Danforth
United Methodist Church
Scripture
Readings
Psalm 130:1-8
2 Samuel 1: 19, 23-27
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Lamentations 3:22-25
Lamentations 3:22-33
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Message “That Good May Come Out of Evil”
June 28, 2015
“That
Good May Come Out of Evil”
Let
us be in a spirit of prayer.
Lord, Help
us to hear Your voice calling on the wind, in the authentic witness of others;
help us to understand history not just from our perspective but from the other
side, from the mirror of those others impacted by the things our ancestors did,
by the things we do unconsciously; lead us to a place within the circle, to a
place of safety, where truths can be spoken and where lives can be changed.
Lead us to more fully embrace Your amazing grace. Show us how to truly love our
neighbors, not just as we would wish but to love them as Christ loves us still.
The loss
of Jonathan for David and the comfort in the Psalms, even the reading from the
Book of Lamentations, speaks to the times we live in.
Lamentations 3:22-25, reads, and I’m reading
from the New International Version (NIV).
22 Because of the Lord’s
great love we are
not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him…
to the one who seeks him…
In April
and May there was a lot of news from Augusta about the Passamaquoddy and
Penobscot tribes and their fishing practices and the actions of our Governor.
They recalled their representatives from the Maine Legislature, much as the
United States would recall our ambassadors from a foreign country. In part it was about Elver fishing, but it
was really about the sovereignty of native peoples and their traditions and
culture.
Then, two
things happened on June 17 and June 18, about African Americans and Native
Americans that together convict me and this nation of the sins of our past. What
has happened since these events has begun to change me and our nation. They
should; they are important, and they speak to how we should be as a church and
as people of faith in this time in this place, New England and America.
On
Wednesday night, June 17, nine faithful members of the Mother Emanuel African
Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC were gunned down by a White
Supremacist who had prepared a manifesto of hate. Among those killed was the
lead pastor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who also was a South Carolina State
Senator.
On
Thursday afternoon, June 18, New England Annual Conference began with a Act of
Repentance Service about the subjugation and abuse of Native Americans by white
America. The service included a wonderful talk by Pat “Warrior Woman” Parent
who talked about the “People of the Earth” and the “People of the Book”. How the natives are the people of the earth and
we are the people of the book. It is a story of lost opportunity, because we
did not listen to the people of the earth as they had listened to us. How much
richer could our nation’s history have been had we chosen to listen to their
ancient wisdom.
The
service also included a detailed history lesson by the Reverend Thom White Wolf
Fassett, a member of the Seneca tribe and a former District Superintendent in
the United Methodist Church. I heard hard lessons about the truth of some of my
own ancestors and the history of oppression of the native peoples. Our history
books and our heritage are at odds with some truths. We learned too how the
church was complicit in the injury to Native American.
Are any
of you descendants of Mayflower Pilgrims? I am, Stephen Hopkins is my nine
greats grandfather. I have a lot of pride about being one of the Pilgrims. I
never knew that one of the first acts of the pilgrims in the new world was to
steal seed corn of the Indians and that the first treaty was about that…
I looked
it up, because I had never heard about that growing up. I had never thought
about that aspect of our history, my history, here in America. Sure enough,
there are several accounts of the Pilgrims taking the corn from the Nauset
Indians and that they had to negotiate repayment when a boy from the colony was
lost and found by the Indians. My understanding of my own history has to change.
In the
two weeks that have followed I have thought about the connection with my own
life and the history of our nation, around the other “original sin” of our
nation, how we treated the slaves and how African-Americans are treated to this
day.
Can you
feel the grief of David in his lament over the death of King Saul and his
beloved brother, Saul’s son Jonathan? Can you hear the echoes of the lament of
Israel in the lament we share in the tragic deaths in Charleston?
Do you
feel the power in this moment and the need for us to beat down the weapons of
war, of division and to find a new way forward for our nation in the aftermath
of this shooting, this act of racism and hatred?
Do you
recognize that we are at a crossroads, a moment in history where the divide,
the gulf we feel can be bridged by the love of God, the grace of our risen
Savior, and the forgiveness within the hearts of the victims in this senseless,
unthinkable act.
David
said, "I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan! You were so dear to me! Your
love was more amazing to me than the love of women. Look how the mighty have
fallen! Look how the weapons of war have been destroyed!" (2 Sam 1:26-27).
Oh that this would be fully realized here in this country.
At
Annual Conference we passed a resolution condemning the murders at Emmanuel
African Methodist Episcopal Church, on June 17, 2015. And the resolution called
all of us to action. Each church was instructed to write a letter in
condemnation of this violence and mail that letter to South Carolina and to
continue speaking out.
Has
this church yet written your letter?
Many
of us up here, up north may not have had any experience with slavery, with
African-Americans, with the consequence of the issues that entangle the South.
Have any
of you been to Charleston? I have; I even have a nephew who graduated from the
College of Charleston and is down there for graduate school. How about
Beaufort, the hometown of Rev. Clementa Pinkney who was killed? I have.
Have you
ever been to New Orleans? I have. I went there in 1996 for a job interview at
Tulane University. They showed me houses in the “nice” part of town, the part
without African Americans. That realtor knew exactly what she meant by “nice”
neighborhoods.
In 1993,
I went to New Orleans to the Jazz and Heritage Festival. I decided to stay up
all night because I had a 6am flight. But, I was worried about being alone in
the city. I left my wallet at the hotel
with the others and I only took a twenty dollar bill and my license, and a book
of matches with the hotel’s information on it. I didn’t have a cell phone or
anything back then. After 4am, I headed back to the hotel, several blocks away.
I
became aware someone was following me, getting closer as I walked. I moved to
the other side of the street when I could but the person kept getting closer, a
black man in the dark on a quiet street away from the French Quarter as I moved
toward my hotel on Canal Street.
When he caught up to me, he asked me, “Hey,
buddy, got a match?”
Yes, my fear, my prejudice, my not
living in that culture, my lack of common ground had made me fearful. God must
have been laughing when I got that surprise…
I have
been gripped by the events unfolding across the South about this shooting, the
response of the victims and their families, about the words of the President at
Rev. Pinckney’s funeral, and about the calls to take down the Confederate flag.
I am especially moved too by the words of Senator Strom Thurmond’s son, Paul
Thurmond.
Do you
have an African-American friends? Well, my wife and best friend is African-American,
as are our three beautiful daughters.
The
young man who shot and killed those people wanted to create a race war in
America. He couldn’t have ever imagined that they victims and their families
would forgive him.
Love.
That has been the response to his hate. Change.
That has been the response. I quote from
Senator Paul Thurmond, talking both about his friend, Rev. Pinckney, but more
importantly about the flag and what it means. He owned his history, his
heritage. He discounted the claims about the Confederate flag.
He challenged everyone
when he said, “Our ancestors were literally fighting
to continue to keep human beings as slaves and continue the unimaginable acts
that occur when someone is held against their will. I am not proud of this
heritage. These practices were inhumane and were wrong, wrong, wrong. We must take
down the confederate flag, and we must take it down now. But if we stop there,
we have cheated ourselves out of an opportunity to start a different
conversation about healing in our state. I am ready. Let us start the
conversation.”
And so it has, all across the country. An honest
conversation has begun about the harm that was done, even in our founding
documents. Truths are being spoken and voices are being heard. Christian
forgiveness is coming, as is repentance and change.
President
Obama gave the eulogy for Rev. Pinckney on Friday. He stressed God’s amazing
grace and the hymn by that name. How fitting it is that this hymn was written
as a lament by a former slave ship captain. How sweet will that sound be to the
ear of God when we can truly love all people as we are commanded to love them,
as Christ first loved us.
I
guess it too is fitting that the bible study on June 17 was about the reading
from Mark 4:4-8 about the type of ground that the sower’s seed fell on. I pray
that we would be fertile ground for hearing the truth and putting it into
action. And, yes, they had bible study this week.
I
would like to end with a poem I wrote about all of this, about both the Native
Americans and the African Americans, about all of us and how we can move forward
in love, how we can make good come out of this evil.
We
pray for our sisters, our brothers
We pray for the breach of the circle,
for the innocents lost, and
the grief of their loved ones.
Lord, draw near to them;
Lord, hear our collective prayer.
Lord, we rage against the tragedy
of hate against those You love;
May Your will be done,
May You work your perfect will,
even in the midst of this chaos.
We grieve for those who were lost;
but we know they are like those
under the altar, the righteous
those struck down in faith
those whose fears are eased by God.
May the lives of the martyrs be remembered
and the lives they sought to reach be uplifted
long after this tragedy is over;
May their work and their memory be a legacy
a further calling on our own lives.
Oh God, in Your infinite mercy, we pray
that You would heal this breach,
the brokenness within the shooter; we pray
that you would reach him in his place of darkness
and show him Your mercy.
As incomprehensible as it may be for us,
We join with loved ones of victims and ask
for Your forgiveness and change,
for transformation in this young man
and for peace and healing for his family.
Almighty God we do not understand
we cannot fathom how this tragedy happened
that nine of your faithful were lost by one
who is so very lost;
Heal him Lord, we pray.
We fall before You Almighty God;
we confess that we are guilty of racism and prejudice.
Lord change our hearts individually and
change us collectively,
to truly love as You loved us.
We have not loved our
neighbors as ourselves
much less as you loved us.
We repent of the truth
of our racism and prejudice
Convict us Lord to see our manifold failings;
change us tonight this minute
to more faithfully walk
as your servants here and now
in this time and place.
Shine your light into truth of our white privilege
so we may see with eyes of Jesus
how we should change to be your children
We try to change on our own;
but we are blind to our own failings
We hold worship services of repentance
about indigenous people, asking for Your
forgiveness;
but neglected to include them
within the circle; we have loved ones of color
but we have no words to combat racism.
We begin with prayers of confession for ourselves.
For the times when I have not picked up
a person of color hitchhiking I repent Lord.
For the times when I have gone to the
other side of the street I repent Lord
Forgive us when we do not act,
when we do not march,
when we say "It isn't my fight",
turning a blind eye to injustice and pain.
Change us Lord; may Your will be done.
Amen
=====
June 28, 2015
Danforth United
Methodist Church
Scripture Readings
Psalm 130:1-8
2 Samuel 1: 19, 23-27
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Lamentations 3:22-33
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15, 2:23-24
message: “That Good May Come Out of Evil”
by Raymond A. Foss
New England Annual Conference Resolution on shooting in
Charleston
speech 6/23/2015
South Carolina State Senator Paul Thurmond (R), son of former
South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, remarks on Confederate Flag. Paul
Thurmond remarks on Confederate Flag.
Mark 4:4-8
(bible study topic on 6/17/2015 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church)
&
I forgive
you statements of victims’ family –
Nadine Collier, Anthony Thompson, Felicia Sanders
&
Hate Won’t Win
campaign
&
Jon Stewart’s
June 18, 2015 opening monologue on Charleston shooting
&
The funeral for
the Reverend Clementa Pinkney 6/26/15
&
President Barack Obama’s Eulogy (video and full text)
&
June 22, 2015
We pray for our sisters, our brothers
@dreamUMC #dreamumc tweetup on Charleston shooting
Guest Preacher Thom White Wolf Fassett
COMMENTARY: 2012 Act of Repentance of The United
Methodist Church
Recap of Thursday sessions
Act of Repentance
by Pat Warrior Woman Parent
&
article about Native Americans pulling out of Maine
Legislature
May 30, 2015
&
June 27, 2015
help us to understand history
edited June 27, 2015
like a glass plate shattered – v2
edited June 27, 2015
Together within this Circle – v3
(merging edits to original and version 2)
edited/
new name confronting our past, our present, our hate
June
26, 2015
June
26, 2015
confronting
our past, our present
edited
June 26, 2015
listening
to the people of the earth – v4
(editing
version 3)
New England Annual
Conference Resolution on shooting in Charleston
&
speech
6/23/2015
South Carolina State Senator Paul Thurmond (R),
son of former South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, remarks on Confederate
Flag. Paul Thurmond remarks on Confederate Flag.
Mark
4:4-8 (bible study topic on 6/17/2015 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal
Church)
&
I
forgive you statements of victims’
family – Nadine Collier, Anthony Thompson, Felicia Sanders
&
Jon
Stewart’s June 18, 2015 opening monologue on Charleston shooting
&
The
funeral for the Reverend Clementa Pinkney
6/26/15
&
President
Barack Obama’s Eulogy (video and full text)
edited
June 25, 2015
listening
to the people of the earth – v3
(merging
edits to original and version 2)
edited June 25,
2015
a word of healing
– v2
edited
June 24, 2015
listening
to the people of the earth –v2
June
24, 2015
listening
to the people of the earth
edited
June 24, 2015
gathering
mud – v2
June
24, 2015
gathering
mud
(adding other tags for creation story
cross-reference)
Bible Study – Inspired by the Word
(on other creation stories)
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
June 23, 2015
&
June 23, 2015
may we be tied, united
June 23, 2015
may we be tied
June
23, 2015
living
stones – 2
June 23, 2015
part of the body, of the circle
June
23, 2015
healing
the breach
June
23, 2015
picking
up the pieces
June
23, 2015
like
a glass plate shattered
June
23, 2015
retying
the threads
June
23, 2015
shooting
within the circle
edited
June 23, 2015
Together
within this Circle – v2
&
June
22, 2015
We
pray for our sisters, our brothers
@dreamUMC
#dreamumc tweetup on Charleston shooting
June
22, 2015
&
June
22, 2015, typo corrected June 23, 2015
together
within this circle
June
22, 2015
Come
Holy Spirit
New
England Conference of United Methodist Church
Annual
Conference 2015 (#NEAC15)
worship
guides
NEUMC
Photos
my
photos
Worship
Director Marcia McFee
Guest
Preacher Bishop Gregory Palmer
Guest
Preacher Thom White Wolf Fassett
COMMENTARY:
2012 Act of Repentance of The United Methodist Church
Recap
of Thursday sessions
Act
of Repentance
by
Pat Warrior Woman Parent
Recap
of Friday sessions
extract
of sermon
Bishop
Palmer
Recap
of Saturday sessions
bible
study on Luke 10 (Good Samaritan)
led
by Bishop Palmer
worship
Laity
Address
by
Janet O’Neill
opening
prayer for morning session on Saturday, 6/20/15
All of my
poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights
reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage.
See all 38,040+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
2 comments:
I have no words to add. brilliantly well said Ray!!!
I have no other words to add. Brilliantly and amazingly said. Great Job Ray!!!
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