MLK Holiday Thoughts & Prayers

MLK Holiday Thoughts & Prayers

Jan. 15, 2018

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prophet of justice, a minister of grace, an orator, a scholar, and a defender of human dignity. He stood up to the evils of segregation. He resisted an unjust war. He advocated for those who worked hard and were paid too little. He stirred the conscience of a nation. He challenged a government as boldly as the Prophet Amos. He comforted the hurting as compassionately as the Prophet Isaiah. He offered healthy ways of expressing righteous indignation in the manner of Jesus. And he envisioned a new, loving, fair world where evil was forever defeated as vividly as John did on Patmos. And, like the prophets and disciples before him, King gave his life for the divinely inspired vision he offered the world. 

Inspired by such a noble example of human charisma, courage, and conviction, let us speak truth today and seek healing where it is needed in our society and in our souls.

On this Martin Luther King Memorial Holiday it would be wrong to ignore or deny the rise of fear, hatred, and unrepentant bigotry that often dominate our public discourse.

We who seek to follow Jesus must surely be heartbroken when we hear of proposed "Muslim bans" or hear entire nations (whose populations are largely non-white) disparaged by people in our national leadership. We must be all the more disturbed when we hear such reprehensible speech defended by pugnacious preachers of pernicious piety.

We who have been instructed to love our neighbors as ourselves must surely feel sickened when our Transgender neighbors (and friends and family members) are demonized and dehumanized.

We who rejoice in the words of Jesus, "Come unto me all who labor and are heavy burdened and I will refresh you" must be overwhelmed with regret when we hear women time after time tell about their experiences of being threatened, mistreated, and assaulted. We must feel something close to outrage when their credible stories are dismissed and their assailants are rewarded with power and privilege.

We who pray weekly (if not daily), "Thy will be done" must surely wish for more to be done to help the inhabitants of St. Thomas and Puerto Rico who still struggle following the seasonal hurricanes.

And we who venerate the Prince of Peace must gasp in horror when threats of nuclear disaster become part of daily conversation.

So much healing is needed, and today is a good day to ask for God's grace and guidance. In the name of Martin, and in the name of Jesus whose way and witness inspired him, let us acknowledge the forces of oppression, pray for healing, and vow to resist injustice as Jesus the Christ did, as Martin the Apostle of Civil Rights did.

Let us pray:

Dear God,

     We acknowledge the sin of racism today. Lord have mercy.

     We admit that we have done too little to heal the wounds of xenophobia. Lord have mercy.

     We confess that we have not done enough to end poverty and to care for those who are poor. Lord have mercy.

     We acknowledge that we have not insisted strongly enough that women's sovereignty over their own bodies be respected. Lord have mercy.

     We admit that we have not done all that needs to be done to protect the rights of LGBTQ people. Lord have mercy.

     We confess that we must do more to defend the dignity of the aging. Lord have mercy.

     We acknowledge that we have not always been good stewards of the earth. Lord have mercy.

     We admit that we have rushed too often to war and have done too little to promote peaceful coexistence. Lord have mercy.

     We confess that love of money, power, privilege, or the comfort of the status quo has lulled us into acceptance of possible tyranny, especially when we thought we might not be the victims of it. Lord have mercy.

     God heal our brokenness.

     May love and hope unite us.

     May peace attend us.

     May we remember our divine inheritance and our sacred mission, and may we live more faithfully into our calling to live as if we were ONE (as in Truth, we are).

     Amen.

Yours in shared mission and ministry,

 

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins

Senior Minister 

 "Let justice roll on like a river, 

righteousness like a never-failing stream!" 

Amos 5.25 

(NIV)

The Frightening Revival of White Supremacist Rhetoric

I grew up among white supremacists, homophobes, misogynists, anti-Semites, and xenophobes (I had an uncle by marriage who was truly a despicable bigot in almost every regard). I was surrounded by violent rhetoric, fear, anger, hatred of the other, and all strangely wrapped in the language of Christianity...but it wasn't a Christianity that promoted peace, goodwill, tolerance, love of neighbor, welcome of the stranger, or a celebration of human potential. Jesus wasn't presented as a model of integrity, as a symbol of healing, or as an example of living in communion with infinite Goodness, but rather was a "savior" who was the key to the cosmic country club for some and the great avenger who was going to kick ass and take names at the end of time (and those who were going to face peril far outnumbered those who were going to find heavenly rewards)...and the worst part of this scenario was the agitated and perverse glee that many expressed while yelling their threats of damnation while being oh so certain that they were exempt from it. It was not religion at its best, in fact, it left wounds that took decades to heal from; it inspired my life's work of offering an alternative narrative, an option of being "Saved From Salvation" (note my book of the same name).

I mention this, because the same demographic of people who used Jesus as a gate-keeper and the bible as a weapon and who embraced racism, heterosexism, and misogyny at least as passionately as they embraced their version of religion (though, their prejudices were often affirmed as central tenets of their faith) are the ones (that I see) who are now rallying with horrifying boldness around the anti-immigrant, anti-Brown, anti-Muslim rhetoric being touted in recent days.
Franklin Graham, Donald Trump, and Anthony Scalia have embraced without apology or timidity the language of white supremacy, and are gaining political ground by doing so.
It is devastating to realize that over 60 years of civil rights work and advances are being undermined so openly, so energetically, and with the support of so many Americans. Of course, I dare not give up hope that "the better angels of our nature" will prevail, but in many ways they seem to be bringing up the rear right now.

Those of us who value diversity, the rule of law, opportunity, and equality must speak out, and we absolutely must vote in every single election.

A Message & a Prayer In Response to Recent Anti-Muslim Statements

Dear Friends,

Some of us know very personally how hurtful and dangerous it is to be a target of prejudice. We know how frustrating it is when an individual or a group within our larger community does something wrong and all of us are blamed even if we disagree with the action. We know that hate does not heal hate and fear does not heal fear.

So we, in particular, ought to be uneasy when we hear public leaders, religious and political, calling for the expulsion of Muslims from the US, and/or for blocking Muslims from coming into the US. Decency, compassion, and a memory of history calls us to speak out when entire communities are targeted, marginalized, or vilified. We, who are religious, must also value the FREEDOM of religion. Freedom of religion is not the freedom to impose our religious values, but to worship as we choose (if we choose to worship at all).

In my parents' lifetime, Jewish people were denied entry into some countries where they might have been safe while Jews en masse were being incarcerated, tortured and killed in Europe. In my parents' lifetime, American born people of Japaneses descent lost their homes and livelihoods in this country as they were rounded up and incarcerated for no reason other than sharing a heritage with a political enemy. In my parents' lifetime, there was a great deal of anti-Catholic rhetoric when the first Roman Catholic won the presidency. And in my lifetime, there were several states where every act of love or romance shared between persons of the same gender was a criminal act.

We who know the pain of being targeted simply for being who we are cannot be silent when other groups are treated so unjustly. Even Jesus, whom Christians wish to follow, had to endure the insulting question, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Isn't it time to dispense with the rhetoric of hate and exclusion?

And so, not only do I feel the obligation to name the problem of racist and xenophobic slurs coming from some leaders (and I am thankful for those leaders who openly reject such rhetoric), but I also feel the need to ask all who would be faithful to resist such rhetoric as well. There are frightening events in our world, and we do want to respond to violence and terrorism, but blaming those who have not participated in acts of terror will not keep us safe...it will only cause pain for the innocent.

In response to divisive, fear mongering rhetoric, I offer the following prayer. It is in times of challenge that we must cling to our highest ideals and best principles, and prayer can help us do just that. Let us pray:

God of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar,
God of Isaac, Rebecca, and Ishmael,
God of the East and of the West,
God of Jews, Christians, and Muslims,
God of all life, all love, all hope, and all compassion,
We see acts of violence done in your name by people of various religions,
and we hear public voices condemning religions rather than seeking to hold
individuals that blaspheme their religion with violence accountable for their reprehensible actions.

But we who are of Irish or Italian or Mexican descent,
We who are of African or Caribbean descent,
We who are Jewish or Catholic or Mormon or Jehovah's Witnesses,
We who remember our mothers and grandmothers having to fight for the right to vote, to work, to have control over their own bodies,
We who are same-gender loving people,
We who are transgender or gender non-conforming,
We who had our Native cultures decimated or whose families were interred for their Japanese heritage,
We know that the language of bigotry is the language of fear, of hate, of division, and that no good thing comes from it.

And so, today, during this holy Season of Peace and Goodwill, we pray for our Muslim sisters and brothers, that groups that dishonor their faith by using it as an excuse to do violence will cease their troubling, and that those who refuse to distinguish between bad actors and an entire global community will be healed of their prejudices.

May we remember that in every religious tradition there are those who dishonor and misrepresent the tradition, including our own; but nevertheless, all people are the children of God, and religion, all religion, at its best seeks community, justice, compassion, generosity, and peace.

May we who have been demonized or dehumanized in the past never resort to treating others in the ways that hurt us so deeply, even as we work and wait and wish for peace and justice in all the world.
Amen.

In the spirit of our common humanity,

Rev Dr Durrell Watkins
Senior Minister
Sunshine Cathedral

Justice for ALL...

I am an unapologetic activist for gay and lesbian equality, AND, I also see the need for the Queer community to recognize and address class, race, and gender privilege within our community (and also beyond). To be justice workers and change agents, we must be mindful of and concerned about all oppressions.

A Disturbing Trend of Violence Against "the Other"

"A transwoman of color was beaten to death in Florida...the 10th transwoman this year to be killed.
Yet another mass shooting took place yesterday...a movie theater in Louisiana (by a gunman who reportedly "hated" liberals...though I don't know how many Louisiana liberals he suspected of going to the movies on a weeknight).
A Metropolitan Community Church in Georgia was recently vandalized (MCCs have an historic and primary affirming outreach to the LBGT community).
In Texas, Sandra Bland, an African American woman, was verbally abused, physically manhandled, and detained (all for changing lanes without signaling). She died in custody.
A presidential hopeful recently vilified undocumented immigrants.
These violent events have taken place in the span of just a few days and just weeks after the shooting deaths of 9 people at Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina (an historically Black congregation) and the burning of other historically Black churches.
Beyond the violence itself, the common thread is that the targets of violence have usually been marginalized people (transgender people, gays and lesbians, African Americans, Latinos/Latinas).
It is a very disturbing trend and we must call it out, talk about it seriously, and renew our commitment to positive change...of making our society less violent, less hateful, less frightening. We clearly have a long way to go still." Rev Dr Durrell Watkins, Senior Minister, Sunshine Cathedral