On this beautiful Wednesday afternoon the sun is shining and if I didn’t look at a newspaper, turn on the radio or television, or open my computer I might be able to assure myself that God’s in the heavens and all is right with the world. Except that I know it’s not. By the time you read these words much will have happened in all the communities of our lives and not one of us can predict what that will be. And the powerful words from T.S. Eliot’s play
Murder in the Cathedral
come to mind, words spoken by the chorus of women who stand by the cathedral:
“We have all had our private terrrors,
Our particular shadows, our secret fears.
But now a great fear is upon us, a fear not of one but of many. . .”
This afternoon I attended a prayer service held on the steps of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Tower Grove. It was timed to coincide with a similar prayer service at St. John’s, Lafayette Square across from the White House in Washington D.C. The tear-gassing of clergy and volunteers at St. John’s on Monday in order to clear the way for the president to take a photo standing in front of the church was of course on all our minds. But, as bishop-elect Deon Johnson said, “That’s just a distraction.”
The real issue is the systemic oppression of African-Americans and people of color. The real issue is what Americans of all colors are going to do about the ongoing brutal treatment and death at the hands of police forces across the country. The protests and riots roiling our cities are a reflection of massive anguish. Structural racism is the sin that is bringing people into the streets and the flames of civic unrest and racial division are being fanned at the highest levels of government.
A great evil is abroad in our land. What are we going to do about that?
There are a few questions we need to ask ourselves, but we need to have the courage to look deeply into ourselves. Do we take seriously the promises we made at baptism and that we have reaffirmed at every baptism we’ve attended? Most especially the final one (see p. 305 of the
Book of Common Prayer
): “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?”
What does that striving look like now for the church, for parishes, for individual Christians who follow the way of the cross and the one who bore it? What does it look like for you?
What will faith in action look like in the months and years to come?
As we grapple with these questions let us pray for strength to beat the swords of injustice and hatred into the plowshares of justice and reconciliation, in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
Blessings,
Anne+
