Hello, pussy cats,
Ah, August. I have two broken fingernails, ratty, tangled, brassy hair, and a home study that looks like a hurricane went through it.
Every time I set aside time to do work, I find myself out in the garden or walking by the beach. FUNNY how that happens. Hey, I regret nada as I am officially on vacation. Yes, I have interviewing to do for a staff position. Yes, I have a service to lead next Sunday. Yes, I have a church foyer to decorate and a newsletter column to write and a welcome message to film. But vacation is VACATION and I’m on it through August 20th, so no guilt.
Sadness, though, and anger and grief. I have been obsessed with the Black Lives Matter movement for exactly a year now and as you know, nothing is going to improve or resolve overnight. I have given up hope and shiny-happy slogans for dogged attention, listening, learning, speaking up and showing up. My speaking up is to white people. My listening is to people of color and especially African-Americans. I have learned not to believe the police reports or the media coverage. I have learned that some people think being polite and supportive of white leaders is more important than speaking truth to power. My take on the Bernie Sanders Seattle appearance is that the two activists who interrupted him did so in an unpleasant way that I didn’t like, but if that’s how to get real attention, I’m not against it. Bernie Sanders will survive. So will his white supporters. The point is that it isn’t for me to say in the first place. I just know that too many unarmed black men and women are dying in police custody and more Americans are finally getting accurate information about how policing works if you’re black. The next president of the United States needs to be awake, aware and ready to work on this. The next U.S. president needs to be schooled on systemic racism, and maybe that’s Bernie Sanders. I don’t know – I haven’t studied the matter. I do know that marching with MLK in the Civil Rights era doesn’t guarantee anything.
Another thing that I know for sure is that we clergy are not to fool around right now. We are not to fool around with sloppy hippie attire or Nice Cat Lady outfits that make us look like we’re scared of power. White clergy should not fool around with attention-getting provocative Tshirt slogans that are designed to show up everyone how RAD we are as we protest. Clericals are enough. If you’re wearing a slogan that is designed to piss people off, leave your clericals at home, please. There is enough visual chaos and cognitive dissonance out there for ministers to be contributing to it because they think they’ll make a good photo op. IT’s NOT ABOUT YOU.
I’m going to jump in the ocean for awhile, my dears. Kisses of peace unto you all.
I know what this is about. [It’s about a multitude of such visual moments I have caught in my newsfeed. There is a lot of well-meaning confusion out there right now as we navigate the challenges of this time. – PB]
So grateful for your “obsession” — which is to say, your ears that can hear and eyes that can see.
Paying attention– despite annoyance, fatigue, denial, laziness, pride, guilt, or any other kind of sin— is the only way I know to find out what God is actually doing. May God help us all to understand this is no time for fooling around, And may God bless you for your attention and love.
Well, of COURSE I’m interested, participating in more public witness over the past year than I have in my entire life. (I live 20 miles from Ferguson.) Here are some things I’ve learned:
1) YOU MUST READ AS A MINISTER TO THE CAMERA AND TO THE CROWD. People need to see that the Church is there, the clergy are in this, and this is a moral issue.
Find out what the protest organizers want you as a minister to wear, and do your best to comply. Clericals? Full vestments? For one march, everyone was asked to wear a baseball cap, white T-shirt and khakis, as Michael Brown did the day he was killed. Looking like clergy, looking like yourself, and looking like you belong with the group can be hard to pull off at the same time, but are all important. Thus, I have made peace with a collar and Tshirt combination.
2) Black clergy outdress white clergy by several magnitudes. Look sharp, white colleagues, or you will look disrespectful and second-rate.
3) Shoe assessment: can I march for more than an hour in these? What if I have to walk 2 miles to my car afterward? And: see #2.
4) For those of us who wear clericals primarily for public witness, investing in a Women’s Spirit Janie is a must. I have sometimes had it in a bag in my car, along with the right shoes, stole, and sign.
5) People really long to see someone who represents them in the picture. For my denomination, this means the trademark bright yellow-gold garb. This isn’t the most important consideration, of course, but I understand how it ministers to my people, and may motivate them. My protest stole is completely devoid of anything personal or unique. People are not looking for me – they are looking for “us”. I can throw it in the wash, I’m not afraid of it getting wet, and if anything happens to it, I can order another without a second’s despair.