A Greenhouse Contradiction: Nurturing Spaces of Peace for Communal Flourishing | @kaleophx

Illustration Black fetus in womb by Chidiebere Ibe

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August 7, 2022

During this season of Ordinary Time at Kaleo Phoenix, I took the opportunity to talk about things that have been stirring in my heart lately.

Jesus, Howard Thurman, and MLK lived in contradiction. We must also live in contradiction if we want to create spaces of peace for communal flourishing. BUT…it starts with a seed in a greenhouse.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Good evening. My name is Erin and my pronouns are she/her. I’d like to once again begin with a land acknowledgment to honor the Native people that existed here before us. This land we dwell upon today (Grace Lutheran Church in downtown Phoenix) is the ancestral land of the Tohono O’odham Nation. We acknowledge their historical roots in this place, the many generations who were stewards of this land before it was stolen from them.

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AN ANTI-BLACK WORLD

On May 14, 2022

A teenage gunman [influenced] by a white supremacist ideology known as replacement theory opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY methodically shooting and killing 10 people and injuring three more, almost all of them Black. [It is said to be] one of the deadliest racist massacres in recent American history. READ MORE

10 days later…

May 24, 2022

An 18-year-old gunman wielding an AR-15-style rifle killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas...It was the deadliest school shooting since 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012. READ MORE

30 days later…

June 24, 2022

In a historic and far-reaching decision, the U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion [was “unconstitutional”, although it was] upheld for nearly a half-century. READ MORE

3 days later…

June 27, 2022

At approximately 12:30 a.m., in Akron, Ohio, police officers killed Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old American black man from Akron (the exact same age as my husband). Following a traffic stop and car chase, officers pursued on foot and fired more than 90 times at Walker. Autopsy results showed that Walker's body was hit by 46 bullets. READ MORE Another article is available HERE

7 days later…

July 4, 2022

A gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago…killing at least six people, wounding at least 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children on bicycles fleeing in terror....READ MORE

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

It’s chilling to think that all of that has happened within the past 90-Days. And that’s not even everything…

Sometimes it feels like I’m playing a character in a movie to think that I have to somehow push past these traumatic realities in order to exist in the world.

To go get groceries or find money to put gas in the car. To go pick up kids from school, call my mom and see if she’s okay, to plan a weekend getaway or vacation.

Whether we realize it or not, these collective traumatic experiences impact the way we practice our faith. At one point in my life, I think I would have dismissed and ignored these events because of what I believed about Jesus. The Jesus I was originally taught did not engage in social issues unless it was about marriage between a man and woman, abortion, or standing with Israel.

Now, I give attention to, ask questions about, and see ways I can participate to help bring healing and shalom to our city…because of what I believe about Jesus. I now see that that’s what He would have done. He would have been front and center…at every intersection where injustice meets humanity.

These world events also have an effect on our bodies, our minds, and our emotions.

More specifically after the shooting in Buffalo, NY (and the murder of Jayland Walker) my body went into a deep depression and exerted a heightened sense of anxiety and fear. I found myself on a subconscious level desperately wanting to put myself in a world of safety – to drown out the harsh reality that I live in an anti-Black society.

Without fully knowing why, I found myself binge-watching – wait for it, The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I know several people that have watched it, but I never really got into it. I know it’s known for its… drama.

But for some reason, after all that had transpired in the world, it became my scapegoat. After further reflection, I realized there was something in me that deeply wanted to see Black women live, have joy, find love, do well in business and in life, and figure out how to reconcile their friendships with one another. For some reason, this show provided me with a reality that contradicted the one I was experiencing in the real world.

This is not meant to encourage you to binge-watch RHOA, although if you want to, go for it. It is simply a true and honest reflection of how the anti-Black society of America affects my own mind and body from day to day.

REV. DR. CASSANDRA GOULD

I have the privilege of being mentored by a Black woman named Reverend Dr. Cassandra Gould. Who is a long-time pastor and Senior Strategist for Faith In Action in Washington D.C.

Of what I know of her thus far, she is everything I want to be when I grow up. As one who exists in community development spaces and community organizing spaces, she has the language that carries people from Jesus that develops people's hearts across the bridge to become an embodiment of a Jesus who seeks social and political change that reflects true Shalom - heaven on earth.

Her mentorship of another activist in Buffalo, NY led her to be on the ground after the mass shooting. She shared with me how she and her mentee accompanied the police as clergy as they gave the devastating news to families that had lost loved ones. She hugged them, loved them, grieved with them, prayed with them. She attended 7 of the 10 funerals.

And as she told me these stories she reminded me of the unique need for clergy to show up for people. There are many clergy who are caught up in speaking words that sound good but don't know how to be there for people when they need them the most. I was so touched by her words I almost felt like I was there on the ground with her as she described to me this experience.

And after she told me these stories, with a kind, caring voice and genuine eyes she looked at me on my computer screen and asked me how I was doing.

AND THEN I CRIED…

And as I cried, I felt the anxiety my body was storing…release. And I felt the worry and fear I was carrying in my neck, shoulders, hands, and feet find safety in another Black woman pastor asking me how I was doing.

She was a space I didn't have to explain how I felt. I didn't have to explain what my experience is in the world or what my people feel when we hear another one of us has died inhumanely without justice.

She already understood all of that. She’s a pastor, a Black woman, a Mother, mabe a grandmother, an activist, a community leader…and in that moment I saw my future self say back to my present self…it’s gonna be okay.

And in that moment I remembered why people of color need people of color…why single moms need single moms…why LGBTQ+ people need LGBTQ+ people…why immigrants need immigrants…it’s because when someone who has a shared experience…who’s back is also against the wall reminds you that you have dignity, it’s a step forward. It’s reassuring of your worth and value.

Prayer practices are helpful to center us and ground us and remind us that we are loved by God. But the reality is that we still have to open our eyes the next day and live in a society that doesn’t want us alive. Doesn’t want us to thrive. Doesn’t want us to live in peace together and practice the ways of Jesus together as the multi-ethnic family of God.

It’s…just…true…so what do we do?

HOWARD THURMAN’S JESUS

For the past five weeks our community has been reading the book Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman.

Who was Howard Thurman?

Portions of this Howard Thurman biography were been adapted for live reading. Read the full article HERE. and HERE.

Howard Thurman…was one of the principal architects of the modern, nonviolent civil rights movement and a key mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

During…the 1920s, [he] was one of the most articulate and visible theological figures in the national student youth movement. He was the student movement’s most popular speaker for interracial audiences. He was also a leading voice on the changing ministry of the Black Church. It was through Thurman’s experiences during this time that his faith in interracialism began to take root.

In 1943, A.J. Muste of the Fellowship of Reconciliation invited Thurman to recommend a student to help…co-pastor (Fellowship Church) in San Francisco—the first major interracial, interfaith church in the United States. To Muste’s surprise, Thurman offered to co-pastor the church himself. Thurman’s ministry at Fellowship Church (1944–53) was deeply influenced by his experiences…while traveling [abroad] particularly his meeting with Gandhi. Through the establishment of Fellowship Church, Thurman brought together people of different faiths, races, and classes in common worship and fellowship. This church has been designated as a national historic landmark for its creative and pioneering social vision.

What was his book about?

[Mind you, his book Jesus the and Disinherited came out 5 years into co-pastoring Fellowship Church.] …and deeply influenced leaders of the civil rights struggle. In [his book], Thurman offered the vision of spiritual discipline, as against resentment, that later informed the moral basis of the black freedom movement in the South. During these years, he regularly advised leaders of these organizations—including Martin Luther King, Jr.

What did the book bring about in society?

[Thurman] influenced intellectually and spiritually an entire generation that became the leadership of the civil rights movement.

Thurman left a profound intellectual and spiritual influence on King. King, for example, reportedly carried his own well-thumbed copy of Thurman’s…book, “Jesus and the Disinherited,”in his pocket during the long and epic struggle of the Montgomery bus boycott.

Drawing from Thurman’s views, King understood Jesus as friend and ally of the dispossessed – to a group of Jewish followers in ancient Palestine, and to African-Americans under slavery and segregation. That was precisely why Jesus was so central to African-American religious history.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

Somehow Martin Luther King Jr figured out how to nurture spaces in marginalized groups where the Jesus of Howard Thurman could grow and flourish.

Somehow like Daniel he figured out how to exist as a Jesus follower in the midst of Babylon.

Somehow, he figured out how to nourish the beauty of being Black in an anti-black world. Somehow he figured out how to nurture and grow a Jesus that cares about the marginalized in the midst of a world that embraces White Christian Nationalism and White Supremacy.

Somehow he did it. It’s as if he lived in a greenhouse with an atmosphere that was different from the world it was in.

This is the great question I've been asking myself for weeks.

How do you create and nurture spaces to grow things that the world is burning down?

How do you create and nurture spaces to grow a beloved community, a multi-ethnic family of God that values abundance and dignity for all…while living in a world that is tearing it apart?

Something tells me that Thurman didn’t create a new Jesus. His eyes could just see the Jesus that had been there all along.

Thurman could see that Jesus lived in contradiction.

Jesus made those who could not see, see.

Jesus made those who were bleeding out, stop.

Jesus made all the illnesses and ailments caused by oppression and misalignment in the world…whole again…by living in contradiction to Empire and social power. By living in the way of love.

And THIS…was good news to the poor. THIS was good news for those who were least, lost, left out, and looked over.

[Thurman had clear eyes to see how] spiritual cultivation is a necessary accompaniment to social activism. The relationship of Thurman’s mysticism and King’s activism provides a fascinating model for how spiritual and social transformation can work together in a person’s life.

Thurman and King could see that Jesus lived in contradiction.

LUKE 19

Our passage tonight is Luke 19.

María Eugenia León* summarized it this way.

The story has three key parts: a first part, in which we see Zacchaeus preparing to meet Jesus; a second part, when the meeting takes place; and a third part, in which Jesus gives a message intended not only for Zacchaeus but for all those who want to follow Jesus.

In each part of this passage, the common denominator is action, which leads us to think that tasks such as peace and reconciliation require that all parties that at one time were in conflict take action, in this case, creative action—leaving our comfort zone.

Zacchaeus was the head of the tax collectors in his region. Being Jewish, he collected taxes for Rome. In those days, tax collectors had a very bad reputation, as many charged more than what was required by Rome, and with that money they became rich at the expense of those who had less. Sounds like a lot of present day politicians and Fortune 500 company CEOs.

But Zacchaeus was doubly hated for being Jewish and nevertheless collaborating with the oppressive power and leading to the impoverishment of his own people.

However, in this passage, Zacchaeus surprises Jesus and the people of the town with his attitude after encountering Jesus...

For his attitude was not just that he would stop stealing, or stop abusing, or stop taking advantage of people...but that he would RESTORE all that he had stolen by 4x.

Zacchaeus after encountering Jesus leads us into an example of true restorative justice -- one that includes relational restoration and physical, monetary reparations.

So remember this story has three key parts: a first part, in which we see Zacchaeus preparing to meet Jesus; a second part, when the meeting with Jesus takes place [and now we enter the] third part, in which Jesus gives a message intended not only for Zacchaeus but for all those who want to follow Him...

Starting in verse 11…Jesus speaks a parable of a man who did not participate in the systems of injustice but instead used that opportunity to speak truth to power.

It wasn’t until I encountered this perspective from theologian René August of South Africa that I ever read this parable this way.

This is a smooth translation of the original Greek by Greg Howell:

Smooth Translation:

11 – But as they were hearing these things [Jesus] spoke a parable, because he was nearing Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God was about to be immediately manifested.

12 – He said, “Therefore, a certain high-born man made his way to a distant country, to receive for himself a kingdom, then planning to return.

So a man born into wealth, made his way into another country in an attempt to make himself king.

13 – Then he called his servants and gave them ten minas, saying to them, “Trade these until I come back.”

14 – But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him saying, “We do not want this man to reign over us.”

So the people he made himself king over didn’t want him to be king. They hated him. They didn’t like the way he treated people. They didn’t like the way he did business.

15 – And it came to pass, when he returned again having received his kingdom, he called to his servants whom he had given money, in order to know what they had gained by trading

16 – And the first came up, saying, “Lord, your mina has produced ten more.”

17 – And (the king) said to him, “This is well, good servant. Because you were faithful in a very little, you may have authority over ten cities.”

18 – And the second (servant) came saying, “Lord, your mina has made five more.”

19 – And (the king) also said to this one, “Very well, you will be in charge of five cities.”

20 – And the last came, saying, “Lord, behold your mina, which I kept laid up in a handkerchief.

This is where it gets interesting…This servant speaks truth to power.

21 – I feared you, because you are a harsh man; you take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.”

22 – But to [that servant the king said] “Out of your own mouth I will judge you, wicked servant. You knew that I am a harsh man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

23 – And why did you not give my money to the bank, that upon my return I would have received it with interest?

24 – And to those standing nearby (watching all of this unfold…the king said), “Take from him the mina, and give it to him who has ten.

25 – And they said to him, “Lord, he already has ten minas.”

26 – [And the king said back to all of those watching] For I say to you that to everyone who has, more will be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken from him.

27 – Moreover [the king says], to my enemies, those who were unwilling to have me reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.

[as if to say, watch what happens to those who go against the system. Watch what happens to those who live in contradiction]

The Hero of the story is not the man who multiplied his talents.

For that man knew that the king was unfair
He was snobby
Thought only of himself
Served himself
He took from those who didn’t have anything and gave to those who had

The hero of the story is the man who refused to participate in the system orchestrated by the king.

This man knew what the king would do to him if he didn't submit to the system…and he did it anyway.

The irony of this parable is that Jesus tells this story right before he himself goes into Jerusalem to die at the hands of the Roman Empire.

Jesus gives us a parable and then lives out in reality what it means to live in contradiction to a world ruled by social power. To live in a way of love and shalom that speaks truth to power.

Jesus has been warned repeatedly to stay away from Jerusalem lest he be assassinated. But, Luke tells us, he nevertheless presses “on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples” (19:28).

Let me remind us collectively that it is this Jesus…that we say we follow…whose ways we practice.

So even if following His non-violent ways leads us to death, let us remember that love rose Him from the dead. If He has risen from the dead, then He truly is the greatest of them all. Because even the Roman Empire’s social power and obsession to kill anything that opposes it, could not constrain Jesus. Even Injustice could not defeat Jesus

But the resiliency of that non-violent love and way of being in the world was nurtured…and grown…and cultivated over time in people we look up to like the disciples, Howard Thurman and his wife Sue Bailey Thurman; Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King…or his daughter Bernice King, Ella Baker, Oscar Romero, White Abolitionists whose faith lead them to stand against slavery such as Elijah H. Piltcher, S.H. Waldo, or Charles Finney.

Inside of them grew a love from heaven that was contrary to the way of the world.

A Greenhouse Contradiction.

PRAYER PRACTICE

As the band comes up, I’d like to invite you all to close your eyes with me if you feel comfortable and just remember where you are.

Take a deep breath and reflect on these questions.

What weeds in our lives might be choking out the life and faith of those around us?

What phobias might we have to rid ourselves of so that our brothers and sisters who are cast out by Christian Nationalism and Christian supremacy can flourish among us?

I have a bowl of seeds here.

As the band plays, you’re welcome to come up and grab one.

May this seed be the physical reminder that the things that Jesus may be wanting us to grow, take time. It takes light, sometimes darkness; water, sometimes storms; isolation, socialization, sun, warmth, and sometimes cold. The things that we have to grow as a community is not something that will happen overnight but something that must be tended to and nurtured by all of us so that we might participate with Jesus and join with him in His way of being in the world.

So during this next song, hold your seed and remember it takes time. Ask Jesus what he might be inviting you to nurture and grow as a participant in the multi-ethnic family of God

Dignity?
Belonging?
Trust?
Holistic Health?
Safety?

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we acknowledge that You are love…you affirm us…You believe in us…You trust us to collaborate with You in your mission to bring Heaven to earth. Thank you for your goodness…amen.

A Greenhouse Contradiction: Nurturing Spaces of Peace for Communal Flourishing | @kaleophx

LISTEN NOW

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LISTEN NOW 〰️

August 7, 2022

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT