Pastor Dave's Blog

Next Steps

Last week I asked you to consider how words matter leads us to unequivocally shouting: Black lives matter!

Of course, while words matter they are not the end all and be all. We must take actions to bring those words to life.

Here are some resources for doing just that (there are of course many, many other resources available to us). You’ve likely seen a few of these already as these kinds of lists are flooding social media. Don’t be overwhelmed, just pick a place to start and get going. Together we will continue to listen and learn and grow.

I call my sermon for this Sunday, "The Past is Prologue." So it seems appropriate to start this list of resources with some history. 

1) Have you heard of the Black Wall Street massacre of 1921? Most of the participants in our Tuesday Bible Study (“The Bible for Curious People”) had not. As the president prepares to hold a rally in Tulsa -- on Juneteenth of all days! -- now is the time to learn why that is so reprehensible.

Here are two resources our study group shared to bring us up to speed on one of the most heinous acts in our country’s history:

A) This article is a couple years old, but has good, though shocking, information. Including this: "A state commission report in 2001 did say, "'Tulsa was likely the first city in the (United States) to be bombed from the air.’” One tactic of the massacre was dropping  bombs from planes on the houses and businesses.

B) This article includes a 9 minute video that is very well done. Also connects to our current situation. Additionally, this article links to the transformative long form piece by Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations.” I’ve mentioned that article a number of times over the last couple years. I highly, highly recommend it as another way for us to educate ourselves about the black experience in the USA.

2) Here's the statement from our Northern Illinois Conference Cabinet to which I linked in last week's post.

3) This Google Doc offers a plethora of resources: articles, podcasts, videos, books, movies, TV shows. This has it all.

4) Finally, here are two articles to which I've linked on Facebook over the last couple weeks: The origins of policing in America and The American Nightmare.

Again: Take your time -- but don't dawdle! Don't get overwhelmed -- but don't miss the urgency! These can be some of our next steps on our journey to become truly antiracist. 

Black Lives Matter

Words matter.

If anyone knows that this is true, it must be we who claim the name “Christian.” For it is we Christians who say that Jesus the Christ, whom we love and serve, is the Word of God.

Our scriptures tell us that the very universe began with a bang when God spoke. All that is started with a few words.

Our tradition puts a speech, a proclamation, a sermon — puts words — as the climax of our worship gatherings.

Our experience of life together in community often revolves around words shared: “We are praying for you.” “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” “Lord, hear our prayer.” “Love God and love our neighbors as we love ourselves in all we do and say.”

Words matter.

(Of course there are times when we misuse our words. When we speak without thinking. When we use our words to harm others. When silence is the best or only response. Even in these times, however, words matter.)

Here’s an example I’ve seen all over Facebook this week. The meme offers two similar sentences. The first: “It’s terrible that an innocent black man was killed, but destroying property has to stop.”

The second: “It’s terrible property is being destroyed, but killing innocent black men has to stop.”

See the difference? Better yet: see and hear and feel the difference? Words matter. What and whom we prioritize in our speech and in our actions matters.

“Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?”

How many of us have said, “Yes!” to this membership question in baptism or confirmation? How are we doing with that? I mean “we” in all our identities — as individuals, as families, as a congregation, as a denomination, as a nation, as a global community?

In this moment in our county, as evil and injustice and oppression reveal themselves, we strive to find both the right words say and the right actions to take in response to rampant racism. I definitely don’t know all the right words to say or all the right actions to take to bring those words into life. But I know this:

• Racism is incompatible with Christian teaching. Racism is incompatible with following Jesus.
• I am seeking the racist attitudes that reside in me so that I may eradicate them.
• I am striving to be antiracist.
• I condemn the racist murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others before them.
• I condemn the racism built into our systems — often intentionally built into our systems — of housing, education, policing, healthcare, employment. Systems from which I have benefited greatly.
• I invite you to join me on this journey. Because I need you and our community needs you.

As the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis said, "We can only heal from this nightmare by fighting through the white supremacy that has brought us here."

Words matter. So say it with me in full-throated, Spirit-anointed truth: Black Lives Matter.