Remember the poor

My generation took on political equality. I believe young people, who have graduated into a poor economy, have an incentive to take on much tougher issues of income equality. If they show the leadership they have demonstrated in the last few elections, they can bring changes even greater than my generation achieved. Eleanor Holmes Norton

At Morning Prayer I selected Galatians 2:1-9 as the reading—Peter an apostle to the circumcised, Paul to the Gentiles. My Bible ends the paragraph with verse 10.  So, I found myself reading one sentence beyond the appointed reading.

They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do. (Galatians 2:10)

It filled my mind. The reading was focused on a significant decision in the church’s life. We were going to be more diverse. The church was for everyone. They even shook on it. But it was verse ten that filled my mind.

There was another thing they wanted to remember as part of the mission—the poor; “They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor.”  Seems like a bit of an afterthought in the text. But maybe not. Then I found myself wondering why those who shaped the Daily Office Lectionary cut the reading off at verse nine. An anti-poor people conspiracy? Maybe just seemed like a way to stay focused on what struck them as the primary point of the feast day.

Still, it all does match in liturgy what we do in life. We forget the poor; it's often, at, best an afterthought.

As a side point, I’ll note that as I’ve aged, I’ve come to experience how this society forgets the elderly. Sorry, no whining. Just my way into some empathy. 

Progress and disparity

To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships. W. E. B. Du Bois

Before saying my prayers, I had been drinking coffee and doing a little research on something Sister Michelle, OA and I talked about on yesterday’s walk. We were discussing both whether there had been economic progress since the 60s and the continuing issue of disparity. So, I read a few pieces. They all said much the same thing. Here’s a segment of a report from the Joint Economic Committee—“The Economic State of Black America in 2020.”

America made significant progress in reducing social and economic disparities in the latter half of the 20th century, as discriminatory policies like segregation, redlining, employment discrimination and restricted voting rights were outlawed. Black Americans have achieved success in many visible fields, from sports and entertainment to politics. That said, there are still deep inequities across social and economic indicators that will take awareness and concerted effort to address.

Black Americans have made more progress in the 21st century in reducing gaps in educational attainment than in other areas. At the secondary level, the shares of Black and White young adults who have dropped out are falling and converging, while the shares of Black and White adults with high school diplomas or GEDs are rising and converging. Black Americans have made progress in attaining postsecondary education as well, doubling the share of Black college graduates since 1990. However, very deep social and economic inequities persist

I find it helpful to call to mind that the nation has made progress in the past 50 years. It reminds us that it is possible to improve—if we remember the poor (at least some of the time!). So, maybe we can make progress around disparity—if we remember the poor.

Here's the connection with parish development -- 

       I firmly believe that our salvation depends on the poor.  Dorothy Day

Shape the parish so the prayerful center and the overall climate remembers the poor.

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In the tender compassion of our God * the dawn from on high shall break upon us, To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, * and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

 In the Philadelphia of 1964 police brutality was a serious problem. Then, and in the years to follow, it was a problem that had official protection, especially in the form of Frank Rizzo as he moved from Deputy Police Commissioner, to Police Commissioner, and finally to Mayor. That doesn’t mean that every cop was brutal. The leadership of CORE, and the other civil rights groups, had a working relationship with the Civil Disobedience Squad (would you believe?). We’d work at not surprising them and they mostly treated us with respect. But we weren’t having much success with the matter of police brutality. The strategy of having teams follow the red police cars wasn’t working.

In the neighborhoods of the city there was deep frustration and anger. The Philadelphia Tribune had run a series of articles on police misconduct. Several officers were charged and then acquitted. The riot, insurrection, rebellion began on August 28 when Odessa Bradford got in an argument with two police officers, one black and one white. The interracial teams of officers and a new civilian review board were steps the city had taken to address the issue. Too little, too late. There in North Philadelphia, as the police tried to remove Ms. Bradford from her car a crowd gathered, and a man attacked the officers. Rumors spread about a Black woman being killed by the police. Three days later 341 had been injured, 774 arrested and 225 stores damaged or destroyed. Frank Rizzo used the disturbance in his political rise to power. The statue of Frank Rizzo was finally removed this month.

The question

As a parish priest – “Do you understand your task in relation to social ethics to be one of informing members of the proper answer to ethical issues and dilemmas or to help members learn how to think like Christians?

Yes, I know that it’s not really either/or. Except in practice it often is. The easy ways are to avoid it or repeat the conventual wisdom of the moment. The more difficult way is to take the parish into the passion of a moment and the wondering that comes after; into the places of moral ambiguity and necessary decisions.

There’s a ceramic handmade plague on my wall. It’s from Bonhoeffer’s writings,

 I believe that God can and will bring good out of evil

I believe that even our mistakes and shortcomings are turned to good account

I believe that God will give us all the strength we need to resist in all time of distress

I believe that God is no timeless fate. But that he waits for and answers sincere prayers and responsible actions

In this moment there will be times to speak uncomfortable words and inconvenient truths to congregations that may want to close their eyes. And there will be times to walk with their congregations as they sort out sincere prayer and responsible action from calculating prayer and false action. Each priest will need to work out how best to do both.

An act of love[i]

Prayer forms us.  Prayer changes how we see things. Prayer opens our eyes and ears. Prayer shapes our hearts and minds. 

So, priest. One thing you can do is teach people how to pray. I don’t mean exhort them to pray or tell them that prayer will reduce their blood pressure or that prayer will allow them to exercise control over God. Teach them to pray in all conditions and circumstances—in times of the virus and times of political change.  

Teach them in how to find the “inner core of silence” and to be in conversation with God. Help them find methods that fit their temperament and circumstances. Teach them to bring to their intercessions the oppressed and all victims, the police and political leaders, those who protest and seek justice.

Teach them on how to say the Daily Prayers of the Church (the Office). Help them explore various ways in which they can participate in the “ancient cycle of prayer”, the continual pulse beat of the church. Assist them to see how the daily saying of the psalms can bring their heart closer to the cry of the oppressed; how the daily praying of the scriptures and collects can allow them to see more clearly, with more compassion.

Teach them to participate in the Holy Eucharist. Help them to learn how they might live a Eucharistic life, “a natural life conformed to the pattern of Jesus, given in its wholeness to God, laid on His altar as a sacrifice of love, and consecrated, transformed by His inpouring life, to be used to give life and food to other souls.”  Teach them to bring to the altar all of life--pain and joy, oppression and the struggles for freedom, confusions and dilemmas—to lay it all upon the altar, to let go and give it to God, and to know that they will be blessed, broken and made a means of grace.

I’m still caught off-guard by how the psalms and readings of the Office, or the celebration of a feast day, speak to my life and the struggles of our time. In this time of political posturing, anger and arrogance, isolation and hostility, I find myself pointed to humility, truth and honor by today’s reading from Matthew and the witness of Father Cornelius Hill.[ii]

Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 

And how the commemoration of the day can intersect with the voices of my inner life. In earlier postings I’ve mentioned that music comes to mind when I awake and when I walk. I don’t seem to select it. It’s just there. For weeks it’s been Lift Every Voice and Sing. Yesterday’s saint was  James Weldon Johnson.

 Do you have something like that going on within you? Do others in the parish? If you don't know--ask them.

Down into the mess

For the real saint is neither a special creation nor a spiritual freak. He is just a human being in whom has been fulfilled the great aspiration of St. Augustine – “My life shall be a real life, being wholly full of Thee.” And as that real life, the interior union with God grows, so too does the saints’ self­-identification with humanity grow. They do not stand aside wrapped in delightful prayers and feeling pure and agreeable to God. They go right down into the mess; and there, right down in the mess, they are able to radiate God because they possess Him. Evelyn Underhill

Sometimes I want to offer people a clear narrative. A story that hangs together, is compelling, and easy to remember—from suffering and death to resurrection and life; or from today’s readings, “You know all the adversity that has befallen us: how our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt for a long time; and the Egyptians oppressed us and our ancestors; and when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt” (Numbers 20:14b-16a)

And other times I want to go with people into the ambiguity and complexity; I want to go down into the mess—from slavery to freedom through the Red Sea, oops-lots of dead Egyptian first born and soldiers; into the wilderness, oops-“we should have stayed in Egypt”; into the Promised Land, oops-“we need to defeat the people already in the land

For myself, I think it’s useful to help people enter into the mess of prayer, thought, and action. Might be the high school social studies teacher in me.

I want our people to pray the Eucharist and the Office, to develop a reflective spirit, and to hold on ther hearts, and in their intercession list, those with masks and those without, the police and the protesters, the non-violent and the violent, their political allies and their political enemies. To go right down into the mess.

I also want us to contemplate fully. To contemplate the reality as it is in itself. And then, to contemplate it through the eyes of Mercy and Justice.   

A few examples of how clergy might help people broaden and deepen their reflection.

A few days ago, I was pretty clear within myself about what the police in Atlanta had done when they engaged one of God’s children who had too much to drink and had been driving. He wanted to sleep it off, he wanted to walk to his sisters houes. Why didn’t they let him do that?

Then I watched two men being interviewed and I wasn’t as sure as I had been. Paul Butler, from Georgetown Law School who works on criminal law and race, and David Thomas, a retired police officer who is now a professor of forensic studies and criminal justice at Florida Gulf Coast University. Thomas said something I hadn’t thought about, “If I let him go, there’s nothing to keep him from returning to that vehicle and driving it. And he’s impaired.”

Then I thought about what’s referred to as the militarization of the police.—assault rifles, armored personnel carriers, flashbang grenades, tear gas.  Many police groups see it as a matter of safety, the officers and the public. However, some studies suggest these tools and methods get used more often in African American communities and were generally likely to increase the likelihood of violence. And then there’s the story of The 1997 North Hollywood shootout and its impact on law enforcement agencies. The bank robbers carried fully automatic weapons with high capacity drum magazines and ammunition capable of penetrating vehicles and police Kevlar vests. They fired approximately 1,100 rounds at officers and civilians before being killed. The police were responding with pistols and shotguns and were unable to penetrate the robbers' body armor. The police were badly out-gunned.  Seven months after the incident, the Department of Defense gave 600 surplus M16s to the LAPD.

Then I think about the cry to defund the police. Yes, I know, it means different things to different people. And, it’s clear we are going to see some needed changes. All good. In this particular conversation I find myself very concerned to hear the voices of the Black community. The voices range from abolition proposals to shifting funding to calls for significantly increasing funding. In polling a few years ago Black Americans had a favorable opinion of the police 58% to 27% unfavorable. Hiring more officers was supported by 60% vs. 18% opposed. A 2015 Gallup Poll indicated that one aspect of the mistreatment was in the inadequate protection and service levels being provided in their neighborhood.   Here’s a webpage on the issue and some earlier polling. Two recent polls on defunding came up with rather different results. In one a majority of Black Americans support defunding the police (57%) and putting the money towards other community programs (64%).  Here’s the website. The polling on defunding is under that on the coronavirus.  Another poll found that 49% of Black Americans opposed defunding vs. 29% that favor.

My hope is that parish priests will seek the kind of conversation that assists people to engage in sincere prayer, nuanced thinking, and responsible action. To allow them to be better citizens in the present. Made better by using methods that help them pray, think and act as citizens who are instruments of the Divine Love. And alongside that is another hope—that priests will nurture the parish’s apostolic center. Shaping the kind of organic strength that will serve the Body of Christ over the long-term.

Surrender it all to love

There’s a parish in which the congregation was split 50-50 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton; both communities were in pain because they did not get to have the world and society entirely on their own terms. Each believing that how they see things is what is true and just.  The priest of that parish works with compassion and wisdom to hear all the voices, to acknowledge the pain and longings, and to offer a gospel that speaks of a new society that neither side can quite imagine even as they hope it to be true.

I imagine that in that parish there are two narratives on the American story.

One goes something like this—The American story is one of the genocide of native peoples and slavery of Black people. The oppression of both continue through a variety of laws and culture into the present.

The other is along these lines—The American story is of people seeking freedom and opportunity; and establishing a nation based upon principles of equality and liberty. That story continues into the present.

Some lean toward one or the other. A few are firmly in a camp. Others seek some kind of balance between the two. There are people who move between them and others who hold that both are true.

This morning I participated in the ordination and consecration of now Bishop Glenda Curry of Alabama. It was a holy, moving, traditional, and odd liturgy—masks, some social distance, lots of hand sanitizer. The live-streaming allowing me in Seattle to join others online in Alabama. The preacher was the Reverend Becca Stevens.[iii]

Becca had words, and the Word, for this moment in our nation’s life. One of the best sermons I’ve heard.

I've been very aware of how each Christian, and the whole Body of Christ, experiences this pressure to move to one side or another of the narratives. For some the temptation is to act as though we are experts in the matter of policing, race, and the use of force. For others there’s a search for balance. I often hope for balance. Becca helped me see more clearly. 

The preacher mentioned the pressures, to come together or to stay apart, tradition or justice, anger or hope. She then said,

The call is not to try and keep everything in balance.

The call is always to surrender it all for love.

Good, reasonable people will be working on the issues and dilemmas we face. Citizens will seek to be heard, some political leaders will seek to serve the common good, experts will offer what they know. Many of these people will be the baptized who carry that identity and mission into the dialogue, debate, and decision-making. My hope is that as they do this holy work they will bring to the task the needed nuance, facts, and creativity. And, will, at the same time, hear the Divine Compassion—"The call is always to surrender it all for love.”

Lord, let our eyes be opened.” Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him. 

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[i] A phase use by Bishop Peter Eaton in his reflection of June 26, “To pray for someone with intention is to place oneself on the altar of the sacrifice of that person’s daily living alongside that person.  It is a dangerous place to go. But prayer is a dangerous business, for it is nothing less than an act of love. Perhaps that is why prayer can be so hard sometimes.”

[ii] Cornelius Hill, 1843-1907; Ordained to diaconate June 27, 1895 and to the priesthood in 1903.

Everliving Lord of the universe, our loving God, you raised up your priest Cornelius Hill, last hereditary chief of the Oneida nation, to shepherd and defend his people against attempts to scatter them in the wilderness: Help us, like him, to be dedicated to truth and honor, that we may come to that blessed state you have prepared for us; through Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

[iii] The sermon is worth hearing.  Becca Stevens is an Episcopal priest and founder of Thistle Farms to heal, empower, and employ female survivors of human trafficking, prostitution, and addiction.

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Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty; Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.  Lift Every Voice and Sing[i]

We followed the Red Police Car through the streets of North Philadelphia for several hours. We and other teams did the same thing on another evening or two. We didn’t see anything that needed to be reported on. In 1964 CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) had started the project because we had received regular reports of police brutality. Our hope was that this might be a means to reduce the number of incidents by calling attention to cases we’d witnessed. It only took a few weeks for leaders to realize this wasn’t going to be an effective strategy to address the problem.

The colloquy

Obviously, there is a conversation to be had. It’s a dialogue for the whole society and for the church. And, it’s a discussion many fear. There are so many ways to get it wrong. There’s a spirit of harsh judgment ready to pounce from the left and the right. And, as many in the church think their political views and God’s political views are aligned, there’s a group in every parish ready to be offended. 

Sorry, I can’t tell you how to avoid all criticism. I have routinely made some of my bishops unhappy with my writings. In the current climate, no matter how you approach the issues of racism and policing--someone will find fault. 

What I can do is suggest a few ideas that have to do with the integrity and identity of the Church and, therefore of the parish priest and lay leaders.

Begin with prayer 

Martin Thornton wrote of colloquy as a form of prayer, “a personal conversation between the soul and God.” Colloquy is "intimate, personal, informal conversation” with God. He saw it as “the heart of private prayer” … “the source of personal love which flows throughout the Mystical Body.”  Colloquy includes petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and adoration. Bring the issues of racism and policing into your conversation with God.

Thornton also held that colloquy needed grounding in mental prayer. This is settling in with God. It takes many forms—meditation, centering, Lectio Divina, contemplation, spiritual reading, icons—the individual best engaging whichever form fits her temperament.[ii] I like Howard Thurman’s way, “As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind – A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear. It moves directly to the core of our being.” From “How good it is to center down.”  Thornton wanted us to bring that self to colloquy.

Maybe that's a way forward. That how we pray in our faithfulness is how we want to talk with one another. Soul to soul, personal, generous and compassionate. From the core of my being to the core of your being. What's at stake isn't an abstraction--Black Lives Matter, good policing matters, acts of violence against those in the image of God matters. 

Use the language and ideas of faith

Clergy can get trapped in an internal message that says they must speak out; they must speak of justice. We dig up quotes from the Hebrew Prophets.

The part we get right is to use the language and ideas of faith and practice rather than that of the political argument. For a moment, set aside the notion that you are a prophet. Begin with common ground. Be their priest and pastor first. See where that takes you, and them.

When Michelle, Presiding Sister of the Order of the Ascension, and I walk together a few times each week we have a ritual. About ten feet from each other we put on a mask, we say hello, and we begin venting. We often have some piece of work to do on our walks. And there is the catching up to do--"how's Sean," "I heard from my niece," "got together at a distance with the neighbors for drinks." But before we get to all that--we solve the problems of Seattle and the nation. We vent. About the President, CHOP, the mayor and City Council. We figure out how policing can be reformed and reimagined. We don't say everything carefully and concerned about disapproval. We are two friends talking. It's a time for free expression and strong emotion. 

We move on. We then act in a more considered, contemplated, and pragmatic manner. A letter to the Chief of Police, an email to our Councilwoman, a blog posting, a training session for novices, a talk with a client. 

For us the venting seems to help us know our own filters, the lens we fail back upon to understand the world, the bits of implicit bias.  Some helpful stuff in all that, also some not so helpful stuff. We move to our own better place; to the wisdom of the church, the paradoxical nature of life, and the need for humility.

You probably have your own pathway.  If it's not already part of your approach you might consider engaging for yourself, and with the parish, the way of colloquy. 

One aspect of that conversation might be to go to the place where the church has its truest voice and unity. Ground what you say in the central truths of Christian faith.

For example, invite people to consider the mission of God. Just what is God up to? Which, of course, also tells us what the church’s mission is. Which may also say something about bias, separation, the wall of hostility, and violence. We each need to bring our own stories and wisdom to that.

The Catechism of the Book of Common Prayer tells us about the mission of the church (and therefore what the church thinks God is up to) 

The mission of the Church is to restore all people to
unity with God and each other in Christ.

Okay, God is restoring us to unity—harmony, concord, reconciliation. That should sound familiar to most in the parish.

In his Principles of Christian Theology, John Macquarrie writes of this unifying process,

..our belief is that the whole process only makes sense in so far as, in the risk and the struggle of creation, that which is advancing into fuller potentialities of being and is overcoming the forces that tend toward dissolution; and that continually a richer and more fully diversified unity is built up.  ...The end, we have seen reason to believe, would be a commonwealth of free, responsible beings united in love; and this great end is possible only if finite existents are preserved in some kind of individual identity. Here again, we may emphasize that the highest love is not the drive toward union, but rather letting-be.

Complex wording to be sure. But take a look. Notice that in his description of the unity God brings about there is an understanding that it is “a richer and more fully diversified unity.” And that “the end” (heaven, eternity, the Kingdom) is “a commonwealth of free, responsible beings united in love.” It is Macquarrie’s resolution of the polarity between the individual and society. Between the soul and the Blessed Trinity.

His approach can help us understand, in Christian terms, the idea of the common good.  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is useful here,

The common good is “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfilment more fully and more easily'" … it is “the good of all people and of the whole person… The human person cannot find fulfilment in himself, that is, apart from the fact that he exists "with" others and "for" others"

William Temple saw it this way,

The aim of a Christian social order is the fullest possible development of individual personality in the widest and deepest possible fellowship.

All this offers the church’s understanding of how we might approach a polarity central to human life. The drive to be a self, a fully alive person and the drive to be with others in harmony. We spend our life working out our salvation within that seemed division. If I give myself to a community, a spouse, God—won’t I lose myself? If I maintain my identity and integrity—I’ll be alone and lonely, no family, nation, people to share life with.  

One caution. If we are to help all our people enter into this conversation with open hearts, it is necessary to distinguish the church’s idea of “common good” from that offered by various political factions. The church is not saying the common good is utilitarian. This isn’t just about whatever provides the greatest good for the most people. 

If this is what God is up to ….

Through your stories and example, within the experience and wisdom of the congregation, by centering down and holy conversation—remember and live in the places of uniqueness and unity.

If God is in the business of bringing each of us individually, each tribe of humanity, to our own integrity and completeness, and at the same time, through love and sacrifice, restoring us to unity with one another and life in the Trinity—then our proper fear is that of awe and adoration rather than dread and panic.

Now let the heavens be joyful, Let earth her song begin, The round world keep high triumph, and all therein, Let all things seen and unseen their notes together blend.

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A list of all postings 

The Feast of James Weldon Johnson    June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938

Red cars

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Red cars 3

Related resources 

The Church’s Influence in Society

Down into the mess

Lectio Divina

Caesura: Parish life lacking any sort of contemplative focus

All Saints

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[i] Johnson composed the lyrics of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" to honor Booker T. Washington who was visiting Stanton School. The poem was recited by 500 school children as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln's birthday.

[ii] See Thornton’s Christian Proficiency. Thornton also assumed that our mental prayer and colloquy was most fruitful and true within the context of the church’s Prayer Book Pattern—Eucharist, Office, Personal Devotions. For example, those who daily pray the scriptures and say the church’s prayers in the Daily Office bring more into their centering down and conversation with God; and that “more” offers broadness and depth.

Red cars

By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1: 78-79

It was 1964. The four of us sat low in the car. We didn’t want to be noticed. We were half a block from the police station in North Philadelphia. We were waiting for a Red Police Car to pull out of the lot. We would tail it. We were to be witnesses.

What the hell am I doing here?

In the back of the car I was trying to stay focused on the task. We were all members of CORE. We were to follow the police car and observe the behavior of the officers. We needed to follow without being noticed; we were not to attempt to intervene directly but to record; we were to be respectful to all, including the police. CORE's Rules.

I was glad to be there. Rattling about in my head was some combination of American values about justice and equality and Christian understandings about the common good and justice. I was reminding myself. There was also this, “What the hell am I doing here?” 

Where has your life intersected with Black Americans?

For my first 17 years, not much. 

When I returned from Quantico USMC in the summer of 1963, I went to see Don Farrow, my priest at St. Andrew’s. I asked him if he had any ideas about how I might best make use of the summer. He suggested I ask Fr. Paul Washington if he would add me to the summer staff at the Church of the Advocate. For the next four summers, and a bit during the year, I ended up serving on the day camp staff and living with others in the curacy. I was frequently the only white person in the room. I made my first confession to a black priest (Jessie Anderson, Jr.), I ate and shopped in black owned businesses, I socialized with black members and staff, and I was in awe of Paul and Christine Washington. I attended the Sunday Eucharist and coffee hour and my sense of what it was to “be the Church” grew. I joined CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality), demonstrated, received training in non-violent civil disobedience, and started a campus chapter at Penn State.

In the following years I’d spend a lot of time with Black friends and co-workers; serve as an OD or parish development consultant for Black non-profits and churches; be the priest in parishes that were integrated; and have experiences that revealed just a small bit of the pain and joy that Black America lived. That doesn’t mean that I really understood.

The unyielding and harsh power

Something I did come to understand, is that if your white life intersects with the life of Black Americans, you may get hurt. In saying that, I’m not including the risks involved by joining in protests, then and now. I’ll mention three experiences.

The swimming pool – My family lived in Somerton. An overwhelming white area in Philadelphia. It was a good-sized house with a bit of ground around it.  Several steps up from the Oxford Circle row house I grew up in. My parents stopped going on vacations and used the money to have a built-in swimming pool in the back of the house. I invited the summer staff from the Advocate to come up for a picnic on Saturday. There we were, black and white together in a swimming pool. It wasn’t very long before a police car pulled up—“We’ve had complaints from some neighbors about the noise.” They spoke with my father, “the owner of the property,” and pushed him to end the gathering. My working class, didn’t finish high school, Dad said, “Get the f … off my property.” And they did.

The wedding – I loved working at the Advocate. So, when Donna and I thought about where to get married that was our choice. Paul Washington agreed to the use. Don Farrow would officiate. Not long before the wedding Dad told me that none of his family would be coming. They felt that I was shoving my views down their throat. Dad was at the wedding, his brothers and sister were not. For several years Dad had no contact with his brothers and sister. Those siblings raised one another after their parents died. All of them served the nation during the war. They were close.

The party – We had rented an apartment for the semester of student teaching. It was in Philadelphia, near my parents’ home, and close to the school we taught in. We invited our friends to come to a party. Again, white and black together. And again, two police officers at the door, “We’ve had complaints from some neighbors about the noise.” They wanted to come in, look around, and they insisted that the party end. I was channeling my father, “I’m sorry you have to deal with the complaints. We’ll lower the noise. But ‘no’ you can’t come in.” They said, “that’s fine. We’ll get a warrant, wait outside for the warrant, and check everyone who does leave to make sure no one underage has been drinking.” I ended the party after consulting with a few others.

Three events that would not have happened if my life had not intersected with Black America. Please hear me on this. The point isn’t “poor Robert.” It’s not even “poor Robert’s Dad” (though I have felt both guilt and pride over what he had to do).  The primary issue here is about the relentless pressure Black Americans experience in their life. What I, my father, and my white friends, experienced in each of these events was incidental and collateral damage to the unyielding and harsh power of the racism known by Black Americans.

Life enlarged

My life has been a better life because of the people I came to respect and love—Claudia, William, Paul and Christine, Mark, Barbara, Robert, Margie, Bob, Don, Heide, Georgia, Howard, Don and Esther, Mary, Denise, Kim, Fred, Mary, Anne-Marie, Winston, Bill, Bob, Victoria.    

Every few weeks Marge would come by the clergy house. We’d sit in the living room and smoke cigarillos.  If it was before 3:00 we’d drink coffee, after 3:00 was scotch. And we’d talk. She of her social work job. Me of the parish. We’d solve all the problems of the world. Occasionally we’d disagree. Often, she’d help me see something from the perspective of an African American woman.

A sideshow

I don’t mean to diminish the experience of my own life in what I’m about to say. This has been for me, in Augustine’s words, “a real life” largely because of that experience.

But in regard to the issues of race, policing, and justice in America—my experience is at best a sideshow. A very minor paragraph within the big story. Incidental in every way.

And for me, that suggests a need for a bit of humility. I see through a glass darkly, in part.

Parish development

How can our parishes engage these times? How might our parishes help its members pray, think, and act faithfully? How can we do this in a manner that brings growth to individuals and strengthens the apostolic center of the parish? So, this community becomes a more; listening, compassionate, courageous and persistent community?

Help people share their experiences of race and policing. Where has your life intersected with Black Americans? To be contemplative and Eucharistic in understanding and sharing their own stories and contemplative and compassionate in listening to the experience of others.

If just a few come to a place of more humility, courage, patience, and persistence the apostolic center of the parish will have been strengthened and individuals brought in touch with the Beloved Community.  

What might we do to help our people become more reflective? To find that “inner core of silence” that allows us to stand apart from the consumer society and within the ancient traditions of truth and justice?

On the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts  Malachi 3: 5

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Parish surveys: developmental, routine, trivia, inconsequential

More parishes are using some form of survey as they anticipate a transition. Some are focused, others scattershot; some well done, others confused; some developmental, others inconsequential. How to sort it out?

I’m using a model based on the work of Stephen Covey. It can help us distinguish surveys that can take a parish into a process of development from surveys that are about the parish’s routine business, or trivia, or about inconsequential matters. The questions about how well the surveys are being designed will need to hold for another time.

Here’s the grid.  Also, a PDF of the grid

 

Focusing the parish's life and work

The general assumption is that, as much as possible, we want to keep our efforts on the normal parish business and parish development. It’s the important stuff.

And we want, as much as possible, to avoid getting caught up in things that are not really important for the well-being of the parish. Even if in some case they feel urgent to a few members.

Sorting things out

Normal parish business surveys

My impression is that that’s what most parish leaders are trying to do. So, we see questions like these. 

1. We will be returning to some form of public worship. In order to plan for that we can use your help. It will give us an idea about the number of services to schedule and what precautions we need to take. In nay case, we want to assure you that the diocesan guidelines regarding safety will be carefully followed.

 I plan to return to public worship as soon as that begins (check one)

No, not yet

I’m not sure what I want to do yet

Yes, I’ll be there

2. As it’s possible that a significant number of parishioners will not want to return until there is a cure, vaccine, or proven safety measures in place.

The parish should invest in a quality system for live streaming the services. We estimate the cost would be $_______

It’s not worth doing

I’m uncertain

We need to do it

The circumstances that cause us to ask this type of question may not be “normal” but asking them is normal parish business. This kind of survey allows us to do the regular work of the parish in these odd times. It is one aspect of managing the crisis. 

Interruptions

These are surveys that tie up the energy of the parish over matters that are simply not very important. They are often driven by a feeling of urgency on the part of one or a few members. They are in fact inappropriate, frivolous or irrelevant to truly important parish matters. Leaders need to gently but firmly protect the parish from such survey questions.

Asking people to make judgments about how we have managed the crisis in the past three months, e.g., “How often did you attend the streamed Eucharist Sunday? How well was it done?” Such questions are not helpful for what we need to do in the time ahead. They may also be a needy seeking of approval because the leaders are feeling insecure. It’s now in the past. Move on! Don’t encourage a judgmental spirit in the parish.  They are questions that might have been useful two months ago and if done then would have been “normal parish business.”

Or, asking questions such as, “Some members have shared how much they have appreciated doing Morning Prayer each Sunday. As we return to regular Sunday worship would you like us to make a permeant change to having Morning Prayer once a month? Or, some members dislike the common cup, would you be in favor of us using individual cups in the future?  It’s 101 – don’t ask questions you will not act upon.

Trivia

This is most likely to be an issue in the process rather than the content of surveys. Asking too many questions; not focusing the questions; having a committee toss in everything that comes to mind; being excessively anxious about hearing from everyone.

Taking up people’s time and attention for trivia is disrespectful.

Parish development

In normal times it’s hard to get a parish to attend to developmental matters. Such things are left for “when we have time.” It requires the rector’s investment and leadership, the support of several respected lay leaders, and the willingness of a critical mass to go along with the effort.  It’s even more difficult when we are meeting on Zoom.

Most of our parishes have devoted a lot of energy in the past three months getting the normal parish business done. It was a crisis. Developmental work could wait.

In the year plus ahead, some parishes will have developmental work that must be faced into. Trust was already low between the rector and many lay leaders; we need to do something about that even if these aren’t the best of circumstances. The priest had begun a process of interviewing parishioners about their spiritual life (all those willing); she now needs to pick up with that either on-line or in a socially distant setting at the parish. The nation is struggling with issues of racial equality; how do we engage in formation and how might we be a sanctifying presence in the wider community? 

There may also be developmental opportunities that emerge from people’s experience with the virus. Many are thinking about illness and death. One that has caught my attention is the relationship among loneliness, hostility and illusion. I’ve heard clergy speak of the argumentativeness and antagonistic climate in clergy on-line meetings.  After what seemed like a spirit of “we’re in this together” the nation seems to be shifting back into its angry polarizing behavior. Peter Wehner wrote, "But epistemological anarchy is a mortal threat to a free nation.  If there are no knowable truths to appeal to, no common set of facts we can agree on, no shared reality that binds us together, then everything is up for grabs." That has to do with the relationship between hostility and illusion. Just the other day there was a report on a NORC poll regarding feelings of isolation and loneliness. In recent decades it’s been more and more of a concern. The difference between 2018 and 2020 is cause for concern, even if predictable given the impact of the virus.

These present opportunities to help people grow in the inner life, both spiritual growth and emotional intelligence. For example, don’t ask are you lonely? Ask if you’d like to be part of a group exploring it. 

A survey could come at it this way.

Some people are experiencing an increased sense of isolation and loneliness, some are feeling more irritable and short-tempered, and some find themselves confused about what is true, factual, and worthy. We are putting together a group (or a couple of groups) around these concerns. You may be concerned about your own inner life or what is happening to a friend, or the trends in our nation. Would you like to participate in a study/reflection group on these concerns? We’d meet (in person or on Zoom) four times for one hour each time. There would be a short book to read (Reaching Out by Henri Nouwen) and a few articles. We’d also invite you to make use of spiritual practices that might help. Once we know who is interested, we’ll look for times that fit the group.

                  I want to participate.             Not interested at this time.

                 Your name:                                Your email address: 

The opportunities for developmental work during these strange days are likely to be around the inner life of members. Clergy will need to pick up on that and offer pathways for spiritual growth.

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RELATED RESOURCES

Fake Listening

Parish leaders have at times been known to engage in fake listening. Most have learned that they are supposed to listen to the thoughts and feelings of parishioners. Many try to do that with integrity. Some work at learning to do it with competence.

Not listening: I have the power; get reconciled to it

Rectors make decisions all the time that don’t satisfy everyone. And healthy priests and healthy parishes don’t spend excessive energy re-visiting those decisions or trying to get consensus. This is one more area where there’s not a simple answer. 

Q & A: Take Counsel – Stop Grumbling

Q – What can I do with myself? At times I feel as though I’m choking on old resentments. Things that happened years ago and I’m still dwelling in them. It’s like living in a house that filled up with old newspapers and has cobwebs and spiders in all the corners.

Seeking parish harmony

By listening, not denouncing; empathizing, not ridiculing; understanding, not dismissing. I’ve experienced three kinds of parish annual meetings: Harmony through engagement, humility and respect. Meetings with an open and free flow of information. 

Lectio Divina

A slow, meditative reading of scripture. At a time when we are alert. In a quiet and restful place. You need time enough so there is no sense of being hurried.

Caesura: Levels of consulting in the parish

Whenever anything important is to be done in the monastery, the abbot shall call the whole community together and explain what the business is; and after hearing the advice of the brothers, let him ponder it and follow what he judges the wiser course. (Rule of Saint Benedict Chapter 3:1-2)