As I write this, a young white woman in Marshfield, Massachusetts is organizing a Vigil for Peace, in honor of all Black Lives Lost, to be held at Harbor Park this Saturday. She works with Marshfield FACTS, trying to reduce the incidence of substance abuse in Marshfield. A passionate communitarian, she views the murder of George Floyd as an opportunity to move us further toward abolishing the scourge of racism close to home, and in solidarity with similar peaceful protests across the country. I only know her via email, phone and Facebook, but I’m proud to know her, and I’ll be honored to stand with her (wearing masks, and at a distance of six feet), and all who will gather this Saturday.
There’s a Gospel we don’t want to hear. It’s the one where Jesus tells us that kingdoms and principalities will fall, and that the lost, last and least will be first, and those who were previously first will find themselves last. It’s a social justice Gospel, driven not just by what Jesus said, but by who he was — defying all religious and societal norms — and hanging out with alleged forgers, and foreigners, and yee-Gods, women. But Gospel good news it is, because that’s what the Kingdom of Heaven, that’s what the Reign of God will look like: all of us in this together, working maybe, to further this dream of Beloved Community. Working maybe, to making sure that all lives, and all gifts are valued, and that war, in all its forms, will not be how we live.
The young woman I mention received pushback for being white and young, while organizing a peaceful protest honoring all Black Lives. But not much. Instead, she’s been receiving an outpouring of support from her Marshfield neighbors. Maybe some of us are ready to hear what Jesus speaks to us still.
In the midst of a global Pandemic, and the economic fallout that ensues, in the midst of our isolation and exhaustion and disappointment, so many fault lines have been revealed. They’ve been revealed across generational lines, racial lines, sexual lines, religious lines, political lines … you name it, they’ve been revealed. And what are we to do with these revelations? How to respond?
“And teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the ages.”
We’re not alone in all that we have to do — we never have been. We’ve been called to co-create a new normal with each other and with the one who defied death for all time. And that, my friends, is Gospel good news.
God’s peace & my love — mb