Like so many churches these days, mine’s been on Zoom and Facebook Live for months. The VIDEO below shows a sermon I preached, online, in mid-June, focusing on three phrases to stop saying as we attempt to fight back against racism in the U.S. The three are in the text box to the left. As I have said over and over, Americans would rather talk about anything but race—anything—and these are perhaps the big three avoidance phrases of the many we use. Some are hostile, and profane, and ultra racist, but these three sound “noble.” I based most of this sermon on comments I made at the Laity Convocation of the United Methodist Church (Northern Illinois Conference) on February 8, 2020, weeks before the pandemic shut us down (or in), weeks before the murder of George Floyd. I’ve detailed them in “Unpacking Racism: “Noble” Sentiments That Keep Us From Talking About Race.”
The scripture for this sermon is Luke 6:32-33, Jesus’ conclusion to his announcing the “Golden Rule” and issuing three of his hardest challenges, which he links to that Rule: Love your enemies; Be kind to those who mistreat you; Turn the other cheek. One of these days I’ll explore that linkage, but this morning—though I said this was no time for sound bites—all I had time for were sound bites! So I focused on what Luke 6:32-33 implied about embracing our differences. We love to talk about “embracing our common humanity,” but that’s one of those feel-good things to say that usually doesn’t lead anywhere, largely because it’s practically impossible to do without first accepting our differences.
My 9-year-old grand daughter Grace makes a quick appearance. I’ve been saying a lot lately that IF we work hard to fight racism, we may see a less racist U.S. in 40 to 100 years. Afterwards, several people stayed on line to talk about what I had said. Gene Paquette, husband of the woman who read the scripture (she goes by “Muffy”) said that it was hard to hear that timeline: 40 to 100 years. I always capitalize and bold that IF. In “Walmart, Pence, and Politics As Usual” I commented on what so far is not a lot to show, policy-wise, for all the protests we’ve had. Even IF we manage to start seeing a significant turnaround in the shortest time I’ve envisioned, 40 years, Grace will be nearly 50. I won’t see it, but hoping she and other young grand kids do, that should keep all of us working hard.
♦ OTHER SERMONS (most with VIDEO): “Pentecost Means No ‘Supremacies,’” “Sacred Doing,” “Elijah: The Growth of a Prophet,” “Searching for Prophets.” “Who Do You Stand With?,” “It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know: A Baccalaureate Sermon.”
Walmart, Pence, and Politics As Usual
“The nation’s largest retailer is removing the items which are sold by third-party sellers ‘indefinitely,’ after hearing from some employees and customers who were concerned about the meaning behind the merchandise.
“ ‘We fundamentally believe all lives do matter and every individual deserves respect,’ Walmart said in a statement. ‘However, as we listened, we came to understand that the way some, but not all, people are using the phrase “All Lives Matter” in the current environment intentionally minimized the focus on the painful reality of racial inequity.’”
In a recent sermon titled “Three Things to Stop Saying,” the first phrase I focused on was this notorious “All Lives Matter” mantra, a favorite of Americans who would rather talk about anything—anything—but race.
And inevitably there’s the political establishment, of which Pence is only one cog. It’s perhaps the biggest obstacle to true reform. In a June 28, 2020, analysis titled “After weeks of protest, meaningful police reform seems unlikely,” CNN’s Josh Campbell reports that even in Minnesota, the epicenter of our recent racial crisis, a special legislative session has come up empty-handed. “Partisan entrenchment ruled the day,” writes Campbell, “as the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-led House clashed over nearly two-dozen policing reform measures,” including banning choke holds. This isn’t fake news. Even one of the more “radical” proposals, disbanding the police, will endure weeks more input and have to pass a ballot proposal in November, if it even gets on the ballot.
I’ve been writing a lot on this site recently that IF we work really hard on anti-racism it will still take 40 to 100 years to see a less racist U.S. After my “Three Things to Stop Saying” sermon, where I again said this, several people said that was really hard to hear. When I said this the first time most recently, on a panel at an “Unpacking Racism” convocation, another panelist said that while he respected me, he thought I was being too optimistic. I was. But even if the current protests seem to have come up empty-handed because of our political leaders and the politics of division, maybe all isn’t lost. For now, and probably for at least a couple of decades, we’ll just have to go around our leaders and our politics. Walmart’s made a move, as have many other companies, like those pulling ads from Facebook. And our younger generations seem to want to face racism more squarely than any of the generations before, even during the Civil Rights era. As always, our hope lies with our youth.