Turning Point: The Trinity of Errors in the Time of Pandemic
by Steve Kraynak Memorial Day, 2020
Our recent interim period was a turning point for our congregation, a time between two settled ministers, a time for reflection, a time to plan for our future with enthusiasm and zest. During that interim, as a way of living into this time of change, about thirty UUCT members read and discussed the bookTurning Point – Essays on a New Unitarian Universalism.
The book’s editor, Rev. Fredric Muir, discusses the future of our chosen faith. “To arrive at this future, we must collectively liberate ourselves from a past that, while bright and bold for some, no longer serves Unitarian Universalism’s dream of being a vibrant, twenty-first century faith.”
Muir and the other writers ofTurning Pointnote that the faith of our past was replete with the Unitarian Universalist trinity of errors which originate from a single source, “Saint” Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose “…contributions to the development of American and Unitarian Universalist identities are immeasurable.” The trinity is this:
· “Individualism – We are being held back and stymied by a persistent, pervasive, disturbing, and disruptive commitment to individualism that misguides our ability to engage the changing time.
· Exceptionalism – We cling to a Unitarian Universalist exceptionalism that is often insulting to others and undermines our good news.
· An Aversion to Authority – We refuse to acknowledge and treat our allergy to authority and power, though all the symptoms compromise a healthy future.”
Muir writes that, “These errors have become barriers preventing us from embracing our future.”
The current UUA common read,An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United Statesby Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, offers many examples showing that these errors were common practiced by white US citizens from the time of the founding of our country, and that the embodiment of this trinity in settler colonialism was a framework for the genocide perpetrated against the indigenous peoples. The practice of this trinity of errors abides.
As I follow the media coverage of our national, state, and local responses to the current pandemic, I note that individualism, exceptionalism, and an aversion to authority are “in your face” evident and pervasive. Some national and state political leaders; at times demonstrating ignorance, incompetence and ideology; invoke the trinity of errors as justification for reopening “the economy,” while medical experts and medical support personnel, when permitted to speak, plead for personal responsibility and for public behavior in the interest of the common welfare.
The president visits a Phoenix factory that makes n-95 masks but refuses to wear a mask. He tours a Ford plant in Michigan and contradicts the rules for public safety set by that state’s governor by, again, refusing to wear a mask. “Individual decision,” he says. While walking through the Mayo Clinic, the vice president violates its face-mask policy saying, “And since I don’t have the coronavirus, I thought it’d be a good opportunity for me to be here….”
The North Dakota governor asks state residents to avoid “mask shaming.” Violence erupts in some stores when employees ask customers to wear protective masks. Photos and videos of people, generally white and male, bearing semi-automatic weapons show them protesting at state capitols, including Phoenix, and demanding the “reopening” or “liberating” of various states and the lifting of state-wide shelter-at-home orders.
Editorials and letters to the editor in our local paper address the palpable tension between personal freedom and the commonweal here in Tucson and Pima County. All these examples demonstrate the prioritization of individualism, exceptionalism, and an aversion to authority over the common good. They also depict classism, racism, white privilege and white supremacy culture - in our time, a time of pandemic.
(More about white supremacy culture a
this link.
)
The authors ofTurning Pointoffer us, as Unitarian Universalists and as citizens, a new way. In contrast to the trinity of errors, they point out the following emerging promises as a redeemed individualism:
· Generosity
· Pluralism
· Imagination
And they offer enlightening and encouraging examples of how some UU congregations are living into these three promises, as new stories “built on joy.”
This pandemic can be a turning point for a nation, and a planet, both in need and at risk. In her book,On Fire – The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal,Naomi Klein (who is the Ware Lecturer at the 2020 UUA General Assembly) writes that our current state of “disaster capitalism” with its “high carbon lifestyle,” “disposable consumption,” and “climate disruption demands…wealth redistribution, resource sharing, and reparations.” She notes that we must be “…willing to embrace systemic economic and social change.” Generosity, pluralism, and imagination are needed to accomplish change of this magnitude – in the next ten years if we want to save the Earth.
This pandemic can also be turning point for Unitarian Universalism and help our movement to examine our own attachment to the trinity or errors.Perhaps our common faith can once again influence our country. The new way that Unitarian Universalists “do church” may lead to a new way for the commonweal, an “immeasurable contribution.” “Our world is one world, what touches one affects us all.”
A nation which engages in generosity, pluralism and imagination may bring about a “great turning.” Perhaps we can collectively liberate ourselves and our country “from a past, that while bright and bold for some,” no longer serves a common dream of being a vibrant, just, and democratic twenty-first century United States.
Perhaps we at UUCT can embody a new way. As a congregation we share in a common ministry. It is a collaborative venture and adventure. “Ministry is intentionally going to the places where you can’t possibly know what you are doing.” (Turning Point,p. 122) Going to these places requires imagination. How might we grow as a congregation if we, together – without blame, shame or guilt – examine our own adherence to individualism, exceptionalism, and an aversion to authority, and live into the promises of generosity, pluralism, and imagination – with enthusiasm, joy, and zest?
One way to begin, may be to agree that the answer to all “how” questions is “yes.”
· How can we best manifest our generosity – to our congregation, our community, our planet?
· How can we enhance, challenge, and grow our efforts and outreach in pluralism?
· How can we transition from thinking “outside the box” to thinking “without any box at all”?
As Rev. Dr. Jacqueline J. Lewis writes inTurning Point,“…We need to re-story what it means to be an individual in community, what it means to be Unitarian Universalist in these times….We are invited, all of us, in these days and times, to re-story our identities in order to thrive and survive.”
Soon the Day Will Arrive
Soon the day will arrive when we will be together,
and no longer will we live in fear.
And the children will smile without wondering
whether on that day thunder clouds will appear.
Some have dreamed, some have died to make a bright tomorrow,
and our vision remains in our hearts.
Now the torch must be passed with new hope, not in sorrow,
and a promise to make a new start.
Wait and see, wait and see what a world there can be
if we share, if we care, you and me.
Wait and see, wait and see what a world there can be
if we share, if we care, you and me.
(Hymn # 146)
Imagine!
