Excuse Us as We Pivot - again: Greg Meyer
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We are a bit of a mess right now as we try to figure out how to be church in the wake of the pandemic and George Floyd’s killing. Yes, I realize that we’ve been saying that since we started 14 years ago. The truth is we hope to be saying it a lot longer because the day we think we have it all figured out is the day we become useless.
You ought to know, however, that the messiness factor is higher than usual as we navigate the racial dynamics of being a ‘mostly but not entirely white-bodied’ community. With all the discovering of homework us white-bodied folks have suddenly done (yeah, I’m one of them), homework that our black and brown-bodied brothers and sisters have known and dealt with forever, there is a need to each go to our corners to do our different work. But yet, we are one community. We are all people, children of God, human beings. And the goal is to pull together, not split apart according to our race or skin color.
So here is what we are trying right now. Our whole community gatherings are going to be designed – as best we can – for everyone. There are a million human hurts and joys that unite us all, no matter the color of our skin. We can and will dig into them. There is also some work we need to do separately. Our white-bodied friends are feeling the need to sort out their whiteness, undo the racism embedded inside, and cause less harm to their brown and black-bodied, immigrant, LGBTQ and native neighbors. We’ll take that work out of our community gatherings and find other places for it. And if you are not white you have special needs right now too. I won’t pretend to know what they are, but I want you to have space for that.
Epilogue – the image above: I was headed to the post office this afternoon and got stopped by the sign, “Construction Zone: No Thru Traffic.” It felt like the story of my life. A-l-w-a-y-s under construction. But, you know, I’m proud of that. And then the “No Thru Traffic.” Ain’t that true! So many people just want to get through it, get over it, not slow down. Well, if that is what you are looking for, sorry, we’re a mess. This isn’t the way through, this is the place for people who are willing to be in the moment and deal with what is at hand. This is the journey, not the destination. The place for people who are willing to be in it with us, not figured out, making mistakes, trying stuff, saying they’re sorry, bumping, jostling around and getting dirty.
So, Sunday mornings and other whole Fabric gatherings – We’ll work hard to fashion them to be for and by all of us, regardless of the characteristics that separate us.
Our individual work, we’ll support and promote that too, but it will be in Groups, special opportunities, and the like.
Stay tuned and excuse our mess.
