It does not matter what you say
Flesh shapes the day"
- The Night Watchman
Like many, many churches in the United States the church I attend, Crosspoint Community Church, stood and participated in the following litany (1) in solidarity with those that died in Charleston SC and the church in which they were slain:
A CALL TO WORSHIP FOR THE TRAGEDY IN CHARLESTON
[Leader]
We stand before you today, oh Lord
Hearts broken, eyes weeping, heads spinning
Our brothers and sisters have died
They gathered and prayed and then were no more
The prayer soaked walls of the church are spattered with blood
The enemy at the table turned on them in violence
While they were turning to you in prayer
[All]
We stand with our sisters
We stand with our brothers
We stand with their families
We stand to bear their burden in Jesus’ name
[Leader]
We cry out to you, oh Lord
Our hearts breaking, eyes weeping, heads spinning
The violence in our streets has come into your house
The hatred in our cities has crept into your sanctuary
The brokenness in our lives has broken into your temple
The dividing wall of hostility has crushed our brothers and sisters
We cry out to you, May your Kingdom come, may it be on earth as it is in heaven
[All]
We cry out for our sisters
We cry out for our brothers
We cry out for their families
We cry out for peace in Jesus’ name
[Leader]
We pray to you today, oh Lord
Our hearts breaking, eyes weeping, souls stirring
We pray for our enemies, we pray for those who persecute us
We pray to the God of all Comfort to comfort our brothers and sisters in their mourning
We pray that you would bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes
We pray that you would give them the oil of joy instead of mourning
We pray that you would give them a garment of praise in place of a spirit of despair
[All]
We pray for our sisters
We pray for our brothers
We pray for their families
We pray for their comfort in Jesus’ name
[Leader]
We declare together, oh Lord
With hearts breaking, eyes weeping and souls stirring
We will continue to stand and cry and weep with our brothers and sisters
We will continue to make a place of peace for even the enemies at our table
We will continue to open our doors and our hearts to those who enter them
We will continue to seek to forgive as we have been forgiven
We will continue to love in Jesus’ name because you taught us that love conquers all
[All]
We declare our love for you, our Sisters
We declare our love for you, our Brothers
We declare our love for you, their families
We declare our love as one body, one Lord, one faith, one baptism
We declare they do not grieve alone today
I was grateful for that moment in our service. Our congregation is not one where current events often make their way into the service, especially in a liturgical way. It was a beautiful moment of standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who died following the way of Jesus and something I am deeply grateful for.
That being said, I was struck by something - the lack of any mention of racism. In our service the word racism didn't appear until the very end of our pastors prayer following the litany. While I believe it was proper, and right, to stand with our martyred brothers and sisters I also believe we are called to stand up against the reason for their death - racism.
The omission of racism in the litany strikes me as the type of thing that perpetuates racism. Not calling this act of racial terrorism what it is downplays the reality of the situation. The shooting at Emanuel AME was not first and for most an act of persecution against Christians, it was a racially motivated mass shooting highlighting the continued struggle of race in America.
At this time in America, in light of Ferguson, Eric Garner, Charleston, and America's long history of racism what we need is a church that is willing to stand with our bothers and sisters AND against racism in all its forms. It is time for the church to be prophetic. As Dr. Cornel West states, “To prophesy, is not to predict an outcome but rather to identify concrete evils.” (2) Racism is a concrete evil and we need to standing up in our churches and in public defiantly standing against it. Standing alongside the victims without rising against the evil that caused there to be victims does very little. If we are going to see change we must rise both with those martyred and marginalized, and against the ideas and individuals that perpetuate racism.
Last week all over Twitter people were calling for sermons about racism in America (excellent thoughts on this from Nadia Bolz-Weber). I reTweeted one of those sentiments:
Joel Kiekintveld retweeted
Luke HⒶrms @lukeharms Jun 18If the pastor of your mostly-white church doesn't preach about America's original sin of racism this week, get up & flip a fucking table.
In the end, at my church, there was a litany, there was not a sermon (even though the parable discussed would have been a prefect jumping off point), and I did not turn over any tables. Maybe I should have.
"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."
- Galatians 3:26-29
(1) Posted on http://onechurchliturgy.com.
(2) May 28, 2009 issue of Rolling Stone - http://www.cornelwest.com/articles.html#.VYg7viknhUQ or http://killingthebuddha.com/mag/witness/the-supreme-love-and-revolutionary-funk-of-dr-cornel-west-philosopher-of-the-blues/
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