At one time, these words were on all of our pamphlets introducing people to Gordon United:
What does the Lord require of you
But to seek justice
Love kindness
And walk humbly with your God.
Those are the words of the prophet Micah (6:8). It is the culmination of his words to the people of Israel, as God declares that sacrifices or offerings have no meaning when injustice and economic exploitation continue in the land. Every single one of the prophets has a similar warning – and that’s a lot of warnings, when you realize there are 17 prophetic books in the Hebrew Scriptures! The prophetic tradition is about speaking God’s word to those in power – including the people who support those in power. In a democracy, that’s us – and so the words of the prophets are for us too.
The prophets are not diviners, fortune-tellers or psychics. They read the signs of the present, to envision a future to come. They take what they see in the present, and then speak God’s warning to the people, telling them what will happen if they continue to act in a manner that is not fitting for people who are supposed to be committed to God’s way. The prophetic imagination and connection to the divine is so profound that they are able to speak on God’s behalf.
Prophets often engage in acts of protest: symbolic, attention-getting acts that call the public to sit up and take notice. Jeremiah walked naked and barefoot for 3 years; Hosea publicly married a prostitute and named his children “Not-Loved’ and “Not-my-people”; Ezekiel laid on his left side for over a year. Nowadays we’d probably call them media stunts. They caught the people’s attention and pointed to messages God had for them.
On the other side of the prophetic calling, are the visions of the people living a different way –founded on God’s principles of compassion and justice. The story we heard from the book of the prophet Hosea today reminds us that God’s love is steadfast and unquenchable. God does not stay angry with us! That is what the former slave trader John Newton called “amazing grace”. As much as the words of doom and judgement, each prophet calls us to hope for a better life for all of us together.
Contemporary protestors and political advocacy groups do similar work today: Rabbis for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Sabeel Centre for Liberation Theology, Doctors without Borders, the David Suzuki Foundation, the World Council of Churches, KAIROS – and others. Some of these are faith groups who speak God’s expectation of justice to the powers that be; others are secular organizations – but all read what is happening in the present and project it into the future, showing us what will happen to our world if we do not choose the ways of life – but also reminding us what the path of life looks like, whether in relation to violence, politics., the economy, interpersonal relationships, religion or the environment.
On this Emancipation Sunday, I want to recognize the legacy of slavery – one of the greatest injustices in which Christians participated fully in every corner of the globe. We know the legacy of racial inequality is still playing out south of our border, as white nationalism continues to grow in power. We are not immune here in Canada. Slavery is even older in this land than Canada itself. It was practiced by and against Indigenous groups, as well as against Black folk. And that legacy of claiming one race is superior to another continues today.
Racist fight clubs have been discovered across Canada, and members of the Canadian military and others have been arrested for training in combat for a “race war” – as well as creating digital spaces in which hate is being spread. Both Surrey and Coquitlam police members have been investigated by the courts for racial slurs and discrimination. While not directly affecting the Black community, the “Starlight Tours” of Saskatoon in the 90s and early 2000s were notorious: Indigenous people were arrested for minor offences, driven to the city limits by the local police and dumped there in freezing temperatures with no way to get back except walk. One can only imagine how those same officers treated other people of colour.
If you visit certain parts of Canada today, you will become aware very quickly that the legacy of enslavement is not over. I was shocked when I visited Nova Scotia in the early 90s to find myself in a town that was completely racially segregated – with a Black half and a White half. The only people who crossed the line were people married to someone of a different colour. From the testimony of a person I know who lives in that town today, the divide is not quite as visible as it once was, but it’s still there.
It was surprising to me to find out that until 1975, racial discrimination on the part of businesses was not illegal in Canada, Secular activists like Viola Desmond abd Claire Best made their historic stance against legal discrimination by bunsinesses from the 1940s onward – and it was in the courts that the battle for justice took place. The same discrimination that was present in the community was present in the church. The Reverend Wilbur Howard was the first Black man to be ordained in the United Church, in 1941 – but it took until 1965 before any church was willing to call him as their minister – despite Howard being born and raised in Canada. In 1975, he became the first Black Moderator of the United Church of Canada. Was that a prophetic act of justice, or a sign of a shift in culture that the UCC just followed?
The Reverend Paul Walfall, a contemporary Black United Church minister, is well-known in national church circles for his prophetic calls to the church to recognize continuing discrimination towards Black and other racialized people in the church. His congregation, Pilgrim United in Edmonton, and Northern Spirit Regional Council have sent a proposal to this year’s meeting of General Council, calling for the United Church to step out and make an apology 1) for our founding denominations’ participation in the enslavement of African peoples, and 2) its continued participation in the ongoing legacy of slavery – including current practices that still make it difficult for people of colour to serve in our predominantly white Churches. It’s been 60 years since Wilbur Howard served as our Moderator – and yet there are still too many testimonies of racialized ministers unable to find a call or appointment to minister, lasting only a very short time in a call due to mistreatment, or receiving frequent thinly veiled or not-so-veiled racist comments and actions in church and community. This is not acceptable. Paul writes on his Substack blog: An apology is a critical signal that the Church is committed to acknowledging the harms of anti-Black racism and is resolved to work intentionally to address them. It indicates a willingness to confront brutal truths and to seek healing and justice for those who have been wronged.
What might a Biblical prophet of today say to the United Church of Canada?
Perhaps something like this:
I do not want your Sunday services,
When all are not welcome to lead them.
I do not want your songs of praise,
If some are excluded from the chorus.
I do not want your tithes and offerings
When people are suffering outside your doors.
Woe to those who see others as less than them,
For they will be friendless
and they will suffer at the hands of others like them.
Woe to those who persecute the disadvantaged,
For their wealth and power will end
and they will find themselves in the dust.
Woe to those who parade around as if they are gods;
For every idol falls and every empire is overturned.
Woe to those who assume their place in the kin~dom of God
Yet exclude others from their homes and churches,
For the kin~dom of heaven does not belong
To such as these.
But when justice becomes your bread
And love becomes the wine that you drink,
Then you will see and know my salvation.
You will be a light to the nations
And the hope for your community.
You will rejoice and be glad,
For your world will be transformed
And God’s will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. Amen.
