A year of faithful resistance
by Lenny Duncan
What does it mean to Faithfully Resist? Faith leaders across the country watched on January 20th 2017 as the Donald J Trump took the oath of office for the president of the United States. For some this was a moment of euphoric victory. They had sacrificed much in social capital to prove that this man was a man of faith. They had to look past him trying to stuff a camel through a needle head. They had to justify sexual assault. Again. They had to turn blatant racism into a commodity for their parishioners. They sacrificed the stranger on an altar of barbwire and washed their hands in the tears of refugees to achieve the penultimate. To put into office someone, they thought they could guide on “faith issues” that look alarmingly like human rights issues to the rest of us.
Then there were folks like me. I knew he was going to win for months. I was horrified by this thought but not surprised. As a black man who has traveled extensively in this country I had seen the true face of America. It has incredible beauty that is only matched by its capacity for unrestrained hatred and senseless slaughter on any who attack its core values. It’s core value is whiteness. Not scripture as some would have you believe. Not the constitution most folks have never sat down and actually read. Whiteness.
A year ago I wrote a piece entitled 2017: A Year of Faithful Resistance. I began like this- “I want to start by saying this post will be incredibly unfair to some of you. Particularly Pastors and faith leaders of color, in the LGBTQ community, and intersectional feminist theologians. Followers of Christ from the margins. You have sacrificed so much for calls to the church in various roles. The path that I have walked so far is littered with your strewn bodies. I stand on your shoulders. I see you. I honor you. I’m deeply thankful.
But more is required of you.
It is unfair. You shouldn’t have to justify your personhood or your right to agency or in some of our cases, to exist, ever again.
But you do.
Your bruises have become a healing balm to so many who have followed you. Your scars have become proverbs of the people. Your intense psychic trauma has been heard by the Creator and the people. We are singing it back to you in waves of hosanna. You are beloved. You are tired. You are weary.
We need you stand up one more time.”
You can read the rest of that piece here.
So, the same folks whom I knew would be unfairly leaned upon in this year, the leaders I knew would pay the highest prices just for existing, I have asked to come back a year later and write about A Year of Faithful Resistance. They are women of color and women of the cloth. They are fierce warriors and mothers. They are wives and sisters. They are my heroes. Please share their stories.
What does it mean to Faithfully Resist? Faith leaders across the country watched on January 20th 2017 as the Donald J Trump took the oath of office for the president of the United States. For some this was a moment of euphoric victory. They had sacrificed much in social capital to prove that this man was a man of faith. They had to look past him trying to stuff a camel through a needle head. They had to justify sexual assault. Again. They had to turn blatant racism into a commodity for their parishioners. They sacrificed the stranger on an altar of barbwire and washed their hands in the tears of refugees to achieve the penultimate. To put into office someone, they thought they could guide on “faith issues” that look alarmingly like human rights issues to the rest of us.
Then there were folks like me. I knew he was going to win for months. I was horrified by this thought but not surprised. As a black man who has traveled extensively in this country I had seen the true face of America. It has incredible beauty that is only matched by its capacity for unrestrained hatred and senseless slaughter on any who attack its core values. It’s core value is whiteness. Not scripture as some would have you believe. Not the constitution most folks have never sat down and actually read. Whiteness.
A year ago I wrote a piece entitled 2017: A Year of Faithful Resistance. I began like this- “I want to start by saying this post will be incredibly unfair to some of you. Particularly Pastors and faith leaders of color, in the LGBTQ community, and intersectional feminist theologians. Followers of Christ from the margins. You have sacrificed so much for calls to the church in various roles. The path that I have walked so far is littered with your strewn bodies. I stand on your shoulders. I see you. I honor you. I’m deeply thankful.
But more is required of you.
It is unfair. You shouldn’t have to justify your personhood or your right to agency or in some of our cases, to exist, ever again.
But you do.
Your bruises have become a healing balm to so many who have followed you. Your scars have become proverbs of the people. Your intense psychic trauma has been heard by the Creator and the people. We are singing it back to you in waves of hosanna. You are beloved. You are tired. You are weary.
We need you stand up one more time.”
You can read the rest of that piece here.
So, the same folks whom I knew would be unfairly leaned upon in this year, the leaders I knew would pay the highest prices just for existing, I have asked to come back a year later and write about A Year of Faithful Resistance. They are women of color and women of the cloth. They are fierce warriors and mothers. They are wives and sisters. They are my heroes. Please share their stories.
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