Thoughts on an Occupation

This was my most recent newsletter article for our church's newsletter:

Some of you know my secret: I have been spending some of my free time hanging out with fellow clergy and protesters at Zuccotti Park as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.  I am part of the 99%.

This week, I was part of a group of faith leaders called Occupy Faith NYC that marched to the occupiers’ new temporary encampment on Canal Street after they were forcibly removed from Zuccotti in a clandestine midnight raid that no media were allowed to cover.  When we arrived there, expecting to see grumpy and disheveled people, we were greeted with cheers.  The crowds parted for us and we were ushered to the center of the crowd, where one of our leaders gave a moving speech and said a prayer.  All of his words were echoed by the “human microphone” of people repeating what the original speaker had said, amplifying it. 

The human microphone system has an amazing power for building community and hearing out differences.  Each listener takes the responsibility not just of hearing what another says, but repeating it, word for word.  You are forced to take in the meaning of their words.  Then, if you disagree, you, too, can call for a “mic check,” and have your words taken in by others.  It is a profound experience of letting ourselves be changed and influenced by one another, and giving each other the space to truly be heard.

An Occupier convincing people to charge the fence because "it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission."  I did not agree, nor did many of my clergy friends, but we stayed on the public side of the wall as witnesses.

After a lot of discussion, the scene became more troubled; part of crowd decided to trespass onto property owned by Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church.  Our faith leaders had been in negotiation to get permission to occupy that space, but the occupiers went in before permission was granted (and it never was granted).  We clergy stayed outside, but acted as moral witnesses, and then later human shields separating crowds of people from police in riot gear.  Eventually the occupiers inside the church’s grounds were raided, and we witnessed some violent attacks by the police.

So much, so fast.  So many ethical quandaries in just a few hours.  I know that some of you think that the church should stay out of politics entirely, and some of you might feel alienated by calls to support the 99%, seemingly demonizing the richest 1%.  I assure you that I struggle with these things, too.  But at my first march with OWS in early October, a friend of mine helped me make a sign.  The sign said, “On Earth As It Is In Heaven.”  At that moment, I was convicted.  I was reminded yet again how much of our faith is based on the belief that God celebrates all of God’s children equally.  Our faith encourages us to share, to care for the least, to bless the poor, to offer jubilee (relief from debt) regularly.  The Lord’s prayer, which we say weekly with our children because it is so fundamental, asks God to help us forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors, to deliver us from evil, to enact God’s will on earth, not just in heaven.

Our faith has everything to do with money and power.  It challenges us often in ways we might prefer not to be challenged.  It threatens to occupy parts of ourselves that we might rather remained compartmentalized, sterile, and free from influence.  Our faith is messy, and calls us into sometimes frightening territory.

But what is the reward?  When we delve into these uncomfortable places and allow ourselves to be thrown off kilter, something awakens within us.  Deeper love, stronger compassion, greater strength.  We are moved.  We become occupied by faith.

Whether you find the OWS movement a convicting one or not (and it certainly has some drawbacks), I wonder if you might find within it a lesson on the power of letting ourselves act out our faith, the power of challenging the status quo, even when the status quo seems so fully entrenched.  The OWS movement is shifting the dialogue in this country.  So, too, can we, if we allow ourselves to be occupied by God’s Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Brian Lehrer Show, Jesus, and Occupy Wall Street

I had 15 seconds of radio fame today in the NY-area call-in show, The Brian Lehrer Show.  The topic was religion and the Occupy Wall Street movement, which I have begun to support.  You can hear the segment, during which I am the first caller, here:  http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2011/oct/10/open-phones-religion-and-occupy-wall-street/

And here's a photo of the sign.

Part my ramping up to this level of support was a devotional I wrote for a previous church's daily devotional blog.  I'll post that here, too.  I think that, if I were to add anything else to this, I would add that part of our job as ministers is also to help people realize that it is actually in their self-interest to change, that a life lived with God as our guide is a life worth living -- it's a hard sell, but worthwhile!

Psalm 103

Of David.¹ 
Bless the Lord, O my soul,   
and all that is within me,   
bless his holy name. 
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,   
and do not forget all his benefits— 
³ who forgives all your iniquity,   
who heals all your diseases, 
⁴ who redeems your life from the Pit,   
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 
⁵ who satisfies you with good as long as you live^*  
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 

⁶ The Lord works vindication   
and justice for all who are oppressed. ⁷ 
He made known his ways to Moses,   
his acts to the people of Israel. 
⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,   
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 
⁹ He will not always accuse,   
nor will he keep his anger for ever. 
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins,   
nor repay us according to our iniquities. 
¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth,   
so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him; 
¹² as far as the east is from the west,   
so far he removes our transgressions from us. 
¹³ As a father has compassion for his children,   
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. 
¹⁴ For he knows how we were made; 
he remembers that we are dust. 

Last Sunday, driving home from church, I passed by the usually-quiet local Catholic church.  That day, though, the quiet road had become a gauntlet of signs, nearly all held by women of every age, child to elder, all proclaiming the evils of abortion.  Signs read things like “Abortion Kills” and “Mothers Who Abort Have Regrets.”  Thankfully, they refrained from the signs with the gory pictures that I have seen elsewhere.  Perhaps it was the quiet silence of this vigil that unsettled me.  It was not so easy to ignore them as it would be to ignore a group of noisy, screaming protestors.  It was not easy to ignore people from a church of which I knew many former members. 

This got me thinking about the ways in which we proclaim what we believe is God’s message. While I was offended by some of the signs, and I would venture to argue with many of them about the practicality of simply banning abortion without also providing major support to families with unplanned pregnancies, I appreciated their willingness to be silent witnesses.  It made me take them more seriously. What it did not do, though, was change my mind.  It gave me no way to enter into relationship or dialogue.

As you know, in my new hometown of New York City, a major protest has been underway for three weeks.  This is a protest whose message resonates more with me; the Occupy Wall Street movement is growing in its nonviolent rebellion, and I will be joining in on some of the demonstrations.  I do love a good protest!  I love the enthusiasm of a crowd; I love the ability to unleash pent-up frustration; I especially love the clever signs. 

What I am aware of, though, and what was made more clear by the abortion protestors I saw on Sunday, is that these rallies are not really good tools for changing hearts or minds.  They are excellent tools for boosting the spirits of like-minded people.  When nonviolent action is taken that challenges the status quo, they can also be really good tools for getting a message into coverage by the media.  Perhaps the best that can be hoped for with signs and protests is to rouse the apathetic into caring.

But as long as there is a stark us-vs.-them attitude of dueling placards, hearts and minds will not be changed.  The change happens when people of different minds build trusting relationships with each other and begin to hear each others’ stories.  Change happens when empathy, not righteous anger, is aroused in the other.  It happens when we humble ourselves enough to see God in the other, and to allow them to see God through us.  It is much harder than making a sign.  It is lifelong work, to which we have all been called.

I will wave at you all with love from Wall Street.  Who knows – for the right cause, I might even let myself get arrested.  But I pray that I will do only whatever actions are necessary to build up the kingdom of God and to spread the message that ALL of God’s children – Wall Street executives and homeless people alike; mothers who have had abortions and the Pope alike – ALL of us are part of God’s beloved community.  All of us are capable of arousing God's great wrath, and all of us are recipients of God's steadfast love.  Ours is a message of great humility, which leads to great praise for the God who inspires us all to be better than we are today.  (And if creating a good sign for a protest helps you do that, too, then by all means, do it!  Just know what you're doing it for.)

Prayer:

Bless the Lord, my soul.  Keep me humble, keep me working toward righteousness, keep me working toward reconciliation.  Most of all, keep me always mindful that my strength and power reside in you.  Bless the Lord!  Amen.