In this solo episode, Stephen shares some of what will be coming in the next episode, as well as some resources and a personal Lament.
Red Lining in cities and neighbors in during the New Deal under FDR.
Brene' Brown's podcast, Unlocking Us, and the episode with Ibram X. Kendi
8cantwait.org
A Lament for Today
By Stephen Campbell
June 5, 2020
God, my heart is broken today.
It’s broken over the collective pain I can feel in the air.
It’s broken over my brothers and sisters of color,
that they have had to endure lives of dehumanization,
and that I have not only not understood that, but I have also contributed to it.
It’s broken over the ways You and Your words and symbols are being used and manipulated for personal power and privilege.
It’s broken over the scenes I’ve watched where people of power continue to lord that power over others to the point of physical harm and even death.
It’s broken over the clear reality that our world is motivated more by fear, greed and protection, than it is by love, sacrifice and service.
And it’s deeply broken over the fact that so much of this is being done and justified
by those people who claim to know You and to follow You.
But God what you have said through holy people down through the depths of time
is that you welcome and desire a broken and contrite heart.
So I can only imagine that somehow you want to use your love to partner with my brokenness to bring about change and transformation,
not just in me, but through everyone who has a broken heart.
Somehow you want to use our brokenness to bring about greater love and wholeness
in our lives and our world, because that’s what you do -
you take brokenness and bring restoration,
you turn pain into healing,
and you take death and create new life.
So God, please continue to allow my heart, our hearts, to be broken so your healing and
transforming love can flow more freely in us, and through us, and into our world.
May your transforming love dismantle the strongholds of human power and greed;
May it transform our fear into humility,
And may it transform our defensive protection into sacrificial service.
Oh God, please, take our brokenness and make us new.