Seed and Yeast

Gathering Prayer

God of justice, peace, and righteousness come into our midst this afternoon/evening

Breathe your breath, your Spirit of prophecy, your energy, your enlivening, your imagination on us.

Wake us up. Open our eyes. Unplug our ears.

That we might hear. That we might see That we might grieve. That we might dream.

That we might follow the ways of your extraordinary kingdom Amen

~ posted on the Jonny Baker blog. http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/2012/07/wake-up.html

 

Romans 13: 8-10 (CEB)

Don't be in debt to anyone, except for the obligation to love each other. Whoever loves another person has fulfilled the Law. The commandments, don't commit adultery, don't murder, don't steal, don't desire what others have, and any other commandments, are all summed up in one word: You must love your neighbor as yourself. Love doesn't do anything wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is what fulfills the Law.

 

Musing

In January of 2008 I thought we had reached the mountain top that Dr. King saw in 1968. My white male American Christian liberal self believed that we had finally overcome and reached the promise land of colorblindness. I dismissed the 2012 elections and the shift in the Senate as a push back, a reaction that that seemed normal to the shift I saw as our new normal. Then November 2016 came, I was crushed…the false reality I had created in my mind based on my place of privilege fell apart. In the face of a white mostly male conservation American Christian resurgence of the worst vestiges of the Doctrine of Discovery and racism and misogyny and white privilege and systemic bias and everything I believed we had gained seemed to vanish.

 

I was led into a serious time of reflection and discernment and came to realize that I had a misguided and misinformed understanding of race in America. It isn’t colorblindness that is needed. It is an embracing of the mosaic of humanity and a true respect of, celebration of, and honoring of the wide and deep variety of cultures that make this country what it is AND that make us great. I was raised thinking about melting pot where everything blends but learned that it should be a stew where everything is still discernible even as the sum of the parts makes something uniquely other.

 

But I am still distressed. Many people want to talk about all lives matter and not just Black Lives Matter. Many people want to see no distinctions when in reality distinctions need to be honored and present. Many of my white brothers and sisters struggle to understand the privilege they are told they have. If we are to every to get the mountain top of Dr. King’s dream, we need to understand white privilege. A Black friend of mine wrote up a reflection that I have permission to share. Please be aware that is sensitive and personal and not for causal use. This is one person’s opening themselves to try and show what privilege does. Please respect this. It is a privilege to be granted such access to the reality of life as a Black man in Portland, Oregon.

 

Last week I:

ü  Got followed around stores by security as I shopped…this happens every time I go to a department store

ü  Was ignored in line and passed over for the white male behind me

ü  Was told I was a not a Christian for supporting black lives

ü  Was mistaken for a gardener even though I am a professor

ü  Cried with my child over killing of black man and talked about how unsafe we felt in the world all in the midst of conversation about my beautiful grandchild

ü  Talked with my beloved child about their new car purchase and the worry of getting pulled over by police since it only has temporary tags

ü  Watched another black man get killed - two in two weeks

ü  Was the only black person in another meeting, and another, and another

ü  Softened my thoughts… again

ü  Saw racism but let it go… again

ü  Heard another passive aggressive comment but didn’t have the strength to argue the point

ü  Black Panther died and my wife cried

ü  Black panther died and my children lamented

o   Oh, Black Panther is a Marvel comic superhero that became a symbol of hope because real role models are slim, and symbols are mostly white, so we find ways to create some. Black Panther will be missed

ü  Demanded people of color be used in a meeting. I was fed up that day.

ü  Was devastated when the President compared black man being shot 7 times in the back to a golf shot

And then my friend shared his hope:

“The basic fact is that Christianity as it was born in the mind of this Jewish thinker and teacher appears as a technique of survival for the oppressed. That it became, through the intervening years, a religion of the powerful and the dominant, used sometimes as an instrument of oppression, must not tempt us into believing that it was thus in the mind and life of Jesus. 'In him was life; and the life was the light of men.' Wherever his spirit appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage; for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred, the three hounds of hell that track the trail of the disinherited, need have no dominion over them.”  - Howard Thurman

 

There is work to do. There are things to learn. There is a reality I am only beginning to comprehend. I ask myself; I ask you, are you ready to follow Jesus on the way? Not the American White Christian way but the way of the poor, itinerant, Jewish rabbi? Are you ready to travel the narrow path? Are you ready to love as Jesus commanded and Paul expects of us?

I end with this prayer:

Ever present God of all,

When we hold out our hands to be cuffed by loneliness, you clasp our wrists to pull us into your heart.

When our lives are shattered by the injustices done to those passed over by the world, your love puts us back together, so we can serve them with your hope.

Emancipating God, we praise you!

 When we would build walls between us and our neighbors, you come to be the welcoming gate.

When we would curse someone who has hurt us in our souls, you sing us songs of blessing.

When we would focus only on our needs and our desires, you hand us the dinnerware and ask us to set the Table.

Ever-near Salvation, we would follow you!

When we would feed on our bitter brokenness, you would offer us the Bread of reconciliation.

When we would grasp the Cup of peace, and drink it to the last drop, you whisper, 'offer some to those you don't like.'

Liberating Spirit, we would be filled with you!

God in Community, Holy in One, free us of all fears and doubts, as we pray in Jesus’ holy name. Amen.

 —Thom Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies.