Yea, I've seen the special commentary on gay marriage by Keith Olbermann that is now posted on YouTube. If you haven't seen it you should. My question is why do we need Keith Olbermann to tell us about love? What is it about all of us human beings that we are so unable to love and be loved, to love and let love? I can't figure it out. It seems as though we keep finding someone to make the scapegoat for our inability to want the best, and see the best in each other. Even though we speak of a God who loves us and wants us to love in return, it seems as though we need someone to be the unlovable.
I am especially disappointed that in the vote for "Proposition 8" in California it is African Americans who may have cast the deciding votes. I think how could we? How could we when we know how it feels to be the unlovable, to be those denied rights? How could we use the same instruments, the same words, the same rational, that was once used against us? The language used, the fact that the bible is trotted out to fuel the fervor of those who believe the world should be just one way, their way is oh, so familiar. Perhaps African Americans have forgotten that we were once thought to be less than human, the color of our skin, our lifestyles, our behavior was thought to be bestial and unnatural. We have forgotten that the bible was often quoted to show that there was some basis for treating us so poorly. And yet here we are allowing it to happen again.
We human beings have such short memories. I enjoyed Olbermann's sarcastic recount of the history of the institution of marriage. How he points out that this institution is fraught with problems. He reminds us that in the recent history of this country that it was illegal to marry across race lines, that even the marriage of two African Americans was illegal. Blacks were property, bought and sold by others so they weren't allowed to marry. We have such a short historical memory. Olbermann points out, that people who once promoted and thought it proper to have multiple wives, now want to define marriage. Does anyone see irony in that?
It is ironic that Olbermann has to tell us that this is about the human heart. Yes, it is as Keith Olbermann so aptly points out. But, this is not just about the hearts of those who have found love in a committed same sex relationship and want all the legal benefits that those in opposite sex committed relationships have, it is also about all of our hearts. Are our hearts big enough? Are our hearts big enough (because our minds don't seem able) to make room for those who have found love in what some would consider an exceptional and previously unacceptable form? Our hearts have been proven big enough to overcome race and many other sorts of prejudice. I believe our hearts can be big enough now.
We who talk about a God of love cannot, let prejudice, ignorance, intolerance, misuse of scripture, lack of historic memory again harden our hearts. We must speak up so that all may without fear, love and be loved and have the legal rights to do so.
Will you?
Pink And Wonderful
Tools of the trade
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Through L-O-V-E Change Can Come
In this historic national election, we have moved beyond stereotypes to elect the first person of African Descent as president of the United States of America. When Barack Obama stood in Grant Park and said, ". . . tonight, because of what we did, on this day, in this defining moment change has come to America." I wanted to break out into the Sam Cooke song "Change Gonna Come." It has been a long, long time coming and many people have paved the way. He said as much, but a change has indeed come. Even in the church, the change has been coming for a long, long time and some of us are realizing that change now.
I participated in a conference in late October that brought together pastors of African Descent who serve in predominately-white mainline protestant congregations. There are about thirty-three in number who serve such congregations in the ELCA. I have been serving in such a congregation for the last five years. At first, it was hard; it was particularly hard because of my symptoms of internalized racial oppression. Some of the symptoms of this oppression are: beating the system, blaming the system, avoiding contact, denial of cultural heritage, lack of understanding or minimization of the political significance of racial oppression. I suffered from the last symptom.
Now don't get me wrong, I have experienced incidence of racism. There were many in the congregation who were sure because of my race and ethnicity that I was not smart enough, that my education was inadequate and that I was not up to the task of being a pastor in a highly educated, white community. I have been mistaken, as I have walked through the church building, for the janitor or the cook, fine occupations but not mine. My insecurities and feelings of inadequacy brought on by what the world says about African Americans at first got in my way. I suffered from what W.E.B. Dubois calls a “double consciousness,” that is when blacks look at themselves through the eyes of the other. In this case it is through the eyes of white America. When the congregation called me after three years as associate pastor to be senior pastor some of my private feelings of fear and trepidation had to be laid aside. I realized that the power of God's love had helped me change and had helped the members of the congregation see something beyond the stereotypes.
I believe that what helps all of us to accept change is God's love. The scripture tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is born of God and knows God . . . God sent God’s only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent God’s Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:7-11). When we exhibit love, not love in a naive sense, l-o-v-e that has to do with listening, observing, valuing and engaging -- then stereotypes, racism and prejudice are overcome.
Something beyond the stereotypes, I believe that is what the entire world sees when they see President-elect Barack Obama. I believe many in the country see an American who wants the best for his country, an American who has a heart for the people and an American because of his education and experience is well able to be commander-and-chief. I hope that he will enter into this daunting position with this same sense of l-o-v-e. I am confident he has learned this listening, observing, valuing and engaging while working as a community organizer on the Southside of Chicago and knows that he is loved by God and is able to love in return as he takes on the highest office in the land.
What I also hope, is that we will listen to our new president. I hope that we will observe how he handles all the pressures and crisis of this position before jumping to conclusions; that all Americans will value his culture as he values the cultures and mores of other Americans; and that we all will engage in conversation and responsible behavior that will set this 2008 election as not just an historic moment in this country, but as the moment when change truly did come.
What are your hopes?
I participated in a conference in late October that brought together pastors of African Descent who serve in predominately-white mainline protestant congregations. There are about thirty-three in number who serve such congregations in the ELCA. I have been serving in such a congregation for the last five years. At first, it was hard; it was particularly hard because of my symptoms of internalized racial oppression. Some of the symptoms of this oppression are: beating the system, blaming the system, avoiding contact, denial of cultural heritage, lack of understanding or minimization of the political significance of racial oppression. I suffered from the last symptom.
Now don't get me wrong, I have experienced incidence of racism. There were many in the congregation who were sure because of my race and ethnicity that I was not smart enough, that my education was inadequate and that I was not up to the task of being a pastor in a highly educated, white community. I have been mistaken, as I have walked through the church building, for the janitor or the cook, fine occupations but not mine. My insecurities and feelings of inadequacy brought on by what the world says about African Americans at first got in my way. I suffered from what W.E.B. Dubois calls a “double consciousness,” that is when blacks look at themselves through the eyes of the other. In this case it is through the eyes of white America. When the congregation called me after three years as associate pastor to be senior pastor some of my private feelings of fear and trepidation had to be laid aside. I realized that the power of God's love had helped me change and had helped the members of the congregation see something beyond the stereotypes.
I believe that what helps all of us to accept change is God's love. The scripture tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is born of God and knows God . . . God sent God’s only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent God’s Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:7-11). When we exhibit love, not love in a naive sense, l-o-v-e that has to do with listening, observing, valuing and engaging -- then stereotypes, racism and prejudice are overcome.
Something beyond the stereotypes, I believe that is what the entire world sees when they see President-elect Barack Obama. I believe many in the country see an American who wants the best for his country, an American who has a heart for the people and an American because of his education and experience is well able to be commander-and-chief. I hope that he will enter into this daunting position with this same sense of l-o-v-e. I am confident he has learned this listening, observing, valuing and engaging while working as a community organizer on the Southside of Chicago and knows that he is loved by God and is able to love in return as he takes on the highest office in the land.
What I also hope, is that we will listen to our new president. I hope that we will observe how he handles all the pressures and crisis of this position before jumping to conclusions; that all Americans will value his culture as he values the cultures and mores of other Americans; and that we all will engage in conversation and responsible behavior that will set this 2008 election as not just an historic moment in this country, but as the moment when change truly did come.
What are your hopes?
Friday, October 31, 2008
Skeptically Optimistic
Okay, election day is almost here and I can admit like most of my friends, I just want it to be over, so that I can stop tip-toeing around the whole thing. As an African American woman pastor, I have held out this long and have been seriously avoiding saying publicly where I stand. You see, I was trying to honor the separation of church and state. I thought if I were too engaged, it might seem as though I was telling the predominately white congregation I serve who to vote for. I would never do that! But, I do have an opinion about who wins this election and hope most of the country agrees with me.
For those, who have not asked, yes, I am a Barack Obama supporter. I for the first time have had to move out of my very comfortable apolitical stance that has kept me safe in conversations and place my feet somewhere. I am for "change we can believe in," change as Obama talks about it, change as described by a man who seems to have passion for the people. This passion is not evidenced solely by what he says, but how he has lived his life up until this point. The fact that he has been a community organizer is key in my support of him. I know what it is like to sit with people in poor communities and talk to them about power and get them to grasp that they can make a change in their own communities, in their own lives. I know what it is like to get folks who sometimes have no sense of self-worth to see their self-interest and work on their own behalf. I did that myself in the Bronx working with South Bronx Churches. I believe that Obama's work in inner city Chicago will make a difference in what kind of president he will be. I think it gives him more credability in his conversations about health care and helping the poor.
In coming out however, I must admit I am skeptically optimistic. Yea, I said skeptically optimistic. Skeptical because I am not sure that most of this country can get past the color of his skin. I am not sure that race does not still matter. What most people have not taken the time to think about is how he represents the best of this country. The best of what many would say is “two worlds.” Furthermore, because of his European and African descent, he is able to draw strength from two distinct cultures. He has also probably seen the best and worst of both cultures right in his own family. What most people, I believe forget is that he was raised with and saw very clearly white privilege at work in his home. Saw it, and has benefited from white privilege even if indirectly. His Harvard education, his travel abroad, seems to all be evidence of this and yet his skin is dark. Looking at him it is easy to forget that those who raised him are from the dominant culture in this country. His European American mother, grandmother and grandfather shaped and molded him in his most formative years. What we have heard tells us that he barely knows his African relatives. His father was never really in his life. Yet I do believe because of the self-confidence his mother instilled in him he has been able to develop a strong identity as a black man. I also believe that he has done the most with his inheritance. Listen to his speeches and you can clearly hear a rhetorical style born in the black preaching tradition. Listen to him debate Constitutional Law or anything else for that matter and his intellect shines through. Yet, even with him representing the best of America, we know too well, that because of the color of his skin he has had to traverse the stereotypical treatment of blacks in this country. He has done it well. I say, all of Obama’s background gives him an optimum vantage point from which to run this country. Yet, many will not see it this way, not because of his politics or policies but because of race.
However, I am optimistic, because the color of his skin, the incident of race has not quelled the enthusiasm around his bid for president. At first, I along with many others thought the presidential ambitions of this young black man were “nigh too impossible”, as my granny would say. But my granny would also be “tickled to death” (another one of her sayings) to see history being made. As I listen and observe, I wish she were here. She would get a kick out of the “goings on”.
In my hesitation to admit my political leanings, it has astounded me to hear the political stance and the enthusiastic conversations of the most unlikely Barack Obama supporters: those over seventy, CEOs, lawyers in upper middle class communities, Mid-Westerners, twenty something's, Republicans who are thinking “just maybe,” white suburban housewives, and my own mother who was a staunch Hillary Clinton fan. They all fuel my optimism. For them, race does not matter. Yes, I am skeptically optimistic and anxious to see what happens.
How about you?
For those, who have not asked, yes, I am a Barack Obama supporter. I for the first time have had to move out of my very comfortable apolitical stance that has kept me safe in conversations and place my feet somewhere. I am for "change we can believe in," change as Obama talks about it, change as described by a man who seems to have passion for the people. This passion is not evidenced solely by what he says, but how he has lived his life up until this point. The fact that he has been a community organizer is key in my support of him. I know what it is like to sit with people in poor communities and talk to them about power and get them to grasp that they can make a change in their own communities, in their own lives. I know what it is like to get folks who sometimes have no sense of self-worth to see their self-interest and work on their own behalf. I did that myself in the Bronx working with South Bronx Churches. I believe that Obama's work in inner city Chicago will make a difference in what kind of president he will be. I think it gives him more credability in his conversations about health care and helping the poor.
In coming out however, I must admit I am skeptically optimistic. Yea, I said skeptically optimistic. Skeptical because I am not sure that most of this country can get past the color of his skin. I am not sure that race does not still matter. What most people have not taken the time to think about is how he represents the best of this country. The best of what many would say is “two worlds.” Furthermore, because of his European and African descent, he is able to draw strength from two distinct cultures. He has also probably seen the best and worst of both cultures right in his own family. What most people, I believe forget is that he was raised with and saw very clearly white privilege at work in his home. Saw it, and has benefited from white privilege even if indirectly. His Harvard education, his travel abroad, seems to all be evidence of this and yet his skin is dark. Looking at him it is easy to forget that those who raised him are from the dominant culture in this country. His European American mother, grandmother and grandfather shaped and molded him in his most formative years. What we have heard tells us that he barely knows his African relatives. His father was never really in his life. Yet I do believe because of the self-confidence his mother instilled in him he has been able to develop a strong identity as a black man. I also believe that he has done the most with his inheritance. Listen to his speeches and you can clearly hear a rhetorical style born in the black preaching tradition. Listen to him debate Constitutional Law or anything else for that matter and his intellect shines through. Yet, even with him representing the best of America, we know too well, that because of the color of his skin he has had to traverse the stereotypical treatment of blacks in this country. He has done it well. I say, all of Obama’s background gives him an optimum vantage point from which to run this country. Yet, many will not see it this way, not because of his politics or policies but because of race.
However, I am optimistic, because the color of his skin, the incident of race has not quelled the enthusiasm around his bid for president. At first, I along with many others thought the presidential ambitions of this young black man were “nigh too impossible”, as my granny would say. But my granny would also be “tickled to death” (another one of her sayings) to see history being made. As I listen and observe, I wish she were here. She would get a kick out of the “goings on”.
In my hesitation to admit my political leanings, it has astounded me to hear the political stance and the enthusiastic conversations of the most unlikely Barack Obama supporters: those over seventy, CEOs, lawyers in upper middle class communities, Mid-Westerners, twenty something's, Republicans who are thinking “just maybe,” white suburban housewives, and my own mother who was a staunch Hillary Clinton fan. They all fuel my optimism. For them, race does not matter. Yes, I am skeptically optimistic and anxious to see what happens.
How about you?
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
God's story and Our story
It was good to hear Dr. David Lose again. He presented a forum at St. John's called: "Turning the Church inside out." The statistics he quoted (only 6% of Lutherans have ever attended a bible study), and the state of the church he referenced (if we continue as we are in 60 years we can mark the end of the church) should give us all pause. How can we be the church on earth, the ones who follow the word of God, when we won't even study the bible together?
Lose talked about how we view the bible as "a divine reference book" and how reference books hardly ever get read. They are pulled off the shelf and dusted off only when we want specific information. He challenged those listening to consider a different way of thinking of the bible that is as "living word of God." He proposed that we think about how the biblical story, God's story links up with our story. I thought, "that is a great way of thinking about it."
I remember early in my journey towards ordained ministry, when I thought of the story of the woman with the issue of blood -- this woman whose very life blood, whose energy, whose motivation, whose very essence was flowing from her -- I could very easily place myself in her story. You see, for many years as I struggled to raise a child as a single parent, as I struggled with who I was supposed to be in this world and the troubles in my life, I felt like someone whose life was steadily draining from me. I could even count the twelve long years of wasting away until I had an encounter with Jesus. That encounter took place in a little Lutheran Church in East Point, Georgia. There I was able to touch the hem of Jesus' garment. There I heard the word of God; there I received body and blood to sustain me; there the mutual consolation of the faithful soothed my soul. This encounter healed me and set me on a path that has lead me to love, and serve the people of God as pastor.
What story in scripture can you identify with? What stories speak to your experiences now or in the past?
Lose talked about how we view the bible as "a divine reference book" and how reference books hardly ever get read. They are pulled off the shelf and dusted off only when we want specific information. He challenged those listening to consider a different way of thinking of the bible that is as "living word of God." He proposed that we think about how the biblical story, God's story links up with our story. I thought, "that is a great way of thinking about it."
I remember early in my journey towards ordained ministry, when I thought of the story of the woman with the issue of blood -- this woman whose very life blood, whose energy, whose motivation, whose very essence was flowing from her -- I could very easily place myself in her story. You see, for many years as I struggled to raise a child as a single parent, as I struggled with who I was supposed to be in this world and the troubles in my life, I felt like someone whose life was steadily draining from me. I could even count the twelve long years of wasting away until I had an encounter with Jesus. That encounter took place in a little Lutheran Church in East Point, Georgia. There I was able to touch the hem of Jesus' garment. There I heard the word of God; there I received body and blood to sustain me; there the mutual consolation of the faithful soothed my soul. This encounter healed me and set me on a path that has lead me to love, and serve the people of God as pastor.
What story in scripture can you identify with? What stories speak to your experiences now or in the past?
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