Standing in the Creative Tension

I was blessed to stand in the midst of much creative tension today, and was reminded that it is in such tension that true transformation can take place.

The first place of creative tension surrounded the Seminary's decision to go ahead with our program, even though it was Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  No one was completely happy with the choice, and so together we stood in the tension and spoke about our discomfort.  We remembered Dr. King and his commitment to nonviolence and peace by beginning class with an audio recording of the "I Have a Dream" speech - as fresh today as it was when first given almost 50 years ago.  Our topic in class today was human experience and culture - a timely topic.

Our first year class has ten students - seven are white Europeans; two are African American, and one is Korean.  Our lecturer today was Korean, and she touched on the topic of religious experience viewed through the lens of the dominant culture, and the consequences for other cultures within society.  This discussion led to one African American colleague asking if we were going to address the "Construction of Whiteness" this year - (with the social construction of whiteness as an ideology tied to social status, and used as a way to suppress non-white cultures).  We all as a group took a deep breath and stood in the tension - program administrators not sure where they could insert a topic of this magnitude, students expressing a need to begin this difficult discussion, and no one knowing where to begin.  In the afternoon our program director came back with a suggested text we could look at to begin our personal reflection on this issue, and a promise that this would be a growing edge for the program in the future.  The M.Div program here spends considerable time on the Construction of Whiteness; soon the DMin will consider it, too.  (The suggested book is Learning to be White, by Thandeka).

Tonight we gathered together in Chapel to celebrate the vision of Dr. King.  We sang our hearts out, listened, prayed, and then gathered in a very large circle to share the bread of justice and cup of blessing.  Although we took no great steps towards greater resolution of these huge topics of power, oppression, injustice, and possible peace with justice, we stayed together in the creative tension of the Spirit, and allowed our hearts to soften and our minds to open.  And we were reminded of a great truth - when we meet each other in God, we meet not in the place of our privilege, but in the place of our poverty and woundedness - a place all of our hearts share.

With hopes for a just and peaceful world,
Kim