Preaching to the Choir
For purposes of this post, I’m sharing a portion of an email I recently received from my old friend (and former parishioner). He suggested that I might compose a new blog on this topic, but I thought that his own thoughts were well worth considering. What follows are his words, after which I have appended part of my response to his inquiry:
“Recently I have been feeling distressed and paralyzed from all the actions of Trump and his minions, not knowing what I could do. My wife said she read people were protesting at Middleton’s Park St. and University Ave. intersection every Saturday from noon to 1:00, so I grabbed my June 14th big rally poster and went.
“It was a very positive experience for me to be a part of a “choir” of 30 or so people waving signs and protesting as cars drove by. It seemed like at least 400 cars honked and gave thumbs up while smiling at me, with only about 6 that were thumbs down or middle finger up. One jerk when he was driving right by me gunned his diesel pickup truck so that a huge thick black cloud of smoke filled the air for me to breathe. All I could do was laugh at the asshole! (Sorry for the explicit language.)
“A woman standing next to me said she has been protesting at that corner now for 2 months, except for one Saturday when it was deadly hot! And she said she plans to keep protesting for 3.5 more years!! I’m not ready to quite make that commitment yet, but I have to say I plan on coming back for more Saturday’s of being in the “choir.”
“What got me thinking about the whole experience is that people had been telling me that all we are doing with our protesting is “preaching to the choir” and making no difference. Well, after Saturday I realized that we need to keep the “choir” hopeful and energized through the many months ahead while Trump’s actions pull this country inexorably down into a huge dark hole.
“No way have we hit rock bottom yet! But using the church service imagery, the choir (if it is a good and enthusiastic one) helps the “congregation” get a meaningful religious experience…. Thus “preaching to the choir” lets the public know that we are still fighting and to not give up hope, AND it tells the public to be ready to rebuild our country’s democratic institutions once Trump has imploded so that hopefully even half of his base will see it’s not the world they wanted to live in.”
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Dear old friend….Thanks for this insightful email. I can relate to your feelings of distress - though not (yet) paralysis. While I haven’t stood on any street corners carrying signage lately, but I have other strategies for keeping hope alive (including blogging, putting my humble assets to good use, etc). Still…there will undoubtedly come a time when more public protests such as yours will become absolutely necessary.
“Preaching to the choir.” I looked up that phrase, which was antedated in the English lexicon by “preaching to the converted.” The latter takes it out of the church context and makes more sense for a community like Madison where, as you note, the vast majority are already disposed to support progressive causes.
During my years at FUS I often felt like I was making (scoring?) points with a congregation that appreciated their own perspectives being reflected from the UU pulpit. Perhaps I just gave you and others a more cogent and well researched rational for maintaining a given viewpoint - not least when I was speaking to political and social issues. Things felt a little different when I was addressing spiritual or ethical matters to which people often hadn’t given much thought.
Your last paragraph presents a good argument for the ongoing practice of “preaching to the choir.” I would agree with you wholeheartedly. We need to keep reinforcing one another during these perilous times.
