in one week...

So, I've been gone for quite some time. Life is moving at breakneck speed, and all my writing energies are going towards graduate school applications.

The election is in 6 days! I'm holding my breath.

This weekend I had the chance to visit Montgomery, Alabama. I stood in front of Dexter Ave. Church where Dr. King preached, and I could not hold back the tears. Even more stunning was the realization that the church which birthed the civil rights movement stands literally across the street from the center of white power --- the state capitol building (literally a giant white fortress) where both Gov. Wallace and the first Confederate presidency resided. Who could have predicted when the confederacy formed over 100 years later a prophet would rise up and begin to dismantle the legacy of slavery from the center of the beast? That little church stared directly up hill into the face of racism and power. Standing where so many others marched and walked, I was blown away by the irony and the sense that God always makes a way where there is no way if people are willing to follow and stand on the side of justice.

So, today, as we look ahead to the possibility of the first African American winning the presidential election, I am thankful and humbled by the sacrifice and blood that so many people shed for justice. Dr. King's dream of a beloved community and a nation repentant has not yet been fully realized, but we have the opportunity to move one step further.

I heard an African American man on NPR yesterday saying:

Rosa sat so Martin could walk
Martin walked so Obama could run
Obama ran so our children could fly

I will share with my children the stories of Rosa, Martin, and Obama because their history is inseparable with my own. Justice for them is justice for me because their courage is freeing me from the intolerable burden of privilege. There is still much more work to be done, but I'm thankful for how their courage. Their sacrifice has given me new courage.

If Obama wins, there will be more challenges to face. Ideology does not shift overnight, but it is impossible to deny that a new era requiring a new paradigm is here. We are living through a seismic shift in history, and it is exciting, nerve racking, and unknow. One thing is certain: change will come, whether we are prepared for it or now.

Those who hear the call of the Kingdom are uniquely prepared for this change. In this time of economic crisis and political crisis, we can proclaim our commitment to simplicity and love of neighbor, to justice and care for the poor. We can affirm our global brothers and sisters, and reject a politics of fear. I see new openings for truth and repentance, and I am hopeful.

From Obama's closing argument a few days ago:

"Don’t believe for a second this election is over. Don’t think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.

In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up.

In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.

In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo.

In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history"

Dr. King would be proud. But as he and all of us know: power does not concede easily, and the work for justice and tranformation is never over.