Walls

"I'm amazed at what John gets away with.  I guess that's one of the fruits that come with age: You can say what you want and not have to waste time sugarcoating the truth.  You can hear in his voice the sassiness of the prophets but also the gentleness of a grandfather.  This is part of his charm and the covert innocence that has allowed him to affect and infect so much of our society without getting killed (so far).  Many times, with a glisten in his eyes and a smirk on his face, I've heard him say things such as, 'We've got the best politicians...that money can buy.'  And I remember that same prophetic smile on his face as we went to jail together-not in the civil rights protests decades past, but only a year ago when we were singing those old spirituals and praying the Lord's prayer outside the Capitol to decry a nation budget that turned the Beatitudes upside down as it blessed the rich and sent the poor away empty.

John cries out with the prophets, 'Let justice roll down,' and yet he will surprise you with his grace.  I remember hearing one fellow share how he told John about his racist mother and, after listening intently, John said, 'Does your mother like blueberries?  Let's go visit her.' And they did, fully armed with a bowl of berries.  It is that sort of childlike love that our world is starving for.  There is no doubt that we need justice to roll down like water; those words of the prophets drip from Perkin's tongue.  And yet justice without grace still leaves us thirsty.  Justice without reconciliation falls short of the gospel of Jesus.  Love fills in the gaps of justice.  John has lived for us what it looks like when justice and reconciliation kiss.  After all, he did not just call for an end to the hate crimes of the Klu Klux Klan, but he became friends with a reborn Klansman."

I had the privilege of hearing John Perkins speak at a CCDA (a conference about Christian Community Development Association).  When he speaks, no matter how mumbled or quiet, everyone listening hangs on to every word as inspired wisdom.  I didn't know much about this 82 year old man from Mississippi, but his story must be powerful, seeing as he founded this association.  I began reading his autobiography called When Justice Rolls Down and it has captivated me.  Each chapter is a deeper look into his life, growing up on a plantation as a sharecropper, living with extended family, moving to California when he was 17.  There's something very real about diving into someone's life, seeing life as they see it.  I bet if any of the white plantation owners during that time could see life through a black man's eyes, seeing their own sin and how it affected the self-image of generations of African Americans, they'd wonder, "What in the world are we doing here with slavery?  We and our ancestors made a terrible mistake that we're not addressing."

Last night, I watched The Lorax, a movie based on a Dr. Seuss book where a little fury orange creature with a mustache (The Lorax) speaks for the trees and tries to stop the Once-ler from cutting down all the trees to make thneeds (don't ask).  Anyway, the movie begins in the future in Thneedville, an enclosed town with no real trees, few even remember what real trees are.  A generation is functioning in a place that they think is great, not knowing that a great deforested land surrounds their isolated town of happiness.  Near the end of the movie, a large construction vehicle knocked down one of the walls so that the towns people could see dark and dead stumps, scars from a past they didn't know.  This realization brought fire to the town's desire to plant and plant and plant trees and trees and trees.

Are you familiar with the slave ships from centuries past where people from Africa were taken from their homes, loaded on a ship, and forced to work as slaves in America?  Was that pleasing to God? Doubt it.  Did we in 2012 have anything to do with those decisions?  No.  Are many of you living in your own isolated town of happiness, free of any knowledge of past mistakes that few were around to remember?  I don't know.  But it's a question too important to ignore.  Are you?

John Perkins remembers his childhood on Mr. Bush's plantation, "Mr. Fred Bush.  I remember that name well, because that name was just about the first words I ahd to learn--my first introduction to a segregated society.  You see, who I was in those days was described only in terms of a dependent relationship to a white man.

Back then, if a black child was walking along the road or was in town on a Saturday, and he met an older white person, the white's first words would be, 'What place you on, boy?'

I had to know the answer.  Because I wasn't anybody all by myself, or even by who my family was.  I wasn't important in their eyes; only the person I was connected to.  And it meant that my own name, John Perkins, had no significance; only the name of the man on whose land I lived.  So right from the beginning, I learned the proper reply, 'Mr. Bush's place,' whenever someone asked me where I belonged."


This past week, I've been typing in the titles of so many childrens books, trying to find the reading levels so the kids in our program will more accurately be able to quickly find books that are at their skill level.  We've also been pretty busy decorated the room, rearranging tables, chairs, and making posters for the walls.  Here's a picture of current progress.

Please pray:

-This week at the after school program goes well and that we look to God for strength and patience.

-Our staff team and volunteers are able to connect and work together as a unit.

-For God to reveal the things that might be outside of your comfort zone, your walls that you may have set up.

Thank you for your prayers and support.