We are not your ordinary community.

Uh-Uh. No, we’re not.

The power and wonder of Hope is alive in this community.

Go ahead, believe it…it’s true.

The power and wonder of Hope is alive here…

Oh yes.  And all we have to do is know it, accept it, nurture it, and celebrate it.

Know. Accept. Nurture. And Celebrate the Hope in our midst.

Amen.

            We’re not your ordinary community. Believe it.

 

//

 

I want to tell you a story,

…a story about a six year old girl named Ruby.¹

Ruby was born in Mississippi and lived with her family in New Orleans

At six, Ruby wasn’t thinking about much

She took care of her younger brothers and sisters

She loved life with her grandparents…they were sharecroppers.

She probably loved being outside, loved playing…Ruby went to church, and

She took that long walk to the all-black school where she went to kindergarten

But during the spring and summer of 1960, Ruby’s life began to change.

            Ruby’s world began to shift…and Hope, scary and exciting, began to

Spring alive in Ruby’s world…in our world.

Under a federal court order, public schools in New Orleans were ordered to

Desegregate…and Ruby had passed the test to enter an integrated school,

She and five other children were chosen to usher in integration in the New Orleans

Public school system.

 

November 14, 1960…when other six year olds were probably readying themselves

For a day of play at school,

            Ruby was readying herself for a moment in our socio-political history.

She would enter first grade at the William Frantz Public School…

the only black student…just one…

Surrounded by federal marshals and angry protesters…Ruby entered

Public school…Ruby Nell Bridges six years old,

            Took a step for her own future, as well as the future of her siblings, and

Other children…. 

 

  

Now // she didn’t have to.

            But day after day, surrounded by federal marshals, Ruby continued to

Go to school

            Day after day, a crowd of angry faces shouted hateful words at her

            Day after day, Ruby sat – the only student in her first grade class room

With her teacher Mrs. Henry, and together they learned with and from

Each other…just the two of them, spending the entire school day inside

Learning and playing and creating a world of intrigue and safety.

Neither Ruby nor Mrs. Henry missed a single day of school that year.

 

One morning…

One morning as Ruby faced the protesters, Mrs. Henry looking out from

the school room window, could see Ruby’s lips moving…

Surprised to see Ruby talking to the mob,

She said: "I saw your lips moving, but I couldn't make out what you were saying to those people."
”I wasn't talking to them," Ruby told her. "I was praying for them."

Usually Ruby prayed in the car on the way to school, but that day she'd forgotten until she was in the crowd. “Please be with me,” she'd asked God, and be with those people too. Forgive them because they don't know what they're doing.²

//

 

I’d like to believe that Ruby’s community

The community that helped her have courage, strength, and hope

was no ordinary community either.

 

//

 

Your children, are not your children

They are the sons and the daughters of life’s longing for itself

…you may give them your love, but not your thoughts

They have their own thoughts.³

 

//

 

Unitarian William Ellery Channing wrote in 1827:

 

The great end in religious instruction,

whether in the Sunday School or family,

is not to stamp our minds irresistibly on the young, but to stir up their own;

not to make them see with our eyes, but to look inquiringly and steadily with their own; not to give a definite amount of knowledge, but to inspire a fervent love of truth;

not to form an outward regularity, but to touch inward springs;

not to burden the memory, but to quicken and strengthen the power of thought.⁴

 

We may give them our love, but not our thoughts

They have their own thoughts.

 

The great [purpose] of religious instruction is to stir up their own minds

help them see with their own eyes

inspire a fervent love of truth.

 

//

 

In this morning’s story we encountered Jesus on the brink of

Adolescence as we now know it.

We encountered a Jesus, who made an independent and hopeful

decision to set his life on a certain course, unbeknownst to his parents.

There they were surrounded by relatives and friends

Traveling back to Nazareth after the annual Passover Festival…when, all of a sudden

Mary stops and clutches her heart and demands:

            Where is he?  Where is Jesus?  She looks around:

Has anyone seen Jesus since we left Jerusalem?

 

Tired, she and Joseph travel back to Jerusalem and spend THREE

WHOLE DAYS searching.

            Where could Jesus be?

And when they found him?  What do they get? Teenaged attitude:

“Why were you [guys] searching for me?

[duh] Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?

…whatever dude, let’s just go.”

 

And so he was, in the temple with his elders – holding court with the rabbis

Full of curiosity, questions, and inner wisdom,

There he was in the midst of those who’d studied the holy books for many years,

learning to think and see for himself…and, the gospel writer Luke says:

“all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.⁵

 

//

I’d like to believe that Jesus’ community

The community that helped him be curious, questioning, and wise

was no ordinary community either.

 

//

 

 

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

…you may strive to be like them, but seek not

To make them just like you ⁶

 

[and from our responsive reading this morning]

 

In the house which becomes a home,

One hands down and another takes up

The heritage of mind and heart,

laughter and tears,

Musings and deeds.⁷

 

We are not your ordinary community.

 

What does that mean for us, and for the lives of the children in our midst?

Sobonfu Some writes:

Children hold the knowledge and gifts that ensure the survival of

[the community]….  Children complete the community! 

Without children, the world is a dead end and communities will not exist.

Children are the life-givers, the healers, the messengers of the ancestors.

She writes:

if we continue to ignore the fact that our children are the

Greatest gifts to our world, then we should consider ourselves an endangered

Species.

If we can think of our children as priceless, however, then it will be easy for us

To focus on their positive side and offer them the love and respect they deserve.

            Focus on their positive side and offer them the love

              and respect they deserve.⁸

 

It’s easy to focus on the positive when we lift up someone like Ruby who at six,

Full of fear, trembling, and courageous prayer makes her way to school

In spite of an angry mob of people denouncing her identity.

 

It’s easy to focus on the positive – to be like Mary treasuring her son’s rebellion

Because after all, the prophets might be right in thinking he is some kind of messiah;

And that’s a little more important than if he cleaned his room or not

 

 

It’s a little more challenging when we’re in community with a bunch of young people

Isn’t it?

            And they get to acting in their “young people ways” – I know you that you

know what I mean:

 The eye rolling, back talking, my personal favorite: giggling uncontrollably for no apparent reason (which I did as a child), the exasperation with anyone over 25

and – another personal favorite: having the right answer for every situation…pointing out when I – the adult – am guilty of acting in a way that’s inconsistent with what I preach and teach.

They are good about that aren’t they?
            I mean, isn’t that what Ruby and Jesus were doing?

Pointing out that how we act as adults is often inconsistent with what we preach

And teach?
Pointing us back to our own best selves…again and again…inviting us to be accountable

For our speech, and for our actions?

They hold up mirrors and show us who we are…and sometimes, we do not enjoy that.

Sometimes we bristle, we think of them as being insolent, disrespectful, incapable of knowing their own hearts and minds,

In the words of Sobonfu: they are like containers inside of which all

Kinds of goodness and craziness happen.⁹

 

//

 

But isn’t the truth that we are the ones who are struggling?

Isn’t the truth that we are the ones who could use a small opportunity of resurrection?
resurrecting that authentic sense of self…that gets buried underneath all the things

We “should” be doing, all the ways we “should” act as adults?

Isn’t that closer to the truth?  It is for me.

 

It is also true for me, that when I slow down and practice patience

Gaze in the mirror that children so willingly hold up

I realize that what they have to offer is nourishing and soul enlivening

My task is to acknowledge that I may have some life experiences,

I may even have some wisdom,

And that means, I have a responsibility to share in the wisdom of others

I have a responsibility to listen and create an abundance of space for

The children in my own life…

To create space for them to speak truth…and to model speaking truth in love.

 

 

It is also true for me that what we have to offer children is taking the time

Here in this community to really know that all of it

All of this

Everything we do – is education for ourselves and for our children.

 

Child Psychiatrist Dr. Robert Cole says:

[Children] are ‘Us’ handed on to another generation. …So the world becomes what we teach and model for our children.¹⁰

 

Unitarian Angus MacLean invites us to understand that the method

Is the message

What we model, how we live, how we treat each other,

The words and actions we share with the children and adults in our midst

The intergenerational activities we engage in…the places we invite our

Children in to, and the places we exclude them from – all of it…is the message

We pass on to them

All of it shapes the world we’re co-creating. 

All of it shapes their adult lives…and consequently,

Shapes our lives as eventual elders.

 

See, we don’t just grow up and gain inner wisdom,

We take all that we’ve gathered from our youth, from the adults in our communities

And with that, we launch ourselves in to the world.

 

If we were given and received the message that we are noisy, insolent,

And are unable to create meaning in the world for ourselves until we’re adults

Then…we live in to and out of that.

 

If we were given and received the message that we have truths of our own to speak,

Meaningful contributions to make

Insights to offer…we live in to and out of that.

 

//

 

Isn’t that what Ruby did? Six years old and praying for the people who

Everyday…gathered to stop her from entering school? She, with the support

Of her family, her friends, her community…her teacher Mrs. Henry

            Spoke her truth by never missing a single day of school that year.

By praying for others to have open hearts.

 

Isn’t that what Jesus did? Twelve years old in the temple.  Asking

Questions, and sharing his insights and challenging the texts of his religion?

With the support of his parents, his community…

            Spoke his truth by studying, and reflecting, and readying himself

To challenge the accepted norm, the accepted religious law – for the better

Of the people of his time, especially marginalized people?

 

What are we as a community, preparing our young people for?

What messages do we offer them?

 

//

 

Here, in this community, with children accounting for just over 50%

Of the total population

We have an outstanding Religious Education/Exploration program

We have dedicated mentors, teachers, and guides…

We have a curriculum that invites serious and playful reflection on

A wide range of topics….

            And we need to remember that the work of educating, of modeling,

Of shaping, of creating vital & creative space to nurture young people

Goes beyond the class room…goes beyond religious exploration…

Goes beyond Sunday school.

 

We need to remember Angus MacLean and Sophia Lyon Fahs – and the

Role of experience in learning…

 

Remember educator Maria Harris who says the entire church is religious

Education,

            It is ongoing, mutual and open always to further meaning.

She says the whole community educates the whole community.¹¹

And that means we encourage each other – children and adults to

Speak and to listen well to each other.

 

//

 

In his book Hope and History, Dr. Vincent Harding says:

            Listen to your children.  …they have a deep hunger and

Thirst for a just and righteous society, and for personal lives filled

With truth and integrity.

They need time and space to express these yearnings, to have them

Affirmed and encouraged.

In order to keep moving forward they need structures in home, church, and

Community which will reinforce their own fundamental intuition that

the way of selfish material accumulation…is not the way of compassionate humanity.

 

They need us…all of us…to call them and ourselves to the realization of their

Best and most human possibilities.¹²

 

They need us…all of us…to call them and ourselves to the realization of their

Best and most human possibilities.

 

They need us to truly heed our call to tend to matters of consequence.

Remember that line from the story of The Little Prince?

In his travels, he encounters a man…an adult, counting all the stars in the sky

With seriousness and compulsive purpose. 

 

This man is annoyed at being interrupted, being asked questions, of having his

Process and purpose examined…tells the Little Prince he’s tending to matters

Of consequence…and the Prince, in his wisdom, concludes that this is not the case.

 

That matters of consequence are matters of the heart, of connection, friendship,

Laughter – loving and listening.¹³

 

And this is what we are called to model and share in community

 

Matter of consequence like:

            Believing we are not your ordinary church, and because of that

Ours is the task of modeling…because the world becomes what we teach and

Model for our children

Ours is the task of modeling…because that too is a message we impart

Ours is the task of modeling…because even when they are holding up mirrors,

Questioning our purpose and process, showing us who we are…

they are calling us to resurrect places inside of ourselves that long to

release the burden of adult “shoulds” and embrace a new perspective

With which to see the world.

 

//

 

Ours is the task of seeing rightly with the heart…

Isn’t that what Ruby Bridges did at the William Franz public high school?

She could have chosen to hurl hurtful words at the gathered crowd,

Matching their hate with her own…

She could have said: no.  I’m not going.  I’m not going to be the only

Kid in first grade this year.

Instead, she said yes, and in so doing

            She invited that community…with the love and support

Of her family, her friends, her church… to try on a new perspective.

And look, almost 47 years later…amazing how much her act, and the

Acts of other children helped to shape us and create change.

 

 

Amen and Amen.