The revolution will not be televised, it will not be tweeted, it will not appear in an essay or be discussed and engaged. For the revolution of which I speak is beyond our imagination. Even as I sit to write this essay, I don’t know if I really should. Some will consider me a sell out for proposing this, but it is what we are all thinking. Revolution cannot look like a revolution or it will be squashed for we have imagined revolutions of the past in perspective. If we did then we would know that it will not look like a revolution. It will look like a slow marching course towards something: a trajectory unimagined. Based on nothing, but observation of squashed hopes dreams, revolution can no longer be a revolution, we must engage in something more dynamic, something more long lasting: evolution.
The fact that I am putting my thoughts to electronic forms of discovery is in itself a betrayal of the revolution. The real revolution will not happen because of protests, it will not happen because Oprah had a life class attended by 100’s of white women who were transformed by an hour discussion where intelligent humans merely say the things that have always been said by marginalized communities. The revolution will not be researched or prayed for. The revolution will not happen because I write this essay. I am writing because feel full. My body, heart and brain feel like a cup of water overflowing with pain. This pain is not just for the continuous forms of violence erupting like a volcano throughout our world. My real pain comes from watching the world look at the magic trick. While we protest and yell and pray, we focus our eyes in the wrong direction.
Disclaimer:
Now for a moment I have to come out to you as a person who practices Christianity and specifically I am an Episcopalian, so if this stuff sounds churchy, it is because it is and I could recode this into non-religious language, but I am learning that it is revolutionary for religious folks to utilize the tools of oppression to speak a new truth so here you go.
I’m back
Today is July 17, 2016 and for the past couple of weeks we have been offered up readings in the lectionary that are truly poignant for this conversation. Here is the reading for folks that are not in this tradition: (emphasis mine)
Luke 10:38-42
Now as they went on their way, he (that would be Jesus) entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Martha was distracted by her many tasks
Are we not all Martha? I am constantly distracted by the world around me, shifting focus from one point of pain to another. I envy those that are able to just care about one thing. I had to start taking meds to do that (adult ADD is real). But it is not just the shifting, the lack of focus, it is more about the “distraction.” What is distracting you from engaging? Drugs, alcohol, anxiety, depression, binge watching TV, cramps, exhaustion? Are you so focused on your house being cleaned, the kids getting picked up, the paper had to get written, making a baby, finding time for a partner that you forgot to notice that the sun has risen and set. Are you so distracted by the tasks, that you are not enjoying the reason you are doing that task: having a peaceful feeling home where you can entertain a community of friends?
Do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?
If you are the only person doing the work, then you are doing the wrong work. I once got told at leadership conference: if you are leading and there is no one behind you, or next you, then you aren’t leading. Did Martha and Mary have a conversation about how they would manage their guests, did they prepare before hand in case guests showed up so that they could equally split the work, could Martha have invited the community to be in the kitchen with her? The task must get done, we have to eat, but how we accomplish the tasks and how we lead folks through these task is something to examine.
You are worried and distracted by many things
Ain’t it the truth. I would refer to some Brene Brown here, offering up some vulnerability work. But mostly we are worried I think because we are afraid, if I do not, who will? We have, I have, lost a lot of faith in other folks. I fear that they will not show up for me and so I have to show up for myself. I do feel bad for my atheist friends for this, but maybe it is actually because they are stronger than me. This is where all I got is a connection to God, “his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me.” Or for the secular translation, a connection to that which is greater than our power alone. Connection is the only way to stop being distracted by the many things. Connection means asking for help. I am so jealous of my friends who are good at this. As the child of a single parent immigrant, I know that it took a village to raise me, but it was so hard for me to truly inhabit this as an adult. When was the last time you asked for help, from the lord or a neighbor?
Need of only one thing
“Really Jesus? One? You must be out of your mind” is my response to that statement. But I think there is one thing at the center: presence. I don’t think that Jesus is uplifting the fact that Mary is sitting and denigrating the work of Martha. What I think Jesus is saying is that “there is a better half, that cannot be taken away”. This better half is that Mary is present with the lord, she is paying attention, she is listening, she is humbling herself before this human God, focused. Today, many of us have embraced the idea of mindfulness. The act of really being present to your body, your feelings. The idea that you are paying attention. Presence is not just about the physical for I can certainly attest to the practice of being physically in a space and mentally and emotionally in some other location far away. The act of presence is often seen in monastic communities. If you have ever had the gift of presence offered to you (a friend who sat in silence as you wept and talked about whatever was hurting you and the friend didn’t fix, they merely honored it) then you know the joy.
What if the revolution looked like Presence?
Pursuing Call 