St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Martin Luther King day is an
opportunity for us
to consider the challenges of living together as a
new sort of family,
one that alters old tribal boundaries,
and creates new ones.

We live in interesting times.
One of the candidates for president is half-African,
Raised by a single mother.
On paper, and in the media, we encourage multiculturalism.
We see around us attempts to reflect the variety of our culture.
Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith, Richard Parsons, and Stan O'Neal
are individuals with power that could not have been imagined 50 years ago.

As Jesse Jackson once remarked after being asked if we'd made improvements.
He responded. "it's only been 50 years" since Brown Vs. Board of education.

It's only been 50 years since
the original sin of our country,
has begun to be dismantled.

The gospel is constantly rearranging our loyalties.
Paul is writing the church in Corinth: one that was divided.
On one hand were the libertines; then there were the Jews,
the Greeks who wanted to become Jews,
the Jews who didn't want the Greeks next to them,
and the Greeks who wanted the Jewish thought,
but none of the rules.

They were divided. There was rivalry and competition and hurt feelings.

So Paul is beginning a letter with instructions about
how they would live together.

He knew that we have a tendency
to divide ourselves into tribes.
And for us in the US, tribe is indicated by color.
You can come from a country with
much more intense provincial identities:
Scots against the English,
the Neopolitans against the Sicilians,
but here it identities are formed between white and black.

Now a lot of this has changed:
there are 17 distinct groupings of Latinos.
Conversations between blacks has become more complicated,
because of the immigration
of Africans and Afro-Caribbeans into the country.

There are all sorts of tribes,
and more now then there once were.

The easy categories of white and black,
while still present,
have been changed.

As a nation we're still working through things.
Once sociologist, Robert Putnam - a liberal - wrote a long study,
indicating that the more diverse a community is,
the less trust there is.

It's not encouraging for those of us who have a vision of
the varied community, a shared community,
a community with different voices and experiences.

But I understand why.

We are often uncomfortable with difference,
and we don't like to feel uncomfortable.

There are several ways discomfort can feel:
we can be afraid of it: a fear that we will be excluded if we don't exclude.
It's not that much different than the playground where
a group of children gang up on the fat kid or the effeminate kid,
because they don't want to be the one victimized themselves.

The way I look at the controversy is to always examine
who is talking and who is listening.
Martin Luther King could talk to both Whites and Blacks
with moral authority.

Sometimes we overhear people talk amongst themselves,
and it makes us uncomfortable.

There are words people say within the family,
that we misunderstand and misinterpret.

Racism still exists, but it is a bit different before.
It is not obvious.
It is fought not in the hearts of all americans,
but institutionally.

In our day and age, it is through the War on Drugs.
Although drug use is fairly common in our country,
a disproportionate amount of those arrested are poor and black.

Instead of using words that describe race,
we can call one segment of our population "criminal."
And that makes it easy
to corral a large, seemingly dangerous part of our population.

We can justify victimizing people
because we've criminalized them.
Thats where the battle today is.
Who wants to be around criminals?
they deserve to be feared.
And it is their fault,
so put them in jail,
and throw away the key.

We say this,
Even though,
for most of them,
the crimes are non-violent,
rooted in the lack of economic opportunity.

Now there are policy solutions available to us.
Personally, I think drugs should be medicalized;
and that we should ensure that all Americans
are liberated from worrying about
the cost of their health bills.

Everyone likes the drug war.
Criminals like it because it makes them money.
Prosecutors like it because
it gives them a job.
It funds lots of government agencies.
It means we'll never look at marijuana or hemp,
as viable medical or economic options.
It helps the prison industry.

But that's not my area of expertise.

But what is interesting to me,
is how our institution can
become a trust building institution,
among people of varied experiences,
histories and language.

We often get stuck because we are misled by
focusing on what people say.
But the dynamics of building trust
are a bit more complicated

Building trust requires that
one party be uncomfortable
and listen and share authority.
And it requires that the other party
give up resentment and vengeance.

Both parties have to give up a sense of perfection.
And everyone must recognize that our original sin as a culture,
is to make people into victims.
To assert we don't need to care for each other,
as a community,
or as a country.

But there are alternatives:
I'm reminded about the novel "uncle Tom's Cabin."
Uncle Tom got a bad rap, I think.
What was interesting to me is that, contrary to popular opinion,
he was really an agent.
But through the story of his non-violence,
he inspired the reading public to consider the moral impact of slavery.

The author made "uncle Tom" into a Christ like figure, which was understood by whites.
It was a character that did not inspire fear, but empathy.
Uncle Tom was not, in fact, passive. But the violence ended with him.
Such an image helped others recognize the moral horror of slavery.

Harriet Beecher Stowe had the ability to use a language
for White Americans that helped them to recognize their own brutality.

And I think that this is our own challenge: just thinking thoughts or doing things
For if we're always worried about being perfect, we won't work to build the community.
Our community survives with our imperfections.

What we can do is ensure that we hear multiple voices.
And this is crucial. No one voice will say everything,
with authority and truth.

I could talk to you about a good marriage and how to raise your kids, but it would seem a bit...
contrived. I would have great ideas! But i'm not married or have kids.

so when whites talk about racism, it seems a bit odd.
When we talk to Iraqis, it seems a bit patronizing.

so the quesiton is who speaks with authority?

The challege: who listens? Who talks?
WE get stuck on content, when it is the who that is most important.
I can tell you to love your children: but its different if I were a parent.
I can tell you the problems of marriage, but it would be different if I were married.
The who is crucial to understanding. There is no way to get around the "who."

The church builds connections: we do so tentatively, softly, slowly.
We won't be perfect.
We won't eliminate the small boundaries that make our clubs certain and secure.

Perhaps church is where we can be comfortably uncomfortable.

In this new church we are able to handle difference
In this new church we let go of our need to feel comfortable always;
In this church we understand that working on our relationships brings better understanding;
In this church we don't have a fear about losing or maintaining power;
In this church we listen to the victim;
In this church, the victim does not speak from resentment, but out of love;

Martin Luther king spoke a language that the entire country understood.
It liberated whites because it didn't come from a language of fear or resentment.
It spoke of black liberation because it included them in this country's founding myth.

And just as the lamb of God, he was killed.

One writer once said, "this is Christianity. If you don't love, you're dead. And if you do, they'll kill you."

Martin Luther King was slain like the lamb of God.
And we could recognize the power of his martyrdom
through the power of the risen Lord.

Let this community be a risen community,
one recognizable by the god of love.
Amen.