We hosted our Rally for the Homeless Union yesterday in celebration of MLK Day. We had about 50-60 people, maybe 70. Most were homeless.
When I got to the church in the afternoon, one of my homeless leaders had organized a group of (homeless) people to clean up around the church. Three or four people were raking and bagging leaves. One was cleaning up around the dumpster of the convenience store across the alley.
Three homeless people were smoking Meth on my back stoop.
With our Marysville leadership, speakers came from Salinas, Sacramento, Paradise, and Chico. They shared a common theme: Organize. Organize. Organize.
I kicked off the event with an unsurprising message familiar for those who know me. "If you will hearken to my voice and keep my covenant you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
The Biblical Narrative begins with a group of homeless (and even stateless) people racing across the Wilderness of Sinai. They get to the Mountain of God where they receive the message that if they will listen to the Word of the Lord and keep covenant, they will change the world.
The Lord did not say, "Once you get a job you will be a Kingdom Priests and a Holy Nation.
The Lord did not say, "Once you get money in the bank you will be a Kingdom Priests and a Holy Nation."
The Lord did not say, "Once your name is on the deed of a house, you will be a Kingdom Priests and a Holy Nation."
No. World Transforming Work begins when you hear that Word deep in your heart that tells you, you are a person of dignity. Having heard that Word, you acknowledge the same Word is spoken to your neighbor and so you keep covenant with your neighbor and become a Covenant Community. You practice the Neighbor Love Ethic.
Organize. Organize. Organize.
Liz Theoharis referenced MLK when she said that Pharoah has a simple strategy. To keep us enslaved, he divides us. Instill fear. Raise anxiety. Nurture distrust.
Here are the seeds of racism, sexism, classism, and the demand for moral perfection as a measure of personal dignity.
Liz also wondered how it is that a people who worship a homeless man on Sunday, can ignore a homeless man on Monday.
My church was filled with a group of cold, wet, hungry people, some of whom will not survive the winter. They will be judged, demeaned, denied, and ignored by Christian people everywhere.
Their singular hope is to respond to the Word of the Lord that was spoken at Mt. Sinai, a Word that continues to echo down through the generations.
Organize.