Resistance Is Necessary

I just heard Rev. William Barber preach at the Super Saturday Conference of my denomination and I want to get this out while the Spirit remains strong.

There is a scene in the old tv show, The West Wing which is a favorite in my family. It is far into President Bartlett’s first term and nothing is going right, because the President isn’t trying hard enough. The Chief of Staff gets the staff fired up and they each, individually, say “I serve at the pleasure of the President!” and march out of the room.

Oh, to live in such a land! Instead, we live in the metaphorical Babylon where the President is the President of hate, of lies, of division. Rev. Barber reminded us that Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, spoke of loving community and economic justice, racial justice, calls us create a world where the poor are central, not peripheral, to our life as people seeking God’s favor and recipients of God’s grace.

In other words. Jesus calls us to care for everyone. There used to be a saying in certain parts of the military, “Kill ‘em all. Let God sort them out”. Our God says “Love them all. Let God sort ‘em out”.

I serve at the pleasure of the Lord. It makes God happy when I love other people, when I see them as worthy of the love they were created with and that I was created with.

It makes God sad when people live in an unjust society. It causes the Lord anguish when we see our sisters and brothers being made poor, being made homeless, being told their careers and jobs have no meaning, even though they are serving or have served, because they don’t make money for the rich.

I serve at the pleasure of the Lord. I serve for the pleasure of the Lord. I serve because of the pleasure of the Lord. And I’m ready to march for all those people that the Lord wants me to.

It’s not because I’m perfect. As some people would say, “Have you met you?”. I will make mistakes, I will be wrong at times. It’s okay for people to make mistakes because of grace and mercy…. the same things I’m supposed to show to others.

It’s not because I’m ordained, though I am. It’s because I’m Christian and I’m still here.

Resisting With Peace,

John