It is exhausting to do the work, to show up and listen, to be willing to change, and to reexamine my thoughts. It is difficult to give up power, to admit mistakes, and to be challenged in my patterns. I get why some folks’ instinct is to walk away, to claim it is unpatriotic to explore the sins of our nation when it comes to slavery and race, or to say things like they don’t see race. As a white person who has grown up my whole life in a culture that benefitted me in ways I couldn’t even see and still struggle to grasp, I can choose to reject this work and put up barriers to the racism rampant in our society. Doing so however is a moral failure, out of alignment with my faith, and an action that is eventually doomed. The world is becoming more just.
People who have long been silenced are being heard. And I believe all of that is to the good. Justice and equality are part of the way of God. Wholeness for all people is part of how God dreams the world would be.
This week, as we in the US have languished waiting for election results, it seems like part of what we are wrestling with as a nation is how to combat white supremacy. Our culture tends to value comfort and ease over the deep work of societal change. Some of what I believe we are seeing at the ballot box on all sides is exhaustion and fear. The world is changing and people all across the spectrum of politics are afraid that the other side will mean less for them. Be it a Supreme Court case that changes the law, invalidating queer marriage or new environmental restrictions on industry that costs jobs in rural communities, it feels like the stakes are personally very high for millions.
The church is the place where we should be engaging in these conversations. We should be championing the rights of our queer siblings, advocating for creation care, supporting those whose communities are facing economic difficulties, speaking peace, risking change, and giving up our own lives so that those we have discounted and ignored, who we have oppressed and denied, can thrive. To heal as a nation and to continue the arc of the universe which bends towards justice ,we must each be doing our own work of examining our biases, fears, and reactions as well as creating community that brings wholeness to all people.
Our Bishop has written about how we can begin to engage in some of this work here. I encourage you to take some time to sit with her words.
In these anxious days may you find peace and may you be filled with strength for the work ahead!
-Eilidh
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