Dear Friends,
I remember growing up, and in school and in the neighborhood, having the experience of being picked on. I imagine most of us have had this experience at one time or another.
In 1985 I was getting kicked out of my first parish (in my first year) – and I certainly felt picked on. A new friend (still a friend today, 40 years later) came to me and told me all his friends were telling him I was the devil and to stay away. The experience was not just from childhood.
I served my second parish for 5 1/2 years, and then I made a move in 1992 to a new conference (but not a different state) of the United Methodist Church. While I had loved the place I had served, it was still a great relief to move someplace where no one knew me and I could make a fresh start.
I have been thinking about this in the wake of the recent actions of the Supreme Court to uphold the recent administration action to refuse to allow persons to choose their identity on their official identification cards. This is not a very large part of the population. Why single these citizens out?
Conversations about who is being picked on are hard ones to have. I am often struck by how unwilling people in Boulder are to face our own racism and prejudice. For a place known as a beacon of liberality and affirmation – it can be a surprise to me. People are offended by the very idea. But church should be a place where we can have those hard conversations, a space for courage and curiosity.
I really do like and appreciate this community, but our own inability to recognize the ways in which we in Boulder discriminate and treat people badly (ethnically, economically) is really, truly confusing to me.
I met with someone this week who wanted to know about using some of our space for a weekly meal. I told them we would be happy to allow them to use our space as long as the meal they provided could be considered by anyone who ate at it as a feast. “What’s a feast?” the person wanted to know. I said, “What was the meal you had for your children’s wedding reception?” “Oh, we can’t do that,” she said. “We can’t serve filet mignon.”
I hadn’t suggested filet mignon, but I wondered why this is impossible to imagine. Jesus who turned the water into wine…not only turned it into wine, he turned it (according to John 2) into the best wine. If we are following Jesus, we would always be working from a mindset of abundance.
Last week we had visitors from Bloomington, Indiana (the mayor and several other people from that community) who came to learn from us. Besides meeting with the Illuminators, we had others from the larger community meet with them. One of them was a person of color who serves on several boards in Boulder and is Executive Director of a local organization. She described the pain and difficulty of serving on these boards and in these places in our community. She has made the community stronger and more just, but it certainly comes with a cost. She described the costs and weight of the way in which the people (overwhelmingly people of color) she serves are looked down on and despised and thought of as nothing.
Maybe because of what I experienced when I grew up, I was made more sensitive to those we pick on in our society. I do not know the pain of those who are picked on simply for their ethnicity, or identity, or who they love. Yet, I recognize the pain. I believe at the center of our faith is a call to see these pains and remind ourselves and others, none of us is alone.
As a congregation I know we have been and can be leaven in the loaf of this community. I am grateful to be here. To serve here. To laugh and love here. And I appreciate the amazing grace you have shown me in my confusion and difficulties.
Keep tellin’ the Story,
Mike
Enjoy this anti-bullying piece of music from Britain’s Got Talent – these two young men are known as “Bars and Melody.”
This week’s takeaway: Picking on people is not healthy for children or other living things.