Sermon
At a Crossroads
Stuck at a fork in the road between God’s call and fear
We meet Jonah
You met me
But what fear?
To go, I think not
He went – the opposite way
Much like Jonah, give me adventure
I am not afraid to go anywhere
Give me a journey
Give me a challenge, just not Nineveh
God, why there?
It is reported by the NAACP, 1 in 3 black men between the ages of 20 and 35 were behind bars in 2012, and far more were under some form of penal control – such as probation or parole
By the time I was in 6th grade I was desensitized to the police
It is not uncommon for young black teenagers living in the [‘hood] to be stopped, interrogated, and frisked numerous times in the course of a month, or even a single week, often by paramilitary units
God, you can’t send me there
Blackness
[The] child of twilight and night, choose intricately curly hair, black eyes, full and luscious features; and that air of humility and wonder that streams from moonlight
O Nineveh
I remember learning about you
I remember hearing of your majesty
Do you remember the days of 6th grade biology?
When frogs were either exciting or gross
When the person you had a crush on was the best thing that ever walked the earth
Learning that from the hand of God everything was created
From Earth, comes beauty and all that we see
Moving from simplistic understandings to complexities of reality
Bodies changing and hormones raging
A world built on the struggle for equality
A world of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
Our world
Full of Love
Full of Beauty
What happened?
Where did it go wrong?
Where’s the harmony, unity, oneness?
No one told me this beauty and love became toxic with greed and racism
Privilege
Those who benefit, define, fit, and enforce the processes, attributes, perspectives, standards, and ways of relating that characterize the traditional and dominant paradigm
Power
The ability to influence the behavior of others with or without resistance
Balancing both
We are gifted with each
But Nineveh, these are unproportional and oppressive
Too many stories of black bodies being exploited by a system that was not for us
Too many stories of brown children being pushed through school just to enter into the prison system
Too many stories of being pulled over while driving while brown in a beat up car
Too many stories of stop and frisk
God, what am I to say?
There have been and continue to be people who are greater than I, more intelligent than I who have said better more creative things than I
Moses asked the same question,
“How am I to speak to them? How am I to get them to listen?”
He heard,
“I will be with you. Tell them, I AM sent you.”
The Prison Industrial Complex will laugh at your name
The School-to-Prison pipeline doesn’t care about names
They won’t hear me; God do something else, send someone else
I pause
I remember
Was it not God that liberated Israel time and time again?
Yes
Is it not God that holds the stars and the cosmos in place?
Yes
Is it not God that calls and gives revelations?
Yes
I hear the words of Joel, the Prophet, speak the words of God echoing in the distance
“Then after you go I will pour out my spirit on all flesh,
Your children shall prophesy
your elders shall dream dreams
and those in their youth shall see visions.
Even the people on the margins – people of color, queer folk, differently abled, poor folk – in those days, I will pour out my spirit.”
God’s spirit has come
God’s spirit is here
Oh Nineveh
When did your children stop prophesying?
Or are we not listening?
When did your elders stop dreaming?
Or have we disposed of them?
When did your youth stop being visionaries?
Or do we not believe them?
God’s dream for the world has already begun
With Christ we dream
As Christ we dream
We dream when our brown communities are saying no to oppressive voices
When no more brown bodies are being exploited
When our school are reopening and our prisons are downsizing
When our borders are a means to give order and structure not to keep people out
When race is longer about positions of power
When cultural difference can truly bless the land
I dream of a Nineveh
I dream of peace being a full table
I dream peace being a way of life and practice
Hyattsville was built on dreams
Hyattsville continues to thrive on dreams
Let Nineveh be the dreams dreamers dream
Come to this table and dream
Go out and let your dream be so