This evening’s drop of hope and spiritual direction comes from my colleagues at the Love Mercy, Do Justice ministry initiative in Chicago:
On June 19, 1865 (over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln), enslaved Africans in Texas finally received word that they had been emancipated. The celebration of their freedom became what is known to us today as “Juneteenth” (a mash-up of the words June and nineteenth).
Jemar Tisby says, “Freedom has always come with an asterisk in America,” and perhaps this year more than any in recent history, we feel that asterisk. We acknowledge and grieve the paradox in today’s celebration of freedom – a freedom that has been underscored by unfulfilled promise; a freedom that has looked different for some than it has for others.
Spiritual Practice
In the early days of celebrating Juneteenth, the day was spent by bringing families and communities together for a time of prayer and thanksgiving. So this evening, gather your family and pray for the brokenness in our nation. Enter into a time of thanksgiving for the freedom we have both as citizens of this nation and as the children of God. And perhaps read or sing these words of James Weldon Johnson’s song “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” the anthem which has become known as the African American National Anthem:
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us Facing the rising sun of our new day begun Let us march on ’til victory is won
My speech was plain, not with a lot of eloquence or human persuasion, but the Holy Spirit’s power was in my words, showing those who heard them that the message was from God. 1 Corinthians 2
God who speaks worlds into being, teach me how to speak from my heart. Amen
This evening’s drop of hope is dedicated to the power of speech.
The NFL Draft is now under way, and the first pick has become a hometown hero for calling attention to something impacting so many families in this pandemic—hunger.
Even before food banks were overwhelmed by Americans desperate to feed their families Joe Burrow had used his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech to remind us there has always been hunger in America.
“Coming from southeast Ohio, it’s a very impoverished area,” the 23-year-old Burrow said on a New York stage in December. “The poverty rate is almost two times the national average, and there’s so many people there that don’t have a lot. I’m up here for all those kids in Athens and in Athens County that go home to not a lot of food on the table, hungry after school,” he added, telling those kids, “and you guys can be up here, too.”
The night of the ceremony the people in that community were paying attention. Will Drabold said Burrow’s mention of southeast Ohio struck him like a bolt of lightning. Will put the quote on Facebook and wrote, “Let’s honor Joey’s words and give money to the food pantry.” He didn’t think it would raise a thousand dollars.
But donations poured in from all over the country raising $650K—five years of ordinary income.
The food pantry director told newscaster Lester Holt: Joe has given a voice to this region and to its needs. I hope that this conversation will turn into something that will actually help us go out of business.
Spiritual Practice
This story reminds me that it is not the artfulness of our words that moves people to compassionate action. Even complacent people will recognize the message of Christ when they hear it from a pure heart.
If you’re like me, you’re wondering: What is the message of Christ at the heart of me?
According to Joe Burrow’s example, it’s probably related to gratitude. He said, “I didn’t write it. I just went up there and started talking. I wanted to mention southeast Ohio because so many people had helped me from that area. Then it just kind of came to my mind that I could mention the struggles that area goes through.”
Joe’s dad recalls checking in with Joe before the ceremony. He found Joe writing some notes on a scrap of paper. But when his son received the award and started speaking, Dad could tell Joe was off script and speaking from his heart.
What are you grateful for NOW? What could you say about that?
Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5
Spirit of Christ, embodied by Jesus and the assembly of saints: Help me to host your peacemaking ways in my body too! Help my faith community become agents of peace near and far. Amen
Today Daily Drop of Hope is from Bethlehem! That’s right—we’re coming to you from that sacred space 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem.
Our teacher, Sami Awad, is director of the Holy Land Trust. The Holy Land Trust builds communities of resiliency through grassroots movements of nonviolent resistance. Sami is a friend of Pastor Ryan Howell. Ryan has been going live every day at 10am, and this week he is introducing us to the Howell’s ministry partners around the world.
Sami’s teaching and exhortation especially aligns with Crossroads mission to become a network of every-day peacemakers. He shared the three ways his community is sowing peace in Palestine: Non-violent resistance, healing trauma, and nurturing transformation.
He defines PEACE as something other than safety and security. Peace derives from the risky life-arts of breaking privilege, giving freely, listening well and compassionate service. This brand of peace requires significant disruption!
Ryan talked about the necessity of ending the “myth of sacred violence” that fuels harmful religion, including some modern strains of Christianity.
Sami also spoke of the blessing of being locked down for 50 days. He thanks God for the opportunity to change our way of life. God is giving us permission to turn the tables of economic injustice, pay attention to the brokenhearted and spin free of fearful motivations into deeper movements of love, compassion and care. He urged us to think beyond protecting our wealth during this pandemic and to lean in to the possibilities in God’s bigger vision for humankind.
Sometimes God’s vision of a new humanity is proclaimed in the world through the life and voice of one ordinary, enlightened person. Their words are so stunning and true, we simply can’t get past this person’s message. We cannot see around the largess of the vision. We can only marvel at the relationship between this person’s imagination and the mind of God.
Jesus is the Ultimate Example of such a life. The message and leadership of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is also an example. Reverend King’s life is a stunning illustration of how every human being might live into a portion of God’s work and imagination.
Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann puts it so well:
On this day when we remember Martin Luther King, we recall especially his “dream speech” in which he articulated a version of the kingdom of God when there would be reconciliation and solidarity across all our distinctions. King spoke out of a renovated imagination. He no longer imagined the world according to the corrupt imagination of fear and hate. He summoned his listeners into that renovated imagination through which God’s future could be seen differently… We are invited by Dr. King to engage in the new creation, apart from old ways of wounding and division.
Our hearts are elevated this day, because Divine Love within us identifies with King’s vision and King’s sacrifice.
If we are so graced today, we might empathize with the suffering of the tens of thousands of God’s children who marched and wept and prayed and suffered violence during the Civil Rights Movement in this land. If we are so graced, we might empathize with the millions upon millions of Africans who journeyed through the dark waters of the Middle Passage to this land. If we are so graced, we might agonize with the five thousand who bore the lynching tree even after the Emancipation Proclamation of this land. If we are so graced, we shall face the reality of the mass incarceration of black persons in this land today—and fight it as the plague it is.
This day let us remember the dream. Let it elevate our hearts. And let us contemplate our own true calling.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4)
Prayer for the day:God of all our births, give us in this season [Epiphany] a fresh capacity to see your hope for your world and resolve to live according to that vision. In his name. Amen. (Walter Brueggemann)
Acknowledging
privilege and taking action on injustice require constant vigilance. Brené
Brown
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh (‘privileged’), I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. The Apostle Paul (Philippians 3:4-7)
Several months later, I attended another church leader gathering in our area. A guest pastor and his team were sharing about their work in western Africa. These men were faith-filled and genuine, but it was obvious that they do not consider women co-equals in leadership at home or in the faith community.
At the end of the presentation, someone asked all the pastors in the audience to come forward and pray for this team. I was the only female who went forward in a sea of local male pastors. Once we were in place, the event host asked my colleague Scott to lead the prayer aloud, to which he replied, “I think Katie should lead it.”
Once again, Scott was passing his privilege to me.
My story relates to Paul’s warning in Philippians: Don’t trust in ‘the flesh’.
For the purpose of this reflection, I’ve paraphrased “flesh” to “privilege”. When Paul refers to the ‘the flesh’ here as well as Galatians and Romans, he is talking about the pride of physical descent, in which the Jews placed their confidence. Paul admits that ethnic privilege had been his confidence too.
Ethnic privilege was big in the ancient world, and continues in our day. And there are many other forms of privilege in our society: race, gender, sexual orientation, class, family status, age group… Privilege means that you can afford to look the other way, because you are not the one being harassed, underpaid, pulled over, deported, lynched, shut out, etc…
Paul’s message in Philippians 3 is that he had taken a long, painful look at privilege and decided to pick it apart and remove it from his life. I don’t think he’s bragging. I think he’s telling a painful story of ‘humiliation leading to transformation’, which we can only hear if we listen without judgment.
And Paul is now clear in his thinking: If I passively rest in my privilege, I cannot be the distinctive light of life that God has created me to be—I cannot be the transforming presence that the children of God are made for. Furthermore, whatever privileged identity I am resting on will eventually fall apart and no longer be able to support True Life. (Hence Paul’s choice of the term ‘flesh’ that decays.)
In the rising strong process, The Rumble is for doing deep work with two things: 1.) Painful emotions and 2.) Human need (Chapter 8). Within the scope of human need, Brené Brown addresses such things as connection, self-worth, privilege and asking for help.
I invite you to read Chapter 8 of Rising Strong alongside Philippians 3. What is Paul teaching us about rumbling with privilege? We’ve heard Paul’s story, Brené’s story, a bit of my story. What is your story; and how does it lead you to take action against injustice?
Starter Prayer
LORD God, help my awareness of my privilege embolden me to look injustice in the eye and take action.
Reading Focus for Rising Strong, by Brené Brown
We are in week 4, of this 6-week study. The focus is Chapters 7-8 of Rising Strong. The topics are: Rumbling with difficult emotions and human need.
I’ve learned enough
about privilege to know that we’re at our most dangerous when we think we’ve
learned everything we need to know about it. Brené Brown.
Finally, my dear family, rejoice in the Lord! It’s no trouble for me to repeat myself, and for you it is a safeguard. Beware of the religious elite! All they are interested in is protecting their image. True believers trust God’s Spirit, follow Jesus’s teachings, and place no confidence in their privileged status (My paraphrase of Philippians 3:1-3)
I entered the meeting space late and overheard the guest speaker asking the event host to move the audience to a smaller room. The speaker had noticed that the room was only half full. He prefers to speak to a crowded room. (I get that!) The host explained to him that the conference room would not have enough seats for everyone. To which the speaker replied, “That’s good! I like the energy when the room is over capacity. Once the conference table is full, set up some chairs around the perimeter.”
My heart began to race, and I immediately lost my appetite. I was turned off by this speaker’s philosophy of event management, but why did I feel upset by it? If this guy wants a dopamine hit to get his energy up for speaking, why do I care? Then I realized: This whole scene is a ‘values violation’ for me; and being in a room full of male clergy always ‘triggers shame’ for me. (More on values violations and shame triggers later this week.)
Back to the story… I lingered in the auditorium, until the final few of us were ushered into the smaller conference room. Expecting to sit on the perimeter, imagine my surprise when my colleague Scott was already reading the situation, setting up chairs, and motioning to several local guests to sit on the edge of the room with him. When I made eye contact with Scott, he raised his eyebrows, smiled, and wryly motioned for me to take an open seat at the table.
This would not be the last meeting where Scott takes action. (I’ll share another story tomorrow.) Being aware of the power and privilege in the setting, Sam was making room at the table for others and me.
You may or may not have thought about the kind of religious privilege Paul writes about in Philippians 3 or I encounter at male-dominated clergy gatherings. Brené Brown addresses other types of privilege in Chapter 8 of Rising Strong.
How does privilege affect you on a daily basis? Either the privilege you have or the privilege you don’t have?
Starter Prayer
LORD God, teach me more about my privilege. Help me make the choice to connect with people outside my privileged group.
Reading Focus for Rising Strong, by Brené Brown
We are in week 4, of this 6-week study. The focus is Chapters 7-8 of Rising Strong. The topics are: Rumbling with difficult emotions and human need.
Awake 