I've become more and more frustrated by the anger in the air - people complaining that the world is not fair. My frustration may be amplified as I come to hear that those voices are correct - the world is not fair. Let us not forget - this the world baby - the world. This is not - has not - and will not be a safe haven for all. As soon as the world as we have had it must look into the world as it unfolds anew - people will call things foul - people will sound offended even betrayed - people will begin to make a list of the wrongs that have taken place and the people who are to be blamed for causing those wrongs. The air that gets stirred up in these times - stinks. It is like death. More than likely people on all sides point to those on the other side and make it quite clear that the air has become putrid because of the actions and words and values of those folks. Yet, when we are those who point out the foul smell of the other - we are not able to smell our own vileness.
I can be a vile person - I can stink up the air as well as anyone. To many, I am a person of privilege. Some would call it white privilege. Some would add white, male privilege. Some would even tag on white, middle-class, male privilege. Some would insist on white, middle-class, college educated, male privilege. Some would insist on white, middle-class, college educated, heterosexual, male privilege. Wait, one more, white, middle-class, college educated, heterosexual, colonialist, male privilege. It all fits. That is one way of looking at me. I think I have been able to own all the classifications. I could spend time telling you about adventures in my life that have helped me see how I manage to live with such labels and how I have tried to deny them. You may call me whatever you like. I do not like to hear all those labels because they carry so much baggage. Every bit of baggage only leads me and others to be participants in more and more of the stinking mess of the world.
Let me try this. I think it is a part of being a follower of Jesus to be someone who is willing to disassemble and then reassemble labels like privilege to see how it has shaped me - notice the gifts it has handed me - own the demons it whips up within me. Each one of those labels invites me to experience the world from another perspective. If this is who I am - what does being a follower of Jesus expect of me. Stop - Look - Listen, and then ask questions of that which is not me and once again Stop -Look - Listen. Yes, there will be howling and push-back followed by complete disagreement. Back in the early 1980's, I was made to work through the meaning of that which some white folks hate to even mention: White Privilege. Later I used Peggy Macintosh's checklist (20 items) to work with adult education classes. There was never a lack of conversation. I also learned that some folks who saw themselves through this mirror for the first time often went dead silent - as though it should not be discussed - accepted - acknowledge. There were also those who became enraged and within moments the discussion often turned toward a them that are trying to change everything. There were also some folks who leaned forward and were willing to ask about how a person can grow through those labels and even grow out of the need to label others.
Ah, that is what it is to be a follower of Jesus - living within that which I am - beloved of God - and then living with a heart that sees in all others - others who are just like me - beloved of God. It is then that all things can be discussed - confronted - healed - forgiven - disassembled - and then, within a breath of fresh air, we can enter into the eternal journey of reconstructing our humanity in the image of God. This last aspect of being a follower of Jesus never ends. It is how we begin the day. It is how we face the moment at hand. It is how we plan to engage that which is to come.
We must remember that for some folks, this journey is one that can frighten me us - it can be too much to ask - it may take away that which we have earned for ourselves - it may invite us to step out of a privileged position in life in order to serve any and all. I seem to recall Jesus stepping out of the privileged position of teacher, rabbi, Lord - only to wash the feet of knuckleheads much like me. He disassembled the the meaning of privilege buy stepping into another way of being privileged. This is the privilege of walking in the image of God - the truly human one. This is a position that turns itself over to seeking the welfare of those who long to be fully alive - fully human - fully beloved.
I am privileged - privileged to bow and bend - privileged to use my life to make life more gracious and hospitable for others. And yes, that comes at a cost. I may be labeled as a lover of those people. That may mean that to some degree - some small degree - I become somewhat other - also. Yet what a privilege it is to be one in the company of saints (beloved) who help to open my heart - my mind - my life - my experience of the world - to the fullness of life that I do not share when I attempt to have the world in my image.
We each are invited to take all that we are - however we have come to the place in which we live - and go ahead and live to the Glory of God. This will never be a presence of violence, threat, fear, jealousy, envy, or any of those traits that carry us into warfare against one another. This Glory shines when we - in all our privilege of any kind - humble ourselves and risk living with all others as the Beloved, Children of God.
TRRR
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