May 30, 2020
Good afternoon,
( Beginning on Monday, June 1, for one week, I will be the writer in the devotional magazine, Rejoice. It is a publication for North American Mennonites. I will post the seven days of devotionals on the Poole Facebook page. Please pray that the readers will find these helpful in their Christian journey. )
" Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins. Isaiah 40:1-2
Violence against black persons is both a personal and structural sin. In the United States and the British Empire ( now Canada ) there was slavery carried out against persons of colour. But, post Civil War in the the US, black people were treated and considered second class citizens, even though slavery was outlawed. Laws can be changed but the hearts and minds of people are more difficult to reverse. It is the same here in Canada.
I do not know how black persons feel ( even Obama talks about the fears of being a young black man in America ), nor do I know how women feel who walk on the street alone. I am an educated white upper middle class older man with white/grayish hair and goatee. I am privileged in every economic and social way in North America. And I really do not deserve it any way. It is mostly the luck of being born in Canada. So, I do not really understanding the life experience of people on the margins. I cannot walk a mile ( or even 10 meters ) in their shoes.
What happened to George Lloyd ( in Minneapolis ) was wrong in so many ways, but things were in place in our society to allow it to happen. It is not just a random act of evil. I do not speak out against racism very often. I try to model inclusion and diversity by the way I live, but I have not done well on dismantling racism and other institutional sins. The text for Pentecost is when all those languages are spoken by the followers of Jesus, so the people can all understand the Gospel. This is a model for the inclusion that we can strive for in all of our relationships. I do not know what full inclusion and full equality would look like, but I know we are not there. We are not even close.
Isaiah is a prophet, not one who wants to predict the future, but calls out the sin of God's people in the here and now. Israel had idols, scammed people in the market, and did not take care of the widows, the poor or the immigrants/refugees. Sound familiar ?
From poet, Maya Angelou
"Poetry and music are the best at the highest of the human mind. Out of poetry and out of the need for poetry, human beings have developed the idea of God. And so when we sing, when we dance, when we speak poetry, we are speaking out of God's mouth, each other out of the music from God's heart.".
Fred
Tread on bold new paths !
Fireflies flash the direction
Hope springs eternal Monica Pieper Landoni 2020
Fred Redekop
Pastor
Poole Mennonite Church
Ponder Anew 