UNPACKING HOPE

by Rev. Wanda Bynum Duckett, Baltimore Hope Fellow

This past summer I was blessed to travel to Zimbabwe, Africa to participate in the Pastors’ School and an international partnership summit. What a discipleship adventure! I met some of the most amazing people and was able to connect with a part of myself that is deeply rooted in my cultural heritage and history. I am still unpacking lessons and gifts from this trip as I continue to reflect on the many moments of growth and inspiration. One of the most powerful gifts I brought back from this journey was a new and revived sense of Hope. So often we base our hope on things seen, that which we expect to follow as a result of what we believe to be feasible given a certain set of resources, gifts, or talents. But the bible tells us that our faith is about a different kind of hope. Our faith is now faith. It is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It is hope that lives before, without, nevertheless, and in spite of.

In Zimbabwe, I saw the very substance and evidence of that kind of hope. I saw hope come to fruition as Bishops Schol and Nhiwatiwa dedicated a new church that was built on nothing less than hope and faith. The people had a vision and a mind to work. Most of all they had hope that if they started moving toward their vision, God would see it through. The Zimbabwean people believe in the principle of chabadza which says that if one is engaged in productive work, God will send others to help bring it to completion. In the spirit of chabadza, the women of Muradzikwa made bricks with which to build this new church. The team planned and prayed and worked with their vision ever in mind. And when they had come to the end of their resources, Hope kicked in! God allowed our Hope Fund dollars, combined with the work of the faithful people of Zimbabwe, to contribute to the completion of this magnificent new worship space in only 13 months.

I came home from Zimbabwe unpacking a new understanding of hope. This hope is not in grants, or numbers, or in the bent minds and wills of public officials. This hope is the bright eyed hope of children who value the privilege of attending school. This hope is the hope of people who work and give, often without knowing whether or how much they will be paid. This hope is the hope of pastors who live without what we might deem the bare necessities of life, but preach and teach as if Jesus is on his way this very hour. This hope is the hope of students who study at Africa University to equip themselves for leadership, and the families that support them as the hope for the future. This hope is the hope of mothers and grandmothers who dance in grateful celebration for the life-line of malaria nets to protect their families from the deadly disease that kills a child every 30 seconds. This hope is the hope that doesn’t need an organ or pulpit to be the church, but will gather around a rock or a tree to form a congregation and band together to feed a community. These things I recall to my mind and therefore I have new hope for Baltimore. This new hope is brick-making, stronghold-shattering and death-defying! With all of the resources at our disposal, when we embrace the spirit of chabadza and work collaboratively and faithfully, we can realize our vision to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world right here in Baltimore.

Brick City Documentary

Check out the youtube clip from the new Brick City documentary series which is airing this week, and documents community efforts to address violence in Newark, New Jersey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc-aiSQcjqo&feature=player_embedded

The Premiere last week in Newark also made news at Drew University as a result of the work of the United Methodist Church's Communities of Shalom Initiative in Newark: http://www.drew.edu/Default-Content.aspx?id=67314.

Hope is Alive in Baltimore

Check out the article on the Baltimore Region Urban Ministry Convocation, Hope for the City-Redeeming the Dream at http://bwcumc.org/content/hope-alive-baltimore. The Convocation was held September 18-19, 2009 at the Maritime Institute of Technology.

CHOOSING CIVILITY

A bumper-sticker in one Central Maryland County offers the simple words, “Choose Civility.” Each time I’ve seen the bumper-sticker over the past two years or so, I have taken a moment to think about the role of civility in my own life, and in the lives of those around me. Events of recent days remind us how challenging these two words are: from the heckling by U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson (South Carolina) during the speech of President Barack to the joint session of the U.S. Congress; to the threatening, expletive-filled tirade of tennis player Serena Williams toward an tennis official at the U.S. Open; to the inappropriate comments of hip-hop artist Kanye West, directed toward fellow artist Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards – we are reminded of the lack of civility among us, and the potential for harm found in our words and actions. Perhaps the words of British poet, Rudyard Kipling in his 1896 work “IF” are words that we can all use as a means of pointing us back toward civility:


IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,'
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Hope in Hard Times - The Race Debate in America

During this week, President Barack Obama addressed the nation on two occasions: first in a speech to students returning to school across the nation, and second in a speech on health care reform to a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Debate on both speeches points to the deep political, racial and ideological divisions that remain endemic in our nation. Two weeks ago, my daughter began her college studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, and in one of her courses was asked to compare and contrast the views of President Obama and former Congressman Newt Gingrich on race and racism in America. I thought that her reflections were particularly timely in light of where we find ourselves as a nation. I share them with her permission:


Race in America:
A More Perfect Union Versus The Obama Challenge - by Kristen E. Hunt, College Park, MD

In the speeches "A More Perfect Union" and "The Obama Challenge," two notable politicians express their stunningly conflicting views on the presence of racism in today’s society, and its effect on the American people. After Reverend Jeremiah Wright, declared his uncompromising opinions regarding race in America, Barack Obama responded with the speech A More Perfect Union, in which he gave a remedy to heal the malady afflicting the American population. Among a variety of issues, Obama spoke about the prevalence of racial tensions which continue to define the relationship between the black and white communities. In response to Obama’s proposals intended to combat racial prejudice, Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, pronounced his opinions in the speech The Obama Challenge. After reading and analyzing both speeches, it is evident that Gingrich and Obama assert views which differ significantly.

Within the contexts of both speeches, Gingrich and Obama explicitly state their respective approaches on race. Surprisingly, both men agree that the anger contained by the black and white communities plays a considerable role in the discussion of race in America. However, this is conceivably one of the only similarities shared by the politicians. On one hand, Obama argues that to simply shelve anger or “wish it away” could prove to be completely detrimental. Contrarily, Gingrich contends that dismissing this anger and moving on is the only way that the American people can progress concurrently as a nation.

In "A More Perfect Union," Obama goes on to argue that the “black experience” is made up of a series of contradictions, such as “love and bitterness” and “fierce intelligence and shocking ignorance.” Unambiguously, the President believes that race factors into the chances provided to each American citizen. To support his belief, he notes that the inferior school systems today are often the ones that were segregated fifty years ago. Obama feels that racial tensions were undeniably the origin of the lack of opportunities for African Americans, and that it still continues to play a substantial role. Accordingly, it is both achievable and necessary for all Americans to unite and battle racial prejudices; people of all races must recognize the historically oppressive and tyrannical nature of the black experience in America.

Conversely, Gingrich challenges Obama’s outlook by reasoning that corrupt government and wayward culture are to blame for the discrepancies in today’s society. Race, according to Gingrich, is unquestionably not a current factor in the prospect for each American citizen. He notes that although one’s racial background may have lead to the denial of opportunity in the past, race is no longer an issue in the discussion of biased opportunity. To support his platform, Gingrich merely assumes that if every poor person were to move away from the areas which present “bad culture and bad government,” they would become affluent and prosperous. In order to become an even stronger nation, it is necessary to reform the corrupt culture and government leading the nation astray.

Personally, I find Obama’s views to be both accurate and relevant when examining race in today’s society. It is undeniable that the racial tensions in America have not been completely eradicated. Gingrich fails to discern this verity. Collectively, however, the American population has made definite progress in addressing the nation’s problems concerning race. Not only does Obama clearly and succinctly define the racial dilemmas which currently confine both black and white communities alike; he also provides a sensible resolution to further mend the condition of the American people. By making significant strides towards a more emancipated nation, it is clear that we, the people of the United States, are drawing nearer towards a more perfect union.

ROAD RULES - LESSONS FROM THE JERICHO ROAD

Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to worship with and preach at Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church in Baltimore. Mt. Vernon Place is an historical congregation which is located in the center of the city which served as the founding location of Methodism in America in 1784. In fact, Mt. Vernon Place is the place where the the first bishop of the Methodist Church in America, Francis Asbury's burial plate is located, and each week the gospel lesson is read from the pulpit that Asbury used when he preached in Baltimore. Mt. Vernon Place sits at the crossroads of much that defines Baltimore – east and west, north and south, older and newer, richer and poorer, multi-ethnic community. Thus, the title of my sermon for the day – “Road Rules.” The following are excerpts from the sermon.


But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29)

We note (in Luke 10:25-37) that Jesus is being asked to address this matter of neighborliness against the backdrop of his teaching persons to love God and to love each other. Neighborliness is to be understood within the context of love – ultimately the love that God has for each of us.

Jesus uses the story of what has come to be known as the Good Samaritan to teach those of his day and those who would hear this story even today, some “road rules.” The Jericho road was known to be a dangerous road – a winding and dark road - where it was not unusual for people to experience the type of violence that Jesus points to in the story of the Good Samaritan. Thus, we need to be reminded of road rules.

It seems that the times of Jesus were not much unlike ours. We are reminded of the arduous nature of the proverbial “roads of life” today.

It seems that we live in a time when “road etiquette” among us continues to deteriorate. Let’s take a look at the highways around us. For those of us who have the occasion to travel the roads of today, we know that roads can be dangerous and mean places. People seem to drive with a sense of heightened rage and angst, where it’s not unusual today, to turn on the news, and hear of another case of “road rage,” and violence on our highways.

Perhaps this type of rage is emblematic of our society in general, where a certain sense of meanness, and anger, and angst seems to have permeated much of our life together. I read in the newspaper not long ago, where violent crime in America is increasing for the second consecutive year. I also read where new prisons are being built in this region, and the prisons are at capacity even before construction on them is completed.

In the city of Baltimore, several communities have come to be known as “Blue Light” neighborhoods. These are some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city, and at night one can see the constant blinking of blue lights overhead. These lights are a reminder of the crime and violence that has affected and often afflicted many of these communities, and the people who live in them and travel through them. These blue light neighborhoods are not unlike the Jericho road that Jesus was speaking about in scripture.

In talking about road rules, and what it means to be neighborly, Jesus offers the example of this certain unnamed man who was beaten, stripped and robbed, and left on the road to die. We are told that a priest and a Levite chose to pass this beaten man by on the other side of the road. We don’t know for sure, but perhaps they were late for important religious gatherings, and knew that to stop and care for this man would have made them late for their church gatherings.

And lest you and I hold these religious leaders of the Lord’s day in too much disdain, let us remind ourselves of the way people in need today are passed by in our churches and society. Racism and classism (and other “isms”) continue to afflict the church and society. AIDS and Malaria are killing many in the two thirds world. Crime and violence continues to permeate our streets. Poverty, hunger and the lack of adequate health-care continue to afflict many among us (over 40 million persons remain uninsured in America). If the truth is told, people are too often passed by on the roadsides of life today.

And so what are the road rules that we need to attend to today?

Martin Luther King helped us in a sermon preached at Riverside Church in New York in April 1967 (40 years ago):

"On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s road side; but that is only the initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."

Philosopher Michael Eric Dyson points out that King believed that charity was a poor substitute for justice. Charity is a hit-or- miss proposition; people who tire of giving stop doing so when they think they’ve done enough. Justice seeks to take the distracting and fleeting emotions out of giving. Justice does not depend on felling to do the right thing. It depends on right action and sound thinking about the most helpful route to the best and most virtuous outcome. King understood, and embodied, this noble distinction. People who give money to the poor deserve praise; people who give their lives to the poor deserve honor.[i]

For Christians, our road rules must be rooted in true compassion. True compassion is always coupled with justice, and challenges each of us in the church and society towards what Martin Luther King called forms of “creative altruism.” This is altruism that makes concern for others the first law of life.

King indicated that Jesus revealed the meaning of this altruism in his parable here about the Good Samaritan who was moved by compassion to care for “a certain man” who had been robbed and beaten on the Jericho road.

King asserted that the altruism of the Samaritan was universal, dangerous and excessive. His altruism was universal since he did not seek to inquire into the nationality of the wounded man to determine whether he was a Samaritan or a Jew. He saw that he was “a certain man” in need, and that was sufficient for him to intervene.

The Samaritan was a good neighbor who demonstrated dangerous and excessive altruism because, unlike the priest and the Levite who passed by the wounded man, the Samaritan was willing to help any person in distress under any conditions, and he was able to look beyond external accidents to regard the stranger in need as his brother.

When we have true compassion we not only offer a handout, but we ask why people need a handout in the first place. True compassion not only offers help to the beggar, to the stripped and robbed among us, but questions the conditions that lead to poverty and violence on our streets.

Jesus here gave the command to love one’s neighbor, and through this parable Jesus disclosed his definition of neighbor. A neighbor is neither Jew nor Gentile; he is neither Russian nor American; he is neither black nor white nor Hispanic nor Asian. He or she is “a certain man or woman” – any needy person – on any of the numerous Jericho roads of life.

Perhaps, we can learn something from the Good Samaritan. Perhaps he sang as he lent a helping hand:

If I can help somebody as a travel along
If I can cheer somebody with a word or a song.
If I can help somebody as they’re living wrong
Then my living will not be in vain…


[i] Michael Eric Dyson, April 4, 1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Death and How it Changed America (New York: Basic Book, 2008), p. 120.

Keep Dreaming

People of hope and faith today are encouraged to keep dreaming. In a poem entitled "I Dream a World," Langston Hughes offered his dream for the world:

I dream a world where no man

No other man will scorn,

Where love will bless the earth

And peace its paths adorn

I dream a world where all

Will know sweet freedom's way,

Where greed no longer saps the soul

Nor avarice blights our day.

A world I dream where black or white,

Whatever race you be,

Will share the bounties of the earth

And every man is free,

Where wretchedness will hang its head

And joy, like a pearl,

Attends the needs of all mankind-

Of such I dream, my world!