"FINDING EYES TO SEE"

 “FINDING EYES TO SEE” 

I wrote last week about the metaphor of “having eyes to see” and what a gift it is to be able to see realities and patterns that often are blocked from our vision.  As I think of this, the story of Saul (who became Paul) on the road to Damascus comes to my mind (and sight) in Acts 8.  As he goes to Damascus to arrest followers of Jesus (yes, he still has not been able to “see” the risen Jesus), the Lord’s Spirit strikes him, and he loses his literal (and spiritual) vision.   He is taken to Damascus, and there a trembling follower of  the risen Jesus comes to him (as instructed by the Spirit).  Ananias tells Paul who he is, then touches him, and the “scales fall from Paul’s eyes.”  He then becomes the most famous follower of the risen Jesus.

I always wonder about the Biblical metaphors of sight – not using it, losing it, and regaining it.  The Biblical approach is that most of us do not “have eyes to see,” that our perceptual apparatus is captured by the systems of domination and power that make us see others as less than human.  I certainly have been (and continue to be) captured by those systems, such as race, gender, sexual orientation, materialism, and many others.  But, I do have my eyes opened on occasion, and I am grateful for the intervention of God’s Spirit when that happens.  

As we think about how we begin to “have eyes to see,” it is important to remember a couple of points.  First, it is helpful to put ourselves into new places and people who can challenge us and widen our views of others and of ourselves.  In saying this, I am not speaking of the idea of everybody’s opinion being the same, that all truths are relative.  Rather I am speaking of being open to hearing a new and different story, a story that will likely widen our vision, but if it is truthful, it will be a story that challenges our point of view.  The acclaimed author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie made a famous Ted Talk on this – here is the link to it, if you have not seen it

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en

Caroline any my kids will tell you that I am notoriously conservative in my approach to life.  Early on in our marriage, Caroline developed the “Three Day Rule,” especially in our ministry together.  When she would bring new ideas to me, I would almost always say “No”.  So, she told me one day that we were adopting the “Three Day Rule” in our marriage – when she brought a new idea or project for discussion, I could not say “No” for three days.  After I had thought about it for three days, then we could discuss it!  And, it largely worked.

The second point about finding eyes to see is the importance of seeking to be open to new voices.  My long tenure as pastor at Oakhurst Presbyterian taught me that -  the multicultural nature of the church kept calling me out of my provincial self with a single story.  That community asked me to see different worlds, different realities – and to see myself in a new way, to have eyes to see.  The community becomes such an important part of helping each of us and all of us to find eyes to see.  Without Ananias coming to Saul to heal him, we would not likely have the New Testament in the form that we have it, and it would have taken a long time for the “country” gospel of Jesus of Nazareth to make it to the cities.  Paul found eyes to see, and the urban church was born.  Let us all pray and be open to those kinds of interventions, so that we, too, may “have eyes to see.”

"HAVING EYES TO SEE"

“HAVING EYES TO SEE”

When David and Susan were young children, they loved to hunt for Easter eggs.  We had a HUGE egg hunt at Oakhurst after worship on Easter, and when we got home, we would again hide the eggs for the kids to try to find.  This process of hiding and finding could go on for two weeks after Easter (we learned quickly not to use hard-boiled eggs for this lengthy process).  One of the more memorable parts of this game was to hide the eggs “in plain sight,” where they were both visible and invisible.  Our favorite quote for this part of the game was: “You have to have eyes to see,” meaning that the egg was sort of visible in its hiddenness, but the seeker had to see it in just the right way in order to “see” it and find it.

I was reminded of this saying during the journey of my first cataract surgery this week.   I give thanks that it seems to have gone well, but I am even more aware now of what a gift is sight, both literal and figurative sight.  A day after the surgery, as the cloudiness in my right eye began to clear, I reminded myself of how much I have taken “seeing” for granted, even though I have worn glasses for almost 60 years.  I still have blurriness in reading, and that is frustrating, but I know that can be corrected.  Yet, still, having eyes to see is such a gift.

When I have been resting my eyes this week, I have listened to some cassette tapes (yes, I still have those and the player that accompanies them).  I recorded these tapes in the fall, 2003, when I read to my mother, who was staying with us while she underwent chemotherapy for lung cancer.  She had macular degeneration and could no longer see well enough to read. She loved to read, and this loss of sight was a terrible affliction for her.   She was a big fan of the writing of Marcus Borg, and his latest book on the Bible had just been published.  So, I got the book and read it to her.  As usual, she interrupted me often to ask questions and make comments.  And, I’m so glad that she did, because I can still hear her voice, 17 years after her death.  

    The Bible frequently uses this image of having eyes to see, usually in a negative sense, meaning that those of us captured by the powers and principalities have eyes but cannot see.  In his book, Borg uses this image of “having eyes to see,” meaning having (or being given) the ability to “see” things or structures that had previously been hidden from us.  Mother and I talked about my having observed Black people as a boy, but I had never “seen” them as human beings until my eyes had been opened through several conversion experiences.  She also noted that she had never really seen LGBTQ+ people as people until she discovered that one of our beloved family relatives was gay.  Then her eyes were opened.  We noted in our discussion that this is the dynamic that Jesus and the prophets used when they talked of people who are “stubborn” and refuse to see, even though they have eyes to see.  I’ve thought of this discussion often in these days of Covid denial and anti-vaxxers, as something that seems so simple has become so complicated and so deadly.

As I think about this metaphor of “seeing” this week, I am noting that it is both literal and figurative.  My literal, physical vision has been altered this week by my cataract surgery, and in just this small way, I give thanks for the gift of sight.  I also think of people like my mother and many others who lost most or all of their sight.  A terrible, terrible thing to experience.  Yet, I’m also reminded of the many people who have survived and even thrived with limited or no ability to physically see.  

Listening to the tapes of Mother and me this week recalled the stories of Jesus’ healing many blind people, both literally and figuratively.  Indeed, in Luke 4, in his first sermon at his home synagogue in Nazareth he told of his mission, which included “bringing sight to the blind.”  Those stories are reminders of the depth of our captivity to many powers which seek to blind us and to bind out hearts to death and domination.  They also remind us that conversions, including cataract surgeries, are available, if “we have eyes to see.”  And, of course, that is the major question for our time, and for every time:  “How do we find eyes to see?”  More on that question next time.

 

"IDA WELLS IS IN THE HOUSE!!!"

 “IDA WELLS IS IN THE HOUSE!”

This has been quite a time for Ida B. Wells.  Catherine Meeks and I wrote a book on her in 2019 “Passionate for Justice,” which the Georgia Center for the Book named as one of ten books that all Georgians should read.  Last year Ida Wells was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for her pioneering work in investigative journalism.  Michelle Duster, her great-granddaughter, published a fine book on her entitled “Ida B: The Queen.”  On June 30, a monument, sculpted by Richard Hunt, was dedicated to her in her adopted hometown of Chicago.  The powerful Nikole-Hannah Jones spoke at that occasion, along with the mayor of Chicago and Michelle and her brother Donald, who were the driving forces in getting the funds for the monument.

Wells’ 159th birthday is this Thursday, July 16, and on that occasion, a park and monument will be dedicated in her honor in Memphis, Tennessee, the town which ran her out in the early 1890's.  Wells had just completed and published a long and definitive study of the avalanche of lynchings that were happening all over USA, but mainly in the South.  In her study she noted that the cause of this racial terror was not the sexual predation of Black men on white women, as was usually stated by the White people who were doing the killings.  The real reason, Wells concluded, was the White desire to control Black people and to return them to slavery as much as possible.  The white response was to firebomb her newspaper offices in Memphis and to threaten to lynch her if she returned to Memphis.  She was an exile first in New York and then in Chicago.  She would not return South until 31 years later in 1921 to investigate the massacre of more than 230 Black people in my home county, Phillips County, Arkansas.

She came down to Arkansas in disguise in order to investigate the Phillips County killings that had occurred in 1919.  Black men had defended themselves and their families and their neighbors, killing some white marauders in their efforts.  Twelve Black men had been convicted of these killings and were given the death penalty.  Wells helped the NAACP pick up the case, and a superhero African-American lawyer named Scipio Jones took their case.  The twelve men were waiting on death row to be executed when Wells came to see them, posing as an aunt of one of the men.  She found them dispirited and forlorn, and she decided to speak prophetic words to them in her approach to comforting them in the midst of this huge injustice that had been visited upon them.

Here’s what she said to them:  “I have been listening to you for nearly two hours.  You have talked and sung and prayed about dying, forgiving your enemies, and of feeling sure that you are going to be received in the New Jerusalem because your God knows that you are innocent of the offense for which you expect to be electrocuted.  But why don’t you pray to live and ask to be freed?  The God you serve is the God of Paul and Silas who opened their prison gates, and if you have all the faith you say you have, you ought to believe that he {sic} will open your prison doors too.  If you do believe that, let all of your songs and prayers hereafter be songs of faith and hope that God will set you free; that the judges who have to pass on your cases will be given the wisdom and courage to decide in your behalf.  That’s all I’ve got to say.”

As usual, Wells did more than talk about such freedom.  She worked with Attorney Jones and the NAACP to publicize the cases and to make sure that their case was heard on the Supreme Court level.  Those efforts paid off in 1923 when SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in Moore v. Dempsey that the twelve Black men had not been given a fair trial.  Their convictions were overturned, and eventually all twelve were freed from prison.  Wells had been a lever for another mighty work, using her courage and skill and tenacity to help pull these men out of the jaws of the racist death penalty.

Wells did her work during horrible years in American history, when white Southerners were using all their powers of legislation and violence to move Black people back into neo-slavery.  She fought a powerful battle against the tidal wave of racism that swept across the country.  Her life is an example to all of us of how to do this and of the focus that is needed for such a battle.  Though we are not in the 1890’s when neo-slavery was established, we are in a time when the forces of white supremacy are re-gathering their strength.  It is up to us to respond to this rising force with a sense of equality and strength and vision, as Ida Wells did.

Few of us are Ida B. Wells, but as my colleague and friend Catherine Meeks always says about Wells:  “She was a human being just like the rest of us.  She was an ordinary person who accomplished extraordinary things.  She was able to do this because she  decided to try to be brave, and through that bravery and her tenacity, she was a powerful witness.”  As we think about her birthday this week, let us give thanks for her ordinariness.  Let us give thanks that she decided to be just a little braver one day, and in so doing, she became a light for the rest of us who were coming and who are coming.  As she noted so well, we are the ones we have been waiting for.

"FROM JUNETEENTH TO JULY 4"

 “FROM JUNETEENTH TO JULY 4”

Last week I wrote of two powerful forces in American history that are at odds with one another:  the idea of equality, and the idea of slavery/white supremacy.  These two ideas are not compatible with one another, but they continue to co-exist in the history of the USA.  The tradition is that Frederick Douglass never spoke about equality and justice on July 4, because he saw July 4 celebrations as a mockery as long as people were enslaved in America.  In his famous and powerful speech about Independence Day in 1852 in Rochester, he said these words:  “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer:  a day that reveals to {him}, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which {he} is the constant victim.”

Douglass finds the essence of the struggle in the tension between the idea of equality and the idea of slavery/white supremacy.  How can we celebrate the idea of equality while still holding onto the idea of white supremacy?  Douglass and others knew well how we do it:  we deepen and refine the idea of race and racism.  How could we believe in equality and still hold people in enslavement?  We developed the idea of “white supremacy,” the idea that people of color, and especially those classified as “Black,” were not full human beings in the same way that those classified as “white” were.  The idea of equality, then, does not apply to those classified as “non-white.”  Jefferson and most of the other “founding” fathers did not believe that those classified as “Black” and “Native Americans” were equal human beings.  It was this belief that led them to hold human beings as slaves and to kill and remove Indigenous people from their lands.

After the Civil War, this idea was revived and deepened even further in order to repudiate the outcome of the Civil War (and to deny the value of the 700,000+ lives lost in that War) and in order to re-establish “slavery by another name,” to use Doug Blackmon’s powerful phrase.  This idea of white supremacy retains its power today, as we have seen in the rise of the Party of Trump, dedicated to the idea that white males should be in charge of everything, not because we are greedy and insecure, but because God and nature made us that way.  Those of us classified as “white” are watching the demographics, and we are aware that the time of plurality is not far away in the future, the time when there will be no majority racial classification in USA.  We are willing to support a despot like Trump because he is telling us what we want to hear:  those classified as “white” should always be in charge, especially white males.  This fear of the demographics is driving the Big Lie of the stolen 2020 election, voter suppression acts, censorship on “critical race theory,” and anti-immigrant work.  

We have had several tipping points in our history in this struggle between equality and white supremacy.  We saw it in the rise of the abolitionist movement in the 1840’s, in the tumultuous decade of the 1850’s that led to the Civil War.  We saw it in Reconstruction when the idea of equality seemed to be gaining strength.  We saw it in the development of the counter-revolution which pushed the Big Lie of the “Lost Cause,” an idea that pummeled the idea of equality.  We saw it in the 1890’s, when political power combined with violence to re-establish the priority of white supremacy.  We saw it in the 1940’s and 1950’s, when Black veterans returning from World War II were determined not to go back to neo-slavery.  We saw it in the 1960’s, as equality once again gained strength, and slavery was finally ended in 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Since the Supreme Court eviscerated that Voting Rights Act in in its Shelby v. Holder decision in 2013, we are once again back in that same struggle between equality and white supremacy.  Last week we noted how powerful is the idea of equality, how many different groups - who were intended to be subservient by the system of race developed in USA – have heard and believed that the idea of equality applied to them also.  We are now at that tipping point again in the struggle between equality and white supremacy.  As we celebrate both Juneteenth and July 4, let us remember the tension between them.  Indeed, in the years to come, let us set aside the two weeks between these two national holidays to be in dialogue on the struggle between these two powerful ideas in American history.  May the profound vision of equality – a vision so frightening that its very authors immediately repudiated it in American history – may this vision go to our own core as individuals and as a nation, and may we live out its creed for all of us.