I heard a still, small voice a week ago yesterday. It was Rodeo Parade Day in Evergreen. I pretty much knew that I had better spend the morning cleaning house to get ready for a lot of company on Father’s Day, but an interesting energy came to roost in my heart. And I don’t think it was housecleaning avoidance. I was getting a pretty strong message that I was to march in the parade with Evergreen Peace and hand out some of the one thousand Origami cranes that they had made in the name of peace.
First I got an e-mail invitation from the group. Then my friend Jean Bell had invited me in person. I demurred, claiming the hostess responsibilities. But when I got home from an 8 am meeting, I grabbed some cash for lunch, a basket for the cranes, and headed off on my bicycle for the parade. The roads had already been closed for the morning, so I took trails to preparation site. Why do I tell you that I “heard a still, small voice?” Because the pain of Cindy Sheehan was in my heart and I felt I was being called out to stand for peace and non-violence as she had. You recall Cindy Sheehan. Her son Casey, was killed in combat in Iraq, and she camped outside President Bush’s Texas ranch beginning several years ago to call attention to her criticism, and that of many, to the war in Iraq.
Cindy Sheehan became a figurehead for the anti-war movement. And sadly, that movement was not always kind to her. As human beings have egos, and egos can be very competitive, she was actually branded an “attention whore” by people supposedly in the peace movement. She finally caved in a few weeks ago and said she just couldn’t do it anymore. I experienced the materials I read from her journal postings as a plea to share the burden amongst ourselves. She said it was just too much for one person. And so I marched for Cindy Sheehan on Rodeo Parade Day. And I was pleased with the gasps of delight when children received peace cranes, and when parents exclaimed, “It’s Origami! It must have taken you forever to make this many!” I could take no credit for the cranes, but I was pleased to awaken from my lethargy and distribute them.
Cindy Sheehan’s story seems to me to closely parallel Elijah’s story. I imagine her sitting under a broom tree and asking God to take her life because she feels so weary and so spent. Let’s catch up with Elijah and see if you, too, see any parallels. I will paraphrase the story in the words of Rev. Allan Boesak.
“This scripture, so well known, is a very beautiful story, one of those gripping stories that I remember well from my childhood. Elijah—that great prophet who becomes the symbol for prophecy for Israel and for the church of all times—is now under this broom tree completely dispirited, tired, ready even to give up his life.
Before this, Elijah had made up his mind that it was the time to come to grips with Israel and with all these prophets of Baal who were misleading the people, and with Jezebel and her husband, Ahab, who formed the government of the day. And so they came to Mount Carmel, and there Elijah made his challenge, ‘Today you must make your choice. Either you choose Baal or you choose God.’ And you remember the incredible victory for Elijah and for God on that day.
And then came the message from Jezebel, saying, ‘Tomorrow I will have you killed because you are the kind of minister who does not want to keep out of politics.’ That is essentially what she said. ‘You keep on interfering; you are inspired by I-don’t-know-who. But I am telling you now, you must stop this, because you are going to die.’
Elijah flees for his life, finds himself under this broom tree, and says to God, ‘It is over now, God. I cannot take this anymore. I cannot stand all these threats anymore. I cannot fight this battle anymore.’
God sends the angel. And the angel tells Elijah, ‘Rise up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you; because I want you to go on even farther than you have come now.’ But Elijah had no intention to go on another journey. He did not have the courage to face Jezebel and Ahab again. But God said, ‘Oh, no, Elijah. This is not the end of the road for you. There is still some work for you to do.’
Rev. Boesak, in his sermon in Cape Town, South Africa, in l988, in the height of apartheid, goes on. “God understands that there may come a time in the lives of people when we get tired. God understands that the struggle is long, drawn-out, painful, tear-filled, and we may get tired. God understands that the powers that we face in this world are the powers of evil, and destruction, and violence and intimidation, and we get tired. God understands that when you get up in the morning and you have to fight the same fight that you have been fighting for 10 or 20 or 50 years, you get tired.”
Boesak then carries the congregation to whom he preached along that road they have trod, reminding them of why it is worth their while to continue to oppose injustice in their land. He says, “The point (our government) must hear, and hear very clearly, is that the church in South Africa has decided we have work to do in this country. And we shall continue to do that work until freedom comes for our people and the demands of God’s justice are being met in South Africa.”
He goes on to encourage the gathered people. “And so we may be tired today, but we will go on, for we have work to do. As long as apartheid exists, we have work to do. As long as our people are detained, we have work to do. As long as the church and our people are being threatened, we have work to do. As long as there is a (government) minister who thinks that he’s God, we have work to do.” He goes on to quote a government minister who challenges the church, and replies, “And so I want to say this as calmly as I possibly can. Mr. Minister, you can threaten us all you like—Jesus Christ is Lord. And you can put us in jail as many times as you like—Jesus Christ is Lord. You can come into the streets and into our churches and you can massacre us—Jesus Christ is Lord. The battle is on! But Jesus Christ is Lord. And so the government of South Africa has signed its own death warrant. No government can challenge the living God and survive. And that, Mr. Minister, is the good news for the people of God and the bad news for you!” And let us here, in Wild Rose Church in 2007, remember that it was in 1994, six years after Rev. Boesak preached his sermon, that South Africa’s first democratic, post-apartheid elections made Nelson Mandala president. Apartheid had been defeated.
In scripture, we are told that God requires three things of us: To love justice, to have mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. Indeed, social justice is one of the hallmarks of the United Church of Christ. It seems to me that the pursuit of justice is a long journey as we run into everything from stonewall opposition to lethargic apathy from others. The dictionary describes the word “just” as meaning “honorable and fair in one’s dealings and actions, consistent with what is morally right, lawful, legitimate, suitable, fitting.” The word justice refers to the quality of being just and fair, the principle of moral rightness and equity, the upholding of fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law. It isn’t easy to love justice and put that into action. Sometimes we just get tired and discouraged and want to sit under a broom tree. Part of the reason we come| < Prev | Next > |
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