Loading...Foundations
I built on the sand
And it tumbled down
I built on a rock
And it tumbled down
Now when I build, I shall begin
With the smoke from the chimney
At the close of WWII, Leopold Staff wrote this poem in naked faith from his ruined homeland of Poland. He is honoring the way a child draws a picture of a house, often starting with the smoke from the chimney and then the chimney. (Czeslaw Milosz A Book of Luminous Things.)
Today is the anniversary of the German invasion of Poland in 1939 which launched the Second World War. Leave it to a poet like Leopold Staff to count the cost of war so plainly and so beautifully.
With World War II on my mind, I got a call from my Rabbi this week. Rabbi Moline calls me and asks me would I be a voice in the conversation he’s initiating with clergy of all faiths about white supremacy. I can tell you more about his mission in person. He asked me specifically because my life was transformed by the actions of those who pledge their fidelity to white supremacy, actions including the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995. With my unique perspective would I lend my voice to the cause. The cause is talking about white supremacy. It’s just a beginning, but here goes.
I am about to tell you the story of Pastor Martin Niemoller who served the German Lutheran Church during the rise of Nazism. He spent some time counting the cost of what it means to include one’s voice in a conversation.
When I attended the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes Network intensive two day seminar on #wokeness the first thing I, along with 300 clergy, was asked to do was to count the cost of being #woke, of what it sounds like to include your voice in conversations about matters such as war and white supremacy.
So here’s the thing about gospel truth: it’s freedom comes with a cost. Look at how Jesus describes gospel life in Luke. People with good seats get moved. People with lousy seats are moved to the VIP placement. Inequality is how heaven operates, just like on earth. The only criteria for what makes me eligible for the VIP placement is the sacrifice Jesus makes on the cross. God expects me to treat others as if they are worthy of God’s kingdom whether I think they are or not. And treating people as if God loves them will cost me.
One example from our St James community comes from this past month when we had a visitor spend three nights in our school playground playhouse. One person was moved to leave a care package containing snacks and socks in the playhouse. Others asked our vestry to re-evaluate our security protocols at the same time. Both of these conversations are compassionate and both cost our community because we claim the gospel lifestyle.
The life and times of Pastor Martin Niemöller gives us another example of the cost of including one’s voice in a conversation. Born in Lippstadt, Germany in 1892 , he had already served 4 years as a cadet in the Imperial German Navy when World War I started. He was assigned to a U-Boat and eventually became a commander, a command he declined to give up at the armistice of November 11, 1918. He was consequently discharged from the Navy.
Subsequently he enrolled in seminary at the University of Münster.
Niemöller originally welcomed the Third Reich with enthusiasm. But the conversation changed in 1934. During a meeting with Adolf Hitler other clergy. Niemöller learned his phone had been tapped by the German Secret State Police; and the Pastors Emergency League (PEL), which Niemöller had helped found, was under close state surveillance. Following the meeting, Niemöller understood the Nazi state as a dictatorship. He emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. He is perhaps best remembered for his postwar words about the cost of including one’s voice in a conversation when he says:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
You have a voice. And your voice belongs here. I will issue the same invitation to you as Rabbi Moline issued to me. Will you include your voice in the conversations of people like poets and clergy, to count the cost of matters such as war and white supremacy, socks and security. The cost of speaking is the same as the cost of silence: EVERYTHING.
