One Little Word Subdues Him

For the Lutherans in the house, you probably know where the title of this entry comes from.  For those who don't claim "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" as their liturgical fight song, it's a line from said hymn, which was written by Martin Luther sometime between 1527 and 1529...we think.

The third verse of the hymn, the whole of which tells of how Christ (God's champion) defeats sin and evil on our behalf, is where the title line comes from.  The whole text of the verse:

"Though hordes of devils fill the land, all threatening to devour us,
We tremble not, unmoved we stand; they cannot overpower us.
This world's prince may rage, in fierce war engage.
He is doomed to fail; God's judgment must prevail -
One little word subdues him!"

I've always been partial to this part of the hymn, and it's been brought back to my mind today as I've watched some events unfolding at my seminary alma mater - one of the places nearest to my heart, and where I'm still known to show up for chapel once or twice a month, or meet friends for lunch or coffee.  To call the thing by its name, a pretty provocatively racist incident occurred involving the striking out of "black" from "black power" on the community message center and replacing it with "white."  I don't know much in the way of details beyond that.

First, I should say up front that I don't understand the phrase "black power" to be one that advocates anything other than what Wikipedia so nicely describes: a phrase "emphasizing racial pride and the creation of black political and cultural institutions to nurture and promote black collective interests and advance black values."  It's not a call for anything other than what white people have enjoyed in the Americas since the colonial era, if we're really being honest - it's fundamentally about having a place of equality at the institutional and cultural table.  Perhaps I'm wrong, and I don't mean to explain the concept from the outside looking in...but this will become important, I promise.  Stick with me a few minutes.

The question arises, then, of why "white power" is an expression of racism.  It's hard to hear "white power" as a call for equality in institutions and culture in a paradigm in which the imbalance isn't skewed against white people.  Instead, its ideology mostly seems to flow from white supremacist and white nationalist groups who have no interest in equality, but rather in..well, supremacy.  If you are wondering why it is that people of color at the seminary are hurt and offended by this episode, just picture in your head the kind of scene in which "white power!" might serve as a rallying cry.  It probably involves skinheads and people in long, white robes with hoods and burning crosses.

But, what has that got to do with us, the "good, God-fearing" people of Christ's Church?  After all, we proclaim (rather proudly) with Paul in Galatians 3 that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, nor male or female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus." The entire plot of the book of Acts can be reduced down to "Christ is savior to everyone who believes, no exceptions."  Jews, Greeks, slaves, freemen, women, men, and everyone else - "do not call unclean what God has made clean," Peter hears God say in a dream in Acts 10...and it's clear by the end of the chapter that what God has made clean is people.

We seem to have our theology right, at least on a biblical level...but what about life beyond the words of scripture?  Here is where things get uncomfortable; there's an elephant in the room, and it is racism.  There's not a prettier way to put it - racism is real, and racism makes itself known in ways seen and unseen in the Church just as in society at large.  This should not come as a surprise to anyone who's read Acts; the journey to embracing all people as worthy of God's grace is not a pretty one, and it is FULL of conflict and awkwardness.  The Jewish believers won't serve the Greek believers' community; the leaders of the Jerusalem church are reluctant to grant full communion to non-Jewish believers who don't adhere to all aspects of the Torah.  We struggle with what to do with those who are not like us.

In the context of the ELCA, and mainline Protestantism in general, "those who are not like us" typically means people who are not white or of northern/western European ancestry.  The ELCA is well over 90% white, and the vast majority of its members are not only white, but from five ethnic communities within the white milieu - German, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Finnish.  To give credit where it's due, we celebrate (at least in our public proclamation) the grace-filled embrace of all peoples that we hear about in Acts and Galatians.  But...proclamation and practice aren't always the same thing, are they?  Racism finds a way to work, even among those who would reject its most overt manifestations.

Perhaps racism belongs on the roll of that horde of devils filling the land, threatening to devour.  There aren't a shortage of examples of how "racism" and "demonic-seeming behavior" can go hand in hand - Google image search "lynching," if you doubt that.  Real harm is done to sisters and brothers in Christ by racism, not just in society, but in the Church...and not just by overt displays of it (like today at LSTC), but by the subtle undercurrent of it that whispers the lie "you don't belong," as a friend of mine said earlier in his reflecting upon events.

Where does grace show up in this?  In the very midst of the struggle.  Luther wrote in one of his works ("Against Hanswurst," for those keeping score at home) that the "little word" that subdues the devil here is "Devil, you lie!"  In the naming of racism for what it is when it appears; in the difficult conversations; in the suffering of people who've committed no offense other than to be different from the majority; in the gathering together in solidarity to support those whose very worth is called into question; in acts of repentance; in resisting the urge to call unclean what God has called clean - it is here that we get a taste of what God's grace is all about.  Paul says we are called to the ministry of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5; in chapter 6, he fleshes out what that means:

"as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything."

"White Power" - supremacist talk at worst, and ignorant speech that wounds others at best - is not the ministry of reconciliation.  Insisting that no, really, it's not fundamentally different from saying "black power" isn't the ministry of reconciliation.  Calling the thing what it is - a means of showing "genuine love; by truthful speech" - and naming racism where it rears its head...that looks a lot more like what we're called to in Christ.

There will be difficult conversations in the days ahead - certainly at LSTC, probably in other places.  Perhaps, at this time in this place, we have no greater opportunity to witness to the reconciling love and grace of Christ than by speaking that one little word to racism and that which propagates it - Devil, you lie!