The continuation of the celebration of marriage equality feels good – as evidenced by a record-breaking Pride attendance! It feels like finally justice acted on behalf of marriage equality and for many of us, it’s very personal. It feels as if justice were enacted on our behalf.
But what about the times when we feel that justice is not acting on our behalf? What about the times when we look around and ask, “Where is the justice?” At times like this, how do we respond?
I’m taking a risk – and I’m going to address a topic that has been making headlines. Last Sunday, in the midst of all the joy and celebration I had a congregant tell me that she was sad and upset because of a verdict.
Emotions run high as I have read many responses to the Zimmerman verdict from several colleagues and progressive Christian and spiritual leaders.
I had someone tell me I was brave to address this and then in the same breath said, “But if it keeps being on your heart then share it. Press on, pastor!” And that’s what I’m going to do. Press on!
By now, most of us know of the Zimmerman verdict; where a now 26 year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, was cleared of all charges by a jury of six women, for the February 2012 fatal shooting death of Trayvon Martin. As Rev. Durrell Watkins said, “There is no statement that will appease everyone, and yet, the situation is too heavy to not offer something, if only an acknowledgment that this is a painful, confusing, and utterly unsatisfying moment in history.”
Some will say that our emotions are running too high, that none of us were on the jury or, for that matter, at the scene of the incident where a young man, 17 years old, was walking to his father’s home through a residential area in Sanford, Fla. on a rainy evening and was shot in the heart after an altercation. There are so many unknowns and these unknowns, some say, should keep us from forming opinions or experiencing pain. Like Rev. Watkins, I disagree.
He went on to say, “I am not an attorney or a journalist or a sociologist, so I wouldn’t dare enter into the technicalities of the case. But we aren’t outraged or devastated or confused because of technicalities. We are broken-hearted because a young man died, and many of us are in no way convinced it was unavoidable, and a grieving family has lost a child and must feel as if they have been denied justice.
In our humanity, how could we not ache for this family, for the life that will never get a chance to mature, for the pathology of racism that still infects our society? Our pain isn’t about legal loopholes; our pain is about human life being wasted.”
Rev. Nancy Wilson, our denomination’s moderator said, “Wearing a hoodie and talking on his cell phone, having just purchased a package of Skittles and a can of iced tea, Martin became a symbol of young people of color across the United States who are often targeted by law enforcement, shop owners and other citizens as ‘suspicious.’
“As a community of largely LGBT(QIA) people, coming from multiple religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, many of us know what it’s like to be viewed with suspicion simply because of who we are. “Many in MCC churches still live in parts of the world and the United States where our sexual orientations or gender identities are (enough) to endanger our lives.”
Let me bring this closer to home. I have permission to share this conversation with you from Richard – about having that feeling of being under “suspicion” when he goes into a shop, immediately being asked, “May I help you?” before he even has a chance to look around – and then being closely watched until he leaves. He said, “It’s a fact of life that affects pretty much all of us black males not just me.”
Richard shared this story with me: “About seven years ago, we were on vacation in northern California, in Mt. Shasta. I walked into an astronomy shop (astronomy is my hobby). There were many telescopes on display. I asked the shopkeeper/owner some basic questions. I noticed he was very nervous, his voice was trembling. I pretended not to notice. After about 15 minutes when he felt sure that I wasn’t going to trash his shop, or beat him up, he calmed down and we had a good conversation. Why should I have to spend a lifetime assuring people that I am neither stupid, nor violent?”
We can do better than this!
Our Scripture reading this morning ends with Jesus saying, “Go and do likewise.” What’s he talking about? Interestingly enough, it was a lawyer who asked Jesus, to try and trick him, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Great question.
Jesus, not giving the answer to the lawyer replied with more questions. “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
The lawyer answered with what is known as The Great Commandment – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”
So, the parable of the Good Samaritan is introduced from the great Commandment – and in response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” This parable, found only in the Gospel of Luke, is about a traveler (who may or may not be Jewish) who is beaten, robbed, and left half dead along the road.
First, a priest and then, a Levite come by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan comes by – now, Samaritans and Jews generally didn’t associate – in fact they despised each other, but still, the Samaritan helps the injured man. Now, this got people’s attention! Jesus was good at giving answers for the shock value of his listeners.
You see, in the time of Jesus, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notorious for its danger. Martin Luther King Jr., in his I’ve Been to the Mountaintop speech, on the day before his death, described the road like this:
“I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road I said to my wife, ‘I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable.’ It’s a winding, meandering road. It’s really conducive for ambushing. It’s a dangerous road. And you know, it’s possible that the priest and the Levite looked over at that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it’s possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking, and he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure.”
And so the first question that the priest asked, the first question that the Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” “However,” King continues. “But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?””
Often, we get caught up thinking, what it will cost me? We don’t think about how our action or inaction might cost the other person? The other person being my neighbor.
Jesus said, Go and do likewise! Care for the one who is down-trodden. Care for the one that is beaten up. Care for the one that is different than you. Don’t think about out it – don’t talk about it – do it.
As your pastor, I know many are grieving over this tragedy. I feel that our collective pain and sorrow need to be recognized and not ignored; and to affirm a deep sadness that a family has lost a loved one. We hold them up in prayer.
But we can do more! I challenge us as a community, what are some concrete ways we can respond to our feelings this morning? How can we honor this life that was taken too soon from us?
How can we be more inclusive? How can we educate? How can we have dialogue? I hope that one of the legacies of Trayvon’s life will be that we will ask ourselves what we can do individually to foster racial equality.
Dr. Maritza Reyes, a Latina law professor from Florida wrote in her blog last week:
“Race matters in our daily interactions and in institutional systems. Racial profiling personally impacts and harms [all of us], so we must be able to discuss and remedy it as a society. We must overcome this fear of talking about race and racism because silencing the dialogue will not make real problems go away. We should personally explore whether there are explicit and implicit racial biases that cause us to act and react in one way or another. This was not the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Many of you are going to be talking about this and I want us to do more than just talk. I challenge you to meet in your local support groups, communities of faith or families (origin and choice) to come up with at least one strong response/action that stretches us to be more inclusive as a community.
I said last Sunday that we’re making great strides in being more inclusive, but we can do better. My dream is that when people walk in the doors of our church, no matter what gender identity, sexual orientation or the color of their skin they see themselves.
I have no doubt you can be creative in your ideas; email them to INCLUSIVE@mccsd.org Write a prayer and place it on our Tree of Equality.
Let’s join our prayer with the prophet Micah for the day when swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. I pray for the day when all of us are at ease in the presence of someone different than us and see only in each other’s faces a brother or sister in Christ.
God, listen to your children praying.
