WHO IS SAFE? WHO IS WELCOME? Seeking a Prophetic Path Towards Liberation

Sanctuary: Caminando Hacia la Libertad
(Artist: Erkhembat Lasran, immigrant from Mongolia)

I wrote previously about the Sanctuary movement, and specific initiatives by University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley and neighboring congregations: IN BERKELEY: Declaring Sanctuary, Changing Hearts and Minds.

This past weekend I joined several hundred other people of faith at a convening in Oakland: Sanctuary: Caminando Hacia la Libertad. The focus was "to learn tools and best practices to create a more prophetic path towards liberation."

There were many faiths represented at the convening, organized by Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and hosted at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California. I noted a study of 42 sanctuary congregations in Northern California, including two belonging to the denomination with which I am associated (ELCA).

The convening was extremely thought-provoking and generative. In my opinion, this event (which I hope will be repeated and enlarged), together with the other initiatives of Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, deserves the strong support of the ELCA and its West Coast synods.


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NUCLEAR WEAPONS BAN NEGOTIATIONS: An Opportunity to Repent?

Preparatory meetings for the UN conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination, commence today. The first full meetings will take place at the end of March at the UN in New York.

Which leads me to a modest recommendation . . . .

Nuclear Ban Treaty Negotiations -- United Nations, New York
27-31 March 2017 / 15 June - 7 July 2017

What if faith leaders everywhere spoke out on the need to support the effort to ban nuclear weapons? This seems particularly important in the US, Canada, Australia, and most of the countries of Europe, whose governments are opposing these negotiations. (See: Who would possibly vote "NO" to banning nuclear weapons??? )

For instance, Christian leaders could designate Sunday, March 26 -- the day before the UN sessions begin -- as a day to lift up this important peace work. This date midway through Lent seems appropriate for talking about the need to make a change, while there's still time.

Woodcut print by Sadao Watanabe

I've checked the lectionary for the day. It includes John 9:1-41. ("One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.")  A fitting text . . . .

So . . . Preach it! Let the bells ring out!


Related posts . . . 

Ring Them Bells for Nuclear Disarmament in 2015

Nuclear Disarmament: Are the Churches the Key?

#NOwar Music: Sometimes you hear it in church


Key resources . . . 

Network of Christian Peace Organizations (NCPO) Nuclear Weapon Ban Briefing 2017

Nuclear Disarmament: The Time is Now (A Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and Church World Service) 

World Council of Churches pushes for a prohibition on nuclear weapons


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SANCTUARY (Church, City, State) and Solidarity with Immigrants

I'm participating in a lot of conversations these days about Sanctuary, including developments where I live (Berkeley, CA), and the many other places across the US that are standing in solidarity with immigrants.

I decided to assemble some of the materials I've been sharing in one place.


FIRST . . . check out these awesome photos of the vigil this past Saturday at the detention center in Richmond (just north of Berkeley):

About 100 people turned out for the vigil at Richmond Detention Ctr on Feb 4!
(photo: David Bacon - see full album on Facebook)

We had a big group from University Lutheran Chapel.
(See video below for more on Sanctuary activities at ULC.)

For more information on the monthly vigils at Richmond Detention Center, and the many opportunities for involvement throughout the East Bay and other parts of California, see:

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (IM4HumanIntegrity)
East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition (EBIIC)

In particular, I want to pass along the powerful words of IM4HumanIntegrity program director Deborah Lee, shared with us on Saturday:

We stand here in prayer and solidarity with the (150-300) immigrants who are asylum seekers, green card holders, and long term residents, who are being held here under civil immigration charges.

We stand here – in front of one of the 250 immigration detention centers across this country – many county facilities like these, and the majority for profit -private prison facilities owned by GEO and CCA.

We stand here in prayer and solidarity ALS0 for the hundreds of other incarcerated individuals – 2.4 million incarcerated in our nation in 7,500 prisons -- disproportionately black and brown – reflected of persistent and unacceptable racial inequities through every social institutions and especially our criminal justice system. We painfully acknowledge that 70% of those who remain detained here in this facility are PRE-trial , have been granted bail, but cannot afford it.

We pray for All their families. Often the chief breadwinner is taken away, a mother or a father, putting children and families in economic jeopardy, facing the threat of homelessness. We pray and offer our moral, spiritual and concrete support to the families whose loved ones are held here. We invite them to speak their truth right here into our circle - to give their testimony so that they know, they are not alone.

We stand here today in solidarity with all those impacted by the illegal ban of refugees, green card holders, visa holders and family members from the 7 countries and other countries at risk - which was overturned by a judge last night. We are here to stand Against the Executive Orders that would triple ICE agents, build a comprehensive border wall, punish sanctuary cities, and collect fines and fees from undocumented persons and those who help them.

We stand here in prayer and solidarity because this prison- is a symbol of the militarized and punitive mindset towards immigration and other social problems. This prison and the proposals to build the wall – at the cost of $4 million per mile- and other anti immigration policies makes all of our communities less safe and secure. We demand that government resources be used to invest in our communities and address root causes of migration

THEREFORE…

We pray, knowing that all our faith traditions call upon us to welcome strangers and aliens, to practice compassion, forgiveness and understanding for those in prison, for they are our sisters and brothers and our families, and them, we were once strangers and aliens in this land.

We remember and must not forget that:

10 years ago – thousands of Muslims forced to register were deported and many families were torn apart.

1 grandmother ago there was the Chinese Exclusion act.- banning all from China and eventually from the whole Asia Pacific rim.

1 grandmother ago by Executive Order 120,000 Japanese Americans were Interned.

1 grandmother ago Jewish children and families in need of safety and protection were turned away and denied entry.

1 grandmother ago during the Great depression there was the mass Deportation of Mexicans and Filipinos

2 grandmothers ago slavery was legal and those of African descent were only considered 3/5 of a person.

2 grandmothers ago- this was Mexico.

3 grandmothers ago- this was Ohlone land and that despite everything it is STILL.

We lift up the dignity and resilience and love of those who endured. May their spirits strengthen us to resist and end the injustices in our time.

Rev. Deborah Lee
Program Director
Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (IM4HumanIntegrity)

You can see Deborah speak in this brief video about the Sanctuary project at University Lutheran Church in Berkeley. (Over 700 congregations have pledged their commitment to resist deportations and discrimination through Sanctuary.)

Short video about SANCTUARY by filmmaker Theo Rigby of Immigrant Nation.

(And here's a separate blog post that I wrote on the day of the Sanctuary press conference depicted in the video: IN BERKELEY: Declaring Sanctuary, Changing Hearts and Minds.)


Three related resources

We need lots of resources to build up communities of resistance step-by-step. Here are a few . . .

First, check out the "Faith on the Move" 6-part study guide from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. It was prepared by Rev. Dr. David Vásquez-Levy and invites people to think deeply about our faith tradition in connection with today's events. (Exodus, anyone?) We used it for adult study at ULC and it was fabulous.

Second, and related, pastors from First Congregational Church in a great video (under 3 minutes) that gets to the truth of what the Bible says about how to treat immigrants:

Third, a provocative set of study topics -- "9 Phrases the Migrant Rights Movement Needs to Leave in 2015" -- from Latinos Rebels. (Who's ready to tackle this during Lent?)


Finally, here are a few related posts that I wrote in past years:

WELCOME MAT USA: Come in! Come in! (Get out! Get out!)
Wanna Fix the U.S.A? Welcome an Immigrant Today!


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CHURCH: What are we in the middle of?

I have been doing a lot of thinking about church life in the US - particularly about church life in mainline protestant denominations like the one I belong to, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

Almost every church-related activity I participate in stirs up memories. I think particularly of going to a Lutheran church in Summit, NJ, in the '60s and '70s.

Part of me measures today's church experiences against the yardstick of church during those growing-up years*. (*About a half a century ago. Yikes.)

Another part of me finds joy in today's church experiences for their own sake -- and even in the feeling that we might actually be creating a new thing together.


What are we in the middle of?

Sadao Watanabe, The Last Supper

I've started to wonder what "my" church -- the denomination I'm affiliated with -- will be like in ten years. It startles me to realize that the answer probably ought to have less to do with my "growing-up years" idea of church, and more to do with some newly-created thing.

I wonder about worship in new ways . . . and fellowship in new ways . . . and faith formation in new ways . . . and social justice in new ways . . . and evangelism in new ways . . . . Before long I realize that, in my imagination, I'm really just recycling a bunch of old ideas, perhaps with a bit of current affairs and/or exotic flair added.

Then it occurs to me that what church does is respond to life. So the answer to the question, "What will the newly-created thing be?" has something to do with the answer to the question, "What are we in the middle of?"

Put another way: the opportunity for the denomination lies in engaging with what our society is experiencing.  The more widespread, difficult, and amorphous that phenomenon is, the greater the likelihood that "it" is what church needs to engage with.


Centrifugal force: economic inequality

Sadao Watanabe, Lilies of the Field

My sense is that the growing economic inequality in US (and other) society is where church will find its calling more and more with each passing month and year.

A few notes:

* Economic inequality is readily apparent to a certain degree -- we care about "poverty" -- but is enormously underestimated by most people, and poorly understood by almost everybody. There was a small splash made in the last year or two on the subject of the growing (and structurally irremediable?) economic inequality in Western societies by Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Bernie Sanders' 2016 Democratic primary candidacy got some traction on the topic of economic inequality.

* Church communities are already inherently involved in dealing with economic equality hands-on, i.e. within congregations themselves. And yet there is almost limitless possibility to do new things in this dimension.

* Church communities are also involved in addressing economic inequality, through service and advocacy, beyond their own walls. Again, there is enormous scope to do new things in this dimension, as well.

The opportunity lies in the existence of a widespread/difficult/amorphous phenomenon which so far shows no signs of yielding to known approaches. It is tempting to see an analogy to the early Church, when the widespread/difficult/amorphous phenomenon was called the Roman Empire, and something new had to be created because the obvious approaches were not getting people anywhere.


Can church succeed?

Sadao Watanabe, Miracle of Loaves and Fishes

If we set our sights on something we already know church can succeed at, we're probably not thinking big enough. We will know we are considering the appropriate phenomenon when we realize, "This may not work."

Here's what I will be thinking about in the coming year:

* How does the Gospel witness equip church to respond to economic inequality that is massive and growing rapidly?

* What strengths and gifts do we, as church, have at our disposal as we face it?

* What might we, as church, be willing to give up in order to get it right?

* What's standing in our way?

It may not be possible to envision exactly what church will be like ten years from now. But it does seem likely that the broad outlines are close at hand, if we are willing to reach for them.


MORE:
2017: Which Way for the Church? Anti-Racism? or Comfort?
Declaring Sanctuary, Changing Hearts and Minds
DECOLONIZE THIS: The ELCA's Doctrine of Discovery Challenge
KAIROS: The Moment You've Been Waiting For?


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2016: Why was everyone reading these posts?

Posts on nuclear disarmament, the global peace movement, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), social justice, and more.

Well, okay, not everyone . . . but a lot of people read an unusual combination of posts on Scarry Thoughts on 2016. Here's what I'm discovering . . . .

Can "Lutheran" Be a
#BlackLivesMatter Denomination?

Three Popular Posts

The post that lit up the most was a report on a letter about the need for anti-racism work, and for examining white privilege, within one of the mainline Protestant denominations in the US: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

(See below for two other ELCA-related posts in my 2016 top ten.)

Somewhat surprisingly, the second most frequently read post was from three years ago: "Ownlife" - A Notion Too Dangerous for the State to Tolerate? I think the reason it continues to strike a chord with people is that people feel life accelerating, and their personal space shrinking. This become terrifying in an age of big data and government surveillance.

Drones, 1984, and
Foucault's Panopticon

And in a related development . . . 

The third most frequently read post is even older: it was one of the first posts I ever wrote, back in 2010.

I'm not sure whether so many people read it because they're concerned about drones, or because they are disciples of Foucault, or because they are realizing we live in a surveillance state. Maybe all three.


Nuclear Disarmament

I have written a lot on the need for nuclear disarmament in recent years. Four posts attracted a lot of attention:

Meetings in DC in September, 2016, led me to write NUKES: Your Call to Your Congressman Matters.

What Would a Nuclear
Weapon Do to Chicago?
(Go ahead, guess . . . ).

A post from 2 years continues to help people the grasp the terror of what nuclear weapons promise to do where they, themselves, live: What Would a Nuclear Weapon Do to Chicago? (Go ahead, guess . . . ).

And a post from my trip last year to the cities where atom bombs were used: Nagasaki: Impressions.

People continue to use this page to learn about my sister's book: Reviews of "Thermonuclear Monarchy: Choosing Between Democracy and Doom" by Elaine Scarry .

(A lot more to come on this in 2017.)

PEACE DAY 2016: What comes first?
Demilitarization? or Development?

Global Peace Movement

This past year, I wrote a number of posts related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the peace movement.

I have a lot of work to do in the coming year to develop ideas that will be helpful to the global peace movement.


More on Church and ELCA

In addition to the #BlackLivesMatter post mentioned above, people read two other posts a lot:

ELCA Resolution on Palestine / Israel: What Does It Mean for Us?

"Personal Success Story"? "White Privilege"? or Both?

I have high hopes that we are going to see exciting things in the ELCA and other denominations in 2017.



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Which Way for the Church? Anti-Racism? or Comfort?

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- and other US denominations -- can and should choose to emphasize anti-racism work in 2017. (I think it is a critical moment.)

From @scarry:
What if we all did a personal inventory of how our "personal
success story" was built on white privilege? #ELCAcwa

(Image: ELCA presiding bishop Rev. Elizabeth Eaton and quote:
"When my dad came back from the war, the GI bill meant he and
my mom could get a low interest loan. That was not available to
African American veterans. That's white privilege. It's baked into
the system. Now, we didn't create it, but if we don't work to
change it, we are complicit."

The tweet shown above was very heavily shared when I posted it during the churchwide assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) this past summer.

I have been very hopeful that the Church -- Lutheran and other denominations -- will be a leading force in working against racism. (If not the leading force.)

Some of the things I've written:

How Might the White Church "Die to 'Whiteness'"?

"Personal Success Story"? "White Privilege"? or Both?

Can "Lutheran" Be a #BlackLivesMatter Denomination?

Decolonize Lutheranism -- A Northern California Installment

At the same time, I think there's a lot in the Church that makes it just want to turn its back on the world and seek comfort. I think that impulse is acute as 2016 draws to a close.

Which will it be?

From where I sit, it seems that the choice to emphasize anti-racism work is a matter of life and death for the Church.

My personal belief is that it will require a choice by the entire membership -- and not just isolated acts of leadership by a few people in the churchwide office, or a handful of charismatic pastors. It certainly can't be left to a few stalwarts on the "Social Justice" committee.

It needs to be the work of the whole Church.

The Church, after all, is the people.

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"Personal Success Story"? "White Privilege"? or Both?

The ELCA's presiding bishop, Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, has set an example: own the white privilege we've experienced in our lives. Will Lutherans step up?

From @scarry:
What if we all did a personal inventory of how our "personal
success story" was built on white privilege? #ELCAcwa

(Image: ELCA presiding bishop Rev. Elizabeth Eaton and quote:
"When my dad came back from the war, the GI bill meant he and
my mom could get a low interest loan. That was not available to
African American veterans. That's white privilege. It's baked into
the system. Now, we didn't create it, but if we don't work to
change it, we are complicit."

The tweet above coincided with the every-three-years national gathering of the major US denomination of Lutherans -- the churchwide assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The presiding bishop, Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, had shared a meme of herself on Twitter, and I found it inspiring. So I added my own take on it, and shared it. It stimulated a lot of activity.

The ELCA has a growing emphasis on anti-racism, and Bishop Eaton's message puts that emphasis front and center.  I found Bishop Eaton's meme powerful for three reasons in particular:

(1) It's about systemic racism . . . in this case, a government benefit. A big part of our anti-racism work is understanding that racism is institutionalized in the US, and that we are called to change that.

(1) It names "white privilege." Without taking anything away from her dad, who served in the war, and worked hard in other ways, Bishop Eaton points out that some of what she has benefited from is based on an inequity: white privilege.

(3) It's personal. It's about Bishop Eaton and her dad and her mom. It's real.

It seemed obvious to me that this act of leadership was saying to all of us, There, I did it; you can do it too: you can think about it . . . you can stand up and say it publicly . . . and you can help spur the conversation! 

Bishop Eaton has a "big soapbox." The ELCA has about 4 million members. Imagine if just a fraction of those people responded to this act of leadership.

So, in response to her initiative, and in the spirit of learning from Bishop Eaton about how to use social media effectively, I'm creating and sharing my own meme about how I've experienced white privilege.

This is just a first step, and it involves selecting one example out of many. This one builds on something I was reminded of by Bishop Eaton's testimony - a benefit stemming from military service in my own family. (Stay tuned for a future installment about my experience with the criminal justice system.)


The personal success story

My mother was the daughter of a coal miner in Eastern Pennsylvania. My "granddaddy" Melker had served in World War I.

My mother got college scholarship money for an essay she wrote for a veterans organization her father belonged to -- the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Together with other scholarship money, that money enabled her to attend college at Temple University in Philadelphia.

My mother met my father at Temple.

They got married.

Time passed.

I was born.


The question

You can't imagine how many times this legend has been repeated in our family. "Just imagine -- if Mom had never won that scholarship . . . !"

Very few teenagers from the coal fields of Pennsylvania got to go to college in those days; my mom was certainly the first person in her family to make the leap.  

And she earned it. She was really, really smart. And she was a hero in many, many ways.

At the same time . . . . I'm now wondering, "Was that scholarship a privilege that could not be accessed by the children of African-American veterans?" I've researched a little, and it's hard to prove one way or another. I did learn that 370,000 African-Americans were inducted into service in World War I. I've seen reference to the de facto (white) ethnic character of particular VFW posts; I've also read that there were all-black VFW posts, and that the VFW wasn't very widespread in the South.

Beyond the Bonus March and GI Bill: How Veteran Politics Shaped the New Deal Era by Stephen R. Ortiz says:

While marked differences existed at the leadership level and in the national status of the [American] Legion and the VFW, more subtle differences could be found in their rank-and-file memberships. Both organizations took pride in a cross-class national membership. The thorny issue of race, however, tested the supposed inclusiveness of the organizations. Each allowed state departments to decide on racial matters, in tacit complicity with the southern Jim Crow system and the racial system that was emerging in the north during the 1920s. Therefore, while both the VFW and the Legion included African-American veterans as members, typically they were shunted into segregated posts in both northern and southern states. (p. 19, accessed via Google Books)

This will be a question that I will continue to research. (Maybe some of the people who know the history can share comments to this blog.)

My family went from the coal fields to the college quadrangle,
with the help of a scholarship from the VFW.

"Personal Success Story"?
"White Privilege"?
or both?

(Share on Twitter)

Related posts

"I am convinced that we are in denial about the racism that saturates our society and from which we directly benefit. That denial produces predictable twin reactions from white people: either silence about the racism that plainly reinforces our way of living or surprise at the frustration and outrage African Americans and others express at how they are treated."

(See Can "Lutheran" Be a #BlackLivesMatter Denomination?)









To be sitting in Berkeley and seeing in front of my eyes the spreading of this idea that started in Texas and was nurtured in Philadelphia and got agitated in Chicago felt like a real Pentecost moment.


(See Decolonize Lutheranism -- A Northern California Installment)






I believe that once the Church comes out of the closet -- that is, once we start speaking quite openly about the difference between the world as we find it and the world as we believe God wishes it to be -- there is no way this old world will be able to stay the same.

(See Let the Church Out of the Closet )

IN BERKELEY: Declaring Sanctuary, Changing Hearts and Minds

We are a Lutheran congregation declaring our commitment to help people facing deportation to dangerous situations . . . so of course we gathered around the waters of promise . . . .

Supporters from over a dozen area congregations and organizations gathered
around Pastor Jeff Johnson of University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley
poured the waters of promise as part of the ceremony in which ULC declared
Sanctuary for undocumented persons facing deportation.

Today, University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley stood shoulder to shoulder with these congregations and organizations to declare Sanctuary for undocumented persons facing deportation:

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity / East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition (EBIIC)
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
Kehilla Community Synagogue
Hope Lutheran Church of El Sobrante
All Soul’s Episcopal Church
Newman Holy Spirit Catholic Church Non-Violent Peacemakers Group
Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy
Lake Merritt United Methodist Church
Pittsburgh-Antioch Community Church
Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County
Episcopal Diocese of California
Oakland Catholic Worker
Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Hispana

Over the last two years, the Sanctuary Movement has had 16 Sanctuary cases, winning relief from deportation for 13 people in 9 cities throughout the country, building a growing network of over 350 congregations in 30 states.

The focus of the day was the danger many people face if they are forced to return to the places they came from. We heard testimony from and about immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala giving specific examples of the threats to their lives that caused them to come here.

At today's event, the emphasis was on faith, conscience, and humanity: we are committed to helping these people simply because they need it. I couldn't help remembering that there is also another reason to help: US complicity in creating the violence in chaos in so many parts of Latin America. (See links to related posts below)

Two weeks ago the City of Berkeley affirmed its support of Sanctuary for undocumented persons facing deportation. Berkeley city councilman Kriss Worthington spoke at today's event and told those present that the movement is not just providing assistance to specific individuals, but also educating people everywhere about the need for Sanctuary, and changing hearts and minds.

More information on Sanctuary at University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley for undocumented persons facing deportation is at ulcberkeley.org/sanctuary.



Related posts

It will take me multiple posts to spell out everything that I feel needs to be said about the Ayotzinapa 43.  People in the US need to work to change their own attitude about Mexico, and about the culpability or all of us here in the US in the wrongs that are being done down there. The Ayotzinapa 43 were persecuted for saying "the future can be different." It's time for us to take up their cry.

(See Ayotzinapa43: US People Need an Attitude Adjustment )





I dedicated Indigenous Peoples Day 2015 to making some progress towards writing about the perspective of indigenous peoples in the Americas.

How do you observe Indigenous Peoples Day?

(See Reflections on Indigenous Peoples Day 2015)






Perhaps, like me, you will read a sentence like, "In 2001, many people came to her neighbourhood looking for a new home, fleeing from the Naya River where the paramilitaries had massacred and displaced the Afro-Colombian communities," and wonder what it refers to.

(See COLOMBIA: Where did the violence come from?)




The second half of the 20th century saw massive human rights violations in countries throughout Central America and South America, committed principally by governments and government-sanctioned paramilitaries. The United States government encouraged and enabled this through arms shipments, training, and other forms of support.

(See How Is the US Implicated in Argentina's "Years of Lead"?)

Can "Lutheran" Be a #BlackLivesMatter Denomination?

LSTC president James Nieman

I've been heartened to see a #decolonizelutheranism movement coinciding with #BlackLivesMatter and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Now the head of Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) has chimed in.

Below, I'm reproducing in full the open letter from LSTC president James Nieman.

For myself, I particularly notice three things:

(1) I like what President Nieman says about stopping to think . . . and confess. (See On Reading Ta-Nehisi Coates (A Confession))

(2) OVERALL: It's a reminder that, in the Lutheran denomination at least, seminaries are in the thick of the conflict of the times --  not an escapist ivory tower. As we approach the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and try to get in touch with what we're all about, it's good to remember this.

(3) Most important, he zeroes in those words that are so difficult for white people to swallow: "white privilege" and "racism" and "denial." A lot of work is going to have to be done to pry "Lutheranism" apart from "white privilege" . . . and guess who's going to have to do that work?

I'd love comments from others on what they notice in this letter. 


From President James Nieman:

The events of the past week in this country have culminated an escalating, sickening cycle of violence. This cycle has been inflicted predominantly upon African Americans and became more visible and acute since Ferguson, but in fact stretches back for decades, let alone centuries. Recently, others have been subjected to hate crimes (at Pulse in Orlando) or targeted for killing (the police in Dallas), and these atrocities also deserve our sober reflection and mourning. Consistent about a topic I have raised many times before, though, my focus in this letter is specifically about the role of white privilege and racism in creating the heinous harm consuming us these days, and how our school can play a part in dismantling it.

In particular, I am writing this mainly to white people like me at our seminary. I am convinced that we are in denial about the racism that saturates our society and from which we directly benefit. That denial produces predictable twin reactions from white people: either silence about the racism that plainly reinforces our way of living or surprise at the frustration and outrage African Americans and others express at how they are treated. I believe this denial, with its attendant silence and surprise, is nothing other than a refusal to acknowledge the privilege we hold and the degradation it inflicts on others. If we as white people have any conscience left, if we at this moment feel any distress at all with recent events, then we should at least have the moral courage in a seminary to admit that how we live is destructive for other people and ultimately unsustainable for ourselves. As white people, we must acknowledge our racism. [yellow highlighting added]


From various quarters there are calls for religious communities to pray or speak or march, and of course there is a place for all these actions. I am proposing, though, that white people like me must first engage the more basic, disturbing work of thinking and confessing. These practices are not at all neat and tidy, for taken seriously they are actually agonizing. But without first thinking about who we are and then confessing how we have benefitted, all of our praying and speaking and even marching become an insubstantial, self-serving charade. My point, then, is to share with white people at our seminary three resources toward a more disciplined kind of thinking and confessing. I assure you than none of these readings is easy to absorb.

First, I urge you to read “Death in Black and White,” an opinion column by Michael Eric Dyson appearing in The New York Times (click here). Second, I urge you to review recent postings on the seminary’s “We Talk. We Listen.” diversity blog hosted by Linda Thomas, including Dr. Thomas’s own excellent, poignant essay from this morning (click here). Third, I urge you to consider “White Fragility,” a scholarly article by Robin DiAngelo published in the International Journal of Critical Pedagogy .... All three readings are like a relentless mirror reflecting back to us the white privilege and racism in which we are embedded. May these be aids to your thinking and confessing about racism.

I realize some readers may find this letter harsh and uncomfortable, while others may think it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Isn’t reading articles just another kind of intellectual escapism? Can thinking and confessing ever be potent practices that make a difference? My aim, though, is theological – and theology in the name of the Crucified begins with telling the truth (cf. article 21 of the Heidelberg Disputation), both about ourselves and the evil that envelops us. As white people within the LSTC community, let us (as Luther put it in 1518) “call the thing what it is,” honestly name our complicity in racism, and commit to meaningful repentance. Only then will all our other words and deeds – and yes, even prayers – hold any promise for those whom our white privilege has persistently destroyed.

James Nieman
President


Related posts

Maybe a good next step is to read Coates' book and sit with it . . . listening to what comes up . . . but not jumping immediately into "solving."

(See On Reading Ta-Nehisi Coates (A Confession))














It suddenly occurs to me that everyone in the US should be studying the behavior of England toward India, and asking ourselves, "What might this tell people in the US about coming to our senses?"

(See PROBLEM: How does an entire country exorcise a national delusion?)







To be sitting in Berkeley and seeing in front of my eyes the spreading of this idea that started in Texas and was nurtured in Philadelphia and got agitated in Chicago felt like a real Pentecost moment.


(See Decolonize Lutheranism -- A Northern California Installment)






KAIROS: that moment of clarity, in which it is no longer "business as usual"; that moment in which you feel an earthquake impending.

(See KAIROS: The Moment You've Been Waiting For?) 

Decolonize Lutheranism -- A Northern California Installment

NICE . . . !  But have you got something in Jello???

Pastor Jeff Johnson was telling people about #decololonizelutheranism ("hashtag decolonize Lutheranism") on Sunday at University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley.

I got a kick out of it for three reasons:

(1) It's exactly what I've been thinking about -- at a low level since moving to Berkeley from Chicago in recent months, as I've tried to get my bearings, and with growing intensity in the past few weeks since hearing Mark Braverman from Kairos USA speak in Santa Cruz. (See KAIROS: The Moment You've Been Waiting For?)

(2) Pastor Jeff put it in terms of what we're going to be doing over the coming months at the Chapel. (Some churches use the rubric "ordinary time" for these months between Sunday and Advent; we call it "movement time.")

(3) I got to see my Chicago friends like Kwame Pitts and Francisco Herrera in the #decololonizelutheranism video Pastor Jeff shared as part of his sermon. :-)

To be sitting in Berkeley and seeing in front of my eyes the spreading of this idea that started in Texas and was nurtured in Philadelphia and got agitated in Chicago felt like a real Pentecost moment.


Looking forward to seeing how this develops in the weeks ahead . . . !


Related posts

The exhibition at the Chapel invites you to look into the eyes of the people affected by the war, and enter into their stories. There are dozens of examples I could share with you.

(See Syria: Do you dare make a human connection?)








I adapted the text of Exodus 4, about the way an "unexpected leader" -- Moses -- was encouraged to act, to tell the story in terms of the way leaders came forward against slavery in the US . . . .

(See Salvation History: "Follow the Drinking Gourd")












Perhaps what makes a book good for a discussion group is that it combines startling candor, brevity, and the courage to leap again and again into the middle of mysterious questions.

(See Finding Accidental Saints in Berkeley)

Get Outside Your Comfort Zone and Have A Conversation Today (Welcome to the Ministry)

I attended a very interesting gathering during the first weekend in November. About 70 people from across the country were in Chicago to talk about how to educate the laity (i.e. non-ordained people) for ministry. (They were all associated in some way with the Lutheran church.)

It was pretty exciting to be among a bunch of people who:

* believe that we are all priests
* believe that ministry is something we can be doing all the time
* believe that the heart of ministry is relationships
* believe that our relationships need to be -- ahem -- a little more inclusive

It's important to be together with others who will talk openly in this way.  Even if one thinks these things oneself, it is easy to slip into the fear that one is all alone.  Who knows: maybe a lot of people think this way!

For the "we are all priests" part, blame Martin Luther. ("In this way we are all priests, as many of us as are Christians. There are indeed priests whom we call ministers. They are chosen from among us, and who do everything in our name. That is a priesthood which is nothing else than the Ministry." See Wikipedia: universal priesthood.)

As for the notion that ministry is "something we can be doing all the time," I thought that what was really interesting in talking with this group was a sincere interest in going beyond the idea that we can only think of serving others and the world as involving clergy or other "helping professions." How about all the many, many, many other walks of life pursued by people ina big city like Chicago? For instance: is a person engaging in ministry when they do international trade?  How about when they do IT? What about intellectual property management?

Most interesting of all, there was a very strong sense in this ELCA gathering that we need to forthrightly ask ourselves: "Who's being left on the margins? Isn't that exactly who we should be working to be in relationship with?" A big part of this is creating a safe space for people who are most often marginalized to be present and be heard.  As I thought about this, I harked back to the high tide of Occupy Chicago, when there were teach-ins every day - veterans explaining "How Veterans Are Part of the 99%"; formerly incarcerated people explaining "How Prisoners Are Part of the 99%"; transgender people explaining "How Transgender People Are Part of the 99%".

In particular, this bears a close relationship to a commitment to doing anti-racism work - within the congregation I am a part of, in other congregations throughout Chicago, and nationwide.

This made we think about some of the work of the Chicago organization that a number of our congregations in the Logan Square area been privileged to work with on violence prevention: ALSO. (You can read about some of that involvement here.)

Art by Sadao Watanabe

I also thought more about something I often talk about with other organizers:  "never underestimate the power of food" -- i.e. the power of breaking bread together.  We've been seeing that at St. Luke's Logan Square, where the weekly Community Dinner is a place for all kinds of people to sit down together:  people who identify as members of St. Luke's and/or people who are food insecure and/or people who live in the vicinity and/or (fill in the blank).

I believe when Jesus broke the bread and poured the wine and said "Remember me this way," he was much more interested in encouraging us to keep having conversations -- conversations that really matter -- with others . . . and finding ways to be in relationship with our neighbors  . . . all the while reminding us "never underestimate the power of food"  . . . and if we could gladly accept the charge to keep getting outside our comfort zones the question of whether we use church-y words when we do it is the least important part of it all. (I'm still waiting for a gathering where I can hear from others talking openly about that belief!)

Hmmm . . . . So . . . does the path to learning what we need to know in order to be ministers in fact lie in those conversations themselves?

For more on this whole topic and how it's being addressed in the church I'm involved with, check out this article by Sue Lang, one of the attendees at the gathering: Developing Leadership for Laity: Intentional Lifelong Learning

Related posts

"You may not understand every word, you may feel uncomfortable, you may have to spend time later trying to figure it out or to humble yourself now and ask for help; you may have to work at it. But in the long run . . . a Spanish speaker is what you are . . . because that's the community you're a part of!"

(See Don't speak Spanish? "Sure you do . . . .")

The Gospels are full of provocations to confront this paradox: people are forever saving up and guarding against a future that is never going to come, while throwing away the present that they do have. ("You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" Luke 12:20)

(See Edward J. Snowden: The 365-Day Man )

I believe Easter is God's gift to humanity of victory over death, hopelessness and frailty, and I believe that God is alive and in our midst. The witness of the Guantanamo lawyers has confirmed me in those beliefs.

(See Easter Victory: The Guantanamo Lawyers )

A group of us from St. Luke's Lutheran Church Logan Square  was in Springfield with thousands of other Illinoisans to encourage our state legislature to pass the marriage equality bill (SB10). Even if you weren't there, you can get a sense of what it was like -- raindrops and all! -- thanks to the dozens of photos my friend Frank took. Enjoy!

(See Marriage Equality Is a Human Right )

Occupy Palm Sunday!

Palm Sunday falls on April 1 in 2012.

In Chicago the following weekend, besides being Easter, people who have been looking to the Occupy movement as a source of community will gather on Saturday to "Occupy Spring".

And Chicago has a longstanding tradition of getting into the street during Holy Week, with the Good Friday Walk for Justice.

I've been thinking about the Occupy movement and what it has to do with Christian witness. The conclusion I've come to is: a lot! In fact, I think it's central to our understanding of what Christ's life and death meant. What would Jesus do? Occupy!

So I propose that churches across Chicago -- and elsewhere! -- plan on a real Palm Sunday this year -- and Occupy it!

Palm Sunday

What will people be doing when they Occupy Palm Sunday? It could be anything really, but for starters I'm imagining they will:

* get outside their churches and into the public spaces in their communities

* celebrate Jesus' teachings

* enjoy a meal at which everyone in the community is welcome

* talk with each other about what's really important

Who knows? There may even be palms .... ;-)

Those are my ideas for how to Occupy Palm Sunday. Anyone else got any ideas?


Related posts

Think back on everything that has happened in the last year. Is it time for things to quiet down? To have a "nice" spring? To sit back and be entertained by the usual presidential campaign circus?

(See Occupy Palm Sunday in 2016)




Chicago, March 29, 2012 -- Members of congregations from across Logan Square and Humboldt Park streamed from their respective houses of worship to the Logan Square monument at the end of services on April 1 to Occupy Palm Sunday! Participants sang and chanted songs of protest and praise as they occupied the green space at Kedzie, Milwaukee and Logan Boulevard . . . .

(See Occupy Palm Sunday! in Logan Square)










On Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013, people who long for peace and justice in our city gathered at St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Logan Square to begin to talk about what real change would look like. It was a joyous and hopeful event as we aimed to eliminate all violence in our community in 10 years! Zero in Ten.

(See Photo Gallery: Palm Sunday 2013 - "I Will Be a Remedy for Violence!" )

Palm Sunday - April 13, 2014 - Building on the success of our December 2013 “Posada for Public Housing,” we focused on issues of housing in Logan Square as we heard testimony from people experiencing eviction and foreclosure and campaigning for quality, affordable public housing. We considered faithful responses to our neighbors' needs, and provided opportunities to get directly involved.

(See What do we want? SALVATION! When do we want it? NOW!)


"Missa dos Quilombos" asked for forgiveness and sought healing for the legacy of slavery in Brazil. Dom Helder celebrated the Quilombo Mass. He said: "Mariama [Mother Mary], we aren't here to ask that today's slaves be tomorrow's slave masters. Enough of slaves! Enough of masters! We want liberty!" The beating of the drums was overpowering, they exploded like the screams of our souls!

(See Hélder Câmara and Liberation Theology 101: Where? When? Why? Who? )