October 30, 2016
10:30 a.m.
SHORT-SIGHTED
VISIONS
PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
the Rev. Dr. Carla J. Bailey
Senior Minister
1900 Nicollet Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55403
www.plymouth.org
Text: Habakkuk 1:1–4; 2:1–4
I’m going to make a wild guess here, but I imagine, as fun and uplifting as it has been, you’re ready for this
election to be over.
Election rhetoric has caused me to think about vision of late. Which candidates articulate a vision that most
closely aligns with my hopes for our nation, for our state, for our courts? And vision language puts me in
mind of our church, Plymouth Church—what vision for our life together should be given our energy and
resources? What vision for our public witness needs more oxygen? And what vision, however beloved,
needs to be released? What are we seeing as God’s hope for us, the vision for who we might be, how we
are to live, what we are to choose? Have we lifted our sights high enough, or are we, in fact, short-sighted?
Just some questions.
I think it may happen more often than not that we set our sights too low when the vision seems too hard or
beyond our grasp—when the vision just seems unattainable. Do we not see examples of that all around us?
Let me tell you what I mean. A year or two ago, four young men from North Carolina State University
invented a fingernail polish intended to prevent date rape. A woman wearing the polish just dips her finger
into her drink after she returns from going to the restroom, say, and if her fingernail polish changes color,
that indicates that one of three different date rape drugs is present in her drink—Xanax, Rohypnol or GHB.
These drugs incapacitate an individual, making her vulnerable to rape. There’s nothing wrong with what
these four men have done—in fact, their invention has probably prevented a number of sexual assaults,
and that is a very good thing. But it reminds me of the emphasis on teaching young women self-defense or
reminding them in first-year-student orientation to use the buddy system when attending fraternity
parties. At Dartmouth College, where campus sexual assault has risen to the attention of the Federal
Department of Education, the administration has outlawed all hard liquor at every college event, presuming
that cutting back on quick intoxication will have a preventive impact on sexual assault.
It’s hard to fault these efforts. Self-defense is a good thing. So is the buddy system. So is any effort to curtail
serious intoxication. But isn’t it all just a little short of a higher vision? A greater goal? Might campuses,
families, and even fraternities focus greater attention on teaching its young men not to rape? What is the
vision that is so clear it may be read while on the run? Isn’t it that all people have ultimate authority over
their own bodies? Isn’t it that access to women’s bodies may only be given by women ourselves and only by
conscious, un-coerced consent? Isn’t it that our bodies—all our bodies—are sacred vessels over which we
each and all have absolute, personal dominion?
Here’s another example. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a $3.7 billion, 1,200-mile, 30-inch-diameter pipeline
designed to transport approximately 470,000 barrels of crude oil per day ,with a capacity as high as 570,000
© 2016 Plymouth Congregational Church
barrels per day or more. What could possibly go wrong? Well, the people of Bismarck, North Dakota
thought that a lot could go wrong, so they vehemently opposed the construction, largely citing
environmental risk to its drinking water. Energy Transfer Partners rerouted the pipeline.
Now, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe is leading the opposition to the pipeline, joined by a large tribal
coalition, activists, environmentalists and, this week, responding to a broad and urgent call, clergy from
across the country. The protestors are collectively known as “water protectors,” and they are encamped
close to the location where the pipeline is planned to cross the Missouri River in North Dakota. The
coalition opposes the pipeline because “the Dakota Access threatens farming and drinking water to entire
ecosystems, wildlife and food sources surrounding the Missouri,” the exact same reasons the citizens of
Bismarck opposed the pipeline. 1
The Standing Rock Sioux also say the pipeline is violating treaty land, that it will pass through and likely
destroy Native burial sites and sacred places. The land beneath the pipeline was accorded to Sioux people
by the Treaty of Fort Laramie. Eleven years later, the U.S. government won the Great Sioux War and
“renegotiated” a new treaty with the Sioux. In that second treaty, the tribe ceded much of the Laramie
land, but in 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the land was taken unjustly, and it ordered the U.S.
government to compensate the Sioux tribes fairly. The Sioux declined payment because they seek
possession or co-ownership of the land itself. Who has the right to determine what happens on this land is
still at issue. Its title is in limbo. 2
The story of the protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline has been primarily presented as an issue of climate
change and the potential for environmental catastrophe and degradation, and surely that is a critical
matter. No one can doubt that pipelines are vulnerable to leaks and burst seams, severely jeopardizing
sources of water. That matter alone is worth the most strenuous protest. But this other matter? This
matter of who controls the land itself? That reveals the deeper, or I should say historically massive issue
that points to racism, broken promises, and total disregard for the people who lived on the land prior to
occupation by white Europeans. Too often treaties were negotiated between parties who held entirely
different conceptions of the land itself. To one side, land represented wealth, measurable jurisdiction,
power and control. To the other, land was like air—simply present, existing as a resource to sustain all life,
without border or barrier. Which definition do you think is closer to God’s vision for creation? So protesting
the pipeline is intended to protect the essential resource—water—but also to honor the agency of the
people who first lived on that land.
Examples abound. Just this past week the Minneapolis City Council gave final approval for a combination of
tax credits and grants that will allow Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative to proceed with building Great
River Landing—72 new-construction rental units with support services for formerly incarcerated men of
color. It is a wonderful project—all good—and thanks should be given to many Plymouth and Westminster
church members who worked long and hard to bring it into being. But the larger vision? The realities of the
hugely disproportionate incarceration of black men? The economic barriers that cause homelessness in the
first place? A society that will not look critically at its criminal justice system? Its economic disparities? Are
1
Nick Bernabe, “5 Things You Need to Know About the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests,” TheAntiMedia.org,
October 27, 2016, http://theantimedia.org/5-things-dakota-access-pipeline-protests/ (accessed November 2, 2016).
2
Robinson Meyer, “The Legal Case for Blocking the Dakota Access Pipeline”, The Atlantic, September 9, 2016.
© 2016 Plymouth Congregational Church
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not these questions absorbed in a higher vision that values, impartially, every human being? Is there not a
larger vision being served by this short-term objective? How do we keep that larger vision before our eyes?
The Fight for Fifteen Movement reminds us that the minimum wage must be a living wage. How can it be
that a person who works in a paid position 40 or 50 or even 60 hours a week cannot live on what he or she
brings home in a paycheck? Think about that for a minute. There is something profoundly wrong, morally
wrong, spiritually wrong, when we put together these two words—working poor. You may have economic
concerns about raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. It will certainly impact profit margins. But isn’t
there a larger vision, that elusive assumption, that a person’s labor deserves to be reasonably rewarded?
Have you ever noticed how often Jesus spoke about fair labor practices in his parables that ultimately
pointed to God and God’s will?
Write the vision; make it so plain and clear that even a runner can read it while running. For there is still a
vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will
surely come, it will not delay.
Well, one more final example closer to home. On the back of your bulletin this morning we have printed
the Purposes of Plymouth Church, as they are described at the very beginning of Plymouth’s Governing
Policies, received by the congregation in June of 2015. With all the attention we’ve needed to bring to
sorting out the new way we function together, who does what, where is accountability located and so on,
we’ve overlooked the primary reasons why we’re choosing to function in these particular ways. These used
to be called the “Ends,” which was always a concept that was off-putting, at least to me. The Deacons have
been looking these over again, reminding themselves of the why for our life together as a church. They and
I agree that the word “purposes” represents, more accurately, what we are trying to articulate.
So here they are—the purposes of the church. But, just as in the examples I’ve already given this morning, I
bet your eye went down the page to the three categories—within, among, and beyond. Mine does—all the
time. I always wander around in the details—it’s my favorite place, since that’s where the devil is. Ironically,
it’s the place where there are hurts and misunderstandings, disagreements over strategy and priorities. So I
invite you to do what I am trying to do, daily. I’m trying to remain focused on that first sentence, the one
that begins “We, the people of Plymouth Congregational Church . . . ,” and here’s the essential point, I
think, the vision that is so plain and clear that even a runner can read it—“humbly seek and serve God”—
four words, all four of which seem to be difficult for us to fully absorb and honor. But is it not the vision we
need? Is it not the way out of our tendency for self-absorption? Is it not the hope that gives us hope? It is. I
believe it is. Amen.
The Purposes of the Church
We, the people of Plymouth Congregational Church, humbly seek and serve God within, among, and
beyond ourselves.
Within
We find sanctuary for our spiritual journey in the Congregational tradition. We:
• Seek the sacred in ourselves and others.
• Cultivate our deepest and best selves.
• Nurture our capacity to love.
• Live in the hope of renewal and transformation.
© 2016 Plymouth Congregational Church
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Among
We walk together in covenanted Christian community. We:
• Care for one another.
• Cultivate a spirit of gratitude, love, joy and compassion.
• Honor many pathways to the sacred.
• Deepen our understanding of our faith tradition.
• Nurture a welcoming culture.
Beyond
God’s creation benefits from our love lived out in the world. We:
• Invest our time, talent, and treasure consistent with our values.
• Serve people in need.
• Advance human rights and social, economic and environmental justice.
• Share our vision of progressive Christianity, while respecting other faith traditions.
© 2016 Plymouth Congregational Church
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