All Lives Matter
Proper 7B – RCL- Sunday June 21, 2015
Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Tywanza Sanders, Myra Thompson, Ethel Lee Lance, Susie Jackson, Daniel L. Simmons, Depayne Middleton Doctor
Dylann Roof
Jesus said to his disciples,
“Let us go across to the other side.” A simple request. One that does not leave room or time for
analysis. It reminds me of my dad. For many years he would say to mom “Lets go
for a ride.” No destination was
offered. No purpose given. Just a ride.
Admittedly the ride might turn out to go and take advantage of some
special deal on fishing gear. Or to
check out a potential fishing spot. But
many times the ride was just – well – a ride.
That is what Jesus is asking. For us as his modern day disciples to get in
and go for a ride. To go to the other
side. No discussion of what will happen
on the other side. Or if the boat is the right boat to use for the
journey. Perhaps if the disciples had
the weather app on their smartphones they would have said – wait a minute. The forecast is for a windstorm to come. We better wait is out. If the disciples knew that when they got to
the other side they would be encountering a demonic man living in a graveyard –
they might not have gone. Sometimes when
we are called by God to go to the other side we want to take time to figure out
if it is safe. What is the weather going
to be? Will there be a place for us to
dock and nice people to greet us once we arrive? We overanalyze and have analysis
paralysis. God is asking us to continue
to get on that boat and go to the other side.
We are also called to take
our society to the other side. We are to
take the great commandment seriously. We
are called to make a society where we love God and love our neighbors. Sounds easy sitting here on a beautiful
Sunday morning. Sounded easy when I –
several weeks ago - agreed to preach this Sunday.
And then the storm.
This week the news was full
of information that I could use in preaching.
I would love to focus on the intersection between Pope Francis’
encyclical and my secular career as an environmental scientist, and the story
in the Gospel lesson.
But a storm came up.
The murder of nine people
inside Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South
Carolina. The murder of people inside
the church during Bible Study and prayer.
How does this happen. How does
someone go into a bible study – and by some reports sit with them and
participated for over an hour – and the next thing pull out a gun and shooting
the pastor and eight members of the congregation. In a
holy space evil happened.
And the disciples said,
"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" That is my call too sometimes when storms
arise suddenly. When things like the
shooting in South Carolina happen. It
makes me wonder about our safety here.
We at St. Paul’s have been flinging our doors open widely and inviting
all in to our services, our bible studies, our coffee hours and our midweek
lunches. Various and diverse people come
through our doors. And occasionally
someone who – by their actions we perceive as dangerous or extremely disruptive
come into our midst. We have on rare
occasion had to call the police to remove someone from the premises. Thank God that is rare but it happens.
When I heard of the shootings
I thought that this could happen at St. Paul’s.
Should we therefore add card-readers to the doors and increase the level
of security to that of an international airport? Should we add fences and
gates? Should we install metal
detectors? I heard an interview with a black pastor that said some churches are
considering the option of metal detectors.
Will it make us prejudge people’s predisposition to violence? Will it make me change my quest to see
everyone I meet as made in the image of God – and to treat them that way? I hope not.
I certainly plan on throwing open these doors to our sanctuary – to our
holy space – as wide a possible. To
welcome in the unwelcomed and the weary – as we have been – and perhaps to even
find ways to increase our hospitality.
Because we are still called to “Go to the other side” and locking
ourselves away won’t stop bad things from happening. We are more likely to get struck by
lightening than be subject to violence in our churches. But we do need to have our eyes open.
We are also called to take
our society to the other side – to a place where we do see all people first as
being created in God’s image. TO first
see that and not first see someone as black, gay, homeless or – well to not see
people as “others”.
One of my fellow chaplains
during my clinical pastoral education brought up the topic of racism in our
society. It is not a topic that we
wanted to talk about – perhaps because the other five of us in that room felt
we were not racist. Perhaps because the
other five of us where white – and relatively economically well to do. We didn’t want to see our economic or visual
advantage. Most of us had never been
ignored in a restaurant because of how we looked. Most of us have never had someone cross the
street in fear – just because of the color of our skin or how we are dressed. And besides this is California and not the
deep south. But discrimination does
happen here. More often than we would
like to admit.
Andrea – who gave me
permission to tell this story - said, “We
stopped at a winery in Napa (son of one of Napa's most famous wine makers) for
a tasting on our way with the intention of purchasing a nice bottle (or two)
for our get away. The tasting room was
not overly crowded, there were at least two tasting room associates behind the
counter not helping customers. We walked
up to the counter and waited to be helped.
Both associates behind the counter turned around, looked through us,
then turned their backs. I patiently
waited for them to turn around again and assist us, but after a few minutes I
needed to walk away before I blew a gasket. Anil continued to stand at the
counter trying to get some acknowledgment.
We were probably there about 10 minutes and had yet to be acknowledged
when I decided I'd had more than enough and stated somewhat emphatically if
they didn't want our money, we'd find another winery who did. [This] is a blatant instance of racism I've
experienced with Anil. It was an eye
opener. I kept trying to justify
people's actions - it was 2005 - 2007, still relatively close to 9/11/01, and
people were still "sensitive" to people who appeared to be
Middle-Eastern, for example. But the
more I thought about those incidents and experienced the "subtle"
discrimination, I have stopped trying to justify it. As a human race, we have the capability to
hurt so deeply with words and actions, let alone with violence and outright
hatred. The violent acts get the news coverage, but how often do we stop to
think about the impact of our own words?”
The truth is that we still have a strongly “ism-ed” society.
We still face racism, sexism,
classism and so forth. Our society still
judges people by their appearance first – and then only after we get to know
them do we see them as people made in the image of God. Our churches are not immune. Sunday is still the most segregated time in
America. We go to our particular church
that was set up to serve a particular community. Even when the community around us has
changed. Lets face it St. Paul’s was
founded by very wealthy white men. E.B. Crocker was a member of the underground
railroad and an abolitionist. But that
does not change the fact that we were established by wealthy white men. Yes, we are rightly proud of the role our
parish has played in the history of California.
Likewise the church in South
Carolina – Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church – is proud of the role they
played in their history. A church founded
by former slaves and where former slaves were free to worship God. Free to worship God at a time when many
churches – including many Episcopal Churches either had separate services for
black people or made them sit in balconies.
It is into that setting that
a young white man, Dylann Roof – armed with a gun – worshipped with his victims
and then shot them. According to news
sources – when asked by one of the victims to stop he responded "'No,
you've raped our women, and you are taking over the country ... I have to do
what I have to do.' And he shot the young man." This act of violence was directed at these
people because of their race. And a fear
of them as a “group”.
It is easy to say that this
was an isolated case. That the shooter
is mentally ill. Perhaps on drugs. Which could all be true. But it is also true that parts of our society
feed such beliefs. One has to look no farther
than the on-line comment section on any news story to see people blaming “the other.” Blaming the “illegals”, or the “welfare
frauds”, or “the gays”, or “the blacks”, for whatever they see as wrong. And then some deranged soul takes it to
extremes and people are dead.
We are called to go to the
other side. We are called to see that
all lives matter. That black lives
matter. That gay lives matter. That homeless lives matter. Indeed, that all of creation matters. That it is all made by God for Good and we
are called to be partners in making the good.
But we will not get there with out storms. The storms will continue until such time as
God’s dream of love is made a reality on this earth. And from the news this week we still have a
long way to go.
But in the midst of the
storms we can be comforted – even during those comfortless times – that God is
on the boat with us. Then the
disciples
said, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up
and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" and
there was dead calm. He said to them,
"Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" We are called during the storms we encounter
in bringing God’s dream of love to earth to have faith. Faith that in the end Love wins. Not hate but love wins as is evidenced by the
families of the murdered confronting and forgiving the killer. That is why we are called to do one of the
hardest things that Jesus’ asked us to do.
And that is to pray for and love our enemies. Because that is the only way God’s dream will
come true. It is easy for us to pray
for those who where killed in the senseless act of violence in Mother Emmanuel
AME church this week. But it is hard to
pray for the young man that killed them – but that is our call. TO pray for all of them – the dead, those who
grieve for them and the one who killed them.
But we are called to do more.
We are called to get in the
boat and go to the other side. We are
called to see all lives as created by God and good. We are called to work and challenge society
when our “isms” start to control our actions.
We are – in short to work towards bringing God’s reign of love to our
societies. Oh yes there will be
storms. But the God who stilled the wind
for the disciples will still the wind for us too. But we have to get in the
boat and travel to the other side to experience God’s actions. We can’t just sit here and wait for God’s
reign of Love to happen. We have to be
partners in making over our world. We
are called to throw open our doors – both our physical doors and the doors to
our hearts and souls – to throw them wide open and to create a society where
all lives matter.
Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Tywanza Sanders, Myra Thompson, Ethel Lee Lance, Susie Jackson, Daniel L. Simmons, Depayne Middleton Doctor
Dylann Roof
Amen.
Thank you, Rik. A strong word.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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