Let’s face it. Although we celebrate the protests of the past and praise our great Revolutionary War heroes, neither governments nor people like disruption in their daily lives. We were, of course, appalled at Bull Connor’s brutal hosing of civil rights marchers in Birmingham but less so of the hosing of Keystone XL pipeline protestors during a freezing winter.
Britain, our old mother country, now proposes a ban on “slow marching” protests that cause “public disruption.” Isn’t one of the purposes of a protest, a peaceful march, to cause “public disruption?” It’s only when our ordered lives are forced to acknowledge a problem or an injustice that we take notice, whether here, Britain, or Russia.
Isn’t it one of the reasons that Jeremiah was thrown into prison? He caused a “public disruption” by prophesying against the corruption of his day. And then there was John, the one who railed against Antipas’ marriage to Herodias, his former sister-in-law, and we all know what happened to him. Sometimes we need a little public disruption to wake us up and shake us up.
Prayer for the Day
Admiring the prophets and troublemakers of the past,
We like to keep them there, out of our daily lives;
But you know, O God, that we need speakers for justice,
People who are unafraid of the powers of corruption.
Grant, O God of Justice, that we are able to listen and respond,
So your realm of righteousness may grow among us.
In the name of the One unafraid to disrupt princes,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.
- John Lewis, civil rights leader, Congressman (1940-2020)
Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.
- Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers (b. 1930)
If you return, O Israel, says the Lord, if you return to me,
If you remove your abominations from my presence, and do not waver,
And if you swear, “As the Lord lives!” in truth, in justice, and in uprightness,
Then nations shall be blessed by the Lord and by the Lord they shall boast.
Jeremiah 4: 1-2