September Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
It’s September--back to school month! As a child, I loved going back to school. It meant shopping for new clothes, shoes, lunch box, backpack, and school supplies. And the best part for me was seeing my friends again!
Well, this September is a little different. Some students are not going back until October. Other students are going back some days, other days online. Still other students are not going back at all, but are staying home to learn. Whether in person or on zoom, students--and teachers--are looking forward to seeing their friends again!
Whenever and however we go back to school and routine, we will be doing it wearing a mask on our face. We are told that the right way to wear it is to cover our mouth and our nose. The only thing we will be able to see of our friends’ faces is their eyes. But eyes are important.
When we want to know someone is telling the truth, we say, “Look me in the eye.”
When we want to be sure of agreement, we say, “Let’s try to see eye to eye.”
When we want to pay close attention to something, we say, “Keep an eye on that.”
Eyes are important in the Bible, too.
I lift my eyes to the hills, from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord. (Psalm 121:1)
The eyes of the Lord keep watch over. (Proverbs 22:12)
God will wipe every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 21:4)
One of the most important references to eyes in the Bible is when the risen Christ meets two people on the road, and they walk and talk, and yet they don’t see that it is Jesus. When they arrive in Emmaus, they invite Jesus to stay with them. And when he breaks bread with them, they recognize him, and we are told,
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. (Luke 24:31)
It took them a while to recognize Jesus was with them. Likewise, sometimes it takes a while for us to recognize Jesus is with us. Sometimes it takes a while for us to recognize other people for who they are--beloved children of God--just like us.
Our church has committed to doing the work to becoming an anti-racist church. It requires opening our eyes to what we were kept from recognizing before--blacks are still discriminated against and treated differently, sometimes violently, while whites continue to enjoy privileges. As we adults wrestle with these hard issues and have hard conversations, sometimes we are surprised that children have an easier time of it. When they see different colored people, they don’t close their eyes and turn away, rather they feast their eyes on them, and delight in what they see.
Here is an excerpt from The Help by Kathryn Stockett, in which the black hired worker is telling a story to the little white girl she is taking care of:
“Once upon a time they was two girls," I say. "one girl had black skin, one girl had white."
Mae Mobley look up at me. She listening.
"Little colored girl say to little white girl, 'How come your skin be so pale?'
White girl say, 'I don't know. How come your skin be so black? What you think that mean?'
"But neither one a them little girls knew. So little white girl say, 'Well, let's see. You got hair, I got hair.'" I gives Mae Mobley a little tousle on her head.
"Little colored girl say 'I got a nose, you got a nose.'" I gives her little snout a tweak. She got to reach up and do the same to me.
"Little white girl say, 'I got toes, you got toes.' And I do the little thing with her toes, but she can't get to mine cause I got my white work shoes on.
"'So we's the same. Just a different color', say that little colored girl. The little white girl she agreed and they was friends. The End."
Baby Girl just look at me. Law, that was a sorry story if I ever heard one. Wasn't even no plot to it. But Mae Mobley, she smile and say, "Tell it again.”
Eyes are powerful. Eyes are the window to the soul. In this time in which people can only see our eyes over our masks, may they see eyes filled with the love that God put into our soul. And may this love help us to see others are God sees them--equally beloved children.
If you have not already done so, I encourage you to watch teacher Jane Elliott’s attempt to teach her third grade students about the power of discrimination: Blue Eyes Experiment (1970)
September is one of my favorite months. As we go back to school, we go back to church. At church, we pray for God to give us eyes to see the world the way God sees.
As a child at church, I learned a song that still sings in my heart today:
Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.
Blessings,
Pastor Donna
