Sorry, y'all. This is a long one. Prepare to dig in.
This past Sunday, Rev. Dr. Collin Bossen, the interim senior minister at First UU Houston, delivered a lengthy and thought-stoking sermon. Actually, he delivered a two sermons stitched together: one in his stole and in his role as an ordained minister, the other without his stole in his role as a scholar who has studied white supremacist movements in the US.
After he spoke, the congregation sang "How Can I Keep from Singing?" the old Quaker hymn that contains this powerful verse:
This past Sunday, Rev. Dr. Collin Bossen, the interim senior minister at First UU Houston, delivered a lengthy and thought-stoking sermon. Actually, he delivered a two sermons stitched together: one in his stole and in his role as an ordained minister, the other without his stole in his role as a scholar who has studied white supremacist movements in the US.
After he spoke, the congregation sang "How Can I Keep from Singing?" the old Quaker hymn that contains this powerful verse:
When tyrants tremble as they hear
The bells of freedom ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing?
To prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging.
When friends by shame are undefiled,
How can I keep from singing?
Since the Quakers sing it, "friends" could just as easily be "Friends," and I don't mean the "Must-See TV" kind. The true name of the Quaker movement is the Society of Friends. Plenty of Friends were persecuted in England and the US during what we naïvely call the Colonial Era.
In the modern context of Late Capitalism and right-wing populism run amok, the vision of tyrants trembling offers us a glimmer of hope. Perhaps we can make some white supremacists tremble while we're at it.
In the modern context of Late Capitalism and right-wing populism run amok, the vision of tyrants trembling offers us a glimmer of hope. Perhaps we can make some white supremacists tremble while we're at it.
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