Even Jesus Got the Activist Blues

I was feeling pretty down in the dumps yesterday.
I couldn't shake that statement I'd made at the end of my last post about the United States, it's claim to be a nation "under God", and yet everywhere I look, I fail to see evidence that we are living into the kingdom. I watched Rachel Maddow's interview with the nasty David Bahati, author of the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda, and it only further depressed me. And then there's the on-going strife over the Anglican Covenant which only feeds into the bullying of anyone wishing to see the Church better reflect the diversity of the kingdom. Dare to be different; we'll censure you and kick you out of the Communion. Nice, eh?
But luckily, yesterday was Friday, I was serving at noon-day with Fr. Lee Graham, and our gospel lesson was from Matthew:

‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’--Matt 11: 16-19

We were supposed to end there. But Fr. Graham included the next section.

Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven?
No, you will be brought down to Hades.
For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.’ --Matt 11: 20-24

He suggested in his homily that this is another glimpse of the humanity of Jesus. He is trying to get his fellow Jews to rethink their ways, and he's experiencing the push-back from those who don't want to change. Something Fr. Graham dealt with during the civil rights era in Alabama as they tried to integrate the schools in Birmingham. It was him versus' the establishment. And in those days, the establishment had an affiliation with a certain organization known as the Ku Klux Klan. And the newspaper was in cahoots with the Klan, so everything Fr. Graham had said at this particular meeting with the secular leaders of Birmingham was left out of the story. It was almost as if he hadn't been there at all.

As he talked, I felt a wave of calm move through my body. There's something very reassuring to hear that your own struggle, your own frustration with the slow pace of change, and your own feelings of 'am I just being ignored?!', is nothing new. And there have been plenty of great people before you who have faced this same problem. Even Jesus. It is the place of an activist... the place of a prophet. Suddenly, the words of this Second Week of Advent's collect came alive for me:

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to
preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:
Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins,
that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our
Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Now is the time to keep speaking up. And you just gotta hope that somebody is listening. You can sing the blues, but don't let that tune keep you down or keep you from speaking your truth. Amen.