Conversations in Management
Heath
was the perfect spot for Union Theological Seminary’s Professor
of Practical Theology to summer with his family. Located deep in
the mountains of northwest Massachusetts, the setting was
idyllic and in 1943 about as far removed from the horrors of WW
II as one could get. The Niebuhr’s attended the Heath Union
Church and it was the custom for summering clergy to take turns
in the pulpit. So it came to pass that on one sun-dappled Sunday
morning, Reinhold Niebuhr preached a sermon that included what
would come to be known as the Serenity Prayer. He’d
written the prayer the night before and while Heath’s pastoral
setting may have suggested serenity, it was the war that
dominated his thoughts that evening.
Niebuhr
had spent his entire career as a social activist. He’d faced
down a resurgent Klan in the 1920’s, confronted Henry Ford about
the soul-deadening nature of industrialization and become an
ardent pacifist in response to the carnage of WW I. The rise of
Nazism, however, caused a major shift in his thinking. With both
friends and family increasingly threatened by Hitler’s regime,
be became frustrated with organized religion’s unwillingness to
confront the evil that was challenging free people
everywhere. Moreover, he was alarmed that people of conscience,
in general, were willing to accommodate German fascism and were,
perhaps, even letting themselves be seduced by it. When war
finally broke out, he was a vocal supporter. Now, in the
stillness of Heath’s mountain setting, and without really
trying, he found thirty-three words that encapsulated everything
that he’d been thinking, writing and talking about for years.
And though he never imagined it on that Sunday morning, he’d
given expression to a belief that would inspire millions.
Despite
its popularity, many people underestimate the degree of
challenge contained in the prayer. That might be because the
prayer has been inaccurately titled. Even a casual reading
reveals that there’s nothing serene about the Serenity
Prayer. Instead, it’s a bold call to action. The prayer asks
for serenity, courage and wisdom to deal with change. In the
prayer, however, serenity and wisdom are bookends to the real
challenge—courage to change the things that should be changed.
Note; Niebuhr calls us (individually and collectively) to change
the things that should be changed. Life is filled with
things that can be changed and the word “can” suggests
that there is a likelihood of success. But changing the things
that should be changed is much more difficult. For one
thing, there’s the implicit understanding that you might not
succeed. The prayer, then, is for the courage to persevere
in the face of impossible odds for a just cause. Learning what
should be changed is also a prerequisite for
understanding what can’t be changed. One can only be
serene with things that can’t be changed if those things are
understood against the backdrop of essential change. When they
aren’t, the serene acceptance of the status quo leads to a smug
complacency, misguided sense of moral equivalency and spineless
rationalization. Wisdom helps us sort it all out.
The
Serenity Prayer challenges us to confront the malevolent
forces in our world, our lives and our souls. And when we
confront those forces we are called upon to act steadily—with
perseverance and conviction. Today, ask yourself what should
be changed and then, with serenity, courage
and wisdom do something about it.
—Ebert
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