I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”… Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
“For peace in our nation.” I paused. “We pray to the Lord.”
The congregation, slower in its responses here than in my home parish on the other side of the state, mumbled, “Lord, hear our prayer.”
It’s not my job to improvise the intercessions – lectors just read, we don’t write – but at that moment I wished I could add something to the single, well-meaning, inadequate line of that particular prayer.
Because peace alone is not good enough.
Peace is easy for people like me to find. Peace is what we get because we are white, and heterosexual, and cisgender, and above the poverty line. Our peace is not truly disturbed by the reports on TV of violence elsewhere, of fear elsewhere, of hate crimes elsewhere, because, if you noticed, it is always elsewhere, not next door. And even if it is next door, we can draw the blinds. We can change the channel. We can shuffle to and from our cars and listen only to radio stations that agree with us and read only the same old books we have always read and we can do this because we are the ones who are represented in those places. We have the option of shutting ourselves off from those different from us. And when we cannot ignore what’s happening outside our comfort zones, we can at least use it to reinforce the mentality that allows us to shake our heads gently and think, “At least We are not Like Them.”
Peace is easy for people like me to find.
But it is a “negative peace which is the absence of tension.” The things that might bring us true peace, a “positive peace which is the presence of justice,” are more complicated. And it’s not a terribly peaceful process.
Probably the writer of that intercession was hoping for a deeper peace, not just peace of mind or the bliss we speak of that comes from ignorance, but the peace we are promised in the Gospels, the kind “that surpasses all understanding,” which is good because a lot of other things right now surpass understanding. But we are creatures who need the process spelled out for us, the true meaning defined and articulated point by point.
So this is what I’m praying for.
For peace and protection of marginalized groups and minorities as they face growing violence and aggression on top of the daily struggle of navigating a culture in which they are not the group in power.
For peace and communication between opposing views, that they may allow themselves to be coaxed toward a middle ground in which they can recognize the humanity of the Other standing before them.
For peace and humility in our leaders, that they may recognize their responsibility to those they represent and to the world as a whole.
For peace and true justice as we continue to work toward equality and a more perfect fulfillment of the American vision.
Lord, hear our prayer.
The Grammar Changeling 