Oh, Susanna!
A Sermon on Congegational Safety
by the Rev. Kerry Mueller
Service at UUCSS on March
5, 2000
Prelude
Opening Words
Ministry is all that we do together --
Ministry is that quality of being in community that
affirms human dignity -- beckons forth hidden
possibilities, invites us into deeper, more constant,
reverent relationships, and carries forward our
heritage of hope and liberation.
Ministry is what we do together as we celebrate
triumphs of our human spirit
Miracles of birth and life
Wonders of devotion and sacrifice.
Ministry is what we do together -- with one another --
in terror and torment -- in grief, in misery
and pain,
enabling us in the presence of death to
say yes to life.
We who minister speak and live the best we know
with full knowledge that it is never quite enough
And yet are reassured
by lostness found,
fragments reunited, wounds healed
and joy shared.
Ministry is all that we do -- together.
Gordon McKeeman
Opening Hymn
The Lighting of the Chalice and a Uniting Statement
May this light warm our hearts with love and caring
and guide us in the ways of truth.
As we gather here for worship,
we pledge ourselves to the endless search for truth;
to the right of each to believe ans mind, heart, and conscience dictate,
to accpet the responsibility this freedom commands;
and to emplement our belief
in the essential worth and dignity of every human being.
-- from the Preamble of our Constitution
Offertory
Let there be an offering
to sustain and strengthen this place
which is sacred to so many of us,
a community of memory and hope,
for we are now the keepers of the dream.
Sharing of Joys and Sorrows
Meditation with Words, with Silence & With Music
Hymn #360 Here We Have Gathered
Sermon
Oh, Susanna!
A Sermon on Congegational Safety
Rev. Kerry Mueller
When I was at Wesley Seminary, my New Testament
professor, Sharon Ringe, often said, "If your only rule of interpreting the
Bible is "Go thou and do likewise," you will be in big trouble. The Bible is
a collection of books which record the history of people struggling to understand
their place in the universe and their relationship to the divine. Like people
in every place and every time, the people of the Bible sometimes act in ways
worthy of emulation, and sometimes they do not. In the book of Susanna, we
find both extreme villains and people of superheroic virtue.
In case you checked out your Bible this week to read ahead, and failed to
find the book of Susanna, it may be because in Protestant Bibles, Susanna is
found in the Apocrypha. That is, it is not a part of the official Hebrew canon,
but an extra-biblical book, a text found only in Greek originals, though it
was probably translated from a Hebrew source. In the Roman Catholic tradition,
it is regarded as a continuation of the book of Daniel, who plays an important
role in the story. Whatever its origin, Susanna tells a vivid and dramatic
story of sexual harassment, false accusations, and the triumph of virtue over
evil. Here's how it goes, in brief.
The lovely and virtuous young Susanna is married to Joakim, a rich and respected
man, whose house is always filled with admiring visitors. Among these visitors
are two elders, judges who try cases at Joakim's house. Every afternoon, after
the people leave the house, Susanna is in the habit of taking a walk in the
secluded garden. Perhaps you can see what is coming. Those two elders, who
are supposed to be guiding and governing the people, turn from their duty and
begin to lust after the beautiful Susanna. One day, instead of going home for
lunch at the proper time, they each sneak back to Joakim's house, and are embarrassed
to run into each other, as each is hanging around in hopes of accosting Susanna.
Are they then shamed into behaving virtuously? Certainly not. The two judges
choose instead to enter a conspiracy of evil, just waiting for the right opportunity
for both to have their way with her.
One hot afternoon, the two wicked judges hide themselves in the garden. Susanna
comes in with her maids and decides to bathe, sending the maids back to the
house for olive oil and ointments. Susanna is alone, with the garden doors
closed. This is the signal for the wicked judges. They jump out from behind
the bushes and proposition her. "Lie with us, or we will say that you sent
the maids away so that you could tryst with a young man."
In other words, lie with us or we will lie about you. Susanna is trapped.
She knows she is done for, either way. Either she must actually commit adultery,
a stoning offense, or she will be accused of it by two highly respectable witnesses.
Susanna decides that it is better to die as she has lived, virtuously. Accordingly,
she follows the law and immediately begins to scream. The elders open the garden
doors as the household responds to her loud screams. The very next day, Susanna
is on trial for her life, accused by the false elders. They claim that she
was with a young man, who escaped in the noise and confusion. As a woman, Susanna
is silenced -- she is not allowed to testify in her own behalf. Because of
their authority, the judges are believed, and Susanna is led off for execution.
Susanna once again finds her voice. She prays loudly to God to vindicate
her. "You know what is secret. . . . You know that these men have given false
evidence against me." God hears her cry and sends young Daniel to Susanna's
rescue. Although he is hardly more than a boy, Daniel succeeds in reopening
the case, with himself as judge. He separates the judges and examines each
one alone. This story is sometimes described as the first detective story.
Cleverly, he demands to know under what tree did Susanna commit the offense.
When each judge gives a different answer, their lie is exposed, and they are
condemned out of their own mouths. Susanna is exonerated. Youth and virtue
win the day, and everyone, except the wicked judges, lives happily every after.
Or do they?
Susanna's final lines consist of praise for Daniel's reputation among
the people. Susanna courage is ignored. She is not praised for calling in witnesses
in the first place, or praying aloud. We never learn why her parents, who raised
her faithfully in the law, fail to come to her defense. We never learn how
Susanna's life is affected by this episode, how her husband and children feel
about her, how she feels about the family that stood by and let he be condemned.
We never learn whether the official vindication is the end of it for her, or,
more likely, whether she suffers from years of anger and depression. We never
hear how long it takes the community to trust religious and judicial authorities
again. We never learn how the ordinary people feel when they realize how close
they came to stoning an innocent woman.
You may be wondering why I have dragged out another
old Bible story for us to study. What is the lesson for us? This is another
of those ancient middle eastern stories that lives on today. You can visualized
this story as being set in a quadrant formed by the intersection of two dimensions.
One dimension is the community, with the authority figures, such as
the judges or the minister, at one end and the people, such as Daniel or the
congregation at the other. The other dimension is the quality of relationship,
with trust and safety at one end and betrayal and abuse at the other. In Susanna,
we first see an egregious violation of trust by the authorities. Ultimately
the story moves to the quadrant of safety and right relationship, thanks to
Susanna's integrity, and by the intervention of the people, in the person of
the youth, Daniel. A triumphant end to a heroic story.
Unhappily, the story of Susanna did not end the abuse of authority for once
and for all. The betrayal of trust by religious leaders has gone on since the
beginning of time, and continues to occur, time and again. Sometimes it is
spread luridly all over the newspapers, when some clergy person is caught abusing
little children. These are the extreme cases. More often, the misconduct is
less sensational and less public. It may be a matter of "accidentally" brushing
against a person, or telling suggestive stories, or apparently innocent flirtation.
But it is always damaging. It devastates the individuals involved. It damages
their families and friends. It hurts the whole congregation, and ultimately
the whole society. It erodes the very foundations of ministry and community.
I have seen the results of clergy sexual abuse. It does not matter if there
is apparent consent on the part of the victim. Informed consent is meaningless
when there is a sharp disparity in power between a person ordained by the powers
of the church on the one hand, and on the other a person who has been taught
from childhood to obey those powers. This is like incest, when the very person
who is supposed to care for and nurture a person becomes the violator of that
person's psychological safety and bodily integrity. It tears people's lives
apart. It breaks hearts. The catastrophe goes on for years, separating the
victim from the very sources of spiritual strength and consolation that should
help a person through every time of trouble. The abuse of religious authority
should never happen.
I need to set two parameters here. First, clergy misconduct, sexual and otherwise,
is found in every time and place, and in every denomination, including
our own. We are not immune, and I do not believe that we are exceptionally
vulnerable. This is a human problem. Second, these extreme cases of sexual
exploitation or outright rape constitute only one end of the spectrum of
clergy misconduct. Ministry, like other helping professions, requires strong
and clear boundaries. Straying over those boundaries in any area of life can
damage the relationship of trust needed for good ministry and good community.
Financial misconduct, dishonesty, emotional abuse -- any of these can undermine
the religious community.
You may be wondering if ministers, priests and rabbis are such scoundrels
that we all need to be protected from their predatory behavior. I don't actually
believe that we are any worse behaved than other people. It is rather that
misconduct by religious professionals has greater consequences. The issue is
one of authority and trust. When we, as a religious community, call
someone as the ordained, professional minister, we entrust that person with
a lot of power. Even in our democratic denomination, marked as it is by congregational
polity, the minister is an important locus of power. The preacher gets a lot
of free airtime on Sunday mornings. The minister may not have a vote on the
Board, but he or she has significant influence. When the minister talks, people
listen, even if they are free to disagree. The minister is invited into people's
lives and homes in times of joy and sorrow. People share their anxieties and
their tears, their hopes and their regrets with the minister. The minister
is supposed to be the person who doesn't notice whether your house is tidy,
who will look past emotional neediness to see the deep dignity of the congregant,
who can sit with the discomfort of your distress and see only that you deserve
someone to visit and sit with you and listen with care and reverence. People
turn to the minister to conduct weddings and unions and memorial services,
giving the clergy a central role in the turning points in their lives. Power
always has the potential to be used for good or for ill. Ministers are the
trustees for power, power which they are called to use for the good of the
congregation. You need to be able to trust the minister.
In his essay in the Unitarian Universalist workbook called Safe Congregations --
an essay well worth reading the whole of -- the Rev. Thomas Mikelson speaks
of ministry as a fiduciary relationship:
"[T]rust is the precondition of spiritual community. . . . Spiritual
work often requires the baring of souls and can be intimate, leaving congregants
vulnerable. Congregants may need to share intimate information about their
lives with a minister; but the area of shared, two-way intimacy is a special
danger in minister-congregant relationships. Congregants need assurance that
their minister's attention is focused on meeting the congregant's need, not
the personal needs of the minister. Ministers can be warm and receptive without
sharing their own personal intimacies. (p. 118f)
So the quadrant of betrayal by religious authorities is especially devastating.
But the clergy do not hold all the power in a congregation.
Ministry, says Gordon McKeeman in the opening words, is "all that we do,
together." When we come together in a Unitarian Universalist congregation,
we are creating an important spiritual community, a community of shared ministry.
This is the place where we can share our pain and joy. This is the place where
we can most truly be ourselves, learning and growing. Mikelson writes (p. 117)
that "The work of religious community is to create and preserve the safety
and trust in which spiritual growth can occur." Here is where we should not
have to be constantly on guard. Here is where we should be able to trust each
other, and especially the leadership, to make sure that it is safe to let down
our normal defenses. I think about a time in another congregation where a woman
lit a candle one Sunday morning. She was a newcomer, on her second or third
visit, and she had the courage to stand up and share with us that her young
son was seriously ill, that the diagnosis was uncertain, and that they were
doing cancer rule-out tests this week. Then she burst into tears. I felt great
compassion for her -- and it turned out to be OK in the end -- and also I felt
a surge of pride that we had made a community in which it was evident to her
that she could safely share her fears. It was a high moment of ministry for
the entire congregation. She trusted us.
Trust is an interesting word. Like so many of our words, it begins with an
ancient Indo-European word that has a very concrete literal meaning. "Deru" means
firm, solid, steadfast like a tree or an object made of wood. The words that
come from -deru all have their roots in this physical reliability: truth,
troth, truce, tryst, endure. . . . . and of course trust. The enduring tree
(another root) of trust must be reliable for a safe and nurturing community.
Our Unitarian Universalist values -- the inherent
worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity and compassion; a commitment
to truth -- all of these and more go into making a community of trust. Misconduct
within the congregaton threatens the community almost as much as clergy misconduct.
When member to member sexual harrassment is rampant, or when the congregation
tolerates predatory behavior, everyone begins to feel unsafe. And again, I
am not talking about only the extremes of sexual offense. Unkind gossip, unhealthy
secrets, disrespect, discourtesy -- all of these can undermine a community.
Susanna implies this when she reminds God that there have been secrets, and
Daniel rebukes the judges, "This is how you have been treating the daughters
of Israel, and they were intimate with you through fear." How long had the
community been looking the other way? It is the responsibility of every member
of the congregation to live out the values of respect, honesty and responsibility
in our community. But it is the especial responsibility of the minister to
be the keeper of the process. It is the minister's job to remind people that
we need to be straightforward with one another, that "opinions should be audible
-- and accountable."
The minister is there to serve the needs of the congregants, and must meet
his or her own needs elsewhere. (And here's a hint to you as a congregation
-- be sure to give your settled minister the free time and encouragement necessary
to truly meet those needs elsewhere. Your minister's emotional health, including
renewal and recreation, provide an important resource for your health and welfare).
The minster must be clear about boundaries, and not expect congregational relationships
to be two way. The minister must never exploit the vulnerabilities of the congregants.
The minister must encourage an ethic of right relationship, modeling it in
his or her own life, raising the issues, and helping the congregation to live
in a way that will embody our best values.
I bring all this up now, not because I believe that this congregation is
presently enmeshed in damaging or exploitive relationships. I don't believe
that it is -- although I could be wrong. I don't know everything. I know there
have been issues in the past. Last fall we finally moved these issues from
the realm of gossip and secrecy to the light of day. And if anyone wishes to
talk with me about right relationship here and now, or about past hurts or
injustices, whether they occurred here or elsewhere, I would be grateful to
hear your story and help you discern an appropriate course of action to move
towards healing, justice and compassion. My phone number is in the order of
service. I bring it up now, because this is a time when you are preparing to
enter what you hope will be a happy and healthy relationship with your settled
minister. This is a good time to consider and recommit yourself to your values,
to be explicit about how you want to relate to each other and to your minister.
There are resources available for you. The Unitarian Universalist Association
has written a workbook called Creating Safe Congregations: Toward an Ethic
of Right Relations, edited by ministers Patricia Hoertdoerfer and William
Sinkford. The Mikelson essay and a host of other papers and exercises can be
found here, all worth reading. And there will be a Safe Congregations workshop
for clergy and lay leaders, coming up at the end of this month, in a nearby
church. Leaders, consider sending a team. And I have a lending copy of Is
Nothing Sacred? by Marie Fortune. This is the story of a pastor, the women
he sexually abused, and the congregation he nearly destroyed. Fortune advises
strong action to bring miscreants to justice and to heal the victims and the
community. She helps us see how we can help to prevent such devastating occurrences,
and how we can minister to the victims with justice and compassion. And finally,
have you seen posters in our Sunday school classrooms showing agreements on
how we will behave here? Things like "no hitting" and "no put downs." The adults
deserve such understandings as well. And so, the Interim Ministry Committee
will hold a workshop later this spring, probably on a Sunday afternoon. We
will ask ourselves how we have done well in relationships here, and we will
discern our agreed upon values for right relationships. Together, we will take
steps towards making clear and explicit your commitment to a safe and nurturing
religious community.
Let me close with the words of Donnna diSciullo, a leader in Unitarian Universalist
campus minstry. She writes words for the whole religious community:
For those among us who have experienced abuse
-- we are truly sorry
For those among us who have inflicted abuse
-- may new learning and grace redeem us
For those of us who have stood by in silence
-- give us the courage of our voice
From this day forward may we be creators of safe and sacred space.
May we all create and live in safe and sacred places. So may it be. Amen,
shalom, and blessed be.
Hymn #124 Be That Guide
Closing Words
Susan Manker-Seale from Awakened in the Forest
Much of ministry
is a benediction
A speaking well of
each other and the world
A speaking well of what we value:
honesty
love
forgiveness
trust
A speaking well of our efforts
A speaking well of our dreams
This is how we celebrate life
Through speaking well of it
Living the benediction
and becoming as a word
well spoken.
Postlude
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