February 17, 2008 Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley
When I was a kid, growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on February 22nd we celebrated the birthday of George Washington, "Father of our Nation," with a school holiday. We might have had a school holiday ten days earlier, on February 12th in honor of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, though I don't remember clearly.
Then, in 1968, Congress passed The Mondays Holiday Act, a law making Mondays the day we celebrate federal holidays. Officially, you may not realize, there is no "Presidents' Day." The law named it "Washington's Birthday," to be celebrated on the third Monday of February. The proposal to combine the two birthday celebrations into one was actually rejected by congress.
Then, in 1971, President Richard Nixon issued a proclamation declaring the third Monday of February as Presidents' Day, in honor of all former U.S. presidents. According to the U.S. State Department, President Nixon mistakenly believed that a Presidential Proclamation carried the same weight as an Executive Order, so, ever since, we have celebrated Presidents' Day as if it were the law of the land.¹
Aren't we always struggling to find the language to express ourselves correctly!
We celebrate George Washington because he was the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army that defeated the British in the Revolutionary War, following the issuance of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. And we celebrate him as the first President of the newly forming United States of America.
In August of 1776 a committee was formed to create a Great Seal for the new United States. While their recommendation was not accepted, the motto they suggested was incorporated, six years later, into the new seal. The motto is: E Pluribus Unum. It describes an action: Many uniting into one, or "Out of many, One."
You may have a copy of it in your wallet, on a one dollar bill. Look on the ribbon in the mouth of the eagle on the side opposite the picture of George Washington.
E Pluribus Unum: Uniting thirteen colonies into one body, one nation. Dissident voices uniting into a common call for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Out of many, one... and ever since the body politic has debated about what the One is! As we go through our current political season of weaning down from many to one vision of what we want for tomorrow, we are living out this idea triumphed in the founding of America.
Out of many, One. It's an old calling. It is the charge to Moses from Yahweh. Make of these people one nation. Lead them from captivity into unity, from a vision of themselves as oppressed to knowing themselves as a Promised, and promise-making people.
In the Twentieth Century, no one spoke more eloquently to this vision than the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. At Ebenezer Baptist Church, in Atlanta, on 4 July 1965, here are some of the words he spoke about The American Dream.
The American Dream's substance is found in those majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, words lifted to cosmic proportions: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness..."
This dream is an amazing universalism.
...Never before in the history of the world has a sociopolitical document expressed in such profound, eloquent, and unequivocal language the dignity and the worth of human personality.
It is marvelous and great that we do have a dream,
that we have a nation with a dream;
to forever challenge us;
to forever give us a sense of urgency;
to forever stand in the midst of our terrible injustices;
to remind us of our noble capacity for justice and love.
All are equal in intrinsic worth.
We have a great dream.
It started way back in 1776, and God grant that America will be true to her
dream.
I stood with you before the Lincoln Monument in Washington.
I tried to tell the nation about a dream I had.
I must confess to you that since that sweltering August afternoon in 1963,
my dream has often turned into a nightmare.
And oh, I continue to see it shattered as I walk through the Harlems of our nation and see sometimes ten and fifteen people trying to live in one or two rooms.
I've been down to the Delta of Mississippi since then, and I've seen my dream shattered as I met hundreds of people who didn't earn more than six or seven hundred dollars a week.
I've seen my dream shattered as I've walked the streets of Chicago
and seen young men and women, with a sense of utter hopelessness
because they can't find any jobs.
And they see life as a long and desolate corridor with no exit signs.
I've seen my dream shattered because I've been through Appalachia, and I've seen whites and blacks living side by side in poverty.
So yes, the dream has been shattered,
and I have had my nightmarish experiences,
but I tell you once more that I haven't lost the faith.
I still have a dream that one day all will have food and clothing
and material well-being for their bodies,
culture and education for their minds, and freedom for their spirits.
I still have a dream:
one day all of God's children will be respected,
that one day the lion and the lamb will lie down together,
and every one will sit under their own vine and fig tree
and none shall be afraid.
I still have a dream that one day all people everywhere
will recognize that out of one blood God made all people
to dwell upon the face of the earth.
I still have a dream... truth will reign supreme
and all will respect every human's dignity and worth.
And when this day comes the morning stars will sing together
And all will shout for joy.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
"Out of many, One," the challenge rings out. Perhaps at no other time since the death of Martin Luther King has this message been spoken so eloquently and thoughtfully than in this election cycle. I am more inspired by and engaged with this campaign than any in recent years. Visions I can support are being cast for our consideration. A new generation is being inspired to civic involvement.
E Pluribus Unum. It describes an action: Many uniting into one. Certainly it's a long journey from rhetoric to reality. Giving campaign speeches is different than unifying political opponents. Yet, the dream held high, of moving beyond partisan politics to remembering our common call to serve one another and the larger world, is a vision worth our striving.
On a national level, we Unitarian Universalists are a small group of people. Our 160,000 adult members are just a drop in the over 300 million population of the United States. But we have a lot to offer. We are learning how to be together in transformative rather than confrontational ways. Here in California our churches have joined together to form the California Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry. Out of many, One voice to be heard in the offices and halls of the State House in Sacramento.
We may be small but we can live as an example of openness to new ways and new people. We can help transform the world. And here at this church, at our meeting last week, after years of conversations, members voted unanimously to install over four hundred solar panels on the roof, so that we may watch our electric meter flow backwards, and know we are contributing to reducing our human carbon footprint.
Here we can discuss and debate the important issues of the day, so that we can clarify our thoughts, speaking respectfully to those who differ. We practice here skills of community that then can be offered at the water cooler, over the back fence, in our families, with our friends, and in the halls of government.
Here we work at being one out of many. We affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and we continuously create our common dreams. Over time, with the input of all who were interested, we created a congregational Covenant of Right Relations, a testimony to how the One we are is rooted in how the Many we are promise to treat each other.
It's Undie Sunday: Many gifts of new underwear brought together as One offering for the people living at the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program Shelter.
We are more effective joining our efforts.
We gather in small group ministries, Chalice Circles, to reflect on our lives, and to listen with appreciation to the life stories of others. Out of many circles, One more compassionate community.
Yet, this dream, and Martin Luther King's dream, call us to do more. In the last years of his life Martin Luther King called us to address issues of class and poverty, asking that we more fully become the moral nation of our dream. Everyone should have food, a home, a job, purpose in life, hope for the future.
In the days to come let us dream and discuss how the transformation of our lives is rooted in spiritual growth, how compassion and appreciative listening, gratitude and forgiveness ripen us to be the change we want to see.
Let us dream of the day when all those in the communities around us will see this church as a beacon on the hill, inviting the many to this place of Oneness. Let us place the actions of our many hearts and hands on the altar of possibility and make real Dr. King's dream that one day all will have food and clothing and material well-being for their bodies, culture and education for their minds, and freedom for their spirits.
Let us dedicate ourselves to becoming greater agents of love and justice in all the relationships of our lives.