Monday, January 15, 2018

Traci Blackmon: Where are the dreamers?

I've been a church-goer my entire cognitive life and a priest for 20 years this week.

It would be impossible to count the number of sermons I've heard and a challenge to come up with the most profound among them -- as I have been blessed to receive from many of the most powerful, prophetic and pastoral preachers of our generation.

And then there was yesterday. Then there was Traci Blackmon. Then there was "Where Are the Dreamers?"

"Prophetic resistance is only possible for those who can still dream. They come with weapons of hatred and division that they have used for generations. But we who believe in freedom. We come in the name of love. We come in the name of justice. We come in the name of equality. We come with dreams of a better world. AND WE WILL NOT STOP COMING!"
Her words not only called for persistent vigilance for all of us as we face the ongoing systemic challenges we face as a nation -- they offered a profound reminder of what we are actually called to do as we challenge the church to not settle for what it has become but aspire to what God would have it be.

My words of gratitude fail me. Just watch.

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