It’s time for truth telling. I grew up in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky playing cowboys and Indians and I always wanted to be a cowboy, because they won. I didn’t understand what we’d done to native Americans until years later. We played Civil War and our neighborhood clubhouse had a Confederate Flag on the wall. We took turns being Yankees and Rebels. We didn’t know what the fighting was all about, hadn’t even a clue about slavery; we were just playing a game. After the events of this past week, I understand that I’m only just beginning to understand, and may never fully understand what’s been going on all these years.
It’s time for truth telling. I never heard of Civil Rights until I went to college in 1966, and I couldn’t understand why the black student body withdrew and shut us out when we tried to grieve with them in the days after Dr. Martin Luther King was killed. I didn’t hear of Emmett Till until I was at a Montreat Conference in the 90s, and later read with members of the presbytery, Tyson’s book Blood Done Signed My Name. I participated in a seminary webinar “White Picket Fences” and heard it said that white people are trapped in a history they don’t understand and until they do, they can’t be free of it; that we must learn how to shift our white privilege to help those victimized by systemic racism.
It’s time for truth telling. Only this past week did I learn about Juneteenth, the oldest known celebration honoring the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Federal troops rode into Galveston, Texas, to announce that the Civil War had ended, and slaves had been freed- two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
It’s time for truth telling. Whatever news media we trust, it’s difficult to hear complete truth. In the midst of so much to divide us, together we must find the pieces of truth to build trust and work together to build a more just and loving world. We must make tangible, intentional steps together, and work together within our spheres of influence and beyond, as we wrestle with the state of our common life.
It’s time for truth telling. Day by day we're becoming more and more aware of gross economic and social injustices in the world and of deep and festering systemic racism. Many of us are beginning to see new truth and to come to deeper understandings.
If taking down a monument, or changing the name of a building in the center of a city, or the name of a school or street eases the pain and suffering of others, then let’s work together, peacefully, to get it done, and pray for deep and lasting change in our hearts toward one another.
It’s time for truth telling. As the PCUSA General Assembly is meeting virtually this week, Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson opened the session with these words: “We’re not here by accident; we are here in this place, this time and this moment as a witness to the broader reach of faith.“ Nelson remembered the African Americans wrongfully murdered in recent weeks, and went on to say, “We have to remember that this did not start yesterday; we have to get off of our blessed assurance to do something about this.”
It’s time for truth telling.
We know what Jesus asks of us- “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)
We know what the prophets say – “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24)
We know what God requires of us – “to do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with God.” Micah 6:8)
In all the truth telling of these days, may we all live into the truth and freedom of the new thing God is doing among us.
Elizabeth
As a minister, I prayerfully “think” through my sermons the week before preaching them, and I prayerfully “re-think” them in the days after. A good sermon never says it all; a good sermon loosens the soil around the thoughts planted , encouraging a continuing working of the grounds of the thoughts and ideas shared. In addition to what one tries to say, the hope is that what isn’t said, and needs to be said, will be heard as well.
Yesterday’s sermons was “Claiming Our Mission” – challenging modern day disciples to hear Jesus’ words to his first disciples as words to us as well. Jesus looked upon the crowds coming to him as “sheep without a shepherd” and the fields as “ripe for harvest.” As I continue “re-thinking” yesterday’s sermon, I find myself wishing I’d read the passage from The Message, Eugene Peterson’s modern translation of the scriptures:
“Jesus sent his harvest hands out with this charge: ‘Don’t begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t try to be dramatic, by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.’”
The message of the kingdom’s coming is to be made believable through concrete demonstrations of God’s love and care, with concern for souls accompanied by concern for physical needs as well. What does it mean to live generously? What sicknesses need to be cured? What demons need to be named, called out and dealt with, so that we may live in greater freedom? What “lepers” are marginalized and shunned and reaching out for healing grace in our day? In what areas of life does death seems to be having the final word? Where are those working for reconciliation? Where are the peacemakers? Where are the justice-bringers? What even does justice look like these days?
A friend in my home state, Kentucky, shared one symbolic change, in that the statue of Jefferson Davis was peacefully removed from the state capitol rotunda last Friday. The governor is pushing for equal access to health care among other reforms. Symbolic change is a beginning, but only a beginning.
Presbyterian Outlook editor Jill Duffield shares these words: “Jesus sends us out to proclaim the good news, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons - and yet it seems we do not know how to do what we know to do or how to be what we know to be. The harvest is so ripe for the life-giving, justice-bringing, sin-freeing, evil-obliterating Word of God, but many of us Jesus workers refuse to go to the fields and fail to be what and who we know to be.”
May Duffield’s prayer be the prayer of our hearts these days: “Lord, we ask you for laborers for your abundant, life-saving harvest of justice and love, peace and reconciliation . We boldly ask to be among them. But we are going to need a lot of faith and courage, endurance and mercy. We are going to need to extend and receive radical hospitality from strangers who may well be angels. We are going to need to trust that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character calls forth no small amount of hope. We need all of the above and then some in order to go into the fields of your world and bring in a heavenly harvest on earth that feeds and sustains us all. Amen.”
I give thanks for the discipline of re-thinking sermons, and for kindred spirits who share their struggles in writing and help me along the way.
Elizabeth
One of the blessings of these days apart, has been the joy of visiting with congregations in the community and in other places, by way of the internet. Yesterday a minister in another community began with John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” He encouraged those listening to keep on loving the Lord and to pay attention to their neighbors and work to build relationships with them. He cautioned that we must not let ourselves be pulled into the hatred around us; we must walk in love.
He shared encouraging words of Rev. Martin Luther King: “We must use time creatively, knowing the time is always right to do the right thing ... We may have come to this country on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now…The quality, not the longevity of one’s life is important … Hate can’t drive out hate, only love can do that; darkness can’t drive out darkness, only light can do that.”
“Where do we get that kind of light and that kind of love?” the minister asked. He went on to say that we get that kind of light and love from God, and God can redeem everything that is happening in this world. He told the story of Joseph, and showed how God took what his brothers meant for harm and used it for good in Joseph’s life and in the lives of many others.
In one of the large groups protesting, I saw woman, who looked a lot like me, carrying a sign saying: “I understand that I don’t understand, but I stand with you.” I’m proud of her for being there! Quoting King again, “If you can’t fly, then run; if you can’t run, then walk; if you can’t walk, then crawl – whatever it takes to keep moving forward!”
With God’s help, let us find ways to be light and love for each other and ways to stand with each other, as we keep moving forward – together!
Elizabeth