On Tuesday evening, just a few hours after the verdict in the Chauvin trial, I was in a gathering where Carolyn asked something like, “If you were at the Hennepin County Courthouse or George Floyd Square right now and someone asked you to say a prayer, what words would you use?” People (of course) had many beautiful answers, including a prayer from their tradition that includes language for healing.
To be honest, every moment that passes I have slightly different thoughts about what words I might pray in such a situation, and none of them feel sufficient. But, I did want to share some attempts. (I want to be clear that these thoughts are heavily influenced by the words of the Rev. Dr. DeWayne Davis, the lead pastor at the church in Minneapolis where I work. He spoke this week both at a vigil for Daunte Wright and at the vigil after the verdict came out on Tuesday. I highly suggest looking him up on Facebook and watching some recent videos.)
In Christianity, we are in the season of Easter. Easter isn’t just one day, though we often talk as though it is, but instead lasts for 50 days. And Easter is about resurrection which, as the Rev. Dr. Davis points out, is about a rising up, or as we might say, an uprising. We are in a season of uprising within Christianity, and we need to take that very seriously. And we also know that it was in the season of Easter and the days soon after that the Church was commissioned to the work of building beloved community and stepping into its calling as disciples of Jesus Christ.
So. I believe that tradition and current realities remind us that we need to keep on waking up dissatisfied, and that our dissatisfaction with the way things are should compel us to the work of dismantling racism and white supremacy until the world is as God calls it to be. This is a tall order, and some days the path feels unclear or just unattainable to me, but I continue to believe that it is work to which I am called, and to which we in Christianity are called as an Easter people, a people of uprising.
What are the stories or sayings within your own tradition or practice that give you guidance and even challenge around racial justice? How are you working to lean into that- if not every day, some days?
In gratitude and hope for this community,
Hannah Campbell Gustafson
Associate Chaplain for Christian and Interfaith Life