How Much Longer?
The arc of the universe bends towards justice.
-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Price Recipient
As we continue through this uprising for justice & peace in the midst of a global pandemic, I pray each of you remains well. Please stay resolved in your commitment to safeguarding your loved ones and yourself while the situation with COVID-19 continues.
Ongoing realities of social upheaval and dynamic efforts for reshaping the world we inhabit, have provoked my imagination and mobilized my innermost being to join in the birthing of a more just society. For me, such birthing must begin by naming what is seen before me, then tearing it down either literally or metaphorically; this is my attempt at this…
One of the things that certainly needs to be torn down, is the ongoing reality in our society that we have been collectively taught — both consciously & unconsciously — that we should strive for passivity with as little regard for the world around us as possible. The only exceptions to societal encouragement of passivity being election years or the occasional feel good charity campaigns, which only really produce larger bank accounts for Philanthropists. This is not the way of Jesus, yet we claim to be a “Christian Nation”, nor is this the way of any prophet who has inhabited this realm, including the prophets of our times: Toni Morrison, Dorothy Day, Dan & Philip Berrigan, Fred Hampton, and many others.
Despite this societal promotion of passiveness or docile demeanor, many prophets have risen up with great boldness and a courageous audacity to embody the radical message of the saints of old, who confronted social systems that undermined the inherent worth of each person, and Mother Earth.
The prophets are those who show up, stand up, speak up, provoke, irritate, and condemn.
The vocation of the prophet is the vocation of each person. We who have glimpsed & tasted the deliciousness of grace, are mandated to build up a new way of being that prioritizes justice.
Are you standing up for justice? Are you speaking up for the oppressed and provoking the comfortable? Are you giving up your desires for comfort in place of the vocation of the prophet?
You are encouraged to reflect upon these questions each day with every ounce of provocation they might cause and may they delve deep into your spirit. Please do not hesitate to embrace the mantle of the prophet and take a step forward when you are called. Christ said:
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.-John 12: 24
We must let go of our desire to remain a grain of wheat and instead allow ourselves to fall onto the ground and die to our own desires for privilege, power, fame, success, comfort, the need to be right, or wealth, otherwise the harvest of justice which produces the fruit of solidarity, will never come to pass…
Some — (to the Plowshares 8, with love)
by Daniel Berrigan
Some stood up once, and sat down.
Some walked a mile, and walked away.
Some stood up twice, then sat down.
“It’s too much,” they cried.
Some walked two miles, then walked away.
“I’ve had it,” they cried,
Some stood and stood and stood.
They were taken for fools,
they were taken for being taken in.
Some walked and walked and walked -
they walked the earth,
they walked the waters,
they walked the air.
“Why do you stand?” they were asked, and
“Why do you walk?”
“Because of the children,” they said, and
“Because of the heart, and
“Because of the bread,”
“Because the cause is
the heart’s beat, and
the children born, and
the risen bread.”
Ever since the Minneapolis UpRising began due to the murder of George Floyd, one of the questions that has consistently been surfacing during my prayer is “How much longer?”
How much longer till the lives of black, brown, & indigenous folx are no longer sacrificed on the altars of white supremacy and genocide?
How much longer till we see police brutality as not just brutal but as blasphemous?
How much longer till we overthrow centuries old gender norms that place women below men and prioritizes patriarchy?
How much longer must we breathe in polluted air and drink toxic water?
How much longer till we act up against the heresy that denies the image of God in us?
Martin Luther King said that the arc of the universe bends towards justice, but what is not said there is that WE must bend the arc. If we do not bend the arc, justice will never come.
Written by Art Hooker (BMI), Ben Hardesty (BMI), Courtney Orlando (ASCAP)
© 2017 Common Hymnal Digital (BMI), New Metropolitan Music (BMI), Benjo Darro Music Company (BMI), Common Hymnal Publishing (ASCAP), Theocentric Music (ASCAP) (admin by CapitolCMGPublishing.com). CCLI 7109361.
We must carry the vision forward. Our prayer lives and worship services must no longer be filled with hands lifted high and move downward, extended forward so we can link together and march forth towards the refining fires of rage. We must tear down visible manifestations of the anti-reign of god, which reinforce the ideas that anyone who is not rich, white, straight or male, are not worthy of being made in the image of God.
No prophets have ever said that rebellion was going to be polite.
Resurrection will never occur unless there is a Good Friday.
The birth of a new child can not occur without a bit of pain.
Stay safe
Listen to the scientists
Listen to the oppressed
Embrace the way of the prophet
Rev. Jerry Maynard is The People’s Priest. He shows up in the world as a spiritual renegade and social revolutionary with a ministry of protest, praise, and community organizing in Houston, TX. Rev. Jerry is a leader in a variety of movements, teaches the spirituality of nonviolence, works on foreign and domestic issues, and is the Founding Pastor of The People’s Church an online community of Sacred Activists from a variety of spiritual traditions. The People’s Priest is active on social media as a DigiMinistry curator.
Originally published at https://revjerrymaynard.substack.com.
