New Testament Scripture—Matthew 3:13-4:1
Normally, the scripture reading for today ends with the climatic conclusion of God speaking from the heavens, but this morning I thought it would be important for us to remember that just after Jesus is baptized in the river and embraced by God he then gets tossed into the desert and tempted by Satan. Given the jarring juxtaposition of this spiritual climax and the rough times that follow, all week I have been wondering whether there is a parallel between the new beginning of a baptism and the new beginning of an inauguration.
All week I have also been wondering what I would say this Sunday. How would I speak about the hope that this inauguration brings for many and yet also speak of the challenges waiting for all of us the next day? It seems like this situation presents the danger of either being too glib in one’s hope or too cynical in one’s assessments. Not wanting to fall into either trap, I thought I would try to initially ground my reflections in real life by sharing from one of my own experiences of baptism. I am speaking of baptism, of course, metaphorically as a new beginning.
Like many freshmen, my first semester of college was at times an experience of almost dizzying exhilaration over the new ideas and perspectives I encountered. In high school, I had created for myself independent study courses to read what I called the literature of the oppressed, but it was not until I arrived on campus that I had ever heard of African American Studies. Nevertheless, during my first week as I searched for courses to take, I found myself visiting a class entitled “Visions of Community in African American Religious Thought.” Despite being unsure of whether I could survive this upper level course, I signed up for what would ultimately be the best class I took during my four years of college. In a short amount of time, I became a baptized believer in the riches of black religious history. Unbeknownst to my professor, I had become his disciple. Ultimately, my devotion would lead to a double major in African American Studies and Religion.
I am not sure, but I suppose at some level I might have been a bit abnormal for a white guy at the time. For some reason, reading about black history was for me never an exercise in feeling guilty or utterly depressed. Sure, black history exposes one to the horrors of the past, but for me it was also a heady experience of being introduced to everything from the righteous courage of slave revolts to the insightful perspectives of black feminism.
I was so enthralled with what I was learning that I would endeavor to share it with almost everyone I encountered. When I flew home for my first Christmas as a college student, I struck up conversations with the passengers next to me with the primary purpose of having yet another outlet for discussing my new passion. Likewise, underneath the Christmas tree, my family members found wrapped as gifts my favorite works by black authors. A few days later I was in my home church where it was a tradition for returning college students to run the worship service the Sunday after Christmas. So it was that I eagerly assumed responsibility for preaching and preached an impassioned sermon on racial justice.
The sermon put me on an emotional mountaintop from which I soon came down. After the service, there was a receiving line where members of the church lined up to shake hands with all of the college students. In the line, I remember being greeted by an older white member of the church and having one of those awkward conversations about race that probably more than anything demonstrates how little race is discussed among white people. In the midst of the conversation, as if he was stating an obvious fact, the gentleman offered the opinion that TV shows which cast black judges present us with something that is far from reality. He then laughed a kind of nervous laugh. At the time, I was initially perplexed by his statement. I thought, “Does he really think there are no black judges? Or, has he become so accustomed to seeing the world in a certain way with black people working some jobs and white people working others that in the mid-size college town in which he lives he cannot imagine it being any different?” “Perhaps,” I thought, “he even thinks black people are incapable of being judges? Or, maybe, to give him the benefit of the doubt, just maybe, he is simply pointing out that we live in a society with a glass ceiling that prevents us from having very many black judges?” His nervous laugh and the general tenor of the conversation, however, made me feel that probably giving him the benefit of the doubt would be a bit too generous.
Even in the relatively short amount of time that I have been on this earth, one can say that the racial landscape of our country has indeed changed in noticeable ways. A white person can no longer laugh at the idea of a black judge, a black neuroscientist, or a black president. Not that holding one of these professional or elite positions makes someone any more human or any better than everyone else. Still, as a number of people have said in various ways, compared to previous generations many children today of all races will grow up in our society with a different sense of expectations and assumptions about who can become what.
We are a sophisticated congregation, so we know that while some of the changes in the racial landscape rightly give us hope, this does not mean we have reached the promised land. For a long time, one of the basic fundamentals of racism has been that certain people of color are lifted up as model minorities or stellar examples of what it is possible while the rest who do not make it to their level are subtly trashed through code words about a culture of poverty, dysfunctional families, promiscuous behavior, etc. All of these code words essentially perpetuate old stereotypes and notions without actually using the language of race. So instead of saying black people are biologically inferior, it is now more palatable and acceptable to say that inner city people (i.e., black people) are in some way culturally deficient (i.e., inferior). Predictably, Obama’s success will be lifted up as a shining example of black can-do while poor blacks are simultaneously castigated as unworthy due to no fault but their own. In the midst of Obama’s campaign, one black political scientist went so far as to say with irony that a vote for Obama was a vote to end affirmative action. One can hear the reasoning, “If a black man can become president, who needs affirmative action?” Whether or not affirmative action does come to an end, however, is only inevitable if its supporters let it happen.
So, the racial landscape has changed and will continue to change, but again a sophisticated understanding of race knows that institutional and systemic racial oppression has not gone away but has instead taken new forms. We no longer have legal segregation but segregation still persists. This past week a new study reported that black and Latino students are actually experiencing increasing segregation. The study asserted that black and Latino students are now more separated from others “than at any moment since the civil rights era.” Moreover, in assessing the racial landscape of today we should note that not long after the demise of Jim Crow came the rise of the modern prison industrial complex. From the moment of being stopped by police to the moment of being sentenced to prison, studies show how blacks are statistically much more likely than whites to receive adverse treatment every step of the way in the criminal justice system. If current trends continue, a black male born today has a one in three chance of being imprisoned while a Latino male has a one in six chance. Think about the toll that this kind of dynamic takes on a community to have that many sons, brothers, and fathers behind bars.
Now, I think there are a couple of ways we can think about the current state of racial oppression and progress in our country. One is to focus on the good news and forget about the bad news. In other words, stick with Jesus and John in the river and forget about Jesus and the devil in the wilderness. Another way is to focus on the good news and to use it as a building block for more good news in the face of bad news. In other words, keep sticking with Jesus so you can later beat the devil.
Through the civil rights movement and its legacy, God has worked wonders, including making it possible in our society for a black man to become president. Still, we have to be honest about the need to continue wrestling with the devil. Fortunately, the civil rights movement gave us a legacy upon which we can build. For instance, before King died he was involved in a Poor People’s Campaign that would be timely to renew today given the current state of our economy. The Poor People’s Campaign was based around goals that opinion polls showed the majority of people in the United States wanted to achieve. The majority of our population often has far more radical desires than our politicians, so we should not be surprised to hear that the Campaign sought for congress to guarantee for citizens full-employment, a minimum annual income, and the construction of “at least 500,000 units of low-cost housing per year.”
I am not sure where public opinion is today on these policy goals, but with the economy the way it is current public opinion is still like a community organizer’s dream. People are upset, and they want change. Nevertheless, some goals might seem like wishful thinking given the vast distance between public opinion and public policy. In which case, I recommend searching for a goal you think is challenging yet winnable. Nothing gives hope like an actual victory. There are a number of organizations out there with worthwhile goals for us to consider. Today, I am excited that we have with us representatives from a couple of those organizations to tell us about their approaches to social change and their tangible and immediate goals for making that happen.
Most of us might not be college freshmen anymore, but the promise of new life and new beginnings still lies ahead. There are still new ideas and new horizons capable of exciting us. There are still moments of wonder and exhilaration waiting to be had. Like the children of God that we are, there are still ways in which we can stretch and grow. There are still ways in which we can strive for more justice, more equality, more freedom. Maybe our evangelical brothers and sisters should not be the only ones who talk about being born again. Maybe all of us can be born again. Maybe then we can hear the voice of God call out to us, as if for the first time, saying, “You are my beloved. With you, I am well pleased.” Amen.