The Power of Resisting Together

(Second sermon in a series on the Spirituality of Resistance)

Two people are better than one,
For they get a better return for their work.
For if one flags, the other gives support;
But woe to the solitary person who falls
And has no one to provide support...
And a rope of three strands is not easily broken.
         ~ Ecclesiastes 4:9-13

A spirituality of resistance means, in the words of Graham Hill, that “[w]e resist all forces that oppress, dehumanize, exploit, abuse, corrupt, and deceive. We seek to live lives of compassion, peace, justice, righteousness, and hospitality. And we call for change and action.”

Resisting these types of forces, systems, and situations alone is sometimes all we’ve got. But it is hard to be the only one standing up and speaking out. It is too easy to be ignored, to have your voice squelched, to get burned out, to be discouraged. There is power in resisting together.

Have you ever marched for a cause, or attended a rally to advocate for justice? Do you remember what it felt like? Every time I have done this I have felt the power of resisting together. It builds courage, provides motivation, offers hope and strength, broadens our understanding, holds our focus, inspires and supports us.

Still, it is hard, in this age of individualism, to get people to stand together to work for the greater good.

Rabbi David Wolf shares this parable: A boy and his father were walking along a road when they came across a large stone. “Do you think I use all of my strength, I can move this rock? The child asked. His father answered, “If you use all of your strength, I am sure you can do it.” The boy began to push the rock. Exerting himself as much as he could, he pushed and pushed. The rock did not move. Discouraged, he said to his father, “You were wrong. I can’t do it.” His father put his arm around the boy’s shoulder and said, “No son, you didn’t use all your strength – you didn’t ask me to help."

It's probably true that most of us would rather give up on moving the rock than ask for help. Why is that? What discourages us from asking for help moving the obstacles in life's path? And what keeps us from stepping up and joining others when they ask us to rally for a cause? I imagine it is many things: apathy, indifference, fear, inertia, cynicism. There is also the feeling that we're only one person, what difference can one person make?   

I get it. I feel the same way sometimes. Joseph Jaworski tells this cute story that proves a very important point.

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake", said the robin to the dove.

“Why, it weighs nothing at all,” replied the dove.

“In that case,” the robin went on, “I must tell you a marvelous story. I was sitting on a branch of a fir tree, close to its trunk,” the robin began, “when snow began to fall...not heavily, not in a raging blizzard, no just like a dream without any violence. Since I did not have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the needles and twigs of my branch. I reached the number 3,741,952. Then when the 3,741,953 snowflake dropped onto the branch weighing nothing as you say, the branch suddenly broke off.”

With that the robin flew away.

The dove thought about the story and said to herself, “I sometimes think that all my efforts and the little I can do make no difference. We might think they are nothing at all, but if we put all our efforts together, great things are possible.”

Brother John Beeching was a monk about 55 years old when he was assigned to Thailand, he tells this story. Not far from the house they lived in was a small Buddhist monastery. One day not long after he arrived he was walking past the gate, camera in hand when he saw a young monk nursing a baby gibbon (small ape) with a bottle of milk. Not knowing much more than a greeting in Thai, he gestured that he wanted to take a picture. The young monk smiled and agreed. He took a shot or two and then there was a tap on his shoulder. Another monk said to him, “You summons to abbot’s quarters. Follow me.”

Soon Br. John found himself face-to-face with a young abbot seated on a straw mat. “I’m new here,” he said, hoping that the abbot knew some English. “I’m new here, too,” the abbot said softly, “a refugee from Burma.” The abbot knew English well and after a short exchange he said to Br. John. “Well, it would be nice if you would teach the monks English.” Br. John declined, “Yes, well I can’t really, at least not right now.”

Long story short, in the days that followed the abbot persisted until Br. John agreed to teach the monks English. At the first lesson, there was the abbot sitting in the front row of three rows of saffron-robed monks.

Br. John began, “My name is…” “Stop!” the abbot cried. “Now, in your country you had a great Negro leader. He was a leader from your religion, wasn’t he? I read a small book about him in Burma and felt he was a great man. When the uprising took place for democracy, I thought I should try to do the same as him and so I led people from several of our villages in the marches for democracy for a number of weeks. At first we were filled with great hope – I was so happy. And then soldiers came, trucks filled with them and they shot the people in the streets and captured many others and took them away. We were in shock. I tried to keep those I led calm and organize groups to flee to the border. The jungle is thick and it was very difficult. Some were so weak. Five drowned crossing the swollen streams, as it was the rainy season. At the border we came under attack by Burmese army soldiers. We lost." He paused in silence for a few moments. "Now, in the book I read about the American religious leader it said he sang a song with his people. Do you know it?

“Yes, I know it,” Br. John said, “We Shall Overcome.”

“Then teach it to us,” he said, “it will be the first English lesson for these young monks. Buddhist monks are not allowed by our monks’ precepts to sing; but you will teach us this song and we will stand and sing, sing for those who died, and then we will never sing again for the rest of our life.”

And so it was that Br. John taught a band of ragtag, barefoot refugee monks from Burma how to sing “We Shall Overcome.”

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome someday.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe, that we shall overcome some day.

We, not I, shall overcome the injustices, the violence, the isolation, and the pain so many people experience, by working together - a rope of many strands. There is power in resisting together.

Love & Light!

Kaye