10/12
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| Deacon James brought his sign |
Our friend and brother Rev. Osagyefo Sekou is in Ferguson,
Missouri. It is, in his words, a
movement moment. He’s there on behalf of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
They’ve asked for people of faith from around the country to come and be with
them as they call for justice for Michael Brown and an end to violence against
young black men. I have thought about it and can’t go. But we can answer the
call to have a hands up, don’t shoot sabbath.
Everything in the service will be in solidarity with our brothers and
sisters in Ferguson.
Russ is back. And there’s a couple from Brisbane, Australia.
And I’m very happy to see Victoire from Open Mic and her friend Henri show up.
It feels like a good morning already.
We open our service with words from the Belhar Confession:
We gather to worship believing
that God has been revealed as One who wishes to bring about justice and true peace
among people. In our worship we are strengthened so that we can do what is good
and seek what is right.
I explain how the Belhar Confession came out
of a South African Reform church struggling against apartheid. How our own
Presbyterian Church has now twice recommended that the Belhar Confession be
approved as an official confession of the Church. It was defeated in tbe
Presbyteries the last time around because those afraid of lgbtq inclusion saw
it’s emphasis on inclusion an open door. How truly sad. We’ve got another chance to
right that this time around. (https://www.rca.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=304)
I explain that it is Columbus Day and that even though John
Oliver has raised the question why is
this still a thing?, it’s still important.
I understand why some states have gone to calling it indigenous peoples’
day, but I can’t go there. A little too politically correct. When I was in Central
America in the 1980’s, the day was called el dia de la raza, the day of the
race, because most Central American campesinos are mixtures of indigenous
Indian and Spanish. They call the coming to the western hemisphere of Europeans el
encuentro. A new people was born. Beyond the genocide ( and that’s a big beyond...) it
is true that the peasant class is indeed a mestizo people. Where the indigenous
have been wiped out, they remain present in the faces of la raza nueva.
The question of course is what does this
passage have to do with Ferguson? For me, simply this. It is about substituting
for God something of our own creation. Our racism, our honoring of one race
over another, is a form of idolatry, of making a false god of a made up
reality, ie, race. For those of us who are white, our race…We make a golden calf out of whiteness. If we do not do
it explicitly, as most of us would not, we do it implicitly by the devaluing of black
life.
And the data is raw. From the drug statistics
we learned when West-Park brought to Presbytery the action on the drug laws.
With 12% of the population, people of color make up 65% of arrests, 75% o those brought to trial and 85% of those incarcerated. A black man between
the ages of 18-25 without a high school diploma has an 85% chance of being in
prison. More black men in that age cohort are in prison than in
college. And in this morning’s Times,
Nicholas Krstof had similar statistics on traffic arrests on the
Interstate. (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-when-whites-just-dont-get-it-part-3.html?_r=0)
Two weeks ago we talked about who is the
authority in our lives. Last week, we talked about the Ten Commandments and
Thou shalt have no other gods before me…This discussion follows in that line.
Racism is idolatry.
We have to be able to see the image of God in
every human face. I ask around the circle where people are from. French, middle
European, Scots Irish and French, Japanese and Italian, English, Puerto Rican
and African-American. And if we all did that DNA test, ain’t none of us pure. We need to be able to look around the circle and see the very image of God on
every face. If we could do that at work, on the subway, wherever, it would be a step towards being an anti-racist congregation.
We finish our reflection by singing once more He’s
got the whole world in his hands…
And as we prepare for our prayers, we sing in
Latin,
Confitemini domino, quoniam bonus,
Confitemini domino, Alleluia!
(Come and fill our hearts with
your peace, you alone are holy, come and fill our hearts with your peace,
Alleluia!)
We confess that in a world full of injustice and enmity,
we have not proclaimed enough that God is, in a special way,the God of the
destitute, the poor, and the wronged; that God brings justice to the oppressed
and gives bread to the hungry;that God frees the prisoner and restores sight to
the blind that God supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps
orphans and widows.
We confess that we have not prayed enough that the church
would stand by people in any form of suffering or need, which implies,among
other things, that the church must witness against and strive against any form
of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like
an ever-flowing stream.
We confess that we have not celebrated enough the
sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist so as to learn that, as the church of God
we must stand where God stands, namely against injustice and with the wronged; that in
following Christ the church must witness against all the powerful and
privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm
others.
We confess.
God have mercy and hear
our cry to you. Amen.
Our final song is Canta
de Esperanza:
Dios de la esperanza,
danos gozo y paz.
Al mundo en crisis,
habla tu verdad.
Dios de la justicia, mandanos
tu luz,
luz y esperanza en la
oscuridad.
Oremos por la paz,
cantemos de tu amor.
Luchemos por la
paz,fieles a ti, Senor.
May the God of hope go
with us every day,
filling all our lives
with love and joy and peace.
May the God of justice
speed us on our way,
bringing light and
hope to every land and race.
Praying, let us work
for peace;
singing, share our joy
with all;
working for a world
that's new,
faithful when we hear
Christ's call.
I point out that for those who don’t speak Spanish, our translator has
softened the language. In the original Spanish, it actually says:
The God of hope gives
us joy and peace
To a world in crisis,
you speak your truth
God of justice, you
are sending us your light
Light and hope in the
darkness.
We are praying for
peace, we are singing of your love
We are fighting for
peace, faithful to you, O Lord..
Don’t understand why someone felt called to do that. We are fighting for peace…may we be
strong enough. Brave enough.
As we are finishing the service, Deacon James asks us not to leave. A
few minutes later, he returns with his sign, We stand with the community of
Ferguson. He is proud that his church has been there in a cause important to
him. The sign will remain in the front of the church throughout the day, to be
seen by all our Open HouseNY visitors.
The complete Hands Up, Don't Shoot liturgical tool kit can be found here: http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/2115/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14895
The complete Hands Up, Don't Shoot liturgical tool kit can be found here: http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/2115/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14895
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| Stephen leading a tour |
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| Last tour of the day. |
Thanks to Don, Leila, Dion, Stephen, Danielle and Marsha for all their help with
the tours. Good to have more trained docents for the church. Our story si a
rich one.
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