This summer, 20 year old University of Texas student, Abigail Durden is a ministry intern at the Grace United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. So moved by the violence that had again taken place in our country, last Thursday, she became a part of the Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas. When she began marching, she said that she felt uncomfortable as others in the group were wondering why she, a Caucasian woman, was a part of the march. Later, other African American marchers supported her presence and spirit. And then, there came more violence.
Last Sunday, Abigail preached her very first sermon at the church. Here is a part of what she preached,
I was there on Thursday at the Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas. I'm still piecing together what happened, exactly. I've been slow to learn the details. That night, I didn't hear it was a sniper until hours after I heard gunshots and I saw the news on TV.
My heart is with the families of the victim. The officers killed were there to ensure my safety and the safety of the other protesters. I saw protesters shaking hands with the cops on our route....
There were children and infants there with their families. After the gunshots and we started running, a group of us were held in this little grassy area behind a federal building, where I met Sterling, a 6-year-old boy. A police car raced down the street towards us and we put our hands up in the air. We still didn't know anything and we were afraid to make sudden movements. Sterling put his hands up too. That was hard.
I bent down and asked him about the two dinosaurs on his shirt. He called the brontosaurus a "long neck," but he didn't know what t T-rex was. I wondered what he would remember from that night.
Like Abigail wondering what the little boy named Sterling would remember, I wondered what Abigail would remember. She later preached that she will always remember the "Samaritans" who were there to help, to cry with, and to listen. She remembered the man who shared his sodas with strangers. She remembered the new friends who showed her radical hospitality. She remembered the officer who helped her retrieve her keys and her car. And, she remembered:
The dividing lines between blue and black are not so strict. I grieve with Dallas for the lives of the law enforcement officers unjustly killed. I grieve with Dallas for Alton Sterling, Jose Cruz and many many others unjustly killed. We are all Dallas. We are all formed and loved by God.
And we are. We are all formed and loved by God. And so what do we do amidst this warring madness? Do we become a part of it? Do we ignore/dismiss it? Do we become overtaken and overwhelmed into hopelessness? Or...
Or... do we, like Abigail, respond with and bond with our brothers and sisters who need our Christian love and support? Do we, like Abigail, realize our God who loves and holds us all? Do we, like Abigail, become vulnerable enough to grieve and courageous enough to hold precious the issues of race, peaceful protest, and social justice?
My guess is that Abigail will have learned much and have been changed greatly by her summer intern experience. She will have become an example of Jesus' teaching in Sunday's scripture lesson from Matthew 16:25, "...Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way to finding yourself, your true self. What kind a deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself?"
This Sunday, like Abigail, let's not get lost. Instead, may we be found. Our world needs us to be found.
