Hey. White people. I know you are out there, mostly because I am related to or went to school with a lot of you. White Christian people. Ditto. Did your pastor mention Martin Luther King, Jr. yesterday? Because she or he should have. Why is it that white pastors think they can skip this? It's sort of like how this one time I had a political argument with my uncle, who is a pastor, and he told me that things were much better in this country two hundred years ago and I said, "Uh. For WHITE people, maybe." One can only get away with ignoring things like slavery and racism when one is white. (Which is why I refuse to ignore it. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in a setting where all the white people think everything is fine, FINE, and then I straight-up ask the people of color, because they won't bring it up with me because, hey, I'm white, and then as it turns out, it's NOT okay. But the white people go on in sweet oblivion. I mean, I guess it must be sweet to be oblivious. Other than how it's WRONG.)
I was pleasantly surprised that the pastor of the church where I went yesterday, which was primarily but not totally white, ditched his sermon in favor of playing the I Have a Dream speech. (He mentioned that some people might not have heard all the way through. Is this possible? That people have not heard, or at least, read, the whole thing? Hm. I guess so. White people, maybe.) It always makes me cry. Or, it always makes me cry since I started crying over things when the hormones kicked in at approximately age 24. Before that, I just got a big lump in my throat.
Then, unfortunately, I came home and read the church's policy on women in ministry and became irate. I have no desire to be a pastor, but there is nothing that infuriates me so much as a church that says, "men and women are equal, but have different roles." People, we've tried separate but equal before, and you know what it got us? Apartheid. And, in the words of my all-time favorite book (paraphrased because I don't have it with me), "It is not just different but actually worse to be the God-ordained number two." I am filled with fury.
I was pleasantly surprised that the pastor of the church where I went yesterday, which was primarily but not totally white, ditched his sermon in favor of playing the I Have a Dream speech. (He mentioned that some people might not have heard all the way through. Is this possible? That people have not heard, or at least, read, the whole thing? Hm. I guess so. White people, maybe.) It always makes me cry. Or, it always makes me cry since I started crying over things when the hormones kicked in at approximately age 24. Before that, I just got a big lump in my throat.
Then, unfortunately, I came home and read the church's policy on women in ministry and became irate. I have no desire to be a pastor, but there is nothing that infuriates me so much as a church that says, "men and women are equal, but have different roles." People, we've tried separate but equal before, and you know what it got us? Apartheid. And, in the words of my all-time favorite book (paraphrased because I don't have it with me), "It is not just different but actually worse to be the God-ordained number two." I am filled with fury.
2 comments:
Happy New Year M,
How was Sudan? Any new travel plans?
I liked your post so much I a using it on my blog...hope you don't mind.
fury is good.
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