A Buttress for Ms. Rachel

Some years ago, not long after she first got sick, my wife started a group she called “Flying Buttresses.” As she came to terms with the reality that she would no longer be able to be involved in the active pursuit of justice as she had in her job with Bread for the World, Sarah began looking for ways that she could make a contribution within her now straitened circumstances, and she came up with the idea of offering support to others who were still engaged in the work. Just as a flying buttress helps to hold up the walls of a Gothic cathedral, she envisioned herself as a sort of buttress of encouragement, and she invited certain of her friends to be buttresses as well.

The Flying Buttresses idea was simple: someone (usually Sarah) would identify a person or group that was doing important work or taking a courageous stand for justice, and they would write letters and notes of encouragement to them. In many cases the work these people or organizations were doing was controversial, and Sarah saw her little group’s words of support as a bulwark of positivity in the midst of a maelstrom of hate mail and other discouraging words. Perhaps you have observed in your own life the value and spiritual refreshment that comes from a word of encouragement in a time of conflict. When you are slogging away at some wrong and wondering if your efforts are worth anything, or whether it would be better just to give up the fight, a word of support can be a godsend. That was the premise behind Flying Buttresses.

I bring this up today because I would like to offer this model as a possible ministry here at Community. With so much turmoil in our nation and world, with so much controversy and polarization, it can be hard to find a toehold—a pivot point where you can get some leverage and make a contribution that goes beyond complaint or, worse, despair. I think many of us are looking for ways to combat the corrosiveness of our current politics without getting down in the mud ourselves. Flying Buttresses may provide one such opportunity.

To get the ball rolling, I want to offer a suggestion based on an interview I saw last night on the PBS NewsHour. Geoff Bennett interviewed Ms. Rachel (Rachel Accurso), a childhood educator and entertainer with a significant following on YouTube, where her “Songs for Littles” is wildly popular with the zero-to-three demographic (and their parents). Ms. Rachel has recently become controversial for speaking up for the children of Gaza, who are being killed by bombs or else are slowly starving to death every day. She says, “My deep love and care for children doesn't end at my children, at children I know, at children in this country. It is for all children in this world. And it's so important for me to speak out for children whose human rights are being violated. That's our responsibility as grown-ups, is to stand up for kids when they're being denied access to food, water, education for two years; 18,000 children have been killed. Everyone should be saying something.”

Accurso has garnered the wrath of a pro-Israel lobby group, Stop Antisemitism, who have called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether Ms. Rachel has been acting as a paid foreign agent “to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers.”

This is a ridiculous accusation, but it’s another example of the use of the specter of anti-semitism to deflect any criticism of the policies and actions of Israel. But when Israel has embarked on a military crusade in Gaza that has so far killed in excess of 18,000 children, those policies and actions cry out to be criticized. Deplored. Anathematized. And Ms. Rachel has leveled her criticism with as much fairness and kindness as possible. Yes, she uses the word “genocide” to describe what is going on in Gaza, but she has also expressed her sympathy for the parents of Israeli children killed in Hamas’s attacks on October 7th. As she says repeatedly in the NewsHour interview, she is an advocate for all children.

I just left a supportive message on Ms. Rachel’s Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/msrachelforlittles/), and I encourage you to consider doing the same. Let us also strive to be advocates for all children, and let us act as buttresses for those taking a risk to say and do what is right.