Today changes everything

Today is so familiar.
Today two men in Birmingham refuse to give up their spot.
Today the opposition continues to blast their harmful water hoses.
Today Methodist bishops call on a colleague to stand down.
Today fear and bigotry fall victim to love and justice.
Today is so familiar.

You rocks cry out.
You rocks who have remained silent.
You rocks petrified by the fear of retribution and revenues.
You rocks stoned on the drug of appointment ladders.
You rocks threatened by ecclesial Pharisaic control.
You rocks cry out.

Today God is doing a new thing.
Today changes everything in The United Methodist Church.
Today a United Methodist bishop joins two grooms into one.
Today "Dearly Beloved" is spoken, and Beloved Community is made real.
Today Joe and Bobby are a sign of God's love changing the world.
Today God is doing a new thing.

Today is so familiar.
You know how today ends.
Today changes everything.

Same-sex couple to wed at RMN convocation—others invited to do the same

Originally published on RMNBlog

They met while in seminary. “Seeing her was the first time in my life I was taken aback by someone’s presence. I instantly thought who is this woman,” said Mary Ann Kaiser. That was the beginning of a love story between Mary Ann and Annanda—a journey that is leading them to the wedding aisle at Reconciling Ministries Network’s convocation Labor Day weekend.

“Choosing to get married isn’t all about us. It is a response to God’s call on our lives to be one,” said Annanda Barclay, second year seminary student currently serving at Central Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. “It is a spiritual act. Civil rights are a beautiful thing and should be realized for all couples, but marriage is rooted in Christ’s expression of love. We now get to be a sign to the world of what that love looks like, in our love for each other.”
“We are crazy in love, still making each other blush,” said Mary Ann Kaiser, a youth director and justice associate at University UMC in Austin. “I know this feeling won’t be there forever, but as we bind ourselves to one another through this sacred ritual, we commit to spending a lifetime learning how to love this other person—pushing, challenging, and helping to grow into the women God has called us to be. Marriage is our answering the call to use our love to do good things for the world together.”

Both women feel called to ordained ministry. Mary Ann, a frequent contributor to RMN’s blog, is seeking to be a Deacon in The United Methodist Church, and is passionate about the intersections of church and society. Open about her relationship with Annanda, Mary Ann’s UMC District Committee on Ministry in Austin recently voted to pass her through to interview with the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. Annanda, called to parish ministry, is passionate about developing new churches that are diverse. “As an African American, queer, woman, in a church that is predominately white, I feel called to stand in the intersections of race, ethnicity, age, socio economic status, and sexual identities, celebrating with them all as one worshiping body.”


Reconciling Ministries Network is holding its convocation (ChurchQuake: Embracing Freedom) over Labor Day weekend in Maryland, where same-sex marriage is legal. “We thought it was important to give our community the opportunity and space to commit their lives in covenant to one another,” said RMN Executive Director Matt Berryman. “The RMN community will be gathered for worship, fellowship, and study, and I can think of no better time for a marriage to happen, for couples who have discerned this sacred calling, than when they are surrounded by those who will love and support them into the future.”

Local area Reconciling clergy are prepared to assist couples who have gone through premarital counseling and have determined with their pastor that they are ready for marriage. Couples interested in exploring this possibility should visit http://www.rmnetwork.org/cq13, which will give details concerning appropriate premarital preparations with your pastor, and securing a Maryland marriage license. Convocation leaders will work with the couples to schedule wedding ceremonies when friends can take part. There will also be a celebration at convocation recognizing all same-sex couples who have been married at convocation or before, closing with a gala reception, including wedding cake. RMN is committed to marriage equality and is pleased to provide this opportunity to live this out at convocation.

Mary Ann and Annanda said they chose convocation because community is important to them. “Marriage is not just a covenant between two people and God, but a covenant of the community surrounding them as well,” said Mary Ann. “There will be a day when things get tough, and to know that we have a community who were present on the day we made a promise and who remember the vision that started the whole thing, means we have someone to turn to give us strength. And that same community will help us celebrate for the next great thing—like adopting a child. Marriage is a communal event.”

Even though marriage equality is getting significant attention in the movement right now, both women feel strongly that it is not the most pressing need for the LGBTQ community. “Homeless youth who have been shunned from their families, same-sex, bi-national couples who have no immigration rights—those may not be the primary need of the privileged middle, upper class LGBTQ community, but needs like these are essential to equality,” said Mary Ann. Annanda agreed, adding that they plan to work for LGBTQ equality together as a couple. “Marriage isn’t foremost about us. It is about sharing the abundant gifts we have for each other with the world and community around us.”

Couples interested in exploring the possibility of getting married at convocation should talk to their local clergy person and then visit www.rmnetwork.org/cq13. Be sure to save the date—see you at convocation!

. . .

The Bride: Annanda Barclay graduated from Illinois College with a BS in International Studies and Spanish. She is a seminary student who is passionate about creating new frameworks in church development, so all people are welcomed and valued in the church. Annanda hopes to become an ordained minister in The PC (USA) and is currently an intern at Central Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. She is a board member of More Light Presbyterians working for LGBTQ equality in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

The Bride: Mary Ann Kaiser is a recent graduate of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She has a passion for working in the intersections of church and society. Her love for religious approaches to questions of ethics, particularly in the realms of race, gender, and sexuality, led her to internships at WATER (Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual) in Silver Spring, MD and Texas Freedom Network in Austin, TX. She has also worked for the Wesley Foundation and as a hospital chaplain. She currently serves as Youth Director and Justice Associate at University UMC in Austin and is pursuing ordination as a Deacon in The UMC. In her free time, she blogs for Reconciling Ministries Network.

Called to be extremists

Originally published on RMNBlog

Today, on the 50^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” and on the morning after the act of terror at The Boston Marathon, here are words of intersection… As we hear the word “extremist” being used in the media to describe unimaginable hate, Dr. King's letter beacons us, still to be a different type of extremist.
 
Excerpt from MLK’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail, 50 years later:

Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."  

Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream."
Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." 

Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." 

And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." 

And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." 

And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." 

So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? 

In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. 

The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

Click here to read the full letter.

How the United Methodist Men aren't being very United Methodist

Originally published on RMNBlog



On February 19, Bishop Swanson, Secretary Gil Hanke, and the board members of the United Methodist Men issued a statement which boiled down to three main points:

• Whereas we received lots of angry and hateful phone calls and letters from conservatives following our first two statements in favor of the inclusion of Scouts who identify as gay
• Whereas we value retention and expansion above every other value
• Therefore, the United Methodist Men are calling on the Boy Scouts of America not to change their ban on gay scouts and scout leaders because we need more time.

I am a member of the United Methodist Men. They helped pay my way through seminary and I witnessed the power of men’s ministry at many of the churches I served. That is why I am deeply saddened after reading this statement over their lack of courage to be United Methodist.

---

You see, even if you agree passionately with United Methodist doctrine and polity, there is nothing in our Book of Discipline that would support young men being excluded from a church sponsored troop based on their sexual orientation.
The Discipline talks about all people being of sacred worth, and calls on United Methodists to be in ministry with all people. My United Methodist Church professes an open table and believes that God and God’s prevenient grace is in and with all people, even before we are aware of her presence. John Wesley believed that fellowship, study, building relationships, and conversation with others could be a means of grace where we are transformed into something new. Jesus showed us what love looked like as he again and again embraced the marginalized.
That is our theology.
It is not our theology to make decisions based on people’s threats of taking their money and leaving… that is the theology of capitalism.
It is not our theology to base our polity on what will attract the most people and retain them… that is the theology of consumerism.
It is not our theology to hinder the access of children and youth… that was the theology of confused disciples who mistakenly believed they were gatekeepers, deciding who could and couldn’t come to Jesus.
The United Methodist Men say we just need more time to preserve retention and expansion of scouting programs in The UMC.
A quick history lesson:

• When Israel was in Egypt’s land, Pharaoh said we need more time… he valued retention and expansion of his empire
• When the Methodist Church was split over slavery, the South said we need more time… they valued retention and expansion of their churches
• When Lincoln was considering The Emancipation Proclamation, white slave owners said we need more time… they valued retention and expansion of their plantations
• When women were fighting for their right to vote in this country, white men said we needed more time… they valued retention and expansion of their power
• When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was sitting in a jail cell in Birmingham following civil disobedience concerning unjust and immoral laws in the Jim Crow South, white pastors (including two Methodist bishops) said we need more time… they valued retention and expansion of the way things have always been
• When the Methodist Church was considering racial integration of our churches, church leaders said we need more time… they valued retention and expansion of their offering plates
• When women were fighting for the ability to live out their Baptisms and faithfully answer their call to ordained ministry, white males said we need more time… they valued retention and expansion of their authority

The chorus of the privileged majority gets sung again and again, “we need more time,” and the latest group to join the refrain is the United Methodist Men. More time means more boys subject to bullying and exclusion. More time means higher rates of suicides among gay adolescents.
But perhaps the most crucial reason we don’t have “more time” is because we need to stand up and be United Methodist Men. We are not a church that has any more time for injustice.

. . .

To read the United Methodist Men's full statement from Feb 19, 2013, click here.

A forgotten Civil Rights hero

Originally published on RMNBlog

If you've never heard of Bayard Rustin you are not alone. But you should know him. Bayard Rustin is perhaps the most significant organizer for social justice and civil rights in American history. He was the man behind Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, teaching King everything he knew about non-violent resistance, civil disobedience, and organizing a movement. Certainly The Movement would not have succeeded like it did without MLK's brilliance, but King would be no more than a prophetic preacher if Bayard Rustin hadn't introduced him to the ideas of Gandhi and given King the strategy to change the world through peace.
So if Bayard Rustin is so important, why has history forgotten him? Why isn't he celebrated? Why was he hidden by The Movement itself?
Bayrad Rustin was gay.

---

When those opposed to The Movement learned of Bayard Rustin's sexuality, they sought to use it  against the entire fight for civil rights-- even from the floor of congress. As result, Bayard Rustin worked from the background, hidden from public eye and left out of the history books.There is no justifying the horrible injustice that has been done to Bayard Rustin. However, we can't change what our heroes of the Civil Rights Era choice to do to protect a vulnerable movement. What we can do is reclaim his name, sacrifice, hard work, and character today.

That is why today, I am introducing a petition to President Barack Obama to award Bayard Rustin posthumously with The Presidential Medal of Freedom. We need 100,000 signatures by February 17th, 2013. Together we can help honor a man who gave his entire for the Civil Rights Movement. He deserves to at least stand behind, if not next to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Click the picture below to sign the petition and share this with your friends. Below is a video and other links to more information about Bayard Rustin's life of service.

• Brother Outsider, a documentary about Bayard Rustin's life (airs on PBS 2/3/13, at 8 pm EST)
• A pamphlet written by Bayard Rustin giving final marching order for The March on Washington
• Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D'Emilio

Letter from an Albany Jail

Originally published on RMNBlog

You have probably read his Letter from a Brimingham Jail, but have you read Dr. King's letter from a cell in Albany, GA? In it King makes the argument that when "the non-violent resistor refuses to cooperate with a law that is out of harmony with the laws of God and the laws of morality, he must break the law-- but in doing so, practices civil disobedience and accepts the penalty, thereby practicing moral obedience and transforms the jail into a haven of liberty and freedom."

Over Labor Day weekend Reconciling Ministries Network will be holding its convocation in D.C. themed "ChurchQuake: Embracing Freedom". There is a story in the Bible of Paul and Silas locked up in a jail cell for their civil disobedience. And when they began to sing songs, the earth shook and their chains were released.

I have to wonder if Dr. King had that story in mind when he transformed a jail in Albany into a haven of liberty and freedom.

---

Here is the letter, in Dr. King's own typing (from the King Center Archive):

- by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -

Advent and The Holocaust

This article is part of a series of devotions in an online group Advent project.

Female prisoners at forced labor digging trenches at the Ravensbrueck concentration camp. This photograph is from the SS-Propaganda-Album des Frauen-KZ-Ravensbrueck 1940-1941. USHMM (18344), courtesy of Lydia Chagoll.

Advent and The Holocaust don’t normally get put together. However, I figured writing on the eve of the winter solstice (aka the longest night) and the Mayan apocalypse (aka the end of the world), Holocaust imagery might just be appropriate.

Advent and The Holocaust overlap more that you first might think. The story of Jews waiting, longing, hoping, traveling, being housed in deplorable conditions. Will a savior come? It doesn’t seem so as Herod and Hitler massacre innocent children. Murder. Hopelessness. Hate. Fear. A far cry from the peace, hope, love, and joy candles we light on our advent wreath in worship.

Every generation thinks they have it worse than the one before, but the unrest the Christ was born into was a world headed for a spiritual cliff just as much, if not more, than our world today. Those in power are neglecting and causing harm, and so John the Baptist holds a press conference to tell it like it is: 

(From Luke 3) John said to the crowds… …bear fruits worthy of repentance… …Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise. Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

As the people were filled with expectation… …John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

When we read this text, and think about the massacre last week or the one long ago in Germany, it seems as though John got it all wrong. He said the bad fruit would be cut down and thrown into the fire, not innocent children. Where in the hell is God in all of this? Why is evil still winning?

The following prayer was found at Ravensbruck, a Holocaust death camp where 92,000 women and children died.  It was scrawled on a piece of paper near a dead girl. (It is also the text used in a single by Jennifer Knapp for the Martyr Project.)

Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will also those of ill will.  But do not only remember the suffering they have inflicted on us; remember the fruits we have brought, thanks to this suffering—our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this, and when they come to judgment, let all the fruits we have borne be their forgiveness.

Just like Advent again, in the midst of all these questions and feelings of abandonment by God, a child shall lead us. This child’s prayer are Word made flesh: In our suffering, remember all of your children, even those who turn on the gas chamber or trigger a semi automatic rifle. May the fruits we have borne in this suffering—may they be their forgiveness. Sounds a lot like something Jesus would say. Fruit borne in suffering for the forgiveness of sins. Wine poured out for the forgiveness of all. The Christ becoming flesh in the words of that little Jewish girl.

Where the hell is God in all this evil? God is right there in the thick of hell; love conquering death. John tells us, God’s answer to unimaginable evil is Immanuel—God with us. God’s plan is incarnation—taking on flesh and suffering. And fiery furnaces, intended as evil, are transformed into Baptism by fire—God claiming all as God’s children and calling us to bear fruit… that is how the evil in this world is destroyed.  

Advent with John and Oscar

11th day of Advent: John and Oscar

Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

In the third year of the presidency of Jimmy Carter, when generals were ruling over El Salvador, and rebels (armed by the US) were planning a coup, and priests who stood with the poor were called terrorists and communists, the word of God came to Bishop Oscar Romero in the wilderness of a civil war.

Both Oscar and John the Baptist spoke an unpopular truth that upset those in power.  In the scripture above, Luke didn’t just throw in all those hard to pronounce names to try and stump the scripture reader. He was framing the world into which this prophet John was preparing the way. In the midst of these oppressive leaders, John was not only speaking words about the change he knew was coming, but he being those words made flesh. John’s weapon of choice was the waters of Baptism; Romero used the bread and the cup.

Romero went into the town square, proclaiming that God was present with the poor, calling on the government and church to repent, and he served the bread and cup as the ultimate protest against the oppression of the poor. Romero knew that the body and blood, when embodied by the people, empowered them to make paths straight, fill valleys, lower mountains and hills, and smooth over rough places… how? Romero believed that God was present in the bread and cup, was present in the poor themselves, and that all flesh would see the salvation of God.

Said another way, Romero framed the plight of a people being oppressed with the perspective of a Christ who suffered and died and defeated death. Romero could confidently serve the bread and cup in defiance of those standing around them with guns pointed because he knew how the story ends: all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Do not be confused… this is not a “it doesn’t matter what happens here on earth because everything will be okay in heaven” theology. This is the theology or life perspective of “I know how this is all going to end—love defeats death—so I am going to live then ending now. I am not only going to speak words about the change I know is coming, but I am going to be those words made flesh.

In the words of Oscar Romero:

Advent should admonish us to discover in each brother or sister that we greet, in each friend whose hand we shake, in each beggar who asks for bread, in each worker who wants to use the right to join a union, in each peasant who looks for work in the coffee groves, the face of Christ. Then it would not be possible to rob them, to cheat them, to deny them their rights. This is what Advent is: Christ living among us.

Again, don’t be confused… this is not a history lesson about events that happened over 30 years ago. This is as true today as it was then. Advent is not all love, peace, joy, and candles on Christmas Eve.  Advent is a chance again to prepare for the persecution that is coming when we welcome this revolutionary, table turning, bread and cup serving Christ child into our lives again.

There is no real peace without justice. Oscar and John stood up to corrupt governments and churches that preached “peace” that was dependent on the oppression of the poor and the silence of mass graves. “Peace” was maintained by the US assisted Salvadorian government through kidnapping, torturing, and killing of those who preached about what real peace looked like.

In Romero’s words:

It is important to note why [the Church] has been persecuted. Not any and every priest has been persecuted, not any and every institution has been attacked. That part of the church has been attacked and persecuted that put itself on the side of the people and went to the people's defense. Here again we find the same key to understanding the persecution of the church: the poor.

Sounds a lot like today. We hear propaganda like “freedom isn’t free”, while those who speak about what real freedom and peace look like are condemned as troublemakers and sometimes terrorists. Many of our churches that are “thriving” are maintaining their growth on the backs of the poor—proclaiming “peace” where there is no justice, while those who stand with the poor are sacrificed by those same churches in order to maintain that “peace”.

But the hope we find in this Advent time of waiting and preparing can be found in the very words made flesh by John and Oscar:

John the Baptist quoting Isaiah:

The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’

Bishop Oscar Romero blessing the bread and cup:

We receive here the body of the Lord who offered himself for the redemption of the world. May his body and blood given for us nourish us in such a way that we, too, may give our body and blood as Christ did, so we may bring justice and peace to our people.

Immediately after speaking these words, Romero was shot dead by the government; John the Baptist was eventually beheaded by the government. They were both guilty of speaking truth to those in power, telling the oppressed something the powerful didn’t want them to hear:

Freedom is free.

Real peace is only possible with justice.

Love conquers death.

And this was all made flesh by a little baby whose blood would be the seed of freedom.

 

Back to the Future: Advent day 3

(Originally published in: http://getanupperroom.wordpress.com/)

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”  ~Jeremiah 33:14-16

Days are surely coming. Branch to spring up. Execute justice. Righteousness in the land. Judah will be saved. Jerusalem will live in safety.

Cool. So, what do you want me to do, God? It sounds like from this short passage, that God’s got things covered… so what are we supposed to do again? Live.

That’s all. Just live. But live as one who believes the story is going to end this way.

In the great theological work, Back to the Future, Michael J Fox’s character goes back in time only to discover that he has disrupted the time space continuum by making his mother fall in love with him. He not only knows how the story is supposed to end, his very existence is dependent upon his parents falling in love at the dance and eventually conceiving him. As he works to get them together, he looks at a clue from the future to see if he is on track: a picture of his family. When it looks like his dad isn’t going to get his girl, Marty and his sister begin to disappear, but when they fall in love, the family picture comes back into focus.

Marty didn’t work to get his dad together with his mom because they were a clear match. The girl was way out of this guy’s league. No one would have given McFly a chance with her. No one except Marty… Marty knew that is how the story ended. And when you know how the story ends, you can live in such a way and wait for certain things that might seem crazy to others.

When I bartended I often would place bets on games that were going on. I never lost. Not once. What was my secret? I only bet on games that were replays.

When you know the ending, making choices others call risky, are in reality, a safe bet. Stanley Hauerwas (imagine Doc Brown as a theologian) says it this way:

Christians are called to nonviolence not because we believe nonviolence is a strategy to rid the world of war…. But in a world of war, as faithful followers of Christ, we cannot imagine being anything other than being non-violent. And that will make the world possibly more violent; because the world does not want the “order” it calls “peace” exposed as the violence it so oftentimes is. Learning how to wait as a people of nonviolence in a world of war… you’ll know what Advent is. Advent is patience. It’s how God has made us a people of promise in a world of impatience. Christ has made that possible: for us to live patiently in a world of impatience. ~Stanley Hauerwas

Jeremiah is telling us how it is all going to end so that we can live differently. Because we know it will all end in peace, not only do we not have to live in war, we don’t even have to live into the “reality” that the world sells as “peace”.

That means when the Church tells us that it is “normal” and “the natural order” and “peaceful” for us to have cheap food at the expense of abused, enslaved immigrants–because we know how the story ends, and because we can live into that ending right now, when we hear lies like “dehumanizing farmworkers is okay”, we can call bullshit!

That means when the Church tells us that it is “normal” and “the natural order” and “peaceful” for us to exclude certain people from our community, leadership, wedding aisles, or ordination stoles because they were created by God to love the same-sex–because we know how the story ends, and because we can live into that ending right now, when we hear lies like “it’s not time yet”, we can call bullshit!

When we do that, it will very possibly make things worse… because the Church does not want the “order” it calls “peace” exposed as the violence it so oftentimes is.

Thank God for that Christ child, cross and resurrection. Days are surely coming. Branch to spring up. Execute justice. Righteousness in the land. Judah will be saved. Jerusalem will live in safety.

And we can live patiently in a world of impatience. Patience isn’t sitting back and doing nothing. Patience is actively being a peacemaker in a warring world because you know how it’s all going to end.

Is there any hope for Thanksgiving? Maybe.

originally published on RMNBlog

Fair warning… the last time I shared my thoughts on Thanksgiving eve I was criticized for not sticking to the script of the Pilgrims and Indians having a dinner party and everything ending happily ever after. So, if you want to only focus on that narrative, you should probably stop reading and just click here.
The problem with the myth of Thanksgiving is that it forms us as people who whitewash the story we came from, and thus, who we are today and the decisions we make tomorrow. I’m not suggesting that because our country was founded on the blood of native people we should wallow in guilt, but I do believe we can do better than repeating a lie. It is even worse when we insert God into the redacted narrative, giving thanks for that first Thanksgiving and painting a picture of those innocent Christian travelers spreading the Gospel of love and full inclusion by their sharing a meal with the those nice Indians.

I don’t say all of this to be politically correct. The entire notion of being p.c. is based on the flawed idea that our political selves are somehow separate from who we are. As the story goes, our lives are split into political, spiritual, social, and other selves. Therefore, what we say in one realm doesn’t really have much say over who we really are. That story, like Thanksgiving, is also not true. When I was a little kid and my grandfather said the “n word", it was explained to me that he grew up in a different time when people talked different. Or, more recently, when a former coworker frequently made generalizations about people walking across our church’s property based on the color of their skin, it was explained to me that he was just concerned about safety. And when the myth of Thanksgiving is retold to my 3 year old son at his school and he comes home with paper feathers on his head and doing an Indian war chant by moving his hand to and from his mouth, it is explained to me that they’re just children.

It isn’t about being politically correct. It is about truth telling. Because telling the truth about where we’ve been shapes who we are today and the decisions we make tomorrow. Last month my alma mater, The University of Florida, was weighed down in a scandal that some dismissed as politically-correct-over-sensitivity. A fraternity threw a “rappers and rock stars” party in which the participants painted their faces black and dressed in baggy clothes. Pictures were posted. People were outraged. On the surface, defenders argued, black-face is ok because they were just joking and it’s on tv, so people who are upset just need to get over it. It was only after a community forum and presentations from different professors on the history of black-face did more understand the hurt that can be inflicted when we ignore the origins of a practice. Black-face is politically, spiritually, and socially incorrect wrong because it has been used historically to politically, spiritually, and socially dehumanize.

There are examples of lies painted all around us—false stories that are put in front of us in hopes of brainwashing us to not see certain parts of the true world around us. Like a ritzy resort in a third-world country, usually these stories have poverty hiding just on the other side of the wall. This time of year especially, stores do all they can to offer the lowest prices and at the same time, hide the poverty that is inflicted to achieve those low, low prices. That is why some Wal-Mart employees have said they are planning to strike on Black Friday. They are tired of hiding behind the resort wall… they want us to see them. Where I’m from in the Southeast, a grocery giant Publix is known for its heartwarming Thanksgiving commercials that are like a tapestry that tells the Norman Rockwell-esque story of the perfect Thanksgiving. They, like other grocery stores, do everything they can in hopes you won’t think about were your food came from—to pay no attention to the exploited farmworkers behind the curtain. (The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is working to change this practice. See their video: "A Tale of Two Thanksgivings" and sign their petition.)

As hard as you try…

You can’t separate practices from their shameful history.

You can’t separate political correctness from what is just plain correct.

You can’t separate the food you buy from the hands that picked it.

And you can’t separate the harm done in the past from a day of thanks today.

You can’t separate these things because what we say and what we do need to match. It’s kind of like a church that has a slogan of openness, but yet in practice, still holds on to its closed hearts, minds, and doors. And when you are part of a denomination, like The United Methodist Church, whose true story is one of discrimination and harm toward women, people of color, and LGBTQ persons, it’s not enough to sugarcoat the past and say everything is ok because you have some Black female clergy and gay people coming to church. When you do that, you continue as a willing participant in the harmful practices of the past—sort of like if you were to paint your face to make fun of another race or pass down the myth of Thanksgiving. We fool ourselves to think that if we just ignore the narrative, the harm and hurt will just go away, when in reality, it lingers and festers and causes us to repeat history.

So where does that leave us on this Thanksgiving? Ironically, I think we get a hint in our Eucharist liturgy titled “The Great Thanksgiving”. It is the practice much like Thanksgiving. We are called to remember that first meal where all were invited to share—even Judas. (Some of us eat together with people we don’t very much care for.) We are called to give thanks, because it is right to give our thanks and praise. But unlike the Thanksgiving myth, Holy Communion’s story tells us who we really are—that God formed us in God’s image and breathed into us the breath of life.  It also tells a story, but instead of distorting our past, it tells us who we really are. It doesn’t say everything is ok because of
Jesus, but it painstakingly tells the truth about how we turned away from God’s love, how ours is a story of oppressing and thus being oppressed, and how we are in need of forgiveness of others and of God. It tells the true story about the fullness of who we have been, who we are, and who we are becoming. It tells a true story about the fullness of Jesus Christ—who has died, is risen, and will come again. And it is a meal that believes that by eating and drinking these symbols of God breaking and pouring God’s self out for us, we are joined with God in breaking and pouring ourselves out for others.

And yeah, we don’t live out this Eucharistic meal when we leave the table like we should… our tables aren’t truly open to all when we are trained in the art of historical fabrication. But, I believe it is easier to redeem practices when at least the story you start with is true and good. It’s much more difficult to redeem a holiday like Thanksgiving when we can’t even be honest about its history. I believe the place to start is truth telling. Only then will we stop ignoring the narrative and instead, work to transform it into something life (and thanks) giving.

Bishop Coyner, Please Don't Speak for Martin Luther King Jr.

Background

United Methodists in the Western Jurisdiction adopted a “Statementof Gospel Obedience” that says the denomination is in error in its stance that the practice of homosexuality “is incompatible with Christian teaching.” The jurisdiction’s statement also urged United Methodists to operate as if that stance “does not exist, creating a church where all people are truly welcome.”

Bishop Coyner's Statement

Today, Indiana Area Bishop Coyner published his criticisms of the Western Jurisdiction in his e-pistle.

Among other objectionable points in Bishop Coyner's statement was the unbelievable belief that the Western Jurisdiction's call for Gospel Obedience (in direct opposition to the UMC's current stance) is a “very poor substitute for the honorable practice of civil disobedience as expressed clearly by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

My Response

Bishop Coyner, in all due respect to your episcopal office, but are we speaking about the same MLK Jr. who argues that civil disobedience is justified not only to deal with an unjust law, but that "everyone has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."

When you said poor substitute, are you sure you didn't really mean to say faithful practice? 

When you read MLK's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail", where do you identify in the story? There are basically two options... 

• The preacher in jail because he was calling for people of faith and moral conviction to Biblical obedience to love one another.

 - or -

• The White, moderate clergymen (one of which was a Methodist Bishop) who were asking MLK Jr. to stop rocking the boat.

Bishop Coyner, since you brought up Rev. MLK Jr. in your e-pistle, and basically spoke for him, where do you fall in this story?

Bishop, I've read Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 

I've been formed by the words of Martin Luther King Jr. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. is a hero of mine.

Bishop, please don't speak for Martin Luther King Jr.

Sincerely,

Rev. Andy Oliver

PS. Here are a group of youth from AlumRock UMC that seem to get MLK Jr's writing. You can sign their online petition to The Council of Bishops in support of Bishop Talbert's message, which, as they point out, is a faithful practice of MLK Jr's call to civil disobedience.