Killer Clowns and Rising Tides-Sermon by Andrea Abbott, October 23, 2016
Preacher: Reverend Andrea Abbott
Killer Clowns and Rising Tides
The title for this sermon comes from two stories I saw on the front page of the Utica Observer-Dispatch . I’ve forgotten the headlines exactly but the first was something about the menace of killer clowns in the Utica area. The second was about scientists warning that climate change was proceeding more rapidly than had been predicted and our ability to halt its effects, let alone reverse them, was in question. So, two stories about fear. We are so close to Halloween, that feast of fear, that I felt it was a good time to talk about this.
Perhaps it’s the company I keep, but I heard a lot more commentary on the first story, the one about killer clowns, than I did about the second, the one on climate change. Interestingly, the killer clowns appeared to have done no killing, despite their name. It seems they lurk menacingly, or as menacingly as someone in overlarge shows and a red nose can do, on street corners and such. I’m not sure how people distinguish between standing and lurking, but there must be some way because they are described as lurking. They do not approach people at all, let alone do anything to them but their lurking is described as threatening. As if they might at any minute break out and do something awful. But so far, nothing has happened.
On the other hand, there is certainly documentation that extreme weather events are occurring with greater frequency than at any time since such things have been recorded. It is also the case that each month in the past year has been the hottest month on record, the hottest June, the hottest July, the hottest August, etc. Even if there is contention about the cause of climate change, that seems more like two people having an argument about who left the stove on while they’re standing in the burning house. Or perhaps a better phrase would be an argument about the levee system while the waters are rising above their heads. The flood waters are not lurking; they are taking up residence in the attic.
And yet, the clowns got by far more attention. I have no idea what would motivate people to put on frizzy wigs and stand on street corners. I do have some idea about why people would be more interested in the clown story than in the story about the rapid pace of climate change. Clowns we understand; psychopaths we think we understand. We think we can do something about people as individuals. Maybe not so much, but we have more confidence in that area. We can restrain them, sedate them, lock them up, shoot them, but a danger that could affect life on earth, that’s of a different magnitude.
We have some experience dealing with dangerous people. But what if we are the dangerous people? And what if all this has happened not through bad motivation, not through evil doings, but simply as part of life as we know it? Yes, we can point to some people who have put profit before human life, but we also know that we have bought the products, enjoyed the comforts and conveniences, that have led to this situation. People seeking profits from actions that are harmful to the planet don’t get very far unless there are buyers for their wares. And all of us, rich or poor, influential or not, are all caught in the same system. So, no wonder we would prefer to tackle a guy in a polka dotted suit.
We are all people dealing with fear. Everyone. And we are all people dealing with a desire not to change. Everyone. We are usually good at finding ways in which other people should change but we find it pretty hard to look at ourselves and see that need. Particularly when it might involve major, drastic, uncharted change. That is very frightening. Unfortunately, change, unwanted and unsought, comes to us simply in the process of living. We don’t stand still and neither does the world. We are constantly changing and adapting. The only difference in our adaptations is whether we anticipate them and plan for them or whether they find us. And, even the wisest and most prudent person usually finds themselves caught up in unexpected events that call for change. We call it blindsided.
We manage our fears best and feel best about change when we feel we have some control over the event. And so climate change, a huge change caused by an enormous number of factors, a change that seems to call for drastic measures, measures that may or may not work, measures that deprive us of most of what we know and the ways in which we function, that seems beyond us. Because it is obviously going to take more than, say, my obsessive rejection of plastic bags at the grocery store or our purchase of a Prius. Those things make us feel better about ourselves, but they are probably not going to shake the planet into order.
I think of how I feel, how probably most of us feel, when we are told that we can no longer go on as we have been doing and we must give up something that we rely on to get us through the day. I’m on board with other people giving up their bad habits. Why would someone go on drinking when it’s clearly killing them? Why would someone keep on smoking when they have COPD? Why can’t they just quit? But ask me to give up coffee? I’m sure it can’t really be that harmful. The fear of doing without is greater than the need to do so. Because, at bottom, the fear of being unable to go through the process of change, needed change, overwhelms the recognition of our need for change. Go without doughnuts forever? I’d rather——, well, you see what I mean. And so we read about people who blow themselves up smoking with their oxygen tank on. And we go on using fossil fuels. Difference in kind or difference in scale?
Fear cuts both ways. Like a squirrel in the middle of the road, fear can make us dash into danger as much as it makes us avoid danger. We have also devised powerful ways to calm ourselves and cope with fear. Some of those ways are helpful if we use them to avoid groundless fears, and some of them are not helpful, as when we use them to blind us to very real danger, to soothe ourselves into a false sense of wellbeing. No, you probably don’t need to worry about the zombie attack just yet but yes, you probably should have that lump looked at. And yet it is often true that we find relief in worrying about the zombie attack and putting that lump in the back of our minds.
This is the importance of Halloween and other such ways in which we cope with fear. I know that the three foot high vampire on my front steps is highly unlikely to suck my blood, though he says he’s going to, and I know that his companion, the alien, is not going to abduct me, but in part all of us feel more in charge of our fears when we can either dress up as them or participate in the ritual in some way. That is the reason for the Day of the Dead with its picnics on graves and sugar skulls. It’s the reason for ghost stories, which all cultures have in one way or another. It’s the reason for the modern version, horror movies. All of these are time honored ways of dealing with the ultimate fear, the fear of death. The way that human beings have dealt with that fear for as long as we know has been to practice it, rehearse it, in story and music and art and play. To make it domestic and manageable. And yet, looking at movies and TV shows, I do wonder if we need quite such a dose of these, and, if we do, why do we need so much of it right now.
Anger masks fear as well. I remember saying a few weeks ago that anger masks depression and so it does but depression is closely allied with fear. We don’t fear the things we can control. We don’t feel helpless when we can take care of a situation. But when we have a situation over which we seem to have no control, we are both afraid and depressed. That’s why the experience of grief, in C.S. Lewis’ words, is so much like the experience of fear. Anger only delays the inevitable grief and fear, but it seems like a cleaner, more manageable solution. And there is certainly a lot of anger around. But fighting aliens, of whatever kind, is certainly preferable to the difficult questions of how we are to manage ourselves and live with each other in this era that poses hard questions and stark choices.
It is not as if we would want fear to completely vanish from our arsenal of emotions. Fear is necessary; fear is helpful. We would not have gone far either individually or as human beings if we had no fear. It would have been a short career. Evolutionarily speaking, however, we are not designed for the kinds of choices we now face, for choices that involve long term, complex decisions where we see very little in terms of results immediately. Evolutionarily speaking, our fear system works best when we hear a rustle in the bushes, see a strange shadow overhead, smell a strange odor. We are not at our best when we cannot see the immediate results of our actions, and especially not when the immediate results of our actions only seem to upset our equilibrium. And especially when we are not even sure what actions we should take, what would be effective and when so many solutions are proposed that are beyond the average person’s ability to evaluate. Should we give up fossil fuels? Will that cripple our economy? Do biofuels cost more in energy than they produce? How can you store the wind or the sun? Who do you believe? How should changes be implemented and who should be in charge of implementing them?
We all have our own particular allegiances to people who propose change or not change. It is understandable why, in the face of so many groundless fears, we may find it hard to believe that the fear of climate change is real. It is also true that people prefer to be soothed into not changing more than they prefer to undertake the disorienting work of change.
The disorienting work of change. Does it matter if it is the immense work of changing a nation’s energy system or the personal work of making changes in our own lives? Any kind of change calls for large reserves of optimism, self-awareness and self-confidence. They also call for support because most normal people struggle with all those issues even when lives are going smoothly. Making changes in our goals, our work, our relationships, those are difficult. We may know on some level that change will happen whether we take an active role in it or not but the amount of courage to take that active role often seems beyond us. When change is forced upon us by circumstances, we have the consolation of the feeling of having had no choice. That is both easier and harder. Easier because we have not had to go through the gut wrenching feeling of making choices without a clear understanding of their impact. Harder because the decisions we are left with are often not a broad range of options and harder because they seem forced on us, out of our control. And yet, I would be willing to bet, most of us opt for the second pathway, the way of waiting until we have no, or few choices, the way of waiting until we are forced to change.
Possibly this is because the support needed is often not there. I do think that, in a way, there is more support for people facing difficulties than there was in the past. But we find it hard to accept help. We see ourselves as individuals responsible for ourselves and our families and it is often shame at what we see as our weakness to do so that keeps us from reaching for the help that is often there. But without the support of friends, family, communities, bad situations get worse until the only choices left are desperate choices, bad choices. We are not always effective on our own. And we often cause ourselves a lot of pain when we retreat into ourselves and let small things become big things. But it is very difficult to trust. And so we live with our fears and worries.
In this new world we are facing, we are also unable to deal with problems that are massive and complex by ourselves. The world is revealed in all its interconnectedness more starkly than it ever has been. The actions of people in one area can no longer be walled off from another area. The seas and lands have no real barriers. But how can we open ourselves to other people in arriving at ways to constructively change? Who can we trust? Who will trust us?
We live on a most amazing planet. There are no others near us that support life. Indeed, we have not reliably found any other planet that will. This world offers us beauty and abundance but only if we can see beyond the illusions and temptations that are often born of our fears of losing, of scarcity, of emptiness. We need to avoid the titillation of those unreal fears, the distraction of sensation and see the need for change, real change, real change. We need a sense of urgency and we need a sense of humility. And we need a sense of hope. Change, even change which appears painful, is often the doorway to Eden, to the beautiful garden. It is the promise of religion, and, I believe especially this religion, to so deepen our hearts, our souls, our spirits, so that we can engage in the difficult work of transformation. So we can become people who can find a new way and the courage to go beyond our fears to find peace within ourselves and create a world in which all life will flourish.