MLK: Racism, Inconvenient Time

MLK: Racism, Inconvenient Time

   “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great   stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;” who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” Martin Luther King Jr, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963.

I receive a letter from a friend encouraging me that I am in a position to speak out against racism. I am at a dream retreat and the presenter, also my spiritual director, tells the story several times about Jacob’s dream of a heavenly ladder. Jacob renames the place of his dream Bethel, house of God, God is present. I suddenly thing of Bethel AME Church in Little Rock where I fell in love with that African American congregation as they taught us all about racism and poverty when I was assigned to Trinity Cathedral in Little Rock and we planned a celebration of the anniversary of the 1957 desegregation of Central High School. Later our daughter and soon a granddaughter will be attending that historic school. Last year I attended a prayer breakfast at our sister St. Mark Baptist church on the celebration of MLK’s birthday. Being there was empowering.

Today people all over the world are celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr as we approach the 50th anniversary of his death on April 4th,1968. I feel some ownership in his death since I was a senior medical student in Memphis when he was assassinated. At that time, my world centered solely on finishing medical school. His death made it more difficult for me to get to the hospital since Memphis was briefly under a curfew and martial law. I do remember what the dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral did. He carried the processional cross from the cathedral and marched with other clergy to Memphis Mayor Loeb’s office, petitioning him to bring to an end the injustices which brought King to Memphis. I also remember that Dean Dimmick’s speaking out with his feet resulted in consequences for him at the Cathedral.

So here we are fifty years later. How are we to carry the cross with our hands, as so many before us have modeled for us to do, walking out into the streets and homes and schools and hospitals of our cities and country sides speaking and acting the truth with love against the violence and hatred that still lives?

I know I am a story teller. I share my story with you but especially today I share it with my children and grandchildren, surrounding them with love and prayer that they may be empowered to do a better job than we did.

Joanna     joannaseibert.com

Crafton: Prayer

Crafton: Prayer

“I can compare prayer to a river-strong, clean, swift, carrying everything along in its powerful current. When I pray, I have stepped into the river and allowed it to carry me. When I pray for you, I have taken your hand and together we step into the river and let it carry us with power.” Barbara Crafton, The AlsoLife, p. 128.

 Episcopal priest and well-known speaker and writer, Barbara Crafton teaches us a different view of prayer. It is surrender prayer, prayer of few words, feeling the power of prayer as we pray, bringing others with us into prayer. It is prayer that comes with sitting, swimming, or walking in silence and simply waiting for the Spirit’s lead.

Swimming is still a favorite exercise. I can indeed visualize those in my prayers swimming or walking in the water with me. This is an even more powerful image swimming in a river or the ocean where we surrender to let the current move us.

Crafton also writes about prayer as connecting ourselves, aligning ourselves with the energy of the love of God. Prayer is loving, loving God, loving ourselves, loving our neighbor.  Some people image Jesus in prayer and walk with or carry friends to Jesus and leave the person they are praying for in Jesus’ arm. I so often have used this prayer image when praying for my children and now grandchildren.

For some kneeling at the rail for Eucharist is an image used in prayer. We can image walking with or bringing friends in need with us in prayer to that rail and kneeling with and beside them.

This image also helps me in praying for enemies or those with whom I am having difficulty. It is hard to keep hate in my heart when my enemy is kneeling beside me waiting as I am for the body and blood of Christ.

Barbara Crafton will be leading a Lenten Retreat At St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Little Rock, Saturday, March 3rd from 9 to 1 on this book and The Courage to Grow Old.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com  

Julian: Easter following Good Friday

Julian: Easter follows Good Friday

“And all shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be exceeding well.” Julian of Norwich

  January 13, 1967, on a rainy Friday night, fifty-one years ago, I was in a car accident when I was a junior in medical school that resulted in injuries that still plague my body today. I was driving a red Volkswagen and was hit by a drunk driver in a black Cadillac making a left-hand turn into a bar. I had to leave medical school for six months to recover partially from multiple extremity fractures. I never curse the mobility issues I still face today for one reason. I dropped back into the class where I met my husband of over forty-eight years. I do believe we never would have met if I had stayed in my first medical school class. I give thanks every day for his presence in my life. Any of you who know him will understand. This is when I first became conscious of Easters coming out of Good Fridays. I know that Eastering experiences had happen before in my life and in the lives of those I knew, but I did not recognize them.

Today I see resurrections daily in my life and others, the death of my grandfather leading me back to God and my grandfather’s death leading me to stop smoking thirty-nine years ago. I see people in the grief recovery group we work with, Walking the Mourner’s Path, changing the direction of their lives, reaching out to others in need because they know how difficult tragedy is to work through. They learn how to live on honoring the life and relationship of the one they loved who died.  

I daily witness and see lived out these often-quoted words from the Revelations of the English mystic of the 14th century, Julian of Norwich, “And all shall be well.”

Joanna   joannaseibert