At the end of the Durham CAN Delegates' Assembly last night, I gave closing remarks about how we move forward. The overarching theme was linking liturgy, as the work of the people, to the continuing organizing to be done on policing, jobs, and housing. Here are those remarks.
Hello. I am Mike Broadway, Associate Minister at Mt. Level
Missionary Baptist Church and part of the Clergy and Strategy teams of Durham
CAN.
It has been some time since we have
gathered in this kind of assembly to testify, to plan, and to make promises to
one another about making our city and county more of what it ought to be, more
filled with opportunity and a good life for all of its residents. It has been 231 days, to be exact. For me, it has been even longer. After four and a half years sojourning
in Central Texas, through many changes for me and for Durham, I’m blessed to be
among you again as part of this great work of building power together.
Many preachers have stood before
you today, and maybe it seemed like a liturgical assembly at times. While we preachers are only a small
part of the leadership of Durham CAN, it is fitting that we think of this
gathering as a liturgy. The word
liturgy means “the work of the people.”
It comes from an ancient Greek term that describes the duties that
people in a city have toward one another.
Those with talent, with property, with power, with resources have
responsibility to contribute toward making life in the community better for
everyone. Liturgy, not merely the
words and actions we do in our houses of worship, is the work we are called to
do for the good of one another, for the common good. It is learning to use the power that God gives us. It is not confined to a worship service;
it expands into public service. We
are all liturgists—we are public servants.
This duty of public service also
has deep roots in the story of God’s calling out a people.
Abraham and Sarah of old were told that
God would bless them and their descendents.
Those blessings, however, would not be for clutching tightly
and hoarding.
They would be
blessed so that they could be a blessing to others.
Have you been blessed with a position of influence?
With ability to negotiate?
With connections and power?
With a job?
With a home?
With friendships?
Do you
have energy to work?
Do you have a
deep resistance to injustice?
In
all these cases, you are blessed.
And
remember, like Sarah and Abraham, you have those blessings so that you can
become a blessing to others.
Today we have testified and poured
out our hopes for our neighborhoods, for jobs, for housing, for living wages,
for young people’s opportunities to learn and work—these are the liturgical
prayers of the people. In our
conversations, we have made progress and promises with one another today. That’s how we build our power. We have agreed that the time when we
could ignore unjust practices of profiling in policing will come to an end in
our city, and we will work together to see that day. We have taken a first step toward concrete progress, should
I say frame, brick and mortar progress, on abundant affordable housing. We have made plans to strengthen
relationships across the community to make sure that our out-of-work neighbors
have opportunities both now and in the future to train for, apply for, and to
work in good, living-wage jobs.
These promises are just the beginning. They are the confessions and creeds of the liturgy. Having recited them, another powerful
work of the people begins now.
Take the hand of the people on each
side of you. We made promises and
agreements. We are in this work
together. Turn to your neighbor
and say, “I’ve been blessed.”
That’s right. We’ve all been
blessed, and we all have blessings to share. Now turn to your neighbor again and say, “We have the
power. It’s time to do the
work.”
With thankful hearts for the seeds of justice planted in us, for the
blessings we have received, for the Spirit’s powerful work among us, for the visions
and opportunities ahead of us, let’s all go forth from this place and do the
work of the people. Thank you all,
and good night.
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