It’s Easter Tuesday 2023, and for the life of me, I cannot get this one African-American spiritual out of my head… “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?” This powerful tune started its work on me last week right around Good Friday (appropriate enough, one would think), and it continued its course with me as I planned an Easter Sunday sunrise service. Yep, two days ago, my son and I hauled ourselves out of bed at 4:30am, and drove to the beach with other early-rising disciples who wanted to greet the dawn on Easter morning. It was a calm and restorative service with the gentle wind and waves lapping on the shore.

Were you there?

Yeah, so even after a calm, restorative Easer Sunday sunrise service on the beach … that hymn just won’t stop in my head; it’s like it’s on continual repeat. I mean, c’mon! It’s Easter Tuesday, already!

Jesus walked to the cross. CHECK!

Jesus was crucified. CHECK!

Jesus was resurrected and the freedom is ours for the taking. CHECK!

We walked through Lent; we told our story; we said the “Alleluia’s!” CHECK! CHECK! and CHECK!

DONE! WE ARE DONE!

Except, I guess … we aren’t done. Or at least, I’m not done because that hymn just won’t stop with me. And, I guess I get it. We aren’t done because our story doesn’t end with the resurrection even though sometimes we act like it does. Yeah, I think the reason that hymn won’t stop its repeat in my head is because the story — our story — is really just starting. You know, that story when close friends and family were … there … when they crucified their friend, son, teacher, Jesus …. that story that seems so distant – so out of reach – so beyond … that even as a pastor, I struggle to comprehend it. Yeah, that story.

It’s just beginning. At this point, I think it’s time that you hear this hymn too.

If you need to watch a powerful verse of it … check out Mahalia Jackson going FOR IT on YouTube.

If you want to hear the whole thing check out Mahalia Jackson’s full rendition.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, were you there when they crucified my Lord?
(Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble

Were You There?, An African American spiritual that probably predates the Civil War, “Were You There” was first published in
William Barton’s Old Plantation Hymns
(1899)- from Hymnary.org

So, as I enter into my second week with this hymn running its course through my head and heart, I find that its haunting melody and slow, methodical tempo is accompanying me at every step. It is making me ponder and visualize and ask again and again:

Were you there, Melinda?

Like Mary, were you there? Like Jesus’ loved ones and followers, were you there?

Were you there?

This hymn has been making me ask this question again and again … to the point where on one morning drive to work, I found myself spontaneously singing some new words to this old, old cry from the heart:

Were you there when they ‘xpelled them from the house?

Oh, were you there when they ‘xpelled them from the house?

Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble) tremble

After as I sang these “new” lyrics, the hymn took a new turn for me. I found myself returning to the verses of John, and considering deeply about what it means to be there; what it means to be a witness.

²⁵ Jesus’ mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood near the cross. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”

John 19: 25-36 (CEB)

What does it mean to be a witness to the horrific things that we (yes, we = me + you) do as God’s people?

And I guess, more pointedly, what is God calling us to do with our witness?

In recent weeks, we have all been witness to the expulsion of two young black elected representatives, Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, from the Tennessee state legislature for “violating the decorum of the chamber.” There are lots of news sources to read about the events, if you haven’t been following. Here’s a solid one to check out from the LA Times:

Tennessee’s House expels two of three Democrats involved in gun control protest

As I process this and ensuing events, I can’t help but wonder: what does it mean to witness to this (and countless others) events of racial injustice and misuse of power?

Now, I wasn’t there in Tennessee; I’m not going to be anytime soon. But, nonetheless, I am … we are all witnesses to this and countless other acts of overarching misuses of power. I am, we are witness to racist, harmful acts that work to keep in place the multitude of power imbalances in our institutions and systems.

And as disciples of Christ … who were ALL there when they crucified our Lord … what does it mean for us today to witness?

And by that question, yes, I am really asking: how do we not just standby?

How are we engaging our faith?

How are we lifting our voices (in whispers and over the bullhorn both) to upend the systems that are more focused on a chamber’s decorum than putting an end to gun violence that permeates in and through our communities — particularly our underserved, impoverished and vulnerable, communities at the margins?

Were you there?

From my open heart to yours on this Easter Tuesday,

Pastor Melinda

I came across this prayer from one of my go-to resources. I’ve shared it already on the Instagram account for followers of the “Being the Church Movement, Long Beach.” But, it is so needed, so here it is on my blog as well. We all need this prayer. We all need a whole lotta prayer right now.

Gracious God, our holy and life-giving Spirit, today on this Election Day 2020 and the close of this election season, we pray that you would move upon every human heart of this nation to remove barriers that divide us, that walls of separation and suspicions may disappear, and all hatred and prejudice, which blocks us from the light of your love, would cease.

O God, we confess that this election season in our history has not brought out the best in so many of us. Forgive us when we were less than truthful with one another, and forgive us when we were less than loving toward our neighbors.

O loving God, we pray for your healing hand upon our divisions, such that we may seek your peace and reconciliation that is tied to a greater commitment to justice and truth. We pray against every evil spirit and force that would seek to intimidate and suppress voters or instigate violence against any citizen seeking to exercise their precious and sacred right to vote.

We pray that your hedge of protection will cover every poll worker, every election official, and every voter.

Help our elected leaders, O God, to promote love, and not fear, to act out of mercy, and not malice, to work for justice, rather than partiality and privilege. Help us all, Lord, to truly walk alongside and show care and solidarity to our neighbors through our vote in this season.

Almighty God, guide us as a country to guard the rights of one another, to protect the integrity of the election, and to fulfill your purposes for our lives, as we truly strive “to form a more perfect union”; and to together build a more radically just and loving nation. 

Through Jesus Christ, our loving Lord and reigning Redeemer.

Amen.

“Prayer, Please: This Way to Prayer on Election Day and Beyond” — Click to see this prayer and a bevy of online Christian and interfaith prayer vigils across our country happening today and throughout the week here:

The work of the church that seeks justice, the work of a single disciple of Christ who seeks to be about the works of justice … begins with two things: a humble question + an open heart.

The question: how do your dreams become mine also?

It is asking this one question and in seeking its answer, we begin to know the other.  We begin to see, hear, feel, sense another person’s inner world, their passion, their inspiration;  we begin to understand what makes someone other than ourselves … “tick.”

Most of the time, we won’t ever get to the place of knowing another’s dream.  Most of the time, we have the learnings and abuses of life that stop us from asking this one question or sharing our answer when someone asks us.  We rarely get the invitation to enter into another’s dream, or get asked to share ours.

But?

The rarity of the desired experience doesn’t stop the disciple from the journey.  I think of the early disciples who left their nets to follow Jesus, who sought to know God’s dream for all God’s people of grace, love, healing, peace … of justice … for all of God’s people.  I’m pretty sure that the journey was not at all what they were expecting or hoping for — at all.  I’m not even sure if they ever felt that they had truly engaged in Christ’s dream for them and us … but I do know that they were deep, abiding, transformed disciples who experience a love and grace that knew no bounds.  And they were about the work of justice.  Again and again.  Justice for the leper.  Justice for the tax collector.  Justice for the child.  Justice for the poor widow.  Justice for the hungry.  Justice for the immigrant.  Justice for the houseless.

As we engage with those around us today, as we seek to know people’s longings, as we inquire about their dreams, as we live life and grow to understand their dreams, and maybe … as we share our dreams, and maybe as we walk side-by-side to live into another person’s dreams for themselves … we might become more like Christ.

We might become more like Christ as we work to hear other’s people dreams, to bring those dreams into our hearts, and to seek a world that would engender their dreams as reality.

That takes heart.

That takes commitment to enacting (often) systemic change and works of justice.

Because maybe a small child dreams of a full belly, or a parent dreams of a having a full pantry for family meals?  These dreams?  They take systemic change in Los Angeles County where the California Housing Partnership Corporation found that L.A. County rents have increased by nearly one-third (32 percent) since 2000:

“Families have to make very difficult choices about whether to pay for food or the rent,” says Cynthia Harding, interim director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health. “These are hard and awful decisions.”

So, first the question: how do your dreams become mine also?  remembering …. 

• We don’t attempt to change anyone’s dreams, or to place our dreams atop or onto or in place of anyone else’s.
• We don’t assume that we know anything of another’s experience in the world.
• We do ask from a place of humility.
• We do listen with open hearts.
• And then we do listen some more.

But, first the question: how do your dreams become mine also?

Blessings,

Pastor Melinda

the pain is so immense.  so deep.  so rooted.  so ingrained in the fabric, the DNA of our existence as a people, a culture, a city, a community, a system, a nation … that it seems to be (for some of us) tearing us apart from the very inside of ourselves.  for others of us, this pain is simply being brought forth, out into the open … and in that … there is a freedom to its expression, a liberation to its sounding, and a relief to its airing out that i cannot speak to from my experience.

but i do feel the pain; i hear the cries; i see the wounds.

all i have this day is a prayer.  tomorrow, perhaps, i will have something else.

but, now, i offer this prayer for this day.

Holy and living God,

• In you “we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28)
• In you we find our shelter and strength,
• In you our hearts are being filled with joy each morning, 
• In you we sing praises with a new song,
• In you we trust that your promises are the way.

Like those early disciples experiencing time in between a life known with Jesus the man and a life in the days of Pentecost with the Risen Christ alive in collected hearts;  

like those early disciples experiencing the time in between the grief of deep loss and the anxiety of the unknown; 

in between the loss of what was and the anticipation of a new way of being God’s people:

• • We wait with hope for you are the source of every hope,
  • We wait with patience for your timing is always perfect,
  • We wait with prayer for you are listening intently,
  • We wait with praise for you take all our anxieties as we cast them on you.

Like those early disciples experiencing time in between a life known with Jesus the man and a life in the days of Pentecost with the Risen Christ alive in collected hearts;  

like those early disciples experiencing the time in between the grief of deep loss and the anxiety of the unknown; 

in between the loss of what was and the anticipation of a new way of being God’s people, we lift to you:

• • Those who graduating with uncertainty hindering their future, 
  • Those who lost their jobs and are finding ways to meet their financial needs,
  • Those who lost their loved ones, and their funeral services are limited or postponed,
  • Those who are fighting against addiction and are unable to meet with their recovery groups,
  • Those who feel fear as hate crimes and incidents rise forth from the very ground.

Like those early disciples experiencing time in between a life known with Jesus the man and a life in the days of Pentecost with the Risen Christ alive in collected hearts;  

like those early disciples experiencing the time in between the grief of deep loss and the anxiety of the unknown; 

in between the loss of what was and the anticipation of a new way of being God’s people:

• • We mourn for the loss of “normal” while we hear the cries and the anger and the pain that what was normal was unjust, hurtful, and murderous to so many of your flock.
  • We pray forgiveness for our own sin of racism, our racist ways, our racist system.
  • We pray for relief from pain and for the safe space to cry — whether silent or aloud in the streets.  
  • We pray for your people, your children — one and all — because as followers of Christ, we know that we are to see all your people as people we too love, because you first loved us. 

During this time, O God,

• Enter into our sorrows, worries, addictions, financial burdens, fears, and injustices, 
• Fill us with your grace, hope, and joy abundantly, 
• Turn each home into a place of peace, unity, and love for each other,
• Renew our hearts and minds to seek the knowledge of your mercy and love,
• Help our souls to be united in incessant prayer.

Like those early disciples experiencing time in between a life known with Jesus the man and a life in the days of Pentecost with the Risen Christ alive in collected hearts;  

like those early disciples experiencing the time in between the grief of deep loss and the anxiety of the unknown; 

in between the loss of what was and the anticipation of a new way of being God’s people:

Let us also receive this prayer of Apostle Paul:

“I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make us intelligent and discerning in knowing [God] personally, our eyes focused and clear, so that we can see exactly what it is [God] is calling us to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life [God] has for [us], oh, the utter extravagance of [God’s] work in us who trust [the Lord]—endless energy, boundless strength!”

Let it be so. Amen.

By Rev. Taesung Kang, MSG Translation, edited by the Rev. Melinda Teter Dodge.