“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
The courts have recently figured into the lives of all Americans. The trial of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin touched all of us in different ways. The United States Supreme Court recently concluded their 2012/2013 session, and as usual they ruled on many issues. Today I would like to focus on two decisions and the Zimmerman case that form the context for this message -- joy and pain. One day the Supreme Court eliminated some major provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and then on another they recognized some rights afforded same sex couples...
While I personally pain with the loss of portions of the Voting Rights Act. I know some felt joy because they believed there was never a need for a Voting Rights Act in the first place. I remember President Johnson signing the act with Dr. Martin Luther King, Dr. Dorothy Height and the other civil rights leaders standing with him as he said in his Texas drawl, “and we shall overcome.” I can’t forget the blood, sweat and tears it took to get the act passed, nor can I forget Medgar Evers and the many others who gave their very lives for a Voting Rights Act. On August 28, 1963, some 50 years ago, several hundred thousand people marched on Washington for a Voting Rights Act. This past Saturday tens of thousands appeared in Washington to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the march. Many of the participants were carrying signs in memory of Trayvon Martin, reflecting the pain of that decision.
On the other hand I appreciated the joy from the LGBT community on the recognition of their right to marry. Clearly, the elders in the American LGBT rights movement pioneers like Henry Gerber of Chicago, founder of the Society for Human Rights in 1924, Harry Hay of Los Angeles, founder of the Mattachine Society in 1950, along with Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon of San Francisco who founded the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955, along with all those who stood up to police brutality at the Stonewall Inn in New York in 1969, and of course the late San Francisco County Supervisor, Harvey Milk, all felt joy with the decision.
Anita Bryant, Rev. Jerry Falwell and others felt pain because they believe the Supreme Court overreached with respect to same sex marriage. Their view is that religious teachings and traditions should determine what marriage should be. Not the courts. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said “it was a tragic day for marriage and our nation.”2
One of my favorite songs is “Joy and Pain” by the Bay Area R&B group, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly.3 The thesis of the song is that joy and pain are essentially the same emotion. “Joy and pain are like sunshine and rain.” Depending on your world view, you could have been happy or sad with either decision of the court. Frankie Beverly derives his main idea from the book “The Prophet” by the Lebanese philosopher Kahlil Gibran.
In a passage from the book Gibran describes Joy and Sorrow:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.” But I say unto you, they are inseparable.4
Senators, every one of us had to win an election to earn the right to sit here. By definition someone lost. Your election brought simultaneous joy and pain, they are indeed, inseparable.
Frankie Beverly ends “Joy and Pain” with this catchphrase;
Over and over you can be sure
There will be sorrow but you will endure
Where there’s a flower there’s the sun and the rain
Oh but it’s wonderful they are both one in the same.
Amen.
