\n\tcelebrating God’s acts in freeing oppressed people from their
\n\toppressors, and leading them to freedom even when a superior
\n\tmilitary force wanted to prevent it.<\/li>\n
\n\tbrought crowds of faithful Jews into Jerusalem to celebrate God’s
\n\tpower to free them from their oppressors.<\/li>\n
\n\tfunctionally Roman Colonies, overburdened with taxes that took the
\n\twealth of the land and transferred it to the wealthy artistocrats at
\n\tthe top of the Roman hierarchy.<\/li>\n
\n\tnervous and jerky about large crowds of religiously faithful people
\n\twho believed in the power of God to overcome oppressors.<\/li>\n
\n\tRoman Empire had a HUGE military parade into Jerusalem emphasizing
\n\tthe power of their military and bringing the Governor into town to \u2013
\n\tas they would say \u2013 keep the peace.<\/li>\n
\n\tpresence of the Governor functioned as THREATS OF VIOLENCE against
\n\tanyone who might think God was up to freeing people from oppression
\n\tonce again.<\/li>\n
\n\twell that a few decades later there WAS a big protest and the Empire
\n\tresponded with a massacre as well as the destruction of the temple.
\n\tThey weren’t kidding about the threat of violence.<\/li>\n
\n\tEVERY YEAR.<\/li>\n
\n\tNONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION to parody their parade and clarify the
\n\tdifferences between Rome’s violent power and God’s nonviolent realm.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nAs the Jesus Seminar puts it, \n<\/p>\n \nWhen I think about nonviolent \n<\/p>\n \nI believe most of you are aware \n<\/p>\n \nNonviolent direction action is \n<\/p>\n \nThose actions changed our \n<\/p>\n \nOur society isn’t particularly \n<\/p>\n \nProtests or nonviolent direct \n<\/p>\n \nI’m quite confident that if a \n<\/p>\n \nSeveral years ago now, the Poor \n\u201cWe were protesting the \n<\/p>\n \nThis one particularly reminds me \n<\/p>\n \nThe injustice I have spent the \n<\/p>\n \nThus, there has been a need to \n<\/p>\n \nThere have been a lot of \n<\/p>\n \nFor the first, I’m going to \nThere was a regularly scheduled \nThere was weeping and there was \nWhen the sacrament was over, The At In \n<\/p>\n \nSo, this Palm Sunday, this day \nnonviolent direct actions.<\/p>\n \n<\/p>\n \nWhen you see a protest \u2013 ask \n<\/p>\n \nWhen you see an injustice, talk \n<\/p>\n \nIt seems that’s the Jesus way, \n<\/p>\n \nAmen\n<\/p>\n 1<\/a>. Acts 2. <\/a>Acts
\n\u201cFor his part, Jesus made it clear that he was entering Jerusalem
\nto face death. \u00a0In that case, the ‘triumphal entry’ as Mark depicts
\nit is a satire of revolutionary processions and of the kind of
\ntriumphal entry the Romans enjoyed making into cities they had
\nconquered.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a>
\n That is, \u201cJesus was not making a statement about his own
\nmessiahship, but contrasting God’s imperial rule (‘Congratulations,
\nyou poor! \u00a0God’s domain belongs to you\u201d) with Roman Imperial
\nRule.\u201d2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\ndirect action, this Palm Sunday protest parade is an outstanding
\nexample. \u00a0It is up there with the best. \u00a0I believe most of you are
\naware of the lunch counter protests whereby people of color (gasp)
\nsat down at lunch counters where they would not be served to draw
\nattention to that injustice (and take the space of someone who might
\nbe served AND PAY).<\/p>\n
\nof the Montgomery Bus Boycott, when for over a year African Americans
\nrefused to ride buses in Montgomery, Alabama until the buses stoped
\nhaving segregated seating. \u00a0They refused to ride AS second class
\ncitizens, and without their participation, the buses weren’t
\nsustainable.<\/p>\n
\nreally, really hard work. \u00a0In both of those cases people faced
\nviolence and hardship in response to seeking justice. \u00a0I’m always
\nastounded at the commitment people made FOR MORE THAN A YEAR in the
\nbus boycott, and in the face of VIOLENCE at lunch counters.<\/p>\n
\nsociety for the better. \u00a0They didn’t counter violence with violence,
\nbut rather with nonviolence. \u00a0They showed up or didn’t as needed, and
\nallowed their nonviolent actions to create change.<\/p>\n
\nfond of protest, or at least that what I hear when Black Lives
\nMatters gets brought up in most places. \u00a0I hear that people should
\nseek justice in other ways, which makes it clear to me that a lot of
\npeople don’t actually understand the point of protests.<\/p>\n
\nactions are what you do when other avenues of justice are closed OR
\nyou need to increase public awareness of injustice in order to work
\nthrough other avenues of justice. \u00a0If a problem can be solved
\ndirectly, most people chose that route. \u00a0Nonviolent direction action
\nis the HARDER way forward \u2013 one that comes at personal cost, often
\nwith a threat of violence against those who are involved with the
\naction, and when other avenues are closed.<\/p>\n
\nnicely worded letter to a Diner or a local paper managed to
\ndesegregate restaurants, people would have done that. \u00a0I’m assured
\nthat if a phone call to a city councilman or a postcard campaign to
\nthe transit authority would have desegregated buses, people would
\nhave been thrilled to take the easier route. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nPeople’s Campaign NY did a series of nonviolent direct actions in the
\nNew York State capital to draw attention to the ways that the needs
\nof people in poverty are being ignored. \u00a0The one I thought was most
\ncreative was the Fort Orange Club action. \u00a0Kevin Nelson was present
\nand he explains it this way:<\/p>\n
\ninfluence of lobbying interests (and their related campaign
\ndonations) on policies that subvert the interest of average New
\nYorkers. We had a human chain thing from the Legislative Office
\nBuilding (LOB) to the Fort Orange Club, with \u201cbags of money\u201d
\nalong the chain to indicate the money flow. We blocked exits and
\nentrances to the parking lots at the Club for several hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nof the Jesus Palm Sunday protest, in that it seems equally BRILLIANT,
\nand infuriating to those in power.<\/p>\n
\nmost time working to change is the structural institutional
\nhomophobia of The United Methodist Church. \u00a0Because of my work there,
\nI’ve seen the ways that all other avenues have been blocked. \u00a0Since
\n1972, petitions to change the homophobic stances have come to the
\nfloor at General Conference, with no positive action. \u00a0The judicial
\nbranch of the UMC has upheld the discrimination, and most Bishops
\nwill enforce it. \u00a0LGBTQIA+ people and their allies lack the votes,
\nthe power, and the access to justice.<\/p>\n
\nincrease the pressure to create change, to increase anxiety, to bring
\nattention to injustice, and to be clear that the only way to stop the
\ndemands for justice was to BRING JUSTICE to God’s people.<\/p>\n
\nprotests, and I want to talk about two of them.<\/p>\n
\nshare it in the words of Rev. Dr. Julie Todd who spent many DECADES
\nas an activist for Queer and Trans rights in the UMC. \u00a0This is from
\nthe \u201cLove Prevails Blog\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\ncommunion at every lunch break in the plenary hall at General
\nConference 2004 in Pittsburgh. On the day the votes went badly yet
\nagain for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ)
\npeople, we decided as a movement to go to that communion service,
\nwhere we could stand in the presence of the broken and resurrected
\nBody of Christ. We did this as a means of re-asserting our presence
\nin that Body. We did this as a means of resistance against the false
\ninstitutional proclamation of one cup, one Body, and one baptism,
\nwhen clearly the actions of the General Conference actively sought to
\nharm and exclude members of that Body. All forms of our resistance
\nand disruption are embodied statements that the unity of the church
\ncannot continue to come at the cost of LGBTQ lives. These same acts
\nof resistance are theological affirmations that the resurrected Jesus
\nlives on in our whole and beloved queer bodies.<\/p>\n
\nanger at communion. There was a need for a deep and spiritual release
\nof the violence that had just been done to the queer body of Christ.
\nBecause when votes are cast against the very existence of LGBTQ
\nlives, that is what is happens: violence. Christ\u2019s body crucified
\nagain. To not act in the face of such violence does further violence.<\/p>\n
\nRev. James Preston grabbed a chalice from the communion altar and
\nsmashed it on the floor. The smashing of the chalice was not a
\nplanned disruption. While there were many interpretations of that
\nmoment of breaking the chalice, in fact there was no chaos, no
\nstorming the altar, no desecration of the sacrament. There was a holy
\nanger that took shape in a prophetic act. A movement of the Spirit
\ninterceded to express anguished sighs too deep for words. In the
\nbreaking of the cup, Christ spoke to the real brokenness of the
\nmoment.3<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\ndestruction of that chalice REALLY upset a lot of people. \u00a0To this
\nday I remain horrified that they were upset at the breaking of a
\nsacred symbol, but not at the ways the church has broken God’s
\nbeloved PEOPLE.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nthat same 2004 General Conference, people started wearing short
\nrainbow stoles to symbolize a commitment to full inclusion of
\nlesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer person in the life and
\npolicy of The UMC. \u00a0Rainbow stoles become particularly symbolic at
\nAnnual Conferences and their ordination services \u00a0– when they are a
\nsign of protest over who gets the authority to wear a stole (a symbol
\nof being ordained) in The UMC. \u00a0When I was ordained, I was supposed
\nto have a red stole placed on my shoulders, as red is the color of
\npentecost and ordination. \u00a0Instead I was ordained with a rainbow
\nstole (and still won’t wear a red one \u2013 not until all those called
\ncan serve). \u00a0My mentors laid hands on me without their robes or
\nstoles (and one of them in a LOVELY rainbow shawl), as further
\nexpressions of my objections (and theirs.)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/d41d687a62d0f8f68c789a3411b5095e\/a5f8e96d8ffd383e-b5\/s540x810\/8c0969eb7e5bc4f7cfe14f5725aa3506043398cb.png\")
<\/figure>\n
\nthe scheme of things, what a clergy person wears or doesn’t while
\nbeing ordained into a homophobic institution is a pretty low form of
\nprotest. \u00a0(I joined to bring change, but I’m often still
\nuncomfortable with it.) \u00a0There were no consequences, and no changes
\ncame from it. \u00a0But I remember having a colleague I was getting
\nordained with asking me to refrain from those signs of protest so
\nthat our shared ordination could be \u201csacred.\u201d \u00a0And I remember
\nresponding that I couldn’t refrain from sharing my objections about
\nORDINATION AT ORDINATION. \u00a0(By the grace of God, that colleague later
\nchanged their mind and told me so, thanking me for my witness.)<\/p>\n
\nof remembering a nonviolent direct action that was responded to with
\ndeadly force, I invite you into reflection on justice, protests, and\n<\/p>\n
\nyourself \u2013 what justice is missing, and WHY and HOW \u00a0is it blocked?<\/p>\n
\nwith others and pray about what means of responding will bring
\nchange.<\/p>\n
\nthanks be to God.<\/p>\n
\n\tof Jesus, 120.<\/p>\n
\n\tof Jesus, 121.<\/p>\n