Montclair Presbyterian Church

Talking about theology over a beverage or two (and perhaps some noshes) is one of my favorite things to do. I am looking forward to Wine & Theology, the Family Life Small Group that will begin on Friday evenings in March, and I’ve reviewed the sign-up sheet with some excitement. I know that the participants are a theologically diverse crowd. On the spectrum from orthodox to heretical, you hold a blessedly wide variety of opinions, and we hope that all these great different opinions will come out to play in a safe and loving environment when we meet. But in other ways we are less diverse, as is typical of the MPC community. The participants who have registered are overwhelmingly Caucasian, heterosexual, and in the 55-70ish age range. Although that is typical of MPC, and although I’ve heard some of us lovingly called “a bunch of OWLs” – Old White Ladies – I’m dreaming of better.

When we do theology together, our similarities become problems. Racial, sexual, and generational privilege will place more than a few blind spots in our way. Too often we see a “default” context for thinking about God represented by those who are white, straight, cis-gendered, able-bodied and -minded, well employed, well educated, well housed (and on and on)… and we see other people’s experiences as variations on the default theme. But in fact there is no “default” setting for humanity: white is a color, after all, and being able-bodied is a privilege not to be taken for granted. And meanwhile we worship a Christ who was famous for transgressing boundaries, who chose to identify as “servant/slave” in a time where slaveholding was common practice, and who created a stir for spending time with people on the margins of society.

So even though registration is closed, I’m sending out one last call. Wine and Theology is looking for more of the voices traditionally less amplified in society. We have enough women, men, white people, and people older than 55. We need younger voices, people of color and/or immigrants from other countries, and people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. We will not expect you to “speak for” your demographic or do extra work to explain your context. But we would be grateful for the way your presence might enrich our conversation and our fellowship. I will also be working to be sure that the authors we read or videos we watch come from a diverse background as well.

Our church, the PC(USA), has had a long-standing commitment to diversity, and though at times it seems an empty token, at best it should be a strong counter-measure against the way our society amplifies some voices and muffles others. Let’s hope that MPC can stand for diversity and inclusion, and become a brighter and more welcoming place in the process.

Every Blessing,
Talitha

Last week I was the storyteller in Godly Play, telling the children in the Green Classroom about the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom we count as a saint and a prophet – a person who was so close to God that he knew what God wanted him to say and do. It was a powerful and worshipful experience going through the story with these children. At the end of the story I invited them to reflect by bringing any other stories from the classroom that could connect to the story of Dr. King’s life. The children brought images of Jesus’ life and death to stand by the images of Dr. King’s, and I couldn’t resist the urge to bring the apostle Paul over too, and to share verses he wrote from prison. One of the children carefully set up the story of World Communion, picturing people of all races and ethnicities gathered around the Table.

When I told the story of Dr. King it brought to mind a few places hallowed by his life and work, places of pilgrimage that have become sacred in memory. I have walked the streets of Atlanta and seen his childhood home preserved reverently there. I even briefly stood with appropriately trembling knees near the pulpit at Ebeneezer Baptist Church, as I was stage-managing the Children of Uganda tour, and when the executive director was waylaid by an injury on the day of their performance there, I had to step up and make the opening speech in her stead. I have been to Washington DC and marched on some of the streets where Dr. King led marches, and this past summer with the Youth Group we saw the place of his death in Memphis, Tennessee. Much of the rest of his life, however, was geographically unfamiliar territory to me — except what I saw on the big screen when I went to see Selma.

Selma was a beautifully made movie with much to recommend it. It was not a biography of Dr. King’s life nor a wide overview of all that happened, but a close-up focus on a moment and a place. The Edmund Pettus bridge loomed large in the camera’s eye as the marchers approached and crossed the bridge each time, in hope, in dread, and finally in triumph. Looking at Dr. King’s life with too wide a view can lead to blurred and broad strokes, and children these days may learn in school that he was a nice man who helped people overcome their differences. A friend of mine, the Rev. Aric Clark, asked his son what he had learned about Dr. King at school, and hearing that he “brought peace” Aric responded “No!” On the contrary, “he upset many people because he showed them that there can’t be any peace without justice, and since we still don’t have justice, we also don’t have peace.”

Selma helps us lose sight of the big picture, to focus back in the particular life of a man who was arrested 30 times, who was threatened with death many times before his assassination, who opposed the war in Vietnam, who called us white people out on our racism, who advocated for the government to guarantee employment and income to all, and who shouted at the president. We might prefer not to remember that, and to remember instead his Nobel Peace Prize and a couple of his most repeated speeches. But we need to remember the prophet and the activist. In a nation still sorely lacking justice, where such a movie gets a mere nod at awards ceremonies and is passed over at the box office in favor of mindless action fare, let us pray that, like the Rev. Dr. King, we might know what God wants us to say and to do.

Every Blessing,
Talitha

We are working at MPC to make more space for our children to learn and grow. From the actual space we’ve made in the back row, to giving children the microphone to share their prayers, we are doing everything we can to make child-sized openings in our grownup-sized church. We know that not all openings appeal to all children, of course. Some love singing and performing for everyone, while others run screaming from the spotlight… which is why we keep trying different ways to include them, hoping eventually to have a large range of ways in which our children can participate. One new idea came forward this Advent when the children did such good jobs with the candle-lighting and the liturgy of the wreath. Those who participated felt proud and important, and those who watched were delighted to see, as the prophet foretold, “a little child shall lead them.”

We do the candle-lighting every Advent, but there is no need to wait eleven months to provide children with the chance to light a candle and read a prayer. Most children are not ready to be “lay leader” and be up front for the entire Celebration service, but they can do a little bit. So we are going to begin offering a similar opportunity throughout the year. We will invite children to light a candle and lead the Call to Celebration each Sunday, the first prayerful words of our worship. Then the lay leader for that Sunday will continue with the Scripture reading and the rest of the service.

Would you like to participate? Cheryl Geckeler, who manages the sign-ups for lay leaders, will also take care of this. So if you are a child (or the parent of a child) who would like to read and light, contact Cheryl at gecke1ers@gmail.com. An enthusiastic reader could take a few weeks in a row, or sign up multiple times.

Thank you all, MPC, for your openness to these little changes, here and there, as we seek to build a strong community of faith with and for our children!
Every Blessing,
Talitha