In the Jackie Robinson movie “42,” there is a scene where Major League Baseball’s first Black player is being stitched up by a doctor in the locker room after an opposing player spiked him intentionally with his cleats. Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, the one who advocated for Mr. Robinson to break the race barrier in professional baseball, walks in to see how his player is doing.
Number 42, played by the late actor Chadwick Boseman, asks the Dodgers’ owner, the actor Harrison Ford, why is he doing what he’s doing. Rickey begins with a rehearsed answer about winning a war against Fascism in Germany so it’s time to have a victory over racism at home. Jackie isn’t satisfied and asks again, looking for the personal reason why the owner is so invested in integrating baseball.
Rickey answers, “I love this game. I love baseball. I’ve given my whole life to it.” He confesses to Jackie that because of baseball’s racism, “There was something unfair at the heart of the game I love.” Then to Jackie Robinson, who faced down all the verbal assaults, threats and the physical dangers hurled at him as the first Black man to play professional baseball, Branch Rickey says, “You … you let me love baseball again … Thank you.”
This weekend, we celebrate the 245th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I love this country and that’s why I need to say “Thank you” to every individual and organization that stands up and stands out for our founding ideal of universal human equality. Like Branch Rickey said to Number 42, “You … you have let me love this country again … Thank you.”
The Declaration’s listing of grievances, “Let facts be submitted to a candid world,” are historically important details, but what has captured the thoughts and imaginations of people around the world are its introductory words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal …”
As a person of faith, that the foundation of this radical and liberating document is based on God-granted human equality amazes and inspires me. In 1776, God was used conventionally to bolster the politics of the divine right of kings. “[T]he thirteen united States of America,” on the other hand, saw in God the justification for the outlandish ideal of universal human equality.
A religious teacher once said in worship, “God loves you just the way you are, but refuses to leave you that way.” God doesn’t settle. God calls us to be what we should be. As a person of faith, I see our founding American ideal as a sacred challenge. It is inspired by the theology of the Bible’s first page: “God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) He created us all in his image, all of us.
On the first page of the New Testament is Jesus’ genealogy. Therein we read among Jesus’ ancestors the names of Tamar, who posed as a prostitute, Rahab who was a prostitute, Ruth the foreigner, and “the wife of Uriah” who was raped and her husband murdered by King David. Even in Jesus’ bloodline, there is this stunning lineage of ordinary, conflicted humanity, and Jesus shares in it and sanctifies it, for all of us.
Universal human equality is the ideal that July 4th celebrates. It is the basis of our democracy and why voting rights must be not only protected, but encouraged. So “Thank you” to those who continue to push us toward what we should be as a nation.
The First Congregational Church of Sunderland, United Church of Christ, has ministered to the people of the local communities since 1717. Worship services on Sundays begin at 11 a.m. The church’s website and Facebook page are found under First Congregational Church of Sunderland. The church’s phone number is 413-665-7987. If you would like to reach Rev. Randy Calvo, please email him at randyc1897@gmail.com. We offer religious education for the youth and Bible study for adults. We have a wonderful music program under the direction of Anthony Tracia, and a bell choir. All are welcome — and we mean it.