Resistance and Hope: The Spititual Practice of Organizing, A Sermon by The Reverend David Weissbard, Sunday, August 5th, 2018

This Sunday I am going to do something that I have only done once before in my 52 years of ministry – some of you were here for the first as well as this second: I am going to share a sermon that is highly dependent on a sermon I heard from someone else. Two weeks ago I got to spend five days in Chautauqua. I was going to leave Sunday morning, but when I read about the Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews, the preacher for the morning, I decided to stay for the large worship service held in the multi-thousand seat amphitheatre. Wow! Was I glad I did. What I experienced was a sermon largely outside my theological comfort zone, but one that spoke powerfully to my experience of the Poor Peoples’ March last month. On my drive back from Chautauqua to Canton, I realized that I needed to share the substance of that sermon with you, and with the permission of the Rev. Mr. Mathews, I will do so this Sunday. The title is “Resistance and Hope: The Spiritual Project of Organizing.”