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| A White Prince Lays a Church Foundation |
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13) Is an oft repeated bible passage. The goal, too often, has been one of keeping those out of power complacent in their enfeeblement. The conceit being that for a servant to stop laying down their life is to take up the sin of pride.
Won't you let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you? The Servant Song by R. Gillard has become a mainstay over the past forty years. The idea, which is a sound one, is that everyone who sings it seeks to enter into the kenosis of Christ, they seek to empty themselves out for the aide and support of others. The problem I have always had with the song is that it does not have the correlating, and requisite, response, to this line. I will let you be my servant, let you be as Christ to me.
To enter into the bonds of friendship as Jesus compels us, we have to name the other individual not only our servant but also our Christ. The perpetuating issue of race in America is that there is a refusal to recognize that which is Black as that which is Christ... that which is Black as that which is Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God. If the questions is won't you let me be your servant then the answer is yes but when the question is won't you let me be as Christ to you then the answer has repeatedly been no. The repeated failure of church and society to say yes in answer to both questions is a marked point as how we fail to inhabit the realm of Christian friendship.
When Absalom Jones was ordained to the Priesthood he was ordained to serve a black congregation that had already formed around him and he and his congregation were denied voice and vote in the councils of the church. It would be 150 years before black clergy and laity were given voice and vote in the councils and conventions throughout the Episcopal Church. It would be 166 years before a black man served as bishop over a diocese. It would be 211 years before a black man served as presiding bishop. Each of these moments, that came about only through the perseverance of many in the face of extreme opposition, was a moment when the Episcopal Church began to say yes. Moments when our Church said yes, that which is Black is that which is Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God.
This is our Church digging the foundation lines, placing the first foundation stones, for building an actual community seeking to inhabit the realm of Christian friendship. We have gotten to the point where every parish would be honored to have a Black Priest, at least specifically in respect to Michael Curry their presiding bishop, be present to preach and celebrate in their community. This is, however, a very different reality to a space where every parish can readily respond to the call of black aspirants to the diaconate and priesthood or where every parish can readily call a black priest as their rector. This is, however, a very different reality to a space where every parish is readily seeking to enter into the transformative but difficult process of actually processing what has been uncovered for them personally in the midst of excavating this foundation. This is, however, a very different reality then a church that has processed its issues and history with race both within and outside itself.
Our church and our society continues to fail in its ability to name that which is Black as that which is Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God. We continue to find ways to construe that which is Black as that which bears the Mark of Cain, that which is less than human, and thus that which can be enslaved, segregated, and imprisoned. That we have so easily moved from outright slavery, to Jim Crow, to imprisonment in corporate prison labor camps speaks to how incapable we are of truly entering into Christian Friendship as a society. Thus it is that Black Lives Matter exists as a movement because as a society we have failed to enter fully into the obligation of Christian Friendship... we are more than happy to say yes, be my servant to that which is Back but have utterly failed again and again to say yes, be my Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God to that which is Black. Until we do so as a church and a society we will fail the basic paradigm of Christian relationship requisite for following Jesus.
When Absalom Jones was ordained to the Priesthood he was ordained to serve a black congregation that had already formed around him and he and his congregation were denied voice and vote in the councils of the church. It would be 150 years before black clergy and laity were given voice and vote in the councils and conventions throughout the Episcopal Church. It would be 166 years before a black man served as bishop over a diocese. It would be 211 years before a black man served as presiding bishop. Each of these moments, that came about only through the perseverance of many in the face of extreme opposition, was a moment when the Episcopal Church began to say yes. Moments when our Church said yes, that which is Black is that which is Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God.
This is our Church digging the foundation lines, placing the first foundation stones, for building an actual community seeking to inhabit the realm of Christian friendship. We have gotten to the point where every parish would be honored to have a Black Priest, at least specifically in respect to Michael Curry their presiding bishop, be present to preach and celebrate in their community. This is, however, a very different reality to a space where every parish can readily respond to the call of black aspirants to the diaconate and priesthood or where every parish can readily call a black priest as their rector. This is, however, a very different reality to a space where every parish is readily seeking to enter into the transformative but difficult process of actually processing what has been uncovered for them personally in the midst of excavating this foundation. This is, however, a very different reality then a church that has processed its issues and history with race both within and outside itself.
Our church and our society continues to fail in its ability to name that which is Black as that which is Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God. We continue to find ways to construe that which is Black as that which bears the Mark of Cain, that which is less than human, and thus that which can be enslaved, segregated, and imprisoned. That we have so easily moved from outright slavery, to Jim Crow, to imprisonment in corporate prison labor camps speaks to how incapable we are of truly entering into Christian Friendship as a society. Thus it is that Black Lives Matter exists as a movement because as a society we have failed to enter fully into the obligation of Christian Friendship... we are more than happy to say yes, be my servant to that which is Back but have utterly failed again and again to say yes, be my Messiah, Lord, Logos, and God to that which is Black. Until we do so as a church and a society we will fail the basic paradigm of Christian relationship requisite for following Jesus.
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