On Learn To Not Look Away
Hi Church,
These are incredibly heavy times. A three month lockdown, over a hundred thousand deaths, our long history of racialized violence and strife rendered fresh. My heart is heavy with all that is going on. As a priest in Christ’s church, I write with a special sense of frustration today with how the Word of God has been made a stunt and the Christian faith used as a prop to support actions of injustice and division, rather than held forth as the good news of salvation in Christ for all people.
It has been meaningful to continue conversations with many of you in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and so many others. My own feelings have shifted from grief and weariness, to anger and frustration. Black Americans, like all of humankind, are created in the image of God. Their lives matter. The persistence of racism is an affront to the prophetic call to seek justice, Jesus’ teaching on love for neighbor, and the biblical hope of ‘every nation, tribe, people and language’ united in the worship of God. I feel a profound need for the Spirit's presence and leading for us as the church as we seek to listen, lament, learn, and serve in the name of Christ.
At the heart of our response as Christians to the injustice and brokenness of the world is a call and cry to God, our creator, redeemer, advocate, and judge. We are a member of the Austin chapter of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) which is hosting a live stream prayer vigil from 7-8:15pm. Christians leaders from around the city will be participating. There will be a time for lament, for confession, and for intercession. I want to encourage you to participate and invite others to do so. Let's pray and lament together.
Following the prayer vigil COTC will be hosting a Zoom meeting for anyone interested. This is an opportunity for our community to share and pray together. Be encouraged to participate even if you can't be a part of the prayer vigil. We'll plan to begin at 8:30.
On Sunday we mentioned a couple of resources that are worth listening to, they can be found here, here, and here. I also want to commend this sermon by The Rev. Dr. Esau McCaulley, a canon theologian in our diocese. It might be the best single thing I've read over this past week. It is a word anointed with the Holy Spirit. Its clarity and power point to Christ, the life-giving Word. A number of clergy in our diocese and in the ACNA also published this letter making a commitment to anti-racism. This letter has been in the works for quite some time but I'm grateful that it has been made public this week. Lastly, the Anglican Multi-ethnic Network (AMEN) hosted a time of lament and prayer on Sunday evening. The gathering was filled to capacity online but the recording can be watched here.
Reading through the transcript of the final moments of George Floyd’s life, beyond the brutal injustice of it, I was struck by the witnesses present. They call for justice in those moments and they do not look away. There is something there for me in that, there is something for the church. We are to call for justice and not look away. For many of us, especially those who are white, there is discomfort here, but living as such a witness, listening, learning and lamenting is part of the call of Christ. The resources listed here are good places to begin or to continue.
I’ve heard criticism of those witnesses who were present for not interceding with their own bodies and lives. That's an incredible and terrible position to consider. I am grateful that we serve a God who does intercede with His own body and life, for us and for all, for salvation, for justice and mercy. In this season let us call out to Him who died and rose again, and let us follow Him on the way of the cross, it is the way of life.
In Christ,
Peter+