The ramblings and musings of the Purple Reverend. Devotionals, reflections and maybe a sermon or two. Things that make me happy and things that make me "prophet-y" and whatever else I feel like talking about. Random. Corny. Progressive. Prophetic. Jesus in a purple cloud.
We are not “the blacks”. Americans of African descent are from every community that
our current president seeks to destroy in the name of “protecting the American
people.” We are Muslim. We are from the countries whose citizens are no longer allowed
to enter the United States. We are non-Heterosexual and non-Cisgender. We are
from Mexico. We immigrated to this country. We are from the inner cities on
which he has declared war. We are NOT from the inner cities on which he has
essentially declared war. We are indeed people who receive a wide variety of
financial assistance from the Federal Government. We are disabled. We are
people with uteri. We are female. And a few of us are people who voted for
45.
The worst thing that oppression has done to black
people is taught us that we are monolithic and that there is no such thing as
intersectionality. The other thing that it taught us is that there is a “them”
to avoid being in order to remain safe. It has taught us that oppression is a
negative meritocracy. And we can earn release from oppression by not being an “other”
or a “them”. Therefore, as long as we are constantly in a space of proving that
we are not “them”, as long as we are diverting attention away from our “otherness”
and pointing to the “them” over there, we’re safe.
The problem with that assertion is that it is simply
not true. Also, this sort of internal divisiveness and othering has always
created more damage than safety. It has always function as a very useful tool
for the oppressor. It weakens us and makes it easier for systems of oppression
to divide and conquer and destroy our movements against oppression from the
inside out.
But my hope for our community is that the shenanigans
of this current administration will teach us is that we ARE “them”. We are
every “them”. I’m also hoping that it will finally teach us all these lines and
distinction have never mattered. I hope that we can remember and get into our
collective psyche that our ancestors were not colonized and enslaved because of
anything they were or were not or anything they did or didn’t do. They were
enslaved and oppressed because oppressive, supremacist, tyrannical systems were
allowed to rise worldwide. And people continue
to be oppressed not because they are “them” but because this history keeps
being allowed to repeat itself.
The sooner we remember this, the sooner we’ll stop
othering within our own communities, the sooner we can unite across the
diaspora, across these dividing lines, it will become even harder for us to be
divided and conquered. And we may finally collectively defeat these systems that
seek to kill us.
This election cycle has left us all a little disillusioned an confused. And for the most part I have remained silent because there has just been so much to process and so much of it doesn't even seem real. I've thought of blogs I could write about race in this election, God in this election, or gender in this election but every time I try, I simply get tired.
As tired as I am, I still voted and I indeed voted for Hillary. So beyond all of the sociological analysis, I simply want to tell you why I voted. So here is a quick lists for any one who might be wondering if they should:
First and foremost, as a descendant of those who build the country but had to fight to vote, I do indeed
vote for the ancestors.
I vote for those who are to come.
I also vote for those of us who are here now.
I vote for the child who isn’t
doing well in school because his single mother is facing deportation.
I vote
for the black elders who are being triggered and re-traumatized by images of
black people being punched and shoved for evoking their right to free speech at Trump rallies.
I vote for the children who might be thinking to themselves that there
is nothing wrong with bullying if a presidential candidate can do it. I vote for the children who are considering suicide because adulthood is no longer an escape from bullying.
I vote
for all survivors of rape and incest.
I vote for all of the “Nasty Women” who survived
other peoples' attempts at shaming them for their spouse’s infidelity.
I vote for all African Americans that know
EXACTLY what we have to lose.
I vote because I will not allow America's unwillingness and/or inability
to deal with our collective racist knee jerk reaction to a black president kill MY country or lead my country in to Civil War II.
One of my favorite funny social media sites is “Unvirtuous
Abbey”. It describes itself on Twitter by saying, “Holier than thou, but not by
much. Digital monks praying for first world problems. From our keyboard to
God's ears. This is an account for religious snark.”
And a few days ago it posted an update that said, “For preachers
struggling to write faithful sermons rather than just standing up and going off
or falling to the floor weeping, Lord we pray.”
I think there are many preachers, myself included, who have been
in need of this prayer since the shootings in Orlando a week ago.
The reality of mass murder is so devastating. And it is even
more devastating when the victims were members
of already vulnerable communities killed in places that should have been spaces of
refuge. Whether it is a group of small children in a classroom, African
American residence of a former confederate state in a prayer service, or young
brown and black members of the LGBT community at a club, it weights heavy on
your heart.
Although the shooter last week did not come from the church,
there are many people who claim to represent Christ who hold the same sort of
vitriol and hatred toward the LGBT community. And they are using this moment to
celebrate hate. Therefore as a denomination that is committed to being open and
affirming and radically welcoming to all, we must make sure that we are not
just taking these moments to make outward gestures but that we are also reflecting
inward reevaluating and recommitting ourselves fully to who we say that we are.
We are still in the midst of
the season of Pentecost. We are still in the midst of being wowed and challenged by the
movement of the Holy Spirit. We are still in the midst of this season of Holy
Spirit-inspired commitments to diversity. We are still in the midst of
remembering that prophetic declaration that God has poured out God’s spirit on
all flesh to the point that people of many ages, cultures and genders will be
able to participate actively in the ministry of Christ.
By chapter 10 of Acts
these new converts in this new Jewish sect were still being challenged by this
Holy Spirit’s imperative in chapter 2 to reach across the boundaries of language and culture
to create a church that reflects God’s radical inclusive.
The
same Peter who in chapter 2 proclaimed the words of the Prophet Joel declaring that
the Spirit would fall on all flesh, is found in chapter 10 having to be
convinced that it was ok to have a meeting with a Gentile. The same Peter who
was so passionate about Jesus and heard Jesus say in real time to “teach and
Baptized all nations”, needed a little convincing when it came to non-circumcised
Gentiles.
So just in case Peter decided not to follow his own Pentecost
directives, God sent him a vision. God got Peter at very
vulnerable time, when he was tired and hungry. He fell into a dream state where
God shows him food. And God tells Peter to kill and eat this food. But the
diligent Biblical scholar he is, he realizes that this is food that had
previously be categorized as “unclean”. And he talks back to God and says, “no
way!” I’m not eating this stuff that You God have determined to be unclean. But
God comes back telling him not to call anything unpure that God has made clean.
Peter walked away from that vision unsure what God was trying to
say. But he then walked into a situation where this vision and these words from
God became clear. Peter was being called into a meeting with Cornelius, who
would become a catalyst for Christianity going from small Jewish sect to a
culturally diverse world religion of its own.Yet it was theoretically against religious law for Peter and Cornelius
to associate with each other because of the difference in culture and because
people like Cornelius were determined to be unclean or unpure. Yet it was God
who was setting this up. Therefore God’s words to Peter in the vision began to
make even more sense. “Don’t call anything (or ANYONE) unpure who I’ve made
clean!”
In this extremely important moment in Christian history, even
Peter, the one who declared the prophetic commitment to diversity on the Day of
Pentecost, had to have a moment where God asked him to take a deeper look in
and recommit himself to the values he professed.
In the same way, I think the tragedy in Orlando is the sort of
shock to the system that needs to be processed not just externally in the form
of vigils and rallies, but internally in the form of reflection, reevaluation
and recommitment to our covenants. As a church, during this ongoing season of
Pentecost, yes we have to be a prophetic witness to others. We have an
obligation as Christians to tell others that God is a God of love, that God has
no tolerance for violence in the name of any faith tradition or creed, that our
doors are open for all. And we also have an obligation to make sure that when
we say it to others we wholeheartedly mean what we say.
Like Peter we have to make sure that there isn’t a group that we
still aren’t sure about. The God of Acts 10 wants to make sure that we are not
just showing outward gestures towards those who died but that we are looking
inward to makes sure that if 50 living young Brown and Black LGBT bodies
entered this space right now that there would be room for all that they are.
Maybe it’s through a strange hungry sleepy vision with creepy
animals or maybe it’s just though some other means. But God is challenging us
make sure that we know that we are not consciously or unconsciously calling
anything or anyone that God created unpure. And like Peter we have to make sure
nothing that we are doing is getting in the way of those who God desires to add
to our communities. We have to make sure that when God is seeking to make a
pivot and do a new thing for the sake of not just opening but expanding the
doors of the church that we are attempting to edit God.
My prayer is that we can continue to open wide the doors of the
church in the spirit of Pentecost, in the Spirit of God’s divine reminder to
Peter. My prayer is that we keep praying, marching rallying and that we keep
looking inward to make sure that we are in line with God’s expansive love.
[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.-1 Corinthians 13:7 As many times as Corinthians 13 has been used for weddings, I'm still unsure that the text is speaking about the Eros Love. But this year the first Sunday in Lent is Valentine's Day. So let's assume, at least for the next couple of days, that God cares about our love lives. As an extremely single clergy person, I am not ashamed to admit that I have more questions than answers when it comes to the intersection of God and Eros Love. BUT during my Lenten fast from doubt, this text provides much hope. The idea that love "always hopes" is powerful. It is particularly hopeful for those of us who are seeking Eros Love and may be losing hope. The idea that love itself never loses hope is amazingly hopeful. And a doubt-free way of seeking love must begin with remembering that there is a manifestation of this hope-filled love that already lives within you. So the goal after that becomes connecting with the same hope-filled love within someone else. In this doubt-free hope-filled season, let us live into the hope that God is with us, even in our desires to love. And let us spend the remainder of Lent seeking love not out of fear or anxiety or doubt based on past experiences. But let us seek love with the knowledge that love ALWAYS HOPES
We all have dreams. We all have heart's desires. And I'm wondering what would happen if for 40 days we let go of the concept of "too good to be true" and just believed. What if we prayed in a way that wasn't begging God but instead prayed with a peace-filled belief that God was on our side and God was the one who gave us the dreams and desires in the first place. What are some of the dreams you have? Can you see God's purpose in those dreams? How can you go about asserting your belief for 40 day?
Facilitated by Rev. Dominique C. Atchison (Aka Purple Rev.)
How do you hold a conversation about race from a faith base? The United Church of Christ has has developed the "Sacred Conversation on Race". For the past three years I have been working to develop curriculum that helps ordained and lay leaders find the best way to lead their congregations in these conversations. I am available to consult and facilitate a conversation and/or help church leadership develop a conversation that would best serve your faith community. I'm available to work with churches of all denominations.
Please contact me at dominique.chantell@gmail.com for more information.
Some clips from a previous training New York School of Ministry "A Sacred Conversation on Race:
Decoding Our Racialized Language
Ground Rule: Keep the Conversation on the Topic of Race
Realms of Racism: Thinking Beyond the Interpersonal
Live into the Discomfort for the Sake of the Process
