From The Shooting Star, January 11, 2009. Copyright 2009, Ellen Rowse Spero. All rights reserved.
There is a story that tells of a rabbi and an abbot, two old friends who turn to one another for advice and support. In this particular case, the abbot is dealing with a faltering community, where the gardens have become over grown, the buildings dilapidated, and the spirit of the monks sad and enervating. He asks his old friend to come speak to his monks, with whatever wisdom the rabbi can offer. The rabbi talks for a time and ends by saying, "Remember, the messiah is one of us."
Hearing this, the monks wonder who among them might be the messiah. And then, what he, as a poor monk, might do to help prepare the way. In no time, the gardens are prospering, the buildings looking like new, and the spirit of the brothers is joyful and anticipatory.
I thought about this story while reading a New Yorker story this past week about Van Jones, a green and anti-poverty activist from Oakland CA. He spoke at a recent Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. In talking to a group of high school drop-outs in New Bedford about the election of Barack Obama, he warned them, "One man is not going to save us. I don’t care who that man is. He’s not going to save us. And, in fact, if you want to be real about this—can y’all take it? I’m going to be real with y’all. Not only is Barack Obama not going to save you—you are going to have to save Barack Obama." (Quoted from "Greening the Ghetto" by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, January 12, 2009, p. 22).
There is a lot of wisdom in both the rabbi’s words to the brothers and Van Jones to his listeners. Whether it is in religion, politics, or something else, we cannot simply wait in despair until someone comes to rescue us. A leader is not one who fixes our lives or secures us from our fears, but rather one who empowers us to believe and act as if our actions and our participation matter in bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice. For it may be that it is so.
As we prepare for a change in leadership in our nation, I hope that we will keep both the wise rabbi’s and Van Jones’s words in mind, and that our new president will as well. There are tough times ahead, but if we trust that we can work our way through together, than I imagine we will face much less disappointment than if we passively wait to be saved.
This past Sunday’s snowstorm (are we done shoveling yet?) meant, understandably, low attendance at our worship service. Therefore, the Sabbatical Committee and I decided to postpone both the service and the Q&A session about my sabbatical until January 25th.
I am tentatively scheduling another dinner at our church for families living in local hotels for Saturday, January 31st. If you are interested in participating in this, please let me know: minister@uuchelmsford.org, or 978 256-5555.
In faith,
Rev. Ellen