As the prophet Isaiah called upon God to come down from the heavens, we celebrate in this season of Advent and Christmas that God does the unexpected, and that God humbles himself. It would be wrong for us to simply give these problems up to God, because to do so is a statement of atheism that we are not empowered by a living, and breathing, and speaking God in the present to speak truth to power, that the good news be heard from skid row to death row, that we of privilege, we of faith, we of power and economic means are ready and willing to build a community to seek justice, reverses the social stratifications of society, and realize the sin inherent in our enjoyment of privilege. What will we interrupt? What new language must we speak? What skins must we shed? What elements of ourselves need to follow God, as Jesus, carrying the weight of others on the cross? . . . . My friends, the Kingdom of God, that which we strive for as Christians, is built, brick by brick, by our actions and our lives. This Kingdom of God is outlined in the Beatitudes, that the last will be first and the first will be last, that those oppressed will be liberated. Racism is one tremendous obstacle that we face in our country. By ignoring it, saying everything is fine—I heard Sean Hannity talk for two solid hours on the radio this week about how racism is not a problem, that whites even elected a black president—saying “all is well,” when, as Jeremiah says, it is not well, we perpetuate racism by our silence. Advent is sometimes called a season of silence. As we step into this new season, let us resonate this silence with words which reverse the world, that tear down the walls, and seek the kingdom, the holy city, where men and women of all races can finally live together in peace.
Christopher Rodkey, (via facebook)