But they live in Chicago. I think Canada will recognize theirmarriage. But Illinois will not. The United States will not. Bill and Bob willnot get the tax benefits of marriage. They will need special legal documents toget even some marriage protections. Straight couples usually won’t need toproduce their marriage license to get those benefits.
I want to wonder with you abouthow we can stand on the side of love and justice for marriage equality.
And I know that many of us aredisturbed by the vitriolic dehumanizing language of the right-wing extremismthat has overcome the moderate voices on the right and steered debate abouthealth care reform away from issues. Instead we hear lies about what is inhealth care reform legislation, lies meant to scare people and get them tostand against their own real interests. Lies meant to delay and ultimatelydefeat reform, lies meant to demonize the president and destroy his presidency.I want to wonder with you about what more steps we can take to bring voices ofcompassion into advocacy for health care reform.
Standing on the Side ofLove is not a wishy-washing gooey enterprise. It is not easy to do withconsistency. As UUA social activist Meg Riley says, “Being a good ally is hardwork. Some days I succeed better better than others. Standing on the side ofLove gives me a big aspirational frame to live in.” For us here on the SouthSide of Chicago there are many opportunities for Standing on the Side of Love.We can remember that family and work life are also arenas for justice. And nextSunday, as our Rainbow Interweave group invites us to celebrate Coming Out Day,we can worship together and then join with thousands of UUs some at a rally andmarch in Washington, DC for marriage equality and others in congregations andneighborhoods, to joined in visibility as witnesses for love. And we canremember Derrion Albert and visualize a city, where teens can go to saferschools and grow up to be thriving citizens. We can wonder together about whatour part could be in the transforming of our city and the mending of hearts.And then, hopefully, we can find ways to do the hard work, to witness and acttogether for love. Amen.
Sermons