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| Image by Hari K. Patibanda |
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skin
A GREETING
I sing of your love and justice—
O God, I sing to you!
(Psalm 101:1)
A READING
Listen here, mortal:
God has already made abundantly clear
what “good” is, and what Good needs from you:
simply do justice,
love kindness,
and humbly walk with your God.
(Micah 6:8)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
My fidelity and love will be with you.
(Psalm 89:24)
A POEM
At the age of 18
I know my color is not a warning, but a welcome.
A girl of color is a lighthouse, an ultraviolet ray of power, potential, and promise
My color does not mean caution, it means courage
my dark does not mean danger, it means daring,
my brown does not mean broken, it means bold backbone from working
twice as hard to get half as far.
Being a girl of color means I am key, path, and wonder all in one body.
- from "At the Age of 18: Ode to Girls of Color,"
by Amanda Gorman
VERSE OF THE DAY
We have risen, and we stand firm.
(Psalm 20:8b)
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| "Members of Pageant of Birds," by Eudora Welty (1930s). Welty was a renowned white author and photographer whose novels and short stories offered a glimpse of depression-era life in the South. Her passion for photography led her to where people of her privilege were not usually interested to go. Her body of work has since provided a glimpse of histories of black communities that have been helpful to later generations. "Sinners," a film released during this past year, drew heavily on Welty's photographs for its production design and cinematography. Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the film's cinematographer who is Filipino and Black Creole, last week became the first woman ever to win an Academy Award for cinematography for her work on "Sinners." |
Sweet Honey in the Rock's "I'm Gon' Stand," helps us into a new week, one in which we will be reflecting on the human body and its agency in working for justice. How do our bodies contain and hold sacred aspects of our identity, the wholeness of who we are?
The colour of skin, one of the most beautiful aspects of God's diverse creation, has a long history of causing profoundly damaging divisions. All over the world, including here in Canada, societies have imposed brokenness and separation out of their own desire for superiority. In the first parts of her long poem, U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman describes her years as a child before turning eighteen as one of disorientation and challenge. When she turned eighteen, she found and owned a different sense of her identity. "Being a girl of color means I am key, path, and wonder all in one body."
Sometimes we have a strong inward sense of who we are within our bodies --- which does not match how the world perceives us or treats us. When our spirit is not in synch with the world's craving for power, we might feel called to do something to bring the inner and outer parts of us into alliance. Nearly all of the stories this week will have this common factor. In order to reclaim our sense of identity and/or a just world, we have to "take a stand," using our voices, our bodies and our hearts to try to make things better.
Throughout scripture, this is described as building the kindom of God. We have a God who wants wholeness for every single one of us. We are called, heard in the simple instructions from Micah, to bring such a reality into existence however we can. But sometimes in order to do that, we have to sit with the brokenness and understand it. Finding peace of spirit involves listening boldly -- leaning out of our assumptions and fears and into the stories that need to be heard. Our bodies and our whole selves are vocationally called into helping to restore brokenness.
What in your day today will require that work from you? Who do you know who might appreciate your justice, kindness and humility?
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| Image by Hari K. Patibanda |
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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!