Protest, Praise, Community Organizing
Leadership is essential in order to embody what our future must be. If service addresses the present moment, then leadership, creates the future. So, for me that means that I have to be out in the open, in the public forum, showing others what it truly means to be human in an inhumane world. How does that look typically? Well, it varies greatly depending on the day, time, and what I have my hands in, but generally it comes down to the three components that were mentioned earlier in the official bio: Protest, Praise, and Community Organizing.
Protest is the sacred art of disruption, defiance, and uprising. Now why would protest be important? Well, as the quote at the opening of this newsletter states, the vision of God is arrived at through justice and in this country justice-making is often done through the sacred art of protest. Ben Franklin said it best when he declared:
The highest form of patriotism is dissent.
Protest is necessary today because we need to take a stand against all that goes against the dream that God has for the cosmos, what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called –The Beloved Community.
For me, this takes on the form of participating in various forms of public demonstration (some I have organized) on a variety of issues that range from foreign policy based to domestic policy based. All done with the influence of a spirituality of nonviolence. If you would like to listen to a podcast interview where I explain what a spirituality of nonviolence is, click here.
Also, for an essay I wrote on non-cooperation and why we need it today, click here.
In our day, where violence is ramped, families are being torn apart, and Mother Earth continues to crumble, the greatest act of worship you can engage in is to get into the streets and shout NO!
Praise is the sacred art of proclaiming love, truth, and joy. Entering into the mystery of creativity. Praise is absolutely vital in this work because it is the second hand in the “two hands of nonviolence” that Barbara Demy taught. Namely, one hand you have NO but praise is the other hand and it is YES. Praise keeps everything real and grounded. When you praise, you are speaking into the universe a beautiful song of affirmation. When you praise, you are allowing yourself to be re-grounded in gratitude.
This portion of my work is spread throughout. Everyone who knows me, knows I enjoy music and sing all day long. In fact, a sign that I am not well is usually when I do not feel like singing. However, this portion of my work specifically manifest in music ministry for various churches throughout the city of Houston and sometimes for retreats outside of Texas.
Community Organizing is the sacred art of building capacity for creating the world we need for healthy, whole, and liberated living, where solidarity is the standard and tenderness is the methodology.
For me, out of all the things I do throughout my day, this is my heart. Community organizing is where I get to show up, engage with big-hearted people, bring my creativity and insights, but also this is where I most get to be a pastor – a shepherd for people who want support while we build the world we need, together. This is the work that gives birth to belovedness.
For more information, please reach out to me personally.