The Town and
Country Bike Shop began with a rocky start.
Now this bike shop was unique – as it was in the club-house that sat in
my parent’s backyard. It had all kinds
of parts. Bald bicycle tires. Busted tubes.
Rusty chains. Worn out hand
grips. And its owners were all in middle
school. My friends and I were so into
BMX, or bicycle motocross, that we decided to start our own bike shop. On a normal summer day, we could be found
racing around the neighborhood and jumping curbs and home made dirt ramps, or
sitting in a driveway with our bikes flipped upside down, handlebars and seat
holding the wheels upright in the air, attempting to make a minor adjustment
that would make our bike just a fraction more awesome.
Our
first big project was building our own bike.
Now building a single speed 20” bmx bicycle doesn’t require a lot of
mechanical knowledge, but it does require some.
And it required money. I had
purchased an old bike frame and fork and two wheels off my college aged
neighbor, but I needed more parts to make the bike work. So one person bought tires, another bought
the handlebar attachment gooseneck. And
then we set off to work. And they got
bored with the work and they went to played and raced their bikes, and piece by
piece, with a lot of head scratching and trial and error, I built the
bike. And it was a hit. We all took it for a spin around the
neighborhood. Everyone loved it. But the oldest one of our group, the
ringleader said: ok, now we have to sell
it.
I
immediately responded with a “NO WAY! I
don’t want to sell it. I did all the
work and most of the parts are mine anyway.”
But the group decided they wanted to sell the bike and split the
proceeds evenly, and majority ruled. But
I disagreed, so I took it and locked it in the shed with a padlock, and my friends
were so angry. They wouldn’t even talk
to me. I think they even tried to break
the lock off the shed. Finally, I ended
up taking the parts they had supplied off the bike and giving them back. The partnership dissolved, and Town and
Country Bike Shop closed before it could make its first sale.
Now
there were lots of shades of grey in the scenario of my first business
experience, and my granddad loved that I learned about business partnerships
that early. And the big question that I
ask is: What is fair? What makes something fair? Now I know we can say life is not fair – just
get used to it – that is the reality of the world. But in this situation, what is fair? Was it fair for me to supply the majority of the
parts and all the labor and not get the majority of the funds from the sale, or
even the main decision in making the sale?
Or was it fair to my friends that I used their parts and then locked up
the newly built bicycle in my shed? What
is fair?
Today
as we worship together on this Martin Luther King Jr holiday weekend, we are
again reminded to look at the ideas of fairness. What is fair?
What is just? What is right? Like I said earlier: the world’s not
fair. We know that. But could there be the chance that we are
unknowingly hindering fairness or unknowingly standing in the way of justice?
Anne
and I went to see Selma at the movie theater in Bowling Green this past
week. And if you haven’t seen it, I
would highly recommend it, but it is a difficult, difficult movie to
watch. There is nothing to make you feel
good when you watch this movie – simply because of the horrific atrocities that
were committed by our white brothers and sisters against our black brothers and
sisters. And it is even more difficult
to realize that this is recent history.
The events that took place in Selma, Alabama: that happened only 50
years ago. Where are we today? How far have we come?
The prophet Amos
cried out: “1 I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn
assemblies. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will
not listen to the melody of your harps. 24
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
I think the most difficult
thing for me to grasp as a religious leader is how the Good News of Jesus
Christ was and is used to justify keeping people oppressed. Think of the ways that it has kept people in
“their place” throughout history.
Slavery. The Women’s Suffrage
Movement. Segregation. Marriage Equality. Your place is here, this is God’s will, and
that’s how it is. Life’s not fair, get
over it.
But there’s a great
mistake that is made when God’s divine will is invoked as it pertains to
oppression. Our God is a God of
liberation, not oppression. Our God is a
God of Justice, not a God of injustice.
And if we used our piety and our religious zeal to allow oppression to
remain and injustice to prevail, then we, my friends, need to listen to Amos’s
little sermon. Because he was talking to
a people that had forgotten who they were.
They became so focused on the right way to worship and the right way to
offer sacrifice, and they thought that’s all that was required to be
faithful. But Amos suggested
otherwise. Let justice roll down like
waters and righteousness like and ever flowing stream.
Amos goes a little further
in chapter 8, saying: 4 Hear this, you that
trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, 5 saying, ‘When will the
new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we
may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel
great, and practice deceit with false balances,
6
buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the
sweepings of the wheat.’ The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.”
Amos was active as a
prophet during the time of the divided kingdom when Israel and Judah were
separate and still maintaining power and independence….which of course, was
brief. If you look at the Bible, most of
the story of the Hebrew people is that of an oppressed people. And yet, in the time of their own freedom from
oppression, when Israel and Judah were independent, they oppressed their own. They trampled on the poor and needy.
It is so important that we
pay attention to this concept of oppression throughout scripture. The very first commandment calls the Hebrew
people to remember: “I am the God who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” You were there. You were oppressed. This is a part of your story. This defines you. I am the God who liberated you. I brought you out…I rescued you. Remember?
In a year where racial
tensions have been high once again, and there are cries of injustice from the
streets in Ferguson to the streets in New York City, I think it is important to
consider context. Now politics and media
perspectives have divided us as a nation on this issue, but I think scripture
can help us look in a new way. The
story of the Hebrew people is a story of liberation from oppression. God sets them free. God is with them as they carve out their own
place. This is their context: God liberated us from captivity. Now, how many years ago was that?
What
about our context as American people?
Does the idea of liberty come up in our history? Of course.
It is the theme of the Revolutionary war. Liberation from the tyranny of
oppression. No taxation without
representation. These continue to create
our context as Americans. We sing the
National Anthem. We celebrate
Independence Day. We become angry when
there is just an inkling that our liberty is being taken away. And how many years ago was that war? Over 225 years. And it still has a claim on us today.
So what about our black
brothers and sisters? Many whose
ancestors were brought here during the slave trade? The Emancipation Proclamation came from
Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Slavery has
been over for 150 years. Brown vs the
Board of Education happened in 1954 that was supposed to end segregation in
schools, and the Civil Rights act passed in 1964. And yet, equality was not achieved and there
was a call for a voting rights act. The
march from Selma took place in 1965.
Fifty years ago. People seeking
total liberation and equality.
If the story of the Hebrew
people is a people who were liberated by God in the exodus, if the story of the
American people is a people who revolted to tyranny, is the Black-American
story of oppression not also a story engrained in their identity as a
people? Perhaps that is one reason the
words of the prophets were so natural coming from Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.
The Christian story is
rooted in the story of the Hebrew people.
It is a story of liberation, but also a story of new life, and a new way
to live. Love your enemies. Those were
Jesus’ words. And could there be
anything more difficult? Love your
enemies, your opponents, the people who think and act differently.
Watching the movie Selma,
I was reminded once again that Christianity took a lead role in the civil
rights movement. I watched as clergymen
who had traveled to be a part of the movement were beaten to death. White Clergy.
Killed because the supported justice and equality for all people. Killed because they marched with a black
minister and proclaimed the same Gospel of love, justice, and hope. The church took a lead. But yet this week I also read King’s letter
from a Birmingham Jail – addressed to “my fellow clergymen” – mainliners –
Methodist, Presbyterians, Episcopals, Baptist, who had called his current
actions unwise and untimely. He
responds: “First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been
gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the
regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride
toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler 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 cannot agree with your methods of direct
action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for
another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who
constantly advises the Negro to wait for 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.”[1]
“I had also hoped that the white
moderate would reject the myth of time. I received a letter this morning from a
white brother in Texas which said: “All Christians know that the colored people
will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too
great of a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost 2000 years to
accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth.” [2]
Friends. Today we are reminded that we play a role in
the struggle for justice and equality within this world and especially within
this nation. Our Christian nature of
loving God, loving ourselves, and loving our neighbors, even our enemies, is a
proactive love. Our silence in the face
of injustice puts us on equal grounds with Pontius Pilate washing his hands.
The question for
us as Christians – for us as a church – that we must continue to ask: Are we willing to call out the injustice that
continues to exist within and beyond the topic of racial inequality in our own
country, not to mention the whole world?
Are we willing to stand with the oppressed? Are we willing to deal with the consequences
that come with walking in the path of righteousness? Where do we stand, friends? Where will we stand? Let justice roll down like waters and
righteous like and ever flowing stream. Amen.
[1]
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, April 16, 1963, pg 9-10. Letter available at http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu:5801/transcription/document_images/undecided/630416-019.pdf
[2]
Ibid, 11.
