MIDWEEK MUSINGS FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2016

This week's reflection comes from
Rev. Imani N.  Dodley
Reformation, Rochester

Reflecting and Dwelling in the Word
"Without struggle there can be no progress."  Frederick Douglass
"Well, I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter to with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop."  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 















MUSINGS 

Last year, March 31st to be exact I climbed this mountain in Arizona.  It was a struggle to say the least with the hot sun beating down on us, the threat of snakes at every turn that like to sunbathe at the height of the day and just the simple fact that I have cranky hips.  There was nothing comfortable about this hike, except for the brief moments of flat land and the occasional pause for a drink of water.  Several times, I said to Eric that this is crazy and the normal person would not do this, let's just turn back.  But as the hike continued and I looked around at the beauty of this untouched wilderness I could begin to understand what Frederick Douglass says, "without struggle, there can be no progress."  Without struggling through each step, each mile and each potential snake on the trail I would not have experienced the beauty at the end.  But I will save that for later. 
 
The Transfiguration story is about a moment of just wanting progress without the struggle.  Peter, James and John are with Jesus and they experience him with that lovely "Holy Glow" as I like to call it.  Peter, one of my favorites, says, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" and then the text says, "not knowing what he said."  Well that would be me!  I would be the one wanting to take the easy way out of a moment that made me uncomfortable, pushed my limits or scared the holy crap out of me!  Peter is truly my brother from another mother!  Peter doesn't want to wrestle with the moment.  Peter doesn't seem to want to move past his comfort zone.  Peter wants to keep things status quo and start building dwelling places because that is what he knows.  The unknown, the mystery is scary to him.  Peter is all of our brother from another mother!  Peter is many of us in our churches.  The unknown, the status quo and those moments are just too scary, so we try to skip the struggle and so we do not progress. 
 
This month is Black History month and through the civil rights movement we have seen the struggles that so many have journeyed through in order to have progress in our nation.  Both black and white, man and woman, "slave" and free.  We have stood side by side in some of the most painful and tragic moments in our history and have heard prophetic voices telling us that we have to carry on and hike this very difficult hike.  This was true then and it is true now.  In our churches, in the ELCA we have to face the fact that we have a difficult hike before us and have the uncomfortable conversation around issues of racism in our institutions and in our personal selves.  OUCH.  We have to face the fact that even if we don't want to believe that it is true that the fact of the matter is that the "struggle is real" and we have to struggle in order to have progress. 
 
My hope is that we can faithfully engage in conversation around the issue of racism and not move to just moving quickly past the moment, the mystery and the discomfort and try to build "dwellings" to say "we did it now lets move on. Because if we do, we miss a kairos moment.  We have to listen to the voice from the cloud that says, "listen" so we know what to do next.  That is what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did.  I love in his speech that he says that he was glad he didn't sneeze because he wouldn't have been alive if he did after he was brutally stabbed.  But he was so impressed by the little girl that was white that wrote him a letter saying, "I'm glad you didn't sneeze!"  It was a pivotal moment I believe that brought him to his mountaintop experience.  It was a moment that he was able to see across the ridge to a beautiful oasis that opened him up to see more of what he was called and commissioned to do.  The same is true for us, this is a pivotal moment in our history and we have to struggle a little to get to that mountaintop, but we can get there.  One of the things that I learned while hiking in Arizona is that just beyond the bend of a mountain, just beyond the last rock that you grab ahold at the top is sometimes a precious jewel that takes your breath away and if you stop short you will never experience it.  As we finished this hike, this struggle we saw this oasis.  It was refreshing and so worth it!  How much more would it be for us, the church, if we face and climb the mountain of racism?  Won't you climb it with me?  



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