Here are some reflections and thoughts about what I attempted to say from the pulpit at the Bering Drive Church of Christ on October 9, 2016. The entire sermon can be heard online at the Bering Drive Church website for the brave of heart. There are other useful and challenging things on this page from its members and ministers.
My heart was already welling up with emotion moments before Don Edwards, longtime minister for this church, stepped up to introduce me. The worship service was wonderful. The responsive reading by Amy Fuller was especially meaningful. Now it was time for me to speak words of grace over a problem that has long troubled my soul.
My attempt was to situate the stories of black farmers and their families within the larger context of the violation of shalom in the garden, and then to situate these violent acts of discrimination within the context of institutional racism. It was not to be their problem, but our problem. We are a part of the violation of shalom, and our attempts to repair it are important though oftentimes limited.
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
After telling the church about that pivotal call from the lead counsel for the black farmers in the Spring, 1994, I asked, "What have your calls been? Your taps on the shoulder? Experiences that quicken your spirit, that tear at your soul? What do those phone calls or moments have to do with anything? They have a lot to do with everything. They are a reminder of the brokenness of the world, including myself. They are an invitation to join the struggle."
The texts of John 1 and Genesis 1 declare creation and who was there and what was done and by whom and for what purposes. As Cornelius Plantinga has written, there was "the webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight in what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. In English we call it peace, but it means far more than just peace of mind or ceasefire between enemies. It is a universal flourishing and delight."
In the eons since the violation of shalom, God has relentlessly pursued us, calling us to return. The law nor the prophets nor the judges brought shalom. The violation of shalom is reflected in injustice, mistreatment, bribes, crooked weights, oppression, lining the pockets of the rich at the expense of the poor, and injustice in the courts. Against these accusations, many of which continue to this day, we hear the words of the prophet Amos, "Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-ending stream."
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
For Christ-followers, we have several paths of the walk, according to Foster in Streams of Living Water. The one that makes the most sense to me is that of the social justice tradition, the compassionate life as it impacts three arenas of life: personally, socially, and institutionally.
My own personal narrative of a 67 year old white male from a small town in East Texas, born into a low SES, but hard-working family, is juxtaposed against the narrative of people of color. What they understood as fairly normal, I was shocked to see. The stories of discrimination and mistreatment by officials representing the federal government did not phase them. They had seen it or felt it for years and even centuries in their family narratives. It was new to me. I was white then, I am white now, and I will always be white.
He walked in the door limping, using a cane to stay upright, the left side of his face drooping, drooling and using a handkerchief. He had had a stroke. She almost danced in, smiling, exuding warmth and delight, but one brief conversation revealed the truth. She had had a psychotic break from too many nights of staying awake, wondering if that would be the night that they would come and take their land. His question, "When will this be over," haunts me to this day.
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
There are many, many stories of the impact of systemic racism on the hearts, minds, bodies, and souls of black farmers and their families. Many stories are chronicled. Many are not. Despite what one friend of mine said, "These things don't happen in America," they do happen in America. Check out Eddie and Dorothy Wise story, or the Grant story, or others. They are out there in the public for all to see. My comment then and now is to tell their stories in places and spaces that they cannot or choose not to go. I am a story-teller and their stories are worth telling and knowing.
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'till he knows
That too many people have died?
I recall the words of Frederick Buechner as he was pondering what to do with his life after his tour of duty in the military. "I just wanted to do something for Christ," he wrote as he headed off to seminary. He became a minister and a novelist. I read some of his writings most every day.
And so I write and do research and blog and make presentations. And so Charla and I are committed to social justice in our small corner of the world. These efforts may be small, who knows, after all, but just do something. Make friends, say hello, ask good questions, volunteer. Wherever you are, whatever you do, work toward restoring shalom.
We yearn for shalom. We will eventually experience shalom, in the words of Wayne Watson, when "at the ultimate healing we will be home free." While his song speaks of death and dying and why some die young and others do not, the sentiment fits a world gone amuck.
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind
Until we are home free, we determine to make our little corner of the universe a little better than we found it. That way, we fulfill our calling until He comes.
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