Prophets not profits
MLK Jr. Community Worship Service
Calvary Baptist Church, Newark, DE
January 19, 2020
Yesterday I came across a couple of tweets that brought me up really short.
One said: “I’m just gonna call it: White people are dishonest. We know privilege exists, we understand what it is, & we know we have it & are afforded it because of our whiteness. The only reason most deny it is because accepting it makes us uncomfortable & we don’t want to give it up.”
The other: “This is the weekend we get to hear white people tell us what MLK would have wanted.”
I feel as though I should’ve been speaking on the words given to Elder Joseph Williams: “Forgive Us for What We Could Have Been but Failed to Be”. I am not only painfully aware of my own inadequacies and shortcomings. I am a racist. I am white, I benefit from a system created for white people, for the oppression of black and brown lives, and I am not doing enough to destroy that system, for a better distribution of wealth.
And then I saw this tweet, quoting Rev. Dr. William Barber of the Poor Peoples’ Campaign: “You don’t honor prophets by celebrating them. You honor prophets by going to the place where they fell, reaching down in their blood & picking up the baton to carry it the next mile of the way.” Renewed vigor, indeed.
Part of the problem, and it’s a spiritual problem, is that we have white theology, dead white men Christian theology, which is really imperial theology, colonial theology, and that kind of theology doesn’t really have prophets. It’s more like ‘profits’ because white people are the only ones who tend to profit from white theology. White Christian theology is about my salvation, my relationship with Jesus.
The people, the prophets who are experiencing a renewed vigor and who need ours are those who are engaged in liberation theology, which is about not only my salvation but that of my neighbor, especially my neighbor who is suffering.
The prophets of liberation theology are those who are suffering, who need liberating, who need love, which means justice—what love looks like in public (Cornel West).
Our prophets are black and brown lives wrongly accused, incarcerated, or killed because of their skin color.
Our prophets are the working poor and the homeless.
Our prophets are immigrant children dying in detentions centers and migrants dying in the desert.
Our prophets are transgender people, especially transgender people of color.
Our prophets are Muslims and Jews and people of others faiths and no faith.
Our prophets are those who speak truth to power about the climate crisis.
And where they fall, and they will fall because there are people who do not want them here, where they fall is where we need to be, to pick up that baton of freedom and human rights and justice and carry it the next mile of the way.
The only way to peace is to seek the peace of my neighbor, especially my neighbor who is suffering. They are the voice of the prophet I need to hear. And so there can be no room within me for hate or judgment or fear – only love and compassion and understanding can lead us to peace, to the Beloved Community where ALL God’s children have a place, have enough, and are truly free.
“Most gracious and all wise God, before whose face the generations rise and fall; Thou in whom we live, and move, and have our being. We thank thee [for] all of thy good and gracious gifts, for life and for health; for food and for raiment; for the beauties of nature and human nature. We come before thee painfully aware of our inadequacies and shortcomings. We realize that we stand surrounded with the mountains of love and we deliberately dwell in the valley of hate. We stand amid the forces of truth and deliberately lie. We are forever offered the high road and yet we choose to travel the low road. For these sins, O God, forgive. Break the spell of that which blinds our minds. Purify our hearts that we may see thee. O God in these turbulent days when fear and doubt are mounting high give us broad visions, penetrating eyes, and power of endurance. Help us to work with renewed vigor for a warless world, for a better distribution of wealth and for a [unity] that transcends race or color. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray. Amen."
- Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA, September 6, 1953.
Calvary Baptist Church, Newark, DE
January 19, 2020
Yesterday I came across a couple of tweets that brought me up really short.
One said: “I’m just gonna call it: White people are dishonest. We know privilege exists, we understand what it is, & we know we have it & are afforded it because of our whiteness. The only reason most deny it is because accepting it makes us uncomfortable & we don’t want to give it up.”
The other: “This is the weekend we get to hear white people tell us what MLK would have wanted.”
I feel as though I should’ve been speaking on the words given to Elder Joseph Williams: “Forgive Us for What We Could Have Been but Failed to Be”. I am not only painfully aware of my own inadequacies and shortcomings. I am a racist. I am white, I benefit from a system created for white people, for the oppression of black and brown lives, and I am not doing enough to destroy that system, for a better distribution of wealth.
And then I saw this tweet, quoting Rev. Dr. William Barber of the Poor Peoples’ Campaign: “You don’t honor prophets by celebrating them. You honor prophets by going to the place where they fell, reaching down in their blood & picking up the baton to carry it the next mile of the way.” Renewed vigor, indeed.
Part of the problem, and it’s a spiritual problem, is that we have white theology, dead white men Christian theology, which is really imperial theology, colonial theology, and that kind of theology doesn’t really have prophets. It’s more like ‘profits’ because white people are the only ones who tend to profit from white theology. White Christian theology is about my salvation, my relationship with Jesus.
The people, the prophets who are experiencing a renewed vigor and who need ours are those who are engaged in liberation theology, which is about not only my salvation but that of my neighbor, especially my neighbor who is suffering.
The prophets of liberation theology are those who are suffering, who need liberating, who need love, which means justice—what love looks like in public (Cornel West).
Our prophets are black and brown lives wrongly accused, incarcerated, or killed because of their skin color.
Our prophets are the working poor and the homeless.
Our prophets are immigrant children dying in detentions centers and migrants dying in the desert.
Our prophets are transgender people, especially transgender people of color.
Our prophets are Muslims and Jews and people of others faiths and no faith.
Our prophets are those who speak truth to power about the climate crisis.
And where they fall, and they will fall because there are people who do not want them here, where they fall is where we need to be, to pick up that baton of freedom and human rights and justice and carry it the next mile of the way.
The only way to peace is to seek the peace of my neighbor, especially my neighbor who is suffering. They are the voice of the prophet I need to hear. And so there can be no room within me for hate or judgment or fear – only love and compassion and understanding can lead us to peace, to the Beloved Community where ALL God’s children have a place, have enough, and are truly free.
“Most gracious and all wise God, before whose face the generations rise and fall; Thou in whom we live, and move, and have our being. We thank thee [for] all of thy good and gracious gifts, for life and for health; for food and for raiment; for the beauties of nature and human nature. We come before thee painfully aware of our inadequacies and shortcomings. We realize that we stand surrounded with the mountains of love and we deliberately dwell in the valley of hate. We stand amid the forces of truth and deliberately lie. We are forever offered the high road and yet we choose to travel the low road. For these sins, O God, forgive. Break the spell of that which blinds our minds. Purify our hearts that we may see thee. O God in these turbulent days when fear and doubt are mounting high give us broad visions, penetrating eyes, and power of endurance. Help us to work with renewed vigor for a warless world, for a better distribution of wealth and for a [unity] that transcends race or color. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray. Amen."
- Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA, September 6, 1953.
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