What's Going On?

Sarah Dylan Breuer, an Episcopal priest from Cambridge MA, conducts workshops called "Speaking the Truth in Love: Practical Skills for Reconcilers." These workshops are primarily intended to address divisive elements within religious congregations. She proposes that there are essential skills that are foundational and vital to the process of reconciliation.

The first skill requires that we keep an open mind, listen and be as fully “present” to the process of sincerely trying to understand one another while resisting the urge to comment. The second skill is to be as mindful as possible that we are called to love one another. Of course, this is easier said than done, especially in the throes of contentious polarity. Matthew’s (Matthew 10:26-33) Gospel selected for this Sunday calls to mind those skills

While it would be decades before Matthew’s followers would be called Christians, they built pockets of communities within the larger overarching community that eventually became known as the Christian community. Since they represented a radical new order which threatened to undermine the order of the Empire, they experienced serious persecution from local authorities because they deferred to Jesus’ teachings and not to the ruling powers of the time.

This “new world order” began to threaten friends and neighbors as well as the ruling class. And so their neighbors, their friends, and sometimes their own family, fearful of reprisal, reported them to the local authorities as agitators. Being betrayed by those so close is reminiscent of how Jesus felt by Judas’ betrayal and his disciples’ silence.

We don’t have to look far to see history continue to s repeat itself. As we prepared to carefully manage our exit from months of Covid19 quarantine, the country was beset with racial strife, intolerance and violence not seen since the late ‘60s. Words alone did not mitigate the discord. People, well intentioned, good people were at wits end to seek an immediate cessation to the violence and long-term solution going forward to “systemic racism.” This time it seemed different or was it. Were we really trying to just make it go away or were we really trying to change race relations?  Municipal and state police were under fire and while their actions were at its root cause, they were trying to restore order and reconcile themselves within their own ranks and among the disparaged communities, largely but not solely black. “What’s going on” we kept repeating.

While the racial turmoil of the 60’s was a separate and distinct entity, it was compounded by the raging discord in the country with the Vietnam war. Communities were divided and took up sides as polarized opposites within were talking at one another, not listening or willing to listen. People were wounded and many felt disenfranchised.

We know that all wounded creatures are likely to respond to any overture with a variety of emotions out of pain, confusion, and anger. A person who retorts with “equal and opposite” acrimony will likely accelerate the spiral of violence, with disastrous results. Breuer says that the only way to disrupt that spiral of violence is to listen and be present and loving. That's very hard to do when someone is either threatening violence or inciting a "fight or flight" response.

If we are called to be agents of healing, we must remain grounded in the knowledge of God's unconditional love and rely on the power of love to heal. Martin Luther King called the result of nonviolent resistance "beloved community." It is the community of those who personify the Good News and know that love is powerful, and inevitable. We have seen the Word made flesh in Jesus, and we see it embodied in and among us. It can't be stopped by violence. Bringing violence to bear against God's love only creates more opportunities for God's love to disrupt the spiral of violence and build a beloved community. Could it be, as one black minister said that “George Floyd may well be the sacrificial lamb that redeems us from the original sin of racism?” Please God!

(Adapted from SarahLaughed.net, by Sarah Dylan Breuer, 2009.)

Mother, mother

There's too many of you crying

Brother, brother, brother

There's far too many of you dying

You know we've got to find a way

To bring some lovin' here today, eh eh 

Father, father

We don't need to escalate

You see, war is not the answer

For only love can conquer hate

You know we've got to find a way

To bring some lovin' here today, oh oh oh 

(Marvin Gaye, 1971)