“Leading From the Future”

A sermon by

The Reverend Louise Green

            All Souls Church, Unitarian

             Washington, D.C.

            Sunday, 11 November 2007

READING:  From “The Small Work in the Great Work,” by Rev. Victoria Safford, in The Impossible Will Take A Little While, edited by Paul Loeb.

Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of Hope—not the prudent gates of Optimism, which are somewhat narrow; nor the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense; nor the strident gates of Self-Righteousness, which creak on shrill and angry hinges (people cannot hear us there; they cannot pass through); nor the cheerful flimsy garden gate of “Everything is gonna be all right.” But a different, sometimes lonely place, the place of truth-telling, about your own soul first of all and its condition, the place of resistance and defiance, the piece of ground from which you see the world both as it is and as it could be, as it will be; the place from which you glimpse not only struggle, but joy in the struggle. And we stand there, beckoning and calling, telling people what we are seeing, asking people what they see. 

This morning I’d like to declare that the mission of our congregation is planted right at the gates of Hope: creating a diverse, justice-seeking, spirit-growing community that welcomes all souls. Here we are in the present, living out that charge, and yet, you know there is a way to go. We are diverse, and definitely want to be more so. We do seek justice, and there’s much more justice that needs to come. We have expanded our spirits, and still are growing into our better selves, deepening as individuals and as a congregation.  At All Souls we see the world as it is and as it could be, even as it will be.  We do glimpse joy in the struggle, do beckon and call, daring to lead from the future.

This challenging work of building the beloved community, the actual practice of creating a multi-racial, anti-racist congregation, represents a vision of a future that is not the norm.  This future is transformational, meaning it will involve ongoing process of change over time.  It is counter-cultural, meaning there are not a lot of models of completed work in this arena, not many congregations we can use as examples. This future is also transcendent, reflecting the values we hold in spiritual/ethical communities. 

Values such as the idea that we are greater than the sum of our parts. That we have interests collectively which are larger than our individual concerns, or that we can stand for the whole when called upon for solidarity or accompaniment.  That we believe in something evolving over time, still honoring repeating passages, still giving credit to previous generations, yet able to create the new. 

We are in a special environment here at All Souls, one that feels dynamic, fluid, full of possibility. In this place, we are building a community that actually fulfills our mission:  diverse, spirit-growing, justice-seeking.  Still in process, I know, and yet it’s already happening.  We are lucky enough to be on board the moving train, building while it’s running along.

In his book Embracing Diversity, Charles Foster studies a handful of successful congregations that have decided to embrace difference--especially ethnic, cultural and racial difference--as valuable for their self-understanding and critical to their mission. His focus is on the leaders who drive the change, both congregants and staff, folks who see that new possibilities for the future arise from the welcome given to all souls.  Two of his observations are most interesting to me, that celebration and anticipation are the marks of visionary leaders. 

The first, celebration, involves an attitude of discovery. Foster says that the leaders he studied believe that, “diversity is not a problem to be overcome; it is a gift to be celebrated.”   Not a problem, but a gift.  Not something to overcome, but something to celebrate.  Now I know it’s easy to get in the fix-it mode, with some feeling we will never get there. All Souls has days when our ideals are not in the slightest met by reality, and people feel wounded or excluded.  I mourn those days along with you.  However, we can choose to sit in a place of scarcity, or give thanks for abundance, both in our individual lives, and certainly here.  Our work is still unfolding, creating dialogue across difference is hard work, and we must make concrete plans to increase our welcome…and still, I say we can undermine our success with constant thought of how far we have to go.  

What would it mean to celebrate who is here--to see the true gift of our present diversity, acknowledge and claim it? We can rejoice that we have folks in our pews and our children’s chapel who are Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, African, American Indian, Arab, African-American, Afro-Caribbean, Euro-American.  We have four generations of congregants under the same roof, with strong Silver Souls, and a huge baby and toddler boom.  We welcome those who are lesbian and transgender, straight and gay, immigrant and citizen, those with many sorts of abilities, special needs, and special gifts, and those from many spiritual traditions and humanist values. Here we are growing each month in size, and so can realistically hope to welcome even more voices, more difference. This is rare in the world of the progressive liberal church. We can appreciate how unique All Souls already is in our city, our nation.  We are planted at the gate of Hope, celebrating, and as Victoria Safford urges, “we stand there, beckoning and calling, telling people what we are seeing, asking people what they see.” 

The second observation is around anticipation.  Charles Foster says that an important aspect of innovative leadership in multicultural congregations is that people are proactive.  This goes beyond the simple capacity to discern options for eventuality. Rather, Foster observes the following: 

Anticipatory leaders as a matter of course see a situation or event from the future rather than from the past.  They rarely ask questions about how things have been done (even though they may have a keen historical consciousness); instead they ask about how things might be done.

This a critical skill because of what I noted earlier:  the work of building a diverse community is transformational, counter-cultural, and transcendent.  We don’t see the end point next week or the month after.  We don’t have a lot of examples to go on.  We don’t know the whole picture, just a piece of the puzzle here, a piece there, and we are still gazing out into a new view. 

So anticipatory leaders are at a kind of a crucial pivot point:  there is a vision that we hold of the future, hold with hope and passion.  We have memories of that mission that come with us from the past, memories filtered through the experience of our individual lives.  Yet we stand in the present, with a range of choices every day, every week as leaders in this new landscape. The present is the place for that anticipation, that proactivity, which will lead to the future we desire.  The present is the place we make the choices that will land us out into the vision we hold dear. What are the choices you are making to contribute to this vision?  How are you leading from the future?  I’d like to offer some practical suggestions that all fall under the general heading of, “Get out more.” 

First, examine your relationships, in the church, at work, with friends, in the community.  Actually make a list of the ten or twenty folks you relate to most, and observe the similarities and differences there.  Then find a way to hear a new story, break out of your own pattern of meeting, engage in a fresh dialogue. Meet some new people, one on one, and listen. Who we relate to most often is either reinforcing our status quo, or creating new possibilities.  You are the anticipatory leader here: are you passive or proactive?

Next think about the top five ways you engage in this congregation:  attending worship, special events, groups, social opportunities, service activities.  Is there anything you would change?  Is there a new area that intrigues you?  Are you making time for anything different or challenging, or are you stuck repeating what you always do?  You are the designer here:  are you reactive or creating?  

Finally, being a leader in a multi-cultural vision of transformation requires ongoing awareness of, and comfort with, difference.  This does not happen through wishful thinking at the cheerful flimsy gate that Safford described, the garden gate of “everything is going to be all right.” What are you doing to commit to ongoing deepening and learning?  Shake it up, and challenge yourself out of your comfort zone.

You might be in the new Building the World We Dream About covenant groups, or you may be thinking about taking the next Jubilee anti-racism training on Martin Luther King weekend in January.  How else can you expand your horizons?  Notice five things that could bring a new voice or perspective…it could be a movie, book, print media, TV show, conversation in the corner store or Metro, a family experience or excursion in the city.  How can you create more of that awareness of, and comfort with, difference?  You are the important actor here:  are you always moving in the same tracks, or are you choosing to learn in new ways?

This last Friday was a special holiday for Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists—called Divali, the festival of lights. The day was celebrated with flowers, candles, paper lanterns, all signifying the lifting of spiritual darkness and struggle, the victory of good over evil within every human being. Certainly our world is in need of Divali, and there are days when it can’t seem to come soon enough. When we plant ourselves at the gate of Hope, holding to our All Souls mission, we are a beacon of light, determined to shine all the way into that future we imagine. 

On Divali, we are reminded that our awareness of the inner light is pure, infinite, eternal--transcending all outer differences.  Recognizing Atman, the spark of the divine within, we realize universal compassion, the loving awareness of the oneness of all. This is a vision for the future, the dream of the welcome table, the land we will build where hope abides. When we lead from this place, we are transforming, while subverting the dominant culture, while transcending the daily realities that would keep us divided. 

I am inspired by the luminous words of the great Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, in an excerpt from The Cure at Troy:

Human beings suffer,

            They torture one another,

            They get hurt and get hard.

            No poem or play or song

            Can fully right a wrong

            Inflicted and endured…

            History says, “Don’t hope

            On this side of the grave.”

            But then, once in a lifetime

            The longed-for tidal wave

            Of justice can rise up,

            And hope and history rhyme.

            So hope for a great sea-change

            On the far side of revenge.

            Believe that a further shore

            Is reachable from here.

May it be so for All Souls.  May it be so.  Amen.