"The sign welcomed everyone..."
Rev. Wendy von Zirpolo
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead, Massachusetts
August 3, 2008
“What Now My Faith?”
The sign welcomed everyone. Harry Wiersema took that job seriously as a greeter. When the elderly man approached and asked ‘Does that include me?’ Harry ushered him right in. Following the service he was sure to invite him to come again. The sort of follow-up that would make our own Hugh Stewart proud. It didn’t take long before that visitor became a member. An ordinary story you might think but this was May 21st, 1950, the Tennessee Valley UU Congregation in Knoxville, 4 years before Brown vs. The Board of Education and the visitor was African American. The Unitarians rented space in a school in a strictly segregated neighborhood and society. This ‘happening’ led to a Board of Trustees meeting and a vote to intentionally support integration. The city responded by terminating the congregation’s lease with no explanation. The papers were less subtle in their reporting. One headline said ‘Red question raised about Unitarians, school board delays use of school building.’ The red referencing ties to communism. Another headline read ‘Segregation, religious issues face school board” and reported that negroes were permitted to attend services.
The congregation stuck by their values and found new space to worship, though not without difficulty. The visitor, James Person, never left the church. Eight years later, in January he was mugged, beaten and left on side of the road to die. He never quite recovered and died later that year.
His membership card remains in the congregational records. Printed on the card the mission of the church, “to uphold freedom, brotherhood and equal rights for all mankind. To seek and receive the truth both old and new, believing that the past must always prove itself anew and that a living religion must change as thought advances and must be free to grow...
The story of a welcome that changed the life of a congregation and a community... was told in a sermon given in 2002 by the Rev. Chris Buice to the Tennessee Valley UU Congregation in Knoxville, TN. The congregation he continues to serve today. Rev, Buice was on sabbatical this past Sunday when the unimaginable took place.
David Adkisson arrived near the beginning of a multigenerational Sunday worship service that was built around the musical Annie, took a shotgun out of a guitar case and began shooting. He killed two people and wounded seven others. His intent, as outlined in a four-page letter was to kill more before police arrived to end his life. Those plans thwarted by congregants who subdued him before he was able to reload.
Perhaps we’ve experienced this week similarly—for me, it’s been a bit like peeling an onion—with enough of it breaking along the way that you are constantly left in tears. As each new layer is exposed, new discoveries... and more tears. But you stay because you know you have to and you know there’s more to come. The first news came as an assault, like a punch in the stomach so hard you are left unable to breath. I first heard it on my way home from our Sunday service. Unimaginable, beyond words, impossible—and yet, true.
As the news unfolded, the shooter’s identity moved from stranger hating the liberal agenda and all UUism stood for to a man with a relationship to our faith community. Known to a number of ministers. Married to a former member of the congregation. A participant at SUUSI, a large summer UU gathering, a musician on a CD created at SUUSI, a ‘friend’ of the Knoxville congregation in 2001. The tears continue, but still we peel the onion because we know we have to and we know there’s more to come.
The heroic stories emerge... Greg the head greeter and the man who was at the center of all things, large and small that needed to be done. Stories shared at his service told of a man who would overhear a need and poof, it would be done—and everyone would smile and know who did it. we know Greg, because we are blessed with men and women just like him.
We know Linda Kraeger, too. Each church year, we welcome visitors from many other UU congregations. Linda was a member of nearby Westside UU and attended the service with friends who had a grandchild participating in the service. Four of those friends were injured in the attack.
Not all stories are heroic. The church receiving messages indicating the attack was fitting and brought on by their own actions. The church who you’ll remember led the integration effort in the 50s, today is active and well known in the community for its support of equal rights for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community, women, and people of color. It sponsors the Spectrum Diversi-Tea & Coffee House for LGBTQ teens. In 2006, TVUUC’s youth group joined Spectrum members in organizing a demonstration in a Knoxville park after two same-sex teens were harassed for holding hands.
The police investigation soon revealed a four page letter citing the congregation’s liberal identity as central to the shooter’s woes and due cause for his actions. He reportedly said that he hated gays, felt the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America. "Because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement... he would then target those that had voted them into office." The onion peeled once more because you know there are more tears to be had and more to learn... we find a history of domestic abuse with a restraining order some 8 years earlier, two arrests for driving under the influence and anger over a lost job prospect.
The onion peeled once more perhaps... toward questions about domestic abuse policies, our justice system, inadequate mental health care, access to firearms and a society increasingly desensitized toward violence and isolation—and perhaps you find that you just cannot cry anymore. And yet, the layers await. More to discover. More tears to shed.
The stories aren’t over yet. The congregation in Knoxville have removed the bloodstained and damaged pews and returned to worship. The congregation is gathering to worship now. We can remove the pews but we cannot remove the memories. We cannot undo the tragedy. We cannot bring back the dead. Lives are altered forever. It shakes the soul.
And this is when I turn and say ‘What now, my faith?’ When I hang my head and sob, soul shaken by the unimaginable, an act defying all explanation—how, how, how could anyone kill people for believing that all people have worth? ...to risk children... How could one plan to kill dozens of peaceful worshippers in front of their children? to toss away one’s own life and plan to take dozens more along the way. What now, my faith I want to scream! What now, my faith?”
What now my faith? "Layers and layers of peels lay on the floor in a lake of tears, and yet more stories are revealed—stories of community" Stories of people all over the country sending love. Stories of vigils—nearly 200. Messages from the UUs overseas, the lyricist from Annie offering support, letters to the editor all over the country speaking out in support, care extended to the ex-wife of Adkisson, ministers tending hundreds of people in Knoxville, our own interfaith community, one of the more conservative churches in Knoxville feeding hundreds at the UU church throughout the week, children sending cards and greetings. What now my faith? And then two stories rise and float on the lake of tears. Harry Wiersema and Greg McKendry. The two stories embodied our faith and taught us something. What now, my faith? I’ve had the question wrong all along. The question is ‘What does our faith require of us?’ Welcome and Courage. A welcome that will NOT be deterred and the Courage to offer that welcome, week after week. By God/goddess/mystery of all creation—these two men’s lives show us just what that looks like. What now, my faith? What now, my faith asks of us all? Do we have the courage to take our welcome and share it with the world, even when it takes every bit of courage to do so? In Knoxville this morning, Unitarian Universalists found the courage to gather and welcome whoever comes to their sanctuary door. While our hearts may break for them and our tears may not cease flowing for sometime, on this morning they gift us with a model of Unitarian Universalism. Welcome and courage. Let us commit to do the same, together, always.
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Last updated on Thursday, June 3, 2010.
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