living in cornavirusworld95 : a church stand for black lives matter

6/25

breaking bread together

The struggle continues

The seventh march for black lives matter moves through my neighborhood. “A people united will never be defeated.” I hear the chants as I enter the Presbyterian (virtual) Assembly. The meeting begins with a “virtual” communion service. I have my own plate, wafer and wine to celebrate at my own table. Strange. But I somehow still feel connected.

This will be our moment to press our motion recognizing black lives matter. Getting the action in front of the body is not easy. It was not clear to the podium that a substitute motion had been made. Small amendments on what we had perceived to be a toothless motion continued. I spent at least 15 minutes with a parliamentarian simply trying to gain entry for our substitute. Moment before the vote would be  taken closing the door, one of our team got recognized and submitted our substitute. Which was approved by the Assembly to  replace the main motion.  And after debate, our motion passed by an overwhelming margin. 

It was a great example of how our church is supposed to work.  A group of elected people from all across the country, working together to make a powerful statement. Even in the context of 500 people in ZOOM meeting.

Later that night, I was able to add “persons living with HIV” to a list of those who were experiencing special trauma from the Covid19 virus. 

After the meeting….feeling exhausted …I stop by the West Park (virtual) open mic. Good to step out of my tunnel. See some friends. Play some songs. 

A hard day’s work. Well done.

    

On the Church in This Moment in History – [Responding to the Sin of Racism and a Call to Action

“Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
      you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
      the restorer of streets to live in.”
-Isaiah 58:12 (NRSV)

This 224th General Assembly of the PC(USA) declares that Black and Brown lives matter; that our country’s most important institutions have been built to sustain white privilege, to protect white lives and white property at the expense of our siblings of color; and that the church, through ignorance, denial, and in some cases deliberate action, has participated in this injustice.  We have been slow to face the reality of systemic racism.  We have been slow to acknowledge the pain of our fellow Presbyterians, of our fellow Christians, of our fellow citizens, and of those who have come to America for a better life, whose value has been judged by the color of their skin.  We pledge to join hands and hearts with our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) siblings to actively confront and dismantle systemic racism in our church and in society at large, and to work for a more just, merciful, and peaceful country that allows all of God’s children to flourish.]

The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly recommends that the 224th GA (2020)

1. [Call] Urge all Presbyterians to hear and heed the Gospel imperative to love God, neighbor, and self by living out a deeper commitment to active participation with Jesus Christ in the work of building God’s kindom through

1. Personal and corporate repentance, spiritual renewal, and devotion to the Great Ends of the Church. [Repenting, both personally and corporately, for the role we as individuals and as a predominantly White-dominated church played in history and continue to perpetuate today, even if unknowingly, in systemic racism and White Supremacy, especially in terms of our own local silence, silencing those who attempt to speak or act, and our failure to act regarding police brutality, voter suppression, educational and healthcare inequality, and other acts of systemic racism on federal, state, and local levels]

2. Listening and responding to the voices of peoples long silenced through programs such as Hands and Feet: Presbyterians Engaging in Communities, the Poor People’s Campaign, [and Freedom Rising, approved by the 222nd General Assembly]

3. Energetic, intelligent, imaginative, and loving involvement in the Matthew 25 Initiative and its intertwinedfoci: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism, and eradicating systemic poverty

2. [Direct the Co-Moderators of the 224th General Assembly (2020) to facilitate a time of silent vigil of 8 minutes and 46 seconds as a symbolic representation in solidarity with our BIPOC siblings, and of corporate lament and personal introspection of our complicity in perpetuating systemic racism and racial injustice before the adjourning of the 224th General Assembly (2020).]

3. Direct the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency to review all items of business referred [from the 224th General Assembly (2020)] to the 225th General Assembly (2022) to consider prayerfully whether the recommendations could be enacted under current social witness policy or the authority of agencies and their boards to make programmatic decisions between assemblies.

4. [Call] Encourage congregations, sessions, presbyteries, and synods to review items of business referred [from the 224th General Assembly (2020)] to the 225th General Assembly (2022) and prayerfully consider the call of God to work and witness for the goals and values expressed therein, [in particular the following items as starting points for developing plans for action in dismantling structural racism at every level of the PC(USA):

1. 02-020, “Disparities Experienced by Black Women and Girls Task Force Report” 

2. 02-034-INFO, “Special Committee on Racism, Truth, and Reconciliation Progress Report with Recommendation” 

3. 02-041, “Lazarus is Walking in Baltimore - from the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy” 

4. 02-084, “A Resolution Addressing the Lack of Installed Pastoral Leadership in People of Color Congregations in the PC(USA) - From the Racial Equity Advocacy Committee”

5. 02-100, “Approval of Part 1 of the 2021–2022 Mission Work Plan for the Presbyterian Mission Agency—From the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board,” especially the sections on dismantling structural racism

5. Recommend that PC(USA) congregations, mid-councils, and all General Assembly Entities develop and adopt an antiracism policy in their bylaws by engaging Item 02-137, “On Amending G-3.0106 to Add an Antiracism Policy with Suggested Training for All Members of Each Council.”  This work can be done now at all levels, even in advance of the 225th General Assembly, at which time that General Assembly can act on setting a constitutional requirement to do so if it chooses.

6. Honoring the spirit of Item 02-034-INFO - the Progress Report from the Special Committee on Racism, Truth, and Reconciliation and its conclusions regarding the need to address "institutional racism and oppression within the church" and "to call the church to do the hard work of repair necessary for reconciliation," we direct the Special Committee on Racism, Truth, and Reconciliation to prepare for the 225th General Assembly (2022) a report deconstructing white privilege within our own denomination's (and predecessor denominations') history of involvement in the colonization, enslavement, oppression, and genocide of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), including theological support and benefits to our institutions. The report should also include a study of our denomination’s history of prophetic witness, resistance and abolition, and make recommendations towards proposed amends, reparations, and reconciliation.

7. Thank the Stated Clerk for adding his signature to the Open Letter of the Poor People’s campaign and direct the Presbyterian Mission Agency to commend the use of the learning resources and the Open Letter of the Poor People’s campaign as educational tools for congregations.

8. Commend to the entirety of the PC(USA), its members, congregations, presbyteries, synods, and the GA entities the poem included in the rationale and retyped here for reading, reflection, meditation.

A knee on a neck
laying bare for all to see
the evil of
callous
soulless
entitled
power
choking the life from
God’s beloved
just because. 

We know what must change.
Will we, church? 

We have written many
true, significant,
sometimes even sincere
words.

We have confessed:
Belhar, C’67, Barmen… 

Enough words?
Never enough witness. 

We know we must change.
Will we, church? 

Kairos.

               We believe there is no more core and critical business in this time than attending to the pain, suffering, and long-standing oppression of our BIPOC siblings in Christ. We believe that the work of [attending to the pain, suffering, and long-standing oppression of our BIPOC siblings in Christ is central to our work of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ]. When Black Americans are killed at twice the rate of white Americans (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/) we have much to lament. We, in particular white people, and as a predominantly white denomination, must confess our complicity in perpetuating systems of oppression against our BIPOC siblings. The church must be the first place seeking racial justice and reconciliation, the dismantling of structural racism, and the healing of our marginalized communities. It has, unfortunately, not often been so. We must have our own denominational and congregational houses in order. We must dare to be an image of hope for those around us.

          While we recognize and honor the work towards justice that has been happening and continues at every level of the PC(USA), we also name that in this time it is not enough. We must become actively antiracist in our theology, policy, and praxis. When our colleagues, siblings, and neighbors protest in the streets to say that being Black should never be an excuse to be targeted and killed, when so many stand in solidarity to say #BlackLivesMatter, and when our own communities are weighed down in grief and anger, it is the time to stand alongside our BIPOC siblings in voice and in action.

           bell hooks, an American author and social activist says this, “Love is an action, never simply a feeling.” If we claim to love our neighbor, especially our BIPOC neighbors, we are called to action. We have said a lot and not done enough. Acknowledging the grief of our siblings in Christ and naming that the Church has a primary calling to be repairers of the breach means nothing without moving towards action. We cannot wait until the 225th General Assembly to begin again to take action.]

_____

Rationale

      

A knee on a neck
laying bare for all to see
the evil of
callous
soulless
entitled
power
choking the life from
God’s beloved
just because.

We know what must change.
Will we, church?

We have written many
true, significant,
sometimes even sincere
words.
We have confessed:
Belhar, C’67, Barmen …

Enough words?
Never enough witness.

We know we must change.
Will we, church?

Kairos.

The Great Ends of the Church

The great ends of the Church are:

the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind;

the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God;

the maintenance of divine worship;

the preservation of the truth;

the promotion of social righteousness; and

the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world—Book of Order, F-1.0304

Hands and Feet Initiative: https://handsandfeet-pcusa.org/

Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/

Matthew 25 Initiative: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/matthew-25/

PC(USA) racial justice resources: https://www.pcusa.org/racial-justice-resources/

_____

Living in coronavirusworld 88: Covid 19 Update and what we do now

6/20

Notice beauty

I am part of “Covid19 Update” for medical professionals produced by the National Association for Continuing Education. The program is hosted by Dr. Neil Skolnik (https://www.pri-med.com/globals/faculty/s/skolnik-neil) and sharing with me Dr. Leana Wen. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leana_Wen)   Dr. Skolnik sets the stage by reminding us that  more than 113,000 fellow Americans have died of Covid19. More than the Korean and Vietnamese Wars combined. Twenty million jobs lost and 13% unemployment, the most since the Great Depression.  In the northeast there has been a steady decline, but 21 states are now showing rises especially in hospitalizations and ICU units.   Nevertheless the question is not whether to reopen, but how to reopen. 

In Texas, 50% of new cases are young people in their twenties. And non-white positives are six times that of whites.

Dr. Wen reports that the ideologizing of mask use is extremely dangerous. Data shows that use of masks reduce risk by 5 times. An that masks are 80% effective. The claim that the rise in new cases is due to increased testing in testing given that the real number come from hospitalizations.  The point of testing is to bring it down and combined with public health protocols and initiatives, now especially in the public transit sector does that. The principle is the Wayne Gretzky rule, focus not where the puck is but where it is going. Aymptomatic concerns are real and must continue.Of the tested, 40% have antibodies and perhaps as many as 20% if New Yorkers are antibody positive. Hydroxycloride has been tested every  conceivable way and is not only not an effective treatment but may possibly weaken resistance to infection. We need to remember that the virus does not resort our wishes. 

My presentation had to do with spiritual concerns. Here’s what I had to say:

These are difficult times. My topic is a spiritual perspective and I want to begin by talking about patients. What makes this different is that they are cut off from usual means of emotional and spiritual support….family, friends, clergy…they feel alone (New York is allowing hospital visits). You may be one of their only human contacts. Patients often want to  know why, they need a reason. She way of making sense or believing things are not out of control. In responding,  be objective…sometimes things just are. They need to know that what they feel is okay. Hard as it is, the most important thing you can do is to be present. 

Now, for you. Take care of yourself. A nurse said to me, I’m not a hero, just doing my job, but I don’t want to be a martyr. Remember the airplane oxygen warning, put your own mask on first before helping  others. You need to have someone you can  be open with. I learned from Hospice nurses the need to feel free to dislike patients. That even if someone is dying, they can still be pain in the ass.  

The most important spiritual needs are faith, hope and joy. We all have faith in something ….God, science, humanity…..some force outside of yourself. In studying depression, in the lives of  Lincoln, Styron, Mother Theresa…what’s most important is feeling you are part of something bigger than yourself. Lincoln came to live with melancholia when he moved past seeing slavery as a politics issue and came to se it as a personal calling. 

Hope is not optimism.  Things are not getting better every way every day. Hope is to have faith in spite of the evidence and having the courage to work to make the evidence change. I think of the classic statement of Dr. King: the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice

Joy has always been the most difficult for me to get hold of.  Yesterday, I walked out and one block away, there was a parade of hundreds of people with  a New Orleans style street band and banners that said not only “Black Lives Matter” but “Joy is Coming.”  Somehow,  in the midst of pandemic, of social upheaval, of anxiety, anguish and anger…JOY!!! Morningside Park was filled with picnics and barbecues. The fact is we are  always “in the midst of…,” and now more than ever.

Small things are important. Engage in  projects that have nothing to do with virus …Up until Black Lives Matter, almost every conversation I was involved or overheard had do with the virus. We need other conversations. Try to  notice small things…in my walks in the park, I have begun notice:

I.  Birds

                                II. Flowers

                                iii. Turtles

iv. An egret

v. An itinerant trombone player

             

Gratitude is the foundation of  resistance….Every night think, what happened today I can be thankful for? Awe and wonder are essential. For people of our professions, we are privileged  to be there , to be with people at the very center of life…that is something to be thank for. 

A reflection group I am part of recently reread  Camus’ The Plague. I was amazed how much it was like our present moment. I was moved by the journalist who wanted escape to be with his lover. And spent his waiting time volunteering. When his time to leave came, he chose not to go. His life and taken on new meaning. Likewise the priest moved from his pace of traditional faith to a place of more uncertainty and doubt but also meaning. I close with his words: 

“No, we should go forward, groping our way through the darkness, stumbling perhaps at times, and try to do what good lay in our power.”