Like many of you, I have been doing a lot of listening these last few days, wary of adding my own voice in any way that would de-center the voices of Black people or other people of color. I have sat uncomfortably with the anger, sadness, grief, and terror that I have heard and seen, not allowing myself to move on too quickly or be too easily soothed by the occasional feel-good image that rolls past.
We need to let ourselves feel deeply. We need to resist saying “peace, peace” when the reality for so many of us and our neighbors is far from peace.
Yet while those of us who are White need to listen and learn, we also need to take seriously the mandate “White silence = violence.” Our silence is good when it allows us to hear the voices that need to be heard, but this does not release us from the duty to speak out on behalf of those who are suffering, especially within the communities to which we are most closely aligned.
There is much to be outraged about right now and much that ought to be addressed. The murder of George Floyd may have been what precipitated the most recent protests, but this instance of police brutality is far from the only injustice that has led people to the streets. As a community of faith, we ought to also decry loudly the spectacle that the president put on earlier this week when he violently dispersed peaceful protesters in order to pose for a photo op in front of a local church building. At a time when our nation is in such deep pain, he attempted to use the Christian faith as a literal prop while spouting rhetoric that is utterly antithetical to anything Christ taught.
While many people are asking “Where is God?” the president attempted to co-opt religious symbols for his own purposes. This was a blasphemy most clear.
Where is God? It is a question that we hold in front of us at all times, but it is especially important now for those of us who are outraged by both the sins of systematic racism run rampant and the blatant abuses of religion in the name of power. There is no one answer, but I often come back to the beatitudes in Matthew 5 to help me wrestle with this question. Most translations read these verses as starting with “blessed are…”, yet I think we’ve lost a sense of what it means to be blessed. Rather than blessing being about getting what we want or everything working out to our favor, blessing is always about presence. We are blessed by God (and one another) when we find ourselves experiencing the grace of loving presence, regardless of the circumstances. The real twist of the beatitudes, then, is that God’s presence is most clearly known in places that are not typically thought of as blessed.
If the president had deigned to open the bible he so awkwardly clutched for that photo, he may have read any number of passages that could have shown him a more righteous path. But if he had opened to Matthew 5, maybe he would have understood that God’s presence is most clearly on the side of the poor, the mourning, those who are hungering for righteousness and gasping for justice, those who make peace through the power of solidarity and love rather than pepper spray and bullets.
Maybe you, too, are asking yourself, “Where is God?”, unsure just how to answer. I invite you to read slowly the text of the beatitudes below and let this be your prayer, allowing the words to call to mind the images that most clearly reflect who Jesus would be addressing today. May this prayer help you answer, “Where is God?” but perhaps more importantly, may your praying cause you to draw near to wherever God’s presence is being revealed to you.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kin-dom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kin-dom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Amen.
