The path I walk, Christ walks it. May the land in which I am be without sorrow.
May the Trinity protect me wherever I stay, Love/Lover/Love-Ever-Over-Flowing.
Bright angels walk with me–dear presence–in every dealing.
In every dealing I pray them that no one’s poison may reach me.
The ninefold people of heaven of holy cloud, the tenth force of the stout earth.
Favorable company, they come with me, so that the Sovereign may not be troubled by me.
May I arrive at every place, may I return home; may the way in which I spend be a way without loss.
May every path before me be smooth, man, woman, and child welcome me.
A truly good journey! Well does the fair Sovereign show us a course, a path.
Today I’m publishing an old, old sermon. But it’s Kenny’s favorite of all my sermons. (I like the Cats of Christendom sermons, myself)
CREATING JERUSALEM FROM BABYLON
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Jeremiah 29. 1-7
Published in “The Trinity Newsletter,” San Francisco, May 2000; written for “Urban Ministry” class with The Rev’d. Doctor J. Alfred Smith, Sr. (Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland CA and ABSW, GTU, Berkeley CA)What is left after leaders and artists have abandoned the City and its life? Who is left to care for the City and those who remain? What happens to a society when its artisans have fled, leaving behind others unable to go? I read Jeremiah and I hear the pain and I imagine the fear of what will happen to those remaining? Are they so poor they cannot leave? Are they forever stuck in an urban ghetto with seemingly no way out?The call to all exiles is a powerful one. The call is to make the City home; to create, to recreate a full and rich life, even fuller and richer than before. The call is to live, to live fully in this City, to treat it as one’s very own, because it has become that-the City of those people in exile.The people are called to pray for the City. They are called to pray for one another and for future generations of that City. This is a call to rebuild, to set free those in exile.What does this say to me today about an inner city struggle? What does this say to leaders of cities where people of other cultures are in exile for whatever reason? What does this say to the leaders of people exiled from the “First Worlds” of Silicon Valleys and gated communities? Whom do those leaders serve? Do they serve those in exile or do they serve those of greater economics and power?I cannot speak for political and economic leaders. I cannot speak for the Church either. But I can speak from my heart and I can speak out of a Liberation Theology that says to church leaders, ministers, and elders, lay and clergy alike. I would echo the words of Paulo Freire and say to those leaders to teach the children and adults, and to let those children and adults teach back. Do not bank information in-to brains, but listen with hearts and minds to the hearts and minds of those oppressed and marginalized. Listen to their stories; they have much to give and share. They know the City. They walk her back and side streets. They know the paths of safety and paths of danger. They walk both every day. These exiles travel in our midst every day. They sit in our pews. They stand on our street corners. They youth speed their cars up and down the streets of the City in the early hours in the morning, disturbing many with peel-offs and the screeches of brakes. They ride on the same BARTS and buses that many of us do. I choose public transportation because this is where the people of the City are. We of the Church are called to encourage creativity. We are called to give hope when hope is failing. We have the words of a man who chose a City in which to tell the world his empowering message. We have Jesus, the GodMan who came to give freedom to all.God made us for God’s Self-to be whole and embodied. The arts are still alive in the City even if the known artists have fled. There remain artists and those creative. Give them blank walls for murals and paper and paint for splashing. Take them to concerts and operas and let them hear the gifts of those artists who have gone before. Give them instruments to play and computers on which to create. Then listen to their music. Invite yourself to the concerts of the people of the City; support those who drum on plastic at Sather Gate and in parks. Let the Church give her music of liberation to the people of the City. Give them spirituals and songs of freedom. Give them the Message of Hope, God’s hope of wholeness and love. We are not the only bearers of hope in the City, though. Those who live there, too, have hope-many of them. Listen to their hopes and dreams. It is our task to encourage those dreams and to help them rebuild the City.I am a white woman who lives with a white man in a teeny house in East Oakland. We deliberately chose to live here as a part of our ministry. But we realize we must appear the ultimate in luxurious living-the life of graduate students. We are surrounded by blue collar and frayed-collar working people. We attend neighborhood and block meetings. There are concerns and fears of these people whose homes surround ours. I have suggestions and questions for our neighbors, but I do not feel I have the (white) right to say them yet. These people have been on this block for years and have seen much, have feared much, have suffered much, have lived much. I am sure it is thought that we will move on, will not make East Oakland our home. We have not done our time. We are part of the domination system, to quote Walter Wink-we of the white world. We have much to learn from those people of colour who live around us. It seems our task to at first be still, to listen, and to quietly encourage. We must first establish trust. This may be our task of the City, in our efforts to give hope-to be still and to shut up our white Domination System’s power and to listen.Jeremiah’s call to prayer is an important one. Prayers change things and people. I invite the people of the City to pray for the leaders. Invite the people of the City to pray before casting a ballot. Invite the people of the City to protests and to acts of civil disobedience. Pray that the Church will support and bail out of jail those arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience. I feel frustration when there are no, or few, people of color at protests and demonstrations. The leaders of city blocks, of cities themselves, need our prayers. They also need to hear the concerns of those in exile. Even though the time of this world is fleeting, it is our task, our God-given task, stated in Jeremiah, to inhabit the City, to embody her with exiles who make the City their own. If one can choose to view the city as a place in which the Kingdom of God can break through, then the people will experience the Reign of God in the here and now. This, I believe, is key. It is the key for change. It is the message of Jeremiah. It is the Gospel message of Jesus.
