Reading The Lifters by Dave Eggers before giving it to a beloved pre-teen, I was particularly struck by one scene. A speaker says to a large group of people at a gathering (redactions and omitted clarifications to avoid spoilers):
“‘The work ahead is difficult and without end,’ he said. His voice was becoming more commanding with every sentence. ‘Who among you feels daunted?’ he bellowed.
No one raised a hand. No one made a sound.
‘The work ahead will tire us and will frustrate us, and victories will be brief and quickly reversed. Who among you is unwilling?’
No one raised a hand. No one made a sound.
‘The work we do will be frightening. And dangerous. And dirty. Who among you is afraid?’
No one raised a hand. No one made a sound.
‘Good,’ [he] said. ‘Because I believe in you. I believe you can keep the world upright. Or do I have the wrong group of people here? Are we not Lifters?’
‘We are Lifters!’ the crowd shouted.
‘Again,’ [he] yelled. ‘Are we not Lifters?’
‘We are Lifters!’ they roared.
I’ve been in social-justice circles my whole life. I’m no longer idealistic. Even so, I’ve learned the value of inspiring speakers. The speech by Eggers has two essential qualities: rallying people around a common goal and being honest about the obstacles.
Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, one of my favorite authors, addresses all those who through their work are exposed to pain and brokenness in the world, including that of the earth itself. In The Age of Overwhelm: Strategies for the Long Haul, she similarly cautions that victories are rarely permanent, complete, or free from compromise. She writes, “Our individual desire to witness results is often not a crucial part of the collective process of creating meaningful change.”
That doesn't mean that victories aren’t worth celebrating. But sometimes the results we get are not enough. In “George Floyd and the Seeds of a New Kind of Activism,” Kayla Reed and Blake Strode write: “In St. Louis, following the uprising, our demands included elements like implicit bias training and body cameras, and shined a spotlight on obvious abuses, like racist fines and fees. But tepid reforms have failed us repeatedly. Our vision is now one of defunding police departments and abolishing the carceral system, as we push ourselves and others to imagine a society that is truly rooted in principles of justice, love and liberation.”
Some of us call our guiding vision God’s kin-dom, the redemption of the world, or beloved community. Whatever our backgrounds, in whatever facet of social change we are most involved, holding onto a collective vision and working in solidarity with others can help us stay in the struggle day after day.
Gathered and Scattered book update
Researching the history of the Community of Christ, which was started as an innovative church in 1965, I’m reading the stories of other church plants. Katie Hays lays out the theology of planting Galileo Church in Fort Worth, Texas, in We Were Spiritual Refugees: A Story to Help You Believe in Church (Eerdmans, 2020). Among stories of its early years in the 2010s, Hays describes how Galileo has attracted people who were hurt by previous churches. This was also true of the Community of Christ throughout its 51 years. This fact shaped each congregation in many ways. Galileo has an embodied practice of letting go: “first we clench our fists tightly, as if we are holding on desperately to the stuff we’ve been given (faith, fear, God, salvation, guilt, shame, money, self, beloveds); then we unclench, opening our fists, splaying our fingers wide, palms up, hands empty.” (This is from pages 207–208 if you have or get a copy of the book.)
Reading and listening
June 27, Ordinary 13B (2 Samuel 1:1, 17–27)
When David praises Saul and Jonathan, is he acting out of expediency, faithfulness, or both?
My column for the Christian Century on reading the book of Samuel as a biography.
“My husband and I moved to be near friends: Why does this sound strange to people?”
“In the United States, we prize the self as the key to happiness and the good life,” writes my friend and colleague Heidi Haverkamp in The Christian Century. We “focus on the personal, the individual, the wellness of me instead of us."
Happy Pride Month! I’ve been listening to Todrick Hall, especially “Haterz.” I recommend dancing and singing along.