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Confronting
the “Powers” of Racism, Materialism and Militarism Prayerful reflection
Dealing with the “powers and principalities” (use “Prophetic Response to the Powers” worksheet)
Our own responses to the “powers”Dealing with fear
What it means to “make ourselves expendable”
Responding to the “power” of racism
Responding to the “power” of militarism
Responding to the “power” of materialism (on their own if time is short)
Decisions -“breaking the silence” against racism, materialism and militarism
Concluding prayerful reflection
Making Ourselves Expendable Dr. King “In the summer of 1965, after President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, Martin saw Watts break out in flames. Though he had no solutions at hand, he went there, facing a barrage of rocks, witnessing the burned-out buildings. He listened, he learned, he followed the uncertain road to uncharted territory, within the nation and within himself. The next year he left Alabama for Chicago – to West Lawndale, one of the city’s toughest, neediest places. There, he spoke words that cut against the social grain, now as much as then: ‘I choose to identify with the underprivileged. I choose to identify with the poor. I choose to give my life for the hungry. I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity. I choose to live for and with those who find themselves seeing life as a long and desolate corridor with no exit sign. This is the way I’m going. If it means suffering a little bit, I’m going that way. If it means sacrificing, I’m going that way. If it means dying for them, I’m going that way, because I heard a voice saying, “Do something for others.” (Vincent Harding, “Road to Redemption,” THE OTHER SIDE, Jan & Feb 2003). His challenge to me: “He was calling us to give our imaginations, our skills, our training, our energies, and perhaps our lives to the tasks of eliminating the great human scourges of hunger, exploitation, and war, to find in such work the roots of of peace, the roots of our humanity, the presence of God.” (“Road to Redemption,” p. 17) “Perhaps more than ever, we need those who will lift up anew his prophetic message both to the nation and to the people of faith.” (Road to Redemption,” p. 15) Shawn Copeland on “To Live the Passion & Compassion of Jesus:” –“… We can be sure that the cross will include being misunderstood and misrepresented by those who influence the status quo, living with loneliness and frustration because the good we plan crumbles in our hands, accepting the vulnerability and confinement of age and illness. We can be sure that the crossbeam will entail sustaining the struggle for justice and peace even when there is little possibility of success, comforting and supporting prisoners even when there is little possibility of change, shouldering the obstacles and limitations of our efforts without dodging commitment or violating conscience. Jesus knew what it meant to stand up and speak for justice and right in the thick of oppression. When we stand up, he stands up with us. Jesus knew what it meant to risk for the coming reign of God. When we risk for that reign, he is present to us and with us. Jesus knew what it meant to live in compassionate solidarity with the poor and excluded. When we live that same solidarity, he is present to us and with us.” Jean Donovan’s letter on why she stayed in El Salvador: “Several times I have decided to leave El Salvador. I almost could except for the children, the poor, bruised victims of this insanity. Who would care for them? Whose heart could be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and loneliness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine.” In SALVADOR WITNESS, p. 212. |
