by Bishop Bill Gohl
Where in the Scriptures is change held up as the antithesis to faithfulness? Jesus surely challenged the status quo, and in what could only be described as the most memorable preaching event ever, both the Sermon on the Plain and the Sermon on the Mount find Jesus suggesting that the most obvious sign of the reign of God breaking into human history is that God turns the world and its values upside down and inside out. Faithfulness is not simply of the heart, it is of being in community that reflects this vision of God's Kingdom come "on earth as it is in heaven."
As many in our synod are aware, three of my four children are persons of color. All of my children are fortunate to be a part of faith communities and schools where the gifts that people of African descent are lifted up, remembered, named and celebrated. Their sense of Black history is not limited to Dr. King and Rosa Parks, they know and can name many others who were a part of the Civil Rights movement; those who have sustained Dr. King's shared dream these last 60 years; and they see themselves as heirs of this dream that is still not fully realized. Their knowledge and wisdom humbles and blesses me.
Toward the end of the school year, a trip in the bishopmobile turned into a family conversation about why "Black Lives Matter" makes white folks uncomfortable. My son Andrew, a student at City Neighbors Charter School, pointed me to an article that he was reading in class, which reads in part: "No one was saying 'All Lives Matter' before people started saying 'Black Lives Matter.' So 'All Lives Matter' is a response to 'Black Lives Matter.' Apparently, something about the statement 'Black Lives Matter' makes us uncomfortable. Why is that?
"Now some white people might say that singling out Black people's lives as mattering somehow means that white lives don’t matter. Of course, that's silly. If you went to a Breast Cancer Awareness event, you wouldn’t think that they were saying that other types of cancer don’t matter. And you'd be shocked if someone showed up with a sign saying 'Colon Cancer Matters' or chanting 'All Cancer Patients Matter.' So clearly, something else is prompting people to say 'All Lives Matter' in response to 'Black Lives Matter.'
"Many of the people saying 'All Lives Matter' also are fond of saying 'Blue Lives Matter.' If you find that the statement 'Black Lives Matter' bothers you, but not 'Blue Lives Matter,' then the operative word is 'Black.' That should tell us something. There’s something deeply discomfiting about the word 'Black.' I think it’s because it reminds us of our whiteness and challenges our notion that race doesn’t matter." (The Real Reason White People Say ‘All Lives Matter,’ by John Halstead, Huff Post, July 25, 2017, retrieved on July 11, 2017)
The notion of being colorblind is not a luxury that people of color are afforded. My own sense of equality and egalitarian values is challenged in a society that makes judgments about my children in ways that they don’t about me. Racism is real, and it permeates every level of our common life. Three of my children don’t have the luxury of not seeing color; that is a part of my own white privilege - it is not a part of their inheritance.
When I was in seminary, that King portrait helped me summon the courage to use our consortium exchange to study at the Howard University School of Divinity, where I sat at the feet of professors and fellow students who began a process of shaping how I might recognize and leverage my privilege to affect change in this church that I love.
When I was a student pastor at Epiphany Church in Baltimore in 1999, that King portrait was vandalized after I preached what a member of my internship committee called "a provocative sermon." That King portrait spoke of the mandate I felt when, seven years later, I would return to that congregation as the lead pastor. When that portrait was hung in my study at Epiphany, it watched over our work to dismantle the structures of racism and begin the process of healing the breech between the congregation and our increasingly ethnically diverse community. In the 10 years I served with the people of Epiphany before I was called to be bishop of our Delaware-Maryland Synod, the congregation became substantially integrated, elected people of color to the council and as congregation president, sponsored three African descent seminary interns, and were vacancy partners with Faith, North Avenue, one of our African descent neighboring congregations. That work is continuing and there is much to do; but I was proud of this congregation that was willing to do something.
That King portrait in my study, which has always spoken of nobleness, faithfulness and courage to me; that portrait was a salutary presence as I worked with our synod to shape the current iteration of our synod staff, and it was that portrait that influenced my "vacation plans" for this summer.
Forgoing the opportunity to gather with my Rostered Minister colleagues in Atlanta next month, I am using my continuing education time and resources to make a pilgrimage to Philadelphia this weekend. I will be a part of those who will gather as the African Descent Lutheran Association and the Union of Black Episcopalians in a holy convocation, under the scriptural mandate: "Let justice roll down like water." I have no official role, nor do I have an agenda to advance. My goal is to return to the hospitality of sisters and brothers whose experience in this work is far more genuine than my own, to sit at their feet and listen again to the portraits of courage and faithfulness that remind me to believe that being faithful always leads to change. My own dream is that I would have the courage to use the privilege of this office I exercise in this church and to leverage my white privilege as a dependable partner in shaping our church to be a place where our children can credibly believe that their lives matter, not at the expense of anyone else's life, but for the risen life we share in Christ. Pray for those of us who gather.
Specifically, I covet your prayers for white folks like me to be still and listen. May we long after the heart of God for this church, reflected in the lives and experiences of our African descent sisters and brothers who continue to challenge this church to be faithful in its changing.
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." – Matthew 5:1-12