 Join the Young Adults (ok, I am not a young adult but was part of the podcast) of Faith UCC in the first episode of the Elevate Faith Podcast. Taped live in the Faith Chapel/Podcast Studio with Special Guest, Leah Dennis, spoken word artist. The topic...Purpose!
I am never ready to throw people away. I believe deeply in the power of redemption. Until the moment of death, there is always an opportunity for healing and restoration. Yet, this healing and restoration can only come when truth is spoken and the pain that caused the broken relationship is exposed to the light.
It reminds me of the many times that Jesus healed folks by calling out the demons within them; freedom and liberation could only come when the demon (illness, disease, shame, pain, etc…) was called out. It was an exorcism that allowed the person suffering to be set free. The exorcism allowed relationships to be restored and the person who was bound by the demon to be welcomed back into their community. The moment has come for healing in our nation. Just like in times of old, we must first do an exorcism. I am progressive in my theological understanding that has been filled with the Holy Spirit. My progressive nature might fight with my Pentecostal tendencies on occasion, but right now they are in deep agreement. Our nation is in trouble. Some would say that it is Donald Trump or Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell or it is the Tea Party or the conservatives. Focusing on an individual is not completely sufficient. We have to do deeper; we have to go to the root. In this case, the root may be demonic forces that desire to destroy the soul of our people and of our nation. The policies that have come from our current administration have never been intended to bless the masses, but to instead curse them. We watched as the latest version of the Congressional Republicans’ health care bill failed but would have resulted in 33 million people losing their healthcare. Passions ran so high that President Trump publicly threatened members of his own party. If Republican Senators did not fall in line and vote in favor of a bill, that would ultimately cause many Americans to fall in bad health or worse to lose their lives, their careers as politicians would be in jeopardy.. A budget has been proposed that will destroy Medicaid by cutting of 11 million people from healthcare including seniors who need nursing home care and sick children. In addition, a cut in Snap benefits will cut food programs that feed poor children. There is a plan to cut social security disability that will cut off disability benefits for those with a severe chronic or terminal illness. There is also a proposal to cut pell grants for our young adults to get a higher education. Inside the budget are increases for defense spending so we can kill more people; increase spending on border protections and prisons that will hold more of our undocumented siblings; and perpetuate the increased militarization of local police forces and increase mass incarceration of communities of color but in particular the African American community. This budgets priority is very clear. PROFITS OVER PEOPLE!!!! This is not the way of God. It is contrary to the will of God. Daily, I wrestle with the fact that as a Christian I serve a God that gave. This God gave life, gave the earth, gave the water, gave the air, gave freedom, gave liberty and when we as humans messed up gave us His Son so we could be reconciled with God. This Son that God gave us, healed people (free of charge), fed people (free of charge), educated people (free of charge), and delivered people (free of charge). As a child, He spent time as an undocumented immigrant in the land of Egypt when His step-father received a message to leave the land that they were living because it was no longer safe for them. So He went with His parents through a desert to come into land that was not His own. In addition, he would eventually spend time in prison, be beaten, tortured and killed for a crime that he did not commit. Yet, despite the worst treatment by humanity, he gave Himself for us all. What have we learned????? We are not following Christ’s example. We claim to be people of faith and guided by faith, but the policies espoused by our leaders reflects a chasm with what God did and what God said. A rally won’t make things right. We need to go to the root of the problem if we want to see lasting change. I believe we are in a moment we need to perform an exorcism, a calling out of those forces that are destroying our families. To call out the demons by speaking truth about the forces influencing our nation’s leaders. We need truth telling and a willingness to walk in courage. For the sake of our children and all things we hold dear, we have to take action. Jesus came that we might have life and that more abundantly, but far too many will live in scarcity and deepening poverty if our country moves in its current direction. We must call out: greed that supports putting profits over people; white supremacy that manifests itself as hate policies that attack people of color and work to keep Muslims out of the country, arrogance that asserts that money is real power, policies that say the earth is disposable, fear that somehow the diversity of our communities are destructive instead of healing, hate that is celebrated instead of repented, and all the many forces that move people to exclusion not inclusion. If we are all created in the image and likeness of the Divine then whenever I oppress my sibling I am in fact oppressing the work of the Creator. We are called to be a Beloved Community where all of God’s creation can live in harmony and appreciate the diversity of creation. I believe we need a strong vision and story of our world where all are welcome but to get there...we have to deal with the evil within. Let us continue to Change the Damn World until it is a Beloved Community for ALL.  “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy* that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:12-14 (NRSV)
"Those that have ears. Let them hear what the spirit is saying.." Mark 4:9 (NRSV) In this moment I am longing to feel despair… I am longing to feel hopeless… I am longing to feel something other than numb. Tonight, it appears that sexism has won. Tonight, it appears that racism has won. Tonight, it appears heterosexism has won. Tonight, it appears that misogyny has won. Tonight, it appears that xenophobia has won. Tonight, it appears that environmental injustice has won. Tonight, it appears that white male privilege has won. Tonight, it appears that the evangelical church has won. There are those who are longing for a word from God. I think God has spoken but not in the way you might think. I am reminded from 12 step programs that those who are addicted to drugs/alcohol will often not get help until they have hit rock bottom. America has not hit rock bottom but is clearly on its way. I was coming home from work this afternoon with my youngest daughter and one of her friends. They had been helping me phone bank to remind people to vote on Monday and Tuesday. As we were walking to the Metro station to catch the train she began to ask me about moving to Canada. She was concerned that if Trump won he would send us back to Africa. I asked her to which country in Africa would he send us since we do not know from which country we came. Her question resonated a deep fear. I told her I would challenge anyone who questioned our citizenship as Americans. Our roots go back many generations, including those that built this country against their will. In that moment, I was angry that my child was scared. My beautiful, 12 year old, who had been taught that she could be anything and do anything that she wanted in this world in that moment felt the crushing limitations of her race and gender. Surely, the people of America would not let this happen to her. Surely, I would not let this happen to her. Surely, the fear she was feeling….is now happening to her... Damn… Now let me be clear, I am not without hope. God is still God and has seen this world through despots, megalomaniacs and purely evil leaders before. Although, usually there is a great human costs that goes with these times. I do not want to suggest that the Divine allows this to happen but even in the sacred texts of our faith tradition (for me that would be Christianity) evil has arisen and it was used as a tool to call the people back to God. Now I am going to interpret this differently than my evangelical brother and sisters. I believe Donald Trump shows us the worst of what it means to be an American and I beleive the church that supported him shows what happens when human beings make theology in their own image. Deeply faithful people voted for a man that is sexist, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic and war mongering. In the end, their vote reflects their faith. Somehow this does not seem to represent the God that I read in the text, especially the Christian texts called the New Testament. I am reminded that Jesus tells us that we must go the narrow way. I have never interpreted the narrow way as the easy way of just following along creating Christian robots in our wake. I believe the narrow way is the way of love. I believe the essence of our faith is about love that embraces all that this election wants us to hate. I believe the narrow way is not about fear and condemnation but about the love of God. I believe the narrow way calls us to truth telling and confession that creates healing and wholeness. I believe the narrow way calls us to care deeply about the other. I believe the narrow way embraces my 12 year old and shows her possibilities not fear. I am more committed now than ever that Love will win. I will not allow an anemic faith, full of fear and hate be the guide for my life or my family’s. Tonight, I renew the call I offered some months ago to gather those who would be prophets in this generation. Not just those that want to give a word but those that will do a work, put their hands to the plow and not look back. Right now we need Prophets that will speak truth to power unequivocally and will speak truth to the people as well. We also need to be organized. It is evident that we need a major course correction. I am looking for folks that know “Love Wins”. I am not talking about an easy love where we all just feel good being together and everyone is happy. I am talking about a love that strives to go deep with honesty, agitation and truth so that we can build the Beloved Community of God. In a few hours, I will get up and go to the office and work to “Change the Damn World” who will join me? Grace and Peace, +Dwayne D. Royster Ddroyster1969@gmail.com  Many have been asking me about leaving Living Water UCC and POWER to head to DC. Yes, I am leaving Living Water later this month and POWER shortly thereafter to become the Political Director of the PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing) National Network in Washington, DC. PICO is the nation’s largest Faith Based Organizing Movement. For those that know me well this is not much of a surprise. I was a Political Science major when I started Boston College almost 20 years ago. Politics and Activism/Advocacy/Organizing have been important to me since my childhood. My faith has been equally important to me longer than politics. Finally, I am able to work deeply at the intersection of two of my passions to bring about healing and hope for a broken world.
Some have asked about what church I will be pastoring. I am not. In my new role I will be serving as a Public Theologian in the midst of our Nation’s Capital. In addition, later this year, I will be installed as the Presiding Bishop of Higher Ground Christian Fellowship International. My mentor Bishop Kermit L. Newkirk, Jr. will be retiring from the role as Presiding Bishop. I look forward to serving the church in that new capacity. As a matter of faith practice, I am working with a collaborative of faith leaders from around the country on the creation of an Ecumenical Religious Order committed to a charism of Social Justice as Spiritual Discipline and Spiritual Practice. The early conversations have been exciting and I look forward to helping establish this new body. Please keep this effort in your prayers. If you are interested in learning more about the order, please email me at ddroyster1969@gmail.com. I would be glad to share with you the plans in more detail. My family and I will be looking for a UCC church in the MD/DC area to call home. Pray for us as a seek a place where we can finally sit together during worship and delight in the Lord. It has been a hard decision to leave both of these organizations and head to DC. Yet, I am feeling called to our nation’s capital for such a time as this. There is much going on in the world that requires faith voices to speak truth to power and demand justice in the land. For that reason, I feel called in this moment…this Kairos moment. I am not one who believes that faith should not be engaged in the political realm. I am not sure how anyone could read the sacred texts of the Christian tradition and not see that faith has always engaged the empire in one way or another. For many communities all across this nation there is great pain. As the Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman asked in his book Jesus and the Disinherited, “What does our faith have to say to people with their backs up against the wall?” For far too long the church has been a sleeping giant. It is time to “Wake Up!” God has always had a remnant that has lifted a witness for Justice but now we need the whole of the many faith traditions and communities across our nation to become engaged. Good people who do nothing in the face of injustice are not good people! We must work to challenge the narratives and stories that have anesthetized our faith traditions into a dreamless slumber that does not even produce rest. We do not need a sleeping giant but instead a massive army of faith people in a cacophony of voices that calls this nation to its better self. A massive army that draws our faith communities out of the walls of their institutions and to care for the greater community that surrounds them. A call to care for all of God’s creation! So I head to Washington to be Faith Warrior. To fight for a Moral Economy! To Fight for Racial Justice! To fight for an end to Mass Incarceration! To Fight for a Pathway to Citizenship! To Fight for Climate and Environmental Justice! To fight for issues yet to be named! Please join me I continue my efforts to Change the Damn World! Grace and Peace, +DDR |
AuthorBishop Royster is Pastor of Faith United Church of Christ in Washington, DC. He is also Senior Pastor/Founder Emeritus of Living Water United Church of Christ in Philadelphia. He is a pastor, preacher, change agent, father, husband, and agitator born and raised in Philadelphia. He is the Northeast Regional Director of Faith in Action (formerly the PICO National Network). In addition, Bishop Royster is a former Councilman at Large for the Municipality of Norristown, PA. The views on this blog represent personal views, not those of Faith in Action. Archives
April 2019
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