Revolution in the Streets; Putting the Last, First
Grace and peace to you,
My sisters,
Brothers
And Siblings
In Christ.
The Good News is,
That there is compassion,
Mercy
Equality
Sustainability
Because of the One,
Who
Calls us,
To Share of the Radical Love
Within us,
Jesus Christ,
Our Savior and Lord
Amen.
(pause)
Why should those who are seeking a life,
Free from strife
Of oppression
Be regulated to a status
Of the “other”
Simply because
We,
As a collective community,
Are blinded
To what has been portrayed
As what the perfect American
Who fits the mold,
Who will keep the country afloat,
(pause)
Even though
The knowledge
The wisdom
The drive
In no matter what we,
As humanity
Pursued
As
A
Vocation,
Poured back into the community,
Transforming lives
(pause)
Perhaps I may sound like a broken record,
But these gifts
Come from God.
(pause)
Yesterday one of the visiting students
During the Engage Chicago Service Day,
Asked me
How they could carry these values
In the context of college students
With them every day,
(pause)
My only reply,
Is that they see one another,
Bonded
Regardless of who they physically represent,
Or how they express themselves
Through language.
(pause)
The DACA act,
Seems to be consuming our collective consciousness
These days,
So much so,
That a commentary
About our Gospel this morning,
Appeared to challenge the norm
Of what this parable
Has meant in discerning
Our place
In our global society.
The writer dared us
To read this not as the allegory,
About the Kingdom of God,
And God’s Grace
But breaking it down
About the unfair practices
Of a landowner.
His issue?
“We are tempted to see the landowner
in God-like terms
because he is powerful,
he hires workers all day long
pays them all equally,
he declares his own goodness and justice”
But that the landowner does this,
At the expense of the migrant workers
Dignity,
That the landowner is creating a deeper division
Between these laborers
“If the goal is really to create equality among the workers,
the landowner could do so
without making a public display.
Apparently, he intends to provoke a reaction.
Apparently, he wants to declare
His works righteousness.
(pause)
My husband,
As the immigration issue
Began to fester
Translated the heated arguments,
And the dividing gap
Into the initial stages
Of a screenplay
Called “The Killing Floor”
In which the subject of racial disharmony
Between the African Descent community,
Who had established themselves for decades,
And yet became ignored,
By the supposedly cheaper labor
In the influx of the Mexicans
Who needed stability,
And perhaps we can hear the echoes
Of this landowner in our Gospel,
And the frustration of this commentator
Who pushed the narrative,
There was no Grace,
No compassion
emitted
“Am I not allowed to do
what I choose with
what belongs to me? “
So how does this compare,
With the Kingdom of God?
Would God
Be that dismissive with us,
Especially when God,
Only God
Understands the pandemonium
That pulsates within our very being,
And this is why,
There is GRACE!
“The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”
(pause)
Perhaps,
This is the true meaning of these words,
In our Gospel this morning.
That sometimes God has to call us to task
In the midst of our grumbling.
“and you have made them equal to us
who have borne the burden of the day”
Questioning whether or not
Those who have failed,
Or even considered,
Lazy
Deserve any GRACE
This late in the game.
Arguing about securing their place,
Of being FIRST
Of having privileged access
And entitled to have,
The image of God,
And of Jesus
To reflect them,
Because they
Were
FIRST
(pause)
This “America First” ideology,
Is unfortunately
Seeping
Into
Sacred
Places.
That Americans,
Because we toiled
Because we did the hard work of building America,
Although it was through the unforgiving painful work
Of African Descent Slaves,
We,
As American citizens
Should reap the benefits.
We,
Should have access to the wealth that the land gives
Although we have unlawfully
Ripped the land,
And the meaning
From the ones who still hold it Sacred
(pause)
We,
As American citizens
Should have access to the best education,
Although even now,
We widen that chiasm,
Putting academics out of one’s reach
The choicest neighborhoods,
Even though,
For decades
We redlined block by block,
So that our definition
Of who is our neighbor
Is boxed into our strict interpretations
Access to the stellar positions of employment
That will reap us the biggest rewards,
Even though,
No matter who it is,
We will crush them,
Because we feel
We deserve it all.
(pause)
And when we witness
Someone else,
Someone’s whose history
Ancestry
Whose story
Has been wrongly represented
Has instead been stereotyped
When they succeed,
Where we fail,
We grumble!
God, YOU
YOU built them up
YOU freely invited them in
YOU opened wide the Table
To where THEY think THEY are EQUAL!
(pause)
And perhaps,
God indeed
Can be indignant with us!
Even in our selfishness,
God still protects us
From the agony
That sometimes comes
With life.
We get so angry,
That God does not punish
Or choose sides
That God should show us favor
We forget the GRACE
NEVER ENDING
Poured into all of US.
We forget,
About Jesus Christ
Who came to abolish that which separates US
From God
We forget,
That God, Our Creator
Loves
Everyone
That’s something RADICAL
That we cannot comprehend.
We forget,
That when we are compensated,
ENDLESSLY
Through the Body and Blood
Of Jesus Christ,
Then we should
DO
SHARE
LIVE OUT OUR FAITH
PERIOD.
(pause)
A couple of weeks ago,
I attended a protest,
About defending the DACA act.
It’s not just a fight for them
To remain here,
In this land where we claim
A place of freedom
And the home for the brave
It’s a fight,
For them to be counted
As human beings.
At the end of the day,
At the end of our journey,
its not about the status we secured
Or the positions we obtained
Or the degrees we bought
Or the circles where we were recognized.
At the end of the day,
The Creator wants to know,
and challenge us
Where did we build relationships,
and care for others
and put those
whom society relegated to the lowest of the low
or merely as 3/5th of a human
FIRST?
Thanks Be to God.
