The Work of a Citizen

A sermon delivered at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Blacksburg, VA), January 18, 2009, by the Reverend Christine Brownlie.

Like many of you, I believe that we are at a turning point in our country’s history. Even if we did not vote for President-elect Obama ourselves, I believe that most of us wish him well as he and we face the perilous times in which we live. It’s hard to tell whether we are turning toward a brighter and healthier future, or if we will see a decline in well-being of our nation and most of the rest of the world. (I say “most of the rest of the world” because there are people who already live at such an impoverished level that I can’t imagine what could be worse.) Uncertainty and anxiety accompany hope and optimism, as we approach inauguration day. I also sense a new feeling of pride in our country over this history-making event.

I was raised in a patriotic and perilous time. My parents and my schoolteachers inculcated me with the belief that America was the greatest nation ever on the face of the earth. I firmly believed that our President, General Dwight D, Eisenhower, was a hero and a man of impeccable virtue. We began each school with the Pledge of Allegiance that included the newly added words, “under God.” On every Sunday in church we prayed for the leaders of our nation, asking God’s guidance and protection for these wise and courageous men.

The Soviet Union, a nation that no longer exists, was our country’s mortal enemy. The threats of Communism and a nuclear attack by this aggressive foe colored most of my childhood and adolescence. This possibility was taken very seriously, and I took part in those Civil Defense drills that required us to dive under our tiny school desk for protection in case the Russians dropped “The Bomb” on St. Paul, Minnesota. During the Bay of Pigs crises, I went off to high school each morning wondering if I would have a home to return to. I loved my country and could not grasp why anyone should want to destroy it.

Despite our worries over the “Reds,” as we called them, this was a great time to be a white middle-class child. The economy was on the rise; and the promises of living better though the wonders of science were coming true. There were troubling signs of growing cracks in the façade of the face of our democratic nation, as the voices of the disenfranchised grew louder and more persistent. But we still clung to the vision that we belonged to the most fortunate and powerful nation on the earth.

But all dreams must end, and soon I would awaken to the not-so-lovely face of reality. In 1960 there were some troubling events that changed my faith in my country. One was the “U2 affair.” For those of you too young to remember, here is a brief version of the story. An American spy plane was shot down over airspace claimed by the Soviet Union. The pilot, Gary Powers, was captured and detained. President Eisenhower firmly denied our country’s involvement. But the truth was unavoidable, and soon he was offering a public apology. I was shocked! The President of the United States had lied to the whole world! I just couldn’t get over it. My eyes were slowly beginning to open to the realities of politics and foreign policy.

The second awakening was even more important for me personally. That summer, there a series of sit-ins that took place in Greensboro, North Carolina. I’d been aware of the Montgomery Bus boycott and the integration of the public schools in Little Rock Arkansas. The name Dr. King was familiar. But now I was developing a clearer understanding of the issues that were behind the angry faces, attack dogs, and National Guardsmen that we saw on the TV screen each evening.

I was moved as I listened to Dr. Martin Luther King speak with such heart-filled eloquence, and his pleading and demanding that the Negro people of America be given the same rights as we Whites enjoyed because equality for all people was the shining promise of America —and that promise had been broken.

Both Eisenhower’s lie and the cry for justice from Dr. King and his followers were profound events for me. I learned that my country was not as perfect as I’d been led to believe. I also learned that the dream of the founding fathers and mothers was still alive, still powerful, and still loved by many people despite the brokenness that we could see if we were willing to look. I resolved that as I moved into adulthood, I would engage in the work of citizenship in the hope of helping my country live up to the ideals that it claimed as its heritage and foundation.

I’m sharing this with you not because I consider my story to be remarkable or particularly interesting, but because the values I learned and the challenges to those values have shaped my understanding of the work of a citizen.

This work is related to what some call the duties of citizenship. These duties are set out in some of the information that’s intended for those who wish to become citizens of the United State: voting, paying taxes, obeying laws, serving on a jury, and —in times of war — military service. I personally would like to see some kind of mandatory service for everyone, but that idea hasn’t caught on yet. (I must acknowledge that some people don’t see taxes or military service as a duty of a citizen and are willing to go to prison to preserve their right to object.)

To my way of thinking, the work of a citizen goes beyond these duties. It involves time, effort, and — sometimes — great frustration. It also requires faith and courage.

This work requires a love of country that pushes us to seek the truth. Not the truth as we would like it to be, nor the truth that upholds our opinions — whatever these opinions might be. But the truth that comes from looking at an issue or event from several perspectives and using multiple sources.

I suspect that most of us tend to read and listen to media outlets and commentators whose opinions and worldviews match our own. I know that I do. It’s hard to hear or read the words of commentators who have strong opinions that are contrary to our own. But if we are to have a fuller grasp of the complexities of our world, then it is essential to get information and opinions that challenge us to see our country in a different light than we’re accustomed to. This includes checking out the foreign press and the commentators that write for people in other countries. Blogs can be another useful tool that allows us to hear the voices of the people who are much like us in their love of country but who may or may not share our point of view on various issues.

For a citizen, information is often a starting point that leads to action. When we vote for a candidate to represent us at the local, state, or federal level, we’ve just begun our relationship with that person. The work of a citizen requires that we become engaged with our representatives, communicating with them about issues and legislation. Here’s another potential full-time job!

For legislation at the State level, I’d encourage you to consider membership in the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. This non-partisan agency offers information and alerts to help its members track bills as they move through the VA General Assembly. On a national level, there are any number of advocacy groups that provide information. Of course, some of these groups aren’t neutral: the information they provide supports their point of view, so if you’re looking for an unbiased opinion or both sides of an issue, you may need to dig around a little more. The League of Women Voters is a good resource that presents both sides of the issues they study.

The point of all of this is that our representatives on all levels government need to hear our voices. Letters, e-mails, phone calls do make a difference. Pick your issue, follow it, and speak up. You may not achieve all you hoped for, but your voice might have helped to push the opposing parties to come up with a compromise that works. In the words of a famous 20^th century philosopher, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might get what you need.

Certainly there are those times when we can’t settle for a solution that claims to give us what we need or what the lawmakers want to claim is best for our country. Those who fight for equal rights for people of color, for women, or non-heterosexuals, or for those who are differently-abled are familiar with this claim. It goes something like this: Yes, we know that you want to be treated just as we treat White heterosexual males, but the country is not ready for that just yet. Raising you to the same level of opportunity and privilege would damage the fabric of our society. But don’t be discouraged. We’ll give you the right to vote, or the right to buy a house in a neighborhood of your choice — although it’s true that you might not be welcomed there. We agree that you shouldn’t face discrimination in the job market. We agree that you should be able to serve in the military. But, that’s all we can do for now, and we think you should be satisfied.

We get the same kind of wait-talk around many other issues that are controversial and difficult: gun control, health-care reform, poverty, environmental issues, medical care for veterans, the war in Iraq, the war on drugs, Social Security and Medicare, our relationship with Israel and Palestine. No, we can’t always get what we want, but we can hold our elected officials accountable for their decisions.

We can speak truth to power and tell those whom we have elected to represent us that we are paying attention. We can tell them that we plan to keep on keeping on, and that we will not be satisfied with anything less than our goal.

I will continue to write letters to Governor Tim Kaine, Senator John Edwards and Delegate Jim Schuller, expressing my hope that one day I will have the joy of signing a marriage license for same-sex couples who have come to me for a religious ceremony honoring their relationship. I’m sure they’re weary of hearing from me, in fact, since the vote in 2006 to amend the Constitution of the Commonwealth so that marriage is defined as between one man and one woman, I no longer receive a reply. But I’m patient. I believe that the day will come when we will have the opportunity to correct that injustice.

The work of a citizen means that we should express our appreciation to those men and women who struggle with the complicated issues of our time. Our public officials are human beings, and like any of us, they need to hear that we are grateful for their service. This is probably most effective when it goes past saying thank you for passing the bill I supported. Technology gives us more opportunities to hear or read the speeches and review the bills that our public officials have crafted. A thumbs-up over a well-crafted piece of legislation or courageous speech can be an energizing thank-you.

For many Americans, and for many people all over the world, the inauguration of Barak Obama was a joyous occasion. We know that our joy is not universally shared. Some people are genuinely concerned that the changes Mr. Obama proposes will lead to disaster for our nation. Rush Limbaugh has declared that he hopes President Obama will fail. Many of us harbor some anxiety for the safety of our new President because we know that some of our fellow Americans take his election as an affront to their beliefs or status in our society.

But I would urge us not to allow these worries to weaken the hope that our country can and will move away from the partisan politics that have caused such anger and damage.

I will close with a passage I found in a book titled Great Companions (The Beacon Press, 1927). They were written by a little-known American essayist named Edwin D. Mead, who wrote these words at the end of WWI in an essay titled “An Epistle to The Americans”:

Seeing we are compassed about with so great a loud of witnesses, and that with so great a price, freedom has been purchased, let us lay aside every weight of selfishness and sloth, and the sins of partisanship and pride which so easily beset us, let us walk worthy of our great inheritance, let us be creditors of the future even as we are debtors to the past, and let us know that the spirit of history is the God of nations, whose other name is Justice.

May it be so!