Engaging Angelic Troublemaking – Baynard Rustin
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
November 10, 2024
Welcome to Light Reflections. Since we record our messages on Wednesday, this recording took place within hours of the election results coming in. I will be honest, it is not easy for a Quaker pastor with strong convictions to give a message at this juncture, but I clearly sensed the Spirit’s leading of what to say after having conversations will fellow pastors and Friends.
The scripture I have chosen for this day is 2 Corinthians 4:8-12 from The Message version.
If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!
Last Sunday, we had a wonderful time of worship, but clearly there was something weighing heavily on all our minds and hearts. I know many of us are now in fear, scared for family and friends, and stunned or shocked by how this week played out. I know much of what I am going to say this morning will go unheard because of all that weighs on our hearts. So, I give you the permission to turn this off and go be with trusted friends and loved ones who support and love you. We must take care of ourselves so we can stay strong and work for change.
Also, I know many of you realize that there is a new urgency. So, I hope that what I am going to say this morning is both helpful and inspiring for those ready to act.
I sat down on Monday morning knowing that I had chosen Bayard Rustin as the historic Quaker that I wanted to share about this morning. I think I picked Bayard as he is a favorite character of mine in Quaker history, and someone I thought might have something to say to us on the Sunday after the election.
If you have been at First Friends for some time, you have heard me tell different parts of Bayard Rustin’s story in several of my messages, or maybe you joined us for our viewing of the Netflix movie, Rustin, which specifically highlighted his masterful, behind the scenes, organizing of the March on Washington where Dr. King shared his dream.
No movie or sermon could encompass the life and legacy of the man who coined the term “Speak Truth to Power” for which this sermon series is titled.
Early this week as I started to sense my anxiety growing about the election, I began wondering what it must have been like for Bayard Rustin when elections came around. A gay black man in the 60’s, whose sexual orientation was forced into the closet so as not to affect the impact of the Civil Rights Movement that he was masterminding with his friend Martin. Any wrong move had Bayard jailed, silenced, working on a chain gang, and his life threatened at every moment – and sadly that was first for being black and then for being gay – two things he could not change about himself.
But every election, every politician chosen, every decision those politicians made, and the authority they and their police enforced, literally changed the course of Bayard’s life in a moment and most of the time for the worse, not the better.
As a white, privileged, cisgender male I am challenged, but always seeking to better understand all that Bayard had at stake, or for that matter what the black communities and LGBTQ+ folks in our country have at stake, today.
I do not act as if I can relate or understand, but as a Quaker who believes in equality, I must learn from Bayard Rustin and his legacy and work to not make the mistakes of my ancestors. To uphold his legacy in which he said, “the primary social function of a religious society is to 'speak truth to power” which I believe is also my call as a pastor of this Meeting of Friends.
On Monday and Tuesday, I tried hard to channel what Bayard would have been thinking if he would have been alive this week and during this election cycle. I am sure he would not have been watching TV and just hoping for the best. Rather he would have been hard at work, organizing and gathering others to continue the fight. As well, he would be reminding us once again that he is not safe as a black man, as a gay man, and even as a Quaker who testifies to the SPICES of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship in our country.
I believe if Bayard was here this morning, he would be calling for what he described as, “Angelic Troublemakers” to rise up – something that his friend John Lewis called making “Good Trouble” or what some historians have categorized as simply “Holy Trouble.” Meaning that every community should have people who are actively working to disrupt the status quo to create change. It’s not bad trouble, but rather righteous trouble and done by holy, good, even angelic (divine) people – or as Bayard and Friends believe, people with that of God within them.
Please understand this call to “angelic troublemaking” often involves making some trouble by actually breaking unjust laws. And clearly, we are going to be facing some unjust laws in the coming years that are going to affect our neighbors, our loved ones, and fellow Friends - especially women, people of color, minorities, immigrants, and the queer and LGBTQ+ communities.
If you have not already figured this out in this sermon series, Quaker history is brimming full with “Angelic Troublemakers” who have risen to make good trouble, to speak truth to power, and break the oppressive and unjust systems in our country and our world.
Now, once again, it is our time to answer that call.
Let me go back for a moment and share one such story from Bayard Rustin’s life where he exemplified the “Angelic Troublemaker” he would later call us all to become.
In 1942 Bayard Rustin wrote:
“Recently, I was planning to go from Louisville to Nashville by bus. I bought my ticket, boarded the bus, and instead of going to the back, sat down in the second seat. The driver saw me, got up, and came toward me.
‘Hey, you. You’re supposed to sit in the back seat.’
‘Why?’
‘Because that’s the law. Niggers ride in the back.’
I said, “My friend, I believe that is an unjust law. If I were to sit in the back, I would be condoning injustice.’”
This scene repeated at every stop until the driver called the police.
When the police officers confronted him and demanded that he move, Bayard said:
“I believe that I have a right to sit here. If I sit in the back of the bus I am depriving that child” – I pointed to a little white child of five or six—“of the knowledge that there is an injustice here, which I believe it is his right to know. It is my sincere conviction that the power of love in the world is the greatest power existing. If you have a greater power, my friend, you may move me.’”
This was one of many times Bayard was beaten and arrested for resisting injustice. It took great self-discipline and training for him to intentionally and nonviolently break an unjust law. He went on to train many others in the Civil Rights movement how to break unjust laws in this highly intentional way…
Folks, Bayard is showing us that to be an “Angelic Troublemaker,” often means being called to
· stand up against tyranny.
· strive towards equality.
· face a wrong in the world and fight to make it right, even in the face of a society that swears everything is fine.
Sadly, I can see some of us in this room facing these same conditions and atrocities, very soon. The rhetoric and actions are already in place and people are already fearful, including myself and members of my own family.
But again, I return to the wisdom of Bayard Rustin to help us find a way to begin our response and movement foreword. Bayard would say now is not the time to wait and see or just hope and pray for change, but it is time to act and do something.
We must begin somewhere in preparing ourselves to Speak Truth to Power as Angelic Troublemakers in our world – and I believe a place for that to begin is right here at First Friends.
Let me share some basic thoughts for where we can begin. By no means is this a formula or all we can do. Please understand, it does NOT have to start by making a public stand or by getting arrested, it can start much smaller, yet must be intentional.
For example, you and I are going to be called in the coming days to take some risks. We may be called to step out of our comfort zones, and be a bit bolder - first within ourselves and then beyond with our friends and neighbors. We will need to dare to reach a bit beyond our usual reach, and step out on a limb that may not feel so secure.
This will start with “Baby Steps.” Maybe for you it will start by asking a question or seeking clarification. Speaking up for a friend or colleague. Or it may take a moment to listen to a different perspective, have a difficult conversation, or read a book or article that is outside your comfort zone.
Whatever you do to take these risks, always remember to bring your values, your skills, your talents, and your voice to a challenge that draws you and your better nature. Bayard Rustin brought his whole self to every effort and that in itself was risky.
One of the greatest assets you and I have is remembering WHO WE ARE and what we believe, and how that affects our risk taking.
Please hear me on this: Don’t change who you are for others, but rather fully embrace who you are and live into it. That, in itself, maybe risky for you with friends and family or just living in this country.
And First Friends, now, more than ever, we must be clear that we are a safe place for people who are taking risks. We must be a place to support and protect risk takers. If a Quaker Meeting cannot be that place, then we should not be calling ourselves Friends.
As well, in our personal lives, we need to work to identify opportunities where our efforts –– let’s say in our work life, our volunteer life, our engaged life – can make a difference, move the ball forward, tip a scale, move a needle (whatever image of critical change–making works for you.)
And within this opportunity to make a difference, we must constantly be asking ourselves, “What’s wrong with current practice, with the way things are done, that I, even now, know about, and can name and question?”
In the coming days and years this will need to be our ongoing question. Our eyes will need to be open for any and all opportunities where we can effect change - no matter how small.
It has to start somewhere.
I sense First Friends will need to become a place where we organize our efforts, where we support and encourage one another, and even work together to seek and advance solutions to address these identified opportunities right in our communities, neighborhoods and state. This will mean together we will need to ask and engage some queries:
· What is wrong, and what might a change look like and entail?
· How can we explore and try out these ideas for change further?
· What is needed to make them successful? What is the next move? Who is with us in this effort?
Lastly, a key to making change and becoming “Angelic Troublemakers” is learning to build relationships based on trust with allies, fellow F/friends, potential partners, people with leadership or influence or access to resources, and people like yourselves eager to grow in your understanding and create opportunities for others to participate and proceed together toward building a righteous force for change in all the ways suggested above.
Folks, You and I must take up the mantle of being “Angelic Troublemakers” not just for the sake of preserving our legacy, but for the growing inequalities, threats, and injustices that we, our loved ones, and our siblings in faith are, and will be facing, in the coming days.
Now is our time to truly be FRIENDS, to seek in silence the nudging and leading of the Spirit, to seek together ways to respond to the injustices of the world, and most importantly, to grow in our love for our neighbor and our God. Our scripture for this morning is an important reminder of this, as well as the hope we have.
We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken.
As I was trying to summarize my thoughts and close out this message, I returned to Bayard Rustin words – prophetic in his time and in ours.
“We are indeed a house divided. But the division between race and race, class and class, will not be dissolved by massive infusions of brotherly sentiment. The division is not the result of bad sentiment, and therefore will not be healed by rhetoric. Rather the division and the bad sentiments are both reflections of vast and growing inequalities in our socioeconomic system--inequalities of wealth, of status, of education, of access to political power. Talk of brotherhood and "tolerance" (are we merely to "tolerate" one another?) might once have had a cooling effect, but increasingly it grates on the nerves. It evokes contempt not because the values of brotherhood are wrong--they are more important than ever--but because it just does not correspond to the reality we see around us. And such talk does nothing to eliminate the inequalities that breed resentment and deep discontent.”
As we enter into waiting worship this morning, I would like us to give some time in our silence for lament, to hold our country and our leaders in the Light, to remember our friends and relatives who will be affected by this election, and for our Meeting, as we seek to be a place of safety and encouragement for ALL people. If you need some queries to consider, I encourage you to return to the ones I shared earlier:
· What’s wrong with current practices, with the way things are done, that I, even now, know about, and can name and question?
· What might a change look like and entail?
· How can we explore and try out these ideas for change further?
· What is needed to make them successful? What is the next move? Who is with us in this effort?