Vince Patton, Ed.D.
Mt Vernon Unitarian Church, Alexandria, VA
October 2, 2005
A few weeks ago I started out writing a sermon regarding today’s theme by talking about my experiences I’ve had over the summer, which for the past ten years, I have volunteered with the International Rescue Committee serving in a number of missions in Haiti. While the story itself may seem rather interesting to some of you – and I promise I’ll eventually talk about it sometime in the future; recent developments from the hurricane disasters that occurred just one short month ago, somewhat changed my thought. In fact, I actually rewrote today’s sermon last night!
I was reading this past Friday’s USA Today newspaper, which had an interesting article about how Americans have taken to a sincere and strong interest in helping hurricane victims, and made mention of how volunteerism has dramatically increased since the incidents of ‘9/11.’ It’s interesting to note that more than a third of all Americans are actively involved in some type of volunteer work on a continual basis. That kind of gave me an altogether different thought of what I really want to talk about today.
We have over the past month witnessed through the literally thousands of news media accounts of the horrible disasters in the Gulf coast area inflicted by hurricanes ‘Katrina’ and ‘Rita.’ I’m sure that many of you, if not all of you share in the same thoughts of how this terrible catastrophe has become an indelible mark in our memory, seeing the afflicted, pained and suffered Americans who withstood probably the most horrific experiences in their lives.
We can also think back to just not quite a year ago where the Tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean region on December 26, 2004, that killed almost 175,000 people, making it one of the most deadliest disasters in modern history. Even as we think back within the past ten years, frightening incidents from the creation of Mother Nature, civil unrests, war, and poverty conditions that have taken place around the world, and here in our own country; each moment that we have witnessed, either up front, in person, or through the news on television, newspapers, magazines, and the internet. There’s no question how today technology is has put us so close to seeing how such disasters and other horrible conditions directly impact people to where we have felt the need to want to get involved more.
I can’t help but think back a bit to my childhood, where my understanding of what humanitarian service means, or as effectively defined among our guiding principles of being a Unitarian Universalist, that the inherent worth of dignity in every person. I credit my mother as my ‘supreme role model,’ and life-skills teacher, who taught my siblings and me just why the importance of learning about the true love for our fellow neighbors, and being there to help when needed, as she often described her own personal experiences as well as historical information from our faith, help ensured us the meaning of stewardship.
Just from the awareness of how the Patton family became UUs is something of a notable starter for me in understanding about just why this particular principle of ‘inherent worth of dignity in every person,’ has become so important to me, and forms a basis around my passion, sincerity and proactive enthusiasm of our faith.
Sometime in the early 1860s, during the Civil War, a family in Lawrence, Massachusetts, took in a young black child, whose age was not known but was somewhere in the range of 8 to 10 years of age. The young boy was possibly a child of a runaway slave family and was either left alone or found his way to this family’s home. There was no indication of where his parents were, or if he was an orphan. It was also possible at that time that he may not have been able to speak coherently or comprehensively to explain who he was and how he ended up at the location where he was found.
The white family who found the young boy was Unitarians. While Massachusetts served as one of the ‘Free States’ during the period of the Civil War, it was still a requirement by law to report missing slaves. The family chose not to do so, instead raised the young boy as their own, and gave him the name of Lawrence, after the town’s name. Years later, when Lawrence was of adult age, he left his ‘adopted family’ moved on later settling in West Virginia to work in coal mines after hearing of job opportunities from a number of people, mostly former slaves who were heading to the state to begin their new lives and families. Lawrence took his ‘adopted family’s’ last name, Patton – and thus began the roots of my family in this country.
Above all, my great-grandfather Lawrence never forgot the extreme generosity of his only known family also learned through his upbringing of the proactive interest in serving others through his understanding of his faith as a Unitarian. When my grandfather Vincent was born in 1898, he too was brought up in a Unitarian household, as was my father, Thomas, and today my five brothers and four sisters and I have carried on the faith, not as much as a tradition or respect for dear great-grandfather Lawrence, but because, of what we believe in, and living the faith everyday. To quote my oldest sister, “I know a lot about religions, but I cannot be anything else than a Unitarian Universalist.”
My mother being my ‘senior role model,’ that’s the 21st century definition of being a “Mama’s Boy” by the way, was possibly the biggest UU cheerleader I’ve ever known – and surprisingly only became a UU, or Unitarian at the time, just after my younger brother was born in 1959. Before that, she called herself a ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ African Methodist Episcopal, or AME, deep into her gospel roots developed through her ‘Chattanooga’ upbringing as she called it. She once chided my father of being part of religious faith that was “too busy trying to figure out which came first, the chicken or the egg,” and the services that she attended with him sometimes were too boring and quiet for her. Elizabeth Patton often said that religion is about “making a joyful noise unto the Lord,” and while you’re at it, wake up the Devil in the process. So from the time my parents married in 1943, she wanted nothing to do with the Unitarians, and on Sundays, she would go her way and make her joyful noise, while dear old Dad could catch a nap at his chicken or the egg service. This was her quote by the way. We kids on the other hand just hung out with whichever parent you could bribe for sweets after church.
However, something happened in the late 1950s, that unfortunately I do not have the full story as to what happened and why – but my mother decided to ‘cross over’ to becoming a Unitarian. The only answer I ever got from her when I asked her why some years ago was, “I think it’s time to make a joyful noise, crack the egg and cook the chicken.” I do know that this revelation of a change in religious faiths for her stemmed from attending a series of meetings with a number of people involved with the civil rights issues and the ‘Jim Crow’ laws of the south. We lived in Detroit, Michigan, and my mother had a number of friends and relatives in the south who were heavily impacted by the racial discrimination that affected Black Americans at that time. I remember how the meetings were often held at my Dad’s church, known at the time as the First Unitarian Church of Detroit. Somehow, my mother must have figured she could bring her “joyful noise” to the Unitarians, whether they were ready for her or not.
By the time I was six years of age in 1960, my mother, who by this time was just one year into the faith, kind of designated herself as the patron saint of the Unitarians. If you listened to my mother’s reasoning – there’s only two religious faiths in the world, the Unitarians, and “the others,” which she characteristically dumped every known world religion into on category. However, she also felt that “the others” were Unitarians too. They just didn’t know it. I soon learned that her enthusiastic interest in the faith, stemmed primarily from the large amount of how the church focused its teachings around being actively involved with the compassion and love of humanity, and taking the Christian view of the “golden rule” and turning it into a tangible, concrete positive action every day. I remember my father once said, “Son, your mother has scared all the Jehovah’s Witnesses from coming to our door. She had two of them in our church last Sunday.” My mother taught me that religion was not as much about what one should believe – but what you do, and how you make a positive impact in life helping others.
My mother’s favorite history role models were Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale. As a child she learned of their unique work in the nursing field, to where it became my mother’s dream and passion to become a nurse. Interestingly during my mother’s childhood she was unaware that both women were connected to the Unitarian Universalism faith. This she found out much later, but well after she converted to Unitarianism in 1959. Believe me, when she found out – it only reconfirmed her argument that the whole world is made up Unitarians, whether they be Baptists, Jewish, Catholic, Muslims, Buddhist or even Jehovah’s Witnesses. They just didn’t know they were Unitarians. And it was one of my mother’s last wishes when she passed away in 1999, that her journey to her heaven would be the multitude of religious faiths all finally admitting and confirming that they are Unitarians!
My story today isn’t as much about my mother as it is about how our faith has become the important part of my entire family’s lives on understanding the need to serve others, and the number of fantastic role models in our faith, both well known, and the common folk who exemplify the true traditions and principles centered around our beliefs. We’ll save some more stories about my mother another time – for that’s worth at least three or four trips to the pulpit.
But in my theme today of “Serving Humanity” – it is about how people of our faith have come together for a common cause to help and support others, whether they are part of our religion or not. It’s about truly loving thy neighbor, and showing it. Having a sense of charitability not just in thought, but also in actions. It doesn’t matter, or as Elizabeth Patton clearly taught me, “We are all Unitarian Universalists; some just don’t know it yet.”
I am reminded of one excellent example of someone of our faith whom I believe has received little recognition for her selfless service, and unfortunately, her humanitarian act of righteousness cost her life. It just so happened that this woman hailed from my first congregation in Detroit where I grew up in the UU faith, and her story has become an integral part of my life in understanding and practicing the principle purpose of our faith of the inherent dignity in every person.
Her name was Viola Liuzzo. A lot like my mother in some ways, she too was somewhat new to UUism in the early 60’s, and was “married into the faith,” through her husband, Anthony James, or Jim as he was called, was a noted union organizer in the Detroit area. I barely remember much of Mrs. Liuzzo, other than a kind and attractive lady in her 30’s, with five children. She has a son and daughter close to my and my older sister’s ages, and the four of us hung out together during church services. This was days before the now well organized Religious Education program for our Youth of All Ages – yet we kids found ways of ‘entertaining ourselves’ during and after church services, simply by spending the time in church writing and passing notes to one another as our way to keep quiet, Of course the notes had little to do with what the congregation minister’s sermon was about, except we did sometimes “rate” how bored we were of his sermon. But, nonetheless, we all looked forward to coming every Sunday – and enjoyed each other’s company.
While the civil rights movement and support for the cause in the 60’s became a weekly issue in our church, as it was in hundreds of churches across the country, both black & white, young kids of my age at that time, mostly in the 8 to 15 year old range began to take notice. Church, I thought, finally became interesting. For as a young black child growing up in inner city Detroit, attending a predominately white church, though our congregational minister was black, we kids found it somewhat perplexing as to why a particular part of the country would not allow this very diverse environment, where we worshipped together and lived to the often common religious saying that we are all of God’s people. Church became my schoolhouse in learning more about the civil rights movement, diversity and human relations, as it intermingled with understanding the values of religious freedom.
It was clear that during this particular time, this view of civil rights made a major impact on the Liuzzo family. Here you have a white family that enjoyed the fact of exposure to diversity not only strengthened their understanding of others, but encouraged them to work both in volunteering in the inner city, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Liuzzo’s occupation. Mrs. Liuzzo later decided that she wanted to become a nurse after being actively involved in our church’s volunteer program for an inner city Detroit public medical clinic, in which I have no doubt that there was some influence by my mother, who also was a volunteer. Later Mrs. Liuzzo enrolled in a nursing program at Wayne State University in Detroit. Mr. Liuzzo’s proactive work with the United Auto Workers, carried over into working with a number of black businessmen and clergy in getting elected officials in Washington to be proactive about getting involved in civil rights issues and encouraging that the U. S. government step in to create a law, known as the Civil Rights Act that would denounce the segregation and racial discrimination taking place in the Deep South.
Mrs. Liuzzo didn’t stop with just wanting to be a nurse so she could help with others. She soon became an activist in civil rights issues, after a meeting that was held in our church with a number of religious and civic leaders in the Detroit area. Mrs. Liuzzo, with millions of other Americans, had seen on television the horror happening in the South with black men and women being fire hosed, attacked by police dogs, and beaten on the streets by police officers. On March 8, 1965, she decided to go to Selma, Alabama after participating with her daughter Penny and 250 Wayne State University students in a Selma sympathy march to denounce the violence and racial hatred that took place there on what was called ‘Bloody Sunday,’ where violent attacks were held against Black Americans who protested the racial discriminatory acts on March 7, 1965.
Just after the march, Mrs. Liuzzo called her husband and told him there were “too many people who just stood around talking,” that she had to be involved and help, and that she was going to Selma for a week with a group of members of the NAACP Detroit chapter. Though her husband was supportive, he was deeply concerned for her safety and warned that she could be in danger. After all, her own skin color would make her a target for being supportive of the black cause, not to mention being a woman. Mrs. Liuzzo replied that she had to go, it was important to her and she need to be a part of this movement.
After a three day drive to Selma, Mrs. Liuzzo upon arrival volunteered to work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), welcoming and registering other volunteers. On Sunday, March 21, 1965 she joined 3,000 other marchers as, five abreast, they marched across the Edmond Pettus Bridge, the site of the famed horrible “Bloody Sunday” event; and began the journey towards Montgomery.
When the march was over, Liuzzo met civil rights worker Leroy Moton, who had been using her car all day as an airport shuttle. The two of them drove five passengers back to Selma. When they were dropped off, Mrs. Liuzzo volunteered to return Moton to Montgomery.
According to court testimony from an FBI informant and member of the Ku Klux Klan who explained the events that transpired that day; after the passengers were delivered in Selma, the informant and three other members of a Ku Klux Klan "missionary squad"— spotted Liuzzo and Moton stopped at a traffic light in Selma. They followed her car for twenty miles. While she attempted to outrun her pursuers, she sang at the top of her lungs, "We Shall Overcome." About half way between Selma and Montgomery the four men pulled their car up next to hers and shot her. Liuzzo was killed instantly. Her car rolled into a ditch. Moton escaped injury.
The following day after it was learned of Mrs. Liuzzo’s murder, President Lyndon Johnson called Mr. Liuzzo to say, "I don't think she died in vain because this is going to be a battle, all out as far as I'm concerned.” Jim told the President, "My wife died for a sacred battle, the rights of humanity. She had one concern and only one in mind. She took a quote from Abraham Lincoln that all men are created equal and that's the way she believed." Viola Liuzzo – a servant of the people and a Unitarian Universalist.
Serving humanity is indeed a tall order. It is something that all of us do in one form or another each day. It’s such random acts of kindness that we all wear on our sleeves as proud members of a faith, or as I recall seeing on t-shirts and bumper stickers at the last couple of General Assemblies, “The Uncommon Denomination.”
Serving humanity is not something that you need to wait until a disaster comes, or when the issue of injustice becomes the top news item of the day. It’s a way of life, and if you truly believe the words are spoken each and every Sunday as we recite our covenant of this church or in the words of the hymns that are connected to the sermon of the day. It is more than doing something just because you care – it is the mantra of our chosen faith; our evidence of love for one another. People of our faith have proven many times over that serving humanity is indeed the true roots within our religion.
I feel it is important to close this sermon with personally sharing with you the one of many reasons why I chose this church as my spiritual home. Something just jumped right out as what I would term as the big “sales pitch,” were these words found in our Mt Vernon Unitarian Church covenant.
Love is the teaching of
this church.
The quest for truth is its daily task,
And service is its prayer.
To dwell together in peace,
To seek knowledge in freedom,
To serve life in community,
To the end that all souls shall grow in harmony.
This is our covenant,
With each and with all.
You see these words ‘sealed the deal’ for me in enthusiastically wanting to sign my name in the church’s membership book, as the words embraced the passions of my beliefs and articulates what “Serving Humanity” means to me. We, here at Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church practice what we preach as evidently shown through our service to humanity in and outside of our community. And with our congregation’s proactive involvement with United Community Ministries, a multi-denominational faith-based group working together for the common good in the community and serving others, became clear evidence that perhaps my mother was right, as I could hear her voice whisper in my mind, “see I told you, We’re all Unitarian Universalists, some just don’t know it yet!”
May love, peace and understanding remain with you always. Amen