What Liberation Requires
Sermon from UUCGT's Service on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. Preached by the Rev. Alex Jensen, Senior Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse (UUCGT), Traverse City, Michigan.
What is at the heart of our vision for a collective liberation? What does it take to actually get there? This Sunday, we look toward this goal for our society and world. What can each of us to to further this cause for all people?
I want to start today with a story that might be familiar to you. One that is known as “The Parable of the Long Spoons”.[1] The story goes: Long ago there lived an old woman who wished to know the difference between heaven and hell. The monks in the temple agreed and said, “First you shall see hell” and put a blindfold around her eyes when the blindfold was removed, the old woman was standing before a large dining hall, full of round tables, each piled high with food: meats, vegetables, fruits, breads, and desserts of all kinds! However, the old woman noticed there were people seated around those tables, their bodies thin and gaunt, each one holding a spoon that was three feet long. The spoons were so long that the people could reach the food but could not get the food to their mouths.
As the old woman watched, she heard their hungry cries. “I've seen enough!" she cried. "Please let me see heaven." And so the blindfold was put around her eyes, and when it was removed, the old woman was confused. For there she stood, at that same entrance to that dining hall filled with round tables covered in the same lavish feast. And again, she saw that there were people sitting just out of arm's reach of food, with those same long spoons. But as the old woman looked closer, she noticed that the people were well-fed, with rosy, happy faces. As she watched, a joyous sound of laughter filled the air. And soon the old woman was laughing too, for now she understood the difference between heaven and hell: the difference was…
The people in heaven were using the long spoons to feed each other.
What I love about this parable is how it illustrates a theme that our Universalist and Unitarian ancestors have long held: That rather than an afterlife of eternal damnation, hell truly only exists in this life, and the conditions for suffering and oppression that we either make or break together. In the midst of the suffering that we ourselves experience, and the suffering we see for our neighbors, it’s on us to use our gifts to feed one another; to ensure all of us are taken care of and are able to live our fullest lives.
In today’s service, you’ve been hearing about some of the different roles each of us can play in bringing about justice, equity, and liberation for all people. I find Deepa Iyer’s ten roles for social change to be a powerful framing when looking at the many challenges and injustices facing our world today. Ten necessary and indispensable components to any social movement so that it can effect change, or at the very least, not burn out.
In these times we’re in, I don’t know about you, but I’m really feeling the burn. Though Iyer’s book is just two years old, it truly feels like it could’ve been written yesterday, for our times now: raging wars and climate disasters. Poverty and economic inequity restrictions on the rights, bodies, and livelihoods of people. With the daily news cycle and the unfolding chaos of the barrage of executive orders and attacks on so many areas of daily life, I’m personally finding it really hard to cope. At my worst, I want to put it all away and shut it out. Avoiding the news and media or otherwise refusing to pay into this “shock and awe” economy.
And at a base level, I’m scared… Scared for what this future is becoming; for what the future of our country is becoming, with so many constant jabs and pulls at my heart. Please, tell me I’m not alone in this.
What we’re talking about today may be a newer framework, but it taps into age-old wisdom for our times: The truth that none of us, no matter how wise, smart, talented, or gifted we are. None of us can do it all… That any one of us trying to do all the things will inevitably burn out. The reality is that many of us are skilled at or can even find ourselves in two or more of these different roles. Some of us might even play all of these roles at different points in our lives. Yet, not every one of us is as skilled or gifted at doing every one of these roles. In fact, some of these roles might feel a bit uncomfortable to wear.
What’s most profound for me in reading about these ten roles is the recognition and affirmation that our work for social justice and societal change can actually look a lot of different ways. Many of us know to recognize the more front-and-center ways of engaging in social justice work: The disrupters who protest and take to the streets with signs an d bullhorns. Frontline responders who jump into action to give others what they need in a time of crisis. Builders who do so much to organize and implement ideas and move these into actions. These are all essential roles that many of us think about when we think about social justice work.
And yet, there’s a lot more that we don’t often think of that is just as necessary in this work: Weavers who bring people together. Caregivers whose gentleness offers a reprieve in the storm. Healers who help us to know and face our traumas. Storytellers that use art to remind us of who we are and our collective story.
The takeaway from this is the affirmation that justice work and resisting oppression can look a lot of different ways. No single one of us needs to do it all in order to bring about the society and world we so desperately hope for. The truth is, for us to actually get there, we’re going to need to find ways to feed one another with our long spoons. That’s what Iyer tells us from our Reading:
Our belief in the promise of social change through connections with one another is why we keep trying after feeling disappointment… Why we keep returning after grieving... It's why we infuse our efforts with joy, passion, affirmation, and healing. We intuitively know that something better is blooming, growing, emerging––and we want to be part of that… journey.[2]
My sermon for you today is to encourage you to do some inner spiritual work. To do some digging. To find which of these roles for social change you align with, with your skills, personality, and passions. We are in this for the long haul. This is not. going to be a sprint. This is a marathon. A marathon we’ve been running for a long time now… If we have any hope of changing this country and world for the better, it’s going to require our self-knowledge and our resilience to know how we can be most effective without disengaging or burning ourselves out. That’s the sermon for you today: to know thyself.
Some of you have already gotten a head start on this in reading through the Flash. Last Thursday we sent out the Social Change Ecosystem Map[3] and included a survey for you to respond with the roles you most resonate with. We received ten responses overall… We really need to work on our response to surveys! Yet, with those ten that responded, the results are interesting. Five folks identified as Caregivers and Weavers; those that create spaces of love and care, and those who weave people, groups, and ideas together. Three folks found themselves to be Builders; those who organize and implement ideas and resources. The rest of the responses got at least one vote for each, though none of our respondents felt confident to call themselves Frontline Responders or Visionaries!
As a congregation, it would be a powerful thing for every one of us to know our roles and how we can mobilize our energy, resources, and time to respond to and resist the powers and forces at work. These ten roles are also ten ways of ministering to the world. Ten ways to be a minister to those around you.
In approaching this Sunday’s service, I’ve found myself in many conversations with people about their roles in these times we now face. In one conversation, I was struck by this person’s clarity in admitting what they’re good at and what they really can’t do all that well. This person confessed that they’re really not comfortable in large crowds or large group settings, often feeling guilty that don’t go to enough protests or marches. Though, what they also added is that they have a lot of other skill sets that are helpful and important. Skills at making plans and realizing long-term goals.
I was touched by this because it brought up for me my own feelings of guilt and inadequacy, in feeling like I have to do all of these different things, or else I’m really not a good minister. In my reflecting on these different roles, I see how ministry itself at times can weave through all of these. There are times for being a Guide and an Experimenter. A Disruptor and a Healer. While I might lean into these at different times, I now know that doing these all at once, all the time is not sustainable. Where my heart comes alive in ministry is in being a Caregiver, a Storyteller, a Visionary, and a Weaver. Those are the gifts I am best suited for, and what I need are those of you who can do those other roles better than I can do them.
The truth is that all of us are needed to build up a better country and world. What’s paramount for us is knowing ourselves and discovering what it is we can dial into in making the most difference. Social justice work is not just leaning into our own roles. It’s also making room for others to lean in as well, especially in the ways we’re not as able. When all of us know our roles and make space at the table, we can then find joy and resilience in being part of a collective that reminds us that we’re not alone. We’re going to need something to focus in on and distract us from the next four years ahead of us… We cannot give into the growing exhaustion and despair. We are more resilient when we band together.
So, what are three concrete things you can do today, with this framework and the ten roles to play? The first of these is to find your role and to lean into it! Not everyone has to do everything, but everyone has to do something. I strongly suggest you get yourself a copy of this book. It’s written in part as a guide for reflection, with prompts and spaces for journaling about your gifts. Find the roles that call out to you and play into your strengths. Then, commit yourself to that role for the upcoming years.
Next, the second thing you can do is to work in community, not in isolation. Social change happens when we work together. None of these roles exists on its own, and all of us need one another. This is truer now more than ever. Find others who complement your role. If you’re a Disruptor, connect with Healers who can help you sustain your work. If you’re a visionary, find builders who can create the structures to support your growing ideas. Engage with people and groups working toward our shared values. Do not travel this journey alone.
And lastly, the final thing you can do is to balance urgency with sustainability. Justice work is a marathon, not a sprint. While some roles respond to immediate crises, like Frontline responders and Disruptors, others focus on long-term changes. Both are necessary, and movements also need rest, care, and reflection to endure. Your homework is to create a new rhythm for yourself that not only brings about action but cares for your own rest and renewal. If you need to, take time away from those headlines and notifications; opt out of spaces and conversations that feel too heavy to hold. Make time for the simple joys; the things that fill your cup and renew your spirit. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Your needs are just as important as the needs of others.
To close, may we each find our place in the great work of social justice, finding the roles that call out to us with courage and love. May we journey together, knowing that transformation begins in community and is sustained by our visions, actions, and collective care. May we go forth with open hearts and steady hands, co-creating a world of greater justice, healing, and hope that is still yet possible. Liberation requires that you play your part.
Amen.
[1] “The Difference Between Heaven and Hell”, Toolbox of Faith, Tapestry of Faith, UUA.
[2] Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection, by Deepa Iyer, Skinner House Books.
[3] “Social Change Ecosystem Map”, by Deepa Iyer, Building Movement Project.