Category: Short Articles

Brief observations and reflections.

A Weapon in Church

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short ArticlesLeave a comment

shooting church

“Preacher, what are we going to do? Are we going to have to start carrying guns to church? Is this what it has come down to?”

I responded by saying: “Love is the only weapon I will carry into the pulpit.”

I said that, because I believe the only weapon this world needs is Love— Love that is from God, is of God, and is God.

This Love is not passive. It is neither silent nor afraid. It does not despair nor does it acquiesce. It is not weak, nor is it timid. It cannot be confined nor contained. It cannot be kept to one’s self. It never sits back and does nothing.

This Love is courageous. It is thoughtful. It is rational. It is vocal. It is always moving, doing, working, fighting. It gives and forgives and gives some more.

This Love is sacrificial. It is inclusive and expansive. It can overpower, overtake and overcome. It can change everything.

This Love puts feet on prayers. It attaches arms to offerings and hands to hymns. It gives life to a sermon.

This Love will always be opposed. It will be ridiculed, mocked and bullied. It will be hijacked, humiliated, imitated and defamed.

This Love never gives up. It never bows down. It never retreats. It cannot be bought by the ACLU nor the NRA. It will not compromise.

This Love will be shot—in a theater, in a limousine, on a motel balcony, in a school building, in a cinema, at a concert, in Wal-Mart, even in church. It will be crucified.

This Love will not accept defeat. It will never throw in the towel. It will die, but it will not pass away. It will be struck down and buried, but it will rise up and live.

This Love will conquer all. It will surpass all. It will never end.

This Love will win.

Autumn People

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short Articles1 Comment

Autumn-Leaves-in-sunshine

Christians are fond of saying that they are Easter people. We say we have a spring-time faith. We are about new life springing forth.

What we tend to forget is that before spring can happen, autumn must come. Before new life can spring forth, something must die. Before Easter could arrive, someone had to pick up and carry a cross.

We have many difficult issues facing our country today. According to a recent poll by the Associated Press, only 24% of Americans believe we are heading in the right direction. The status quo seems to be dividing us further, emboldening the hate among us, and leading us into a nuclear winter.

Christians have responded in typical fashion.

Some Christians have embraced the status-quo, for change is too uncomfortable. They have chosen to live in denial with blind eyes, deaf ears and hard hearts.

More Christians understand that our nation is heading in the wrong direction, but they have made the decision to tune it all out and do nothing to try to change anything. They have chosen to retreat into safe sanctuaries to sing about Easter and going to heaven.

However, if Jesus chose comfort and safety, if Jesus embraced or ignored the status quo, Easter could not happen.

I believe the time has come for Christians to rediscover our call to be autumn people.

The time has come to let the old ways of being Christian die. Like the leaves of a tree, we must let our old ways of self-preservation, our old ways denial and retreat, fall to the ground and be swept away.

The time has come for us to pick up and carry a cross. The time has come for us to risk something, sacrifice something, and do something. We must depart the safety and the comfort of our sanctuaries to stand against evil, liberate the oppressed, rescue the perishing, and speak truth to power.

We must be willing to sacrifice something for justice, lose something for kindness, give away something for peace, die to something for love.

For it is in losing we find. It is in dying we live. It is in being autumn people we become Easter people.

Waking Up to the Knowledge of Evil

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short ArticlesLeave a comment
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ABC News – Go.com  People carry an injured person at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival

On Monday morning, we awoke to the knowledge of what our president called “pure evil.”

As the news continued to break, the horror seemed to intensify as we learned that the terrorist was “a normal person.” He had no prior criminal record, no history of mental illness, and no religious or political motivation. He was described as “an average accountant who enjoyed playing poker.”

Desperately trying to understand the evil, someone suggested that he was perhaps bitter about the unfairness of life. They said: “Maybe he wasn’t happy with his life, thus he became upset seeing others celebrating life at a country music concert.”

This is, of course, the reason Cain killed his brother Abel in the biblical story describing our innate propensity for evil.

Whatever the reason for it, on Monday morning we awoke to the knowledge of the pure evil of which we human beings are capable. And it is horrifying.

However, we also awoke to the knowledge of pure good.

We learned of the selfless, sacrificial actions of police officers and first responders. We learned of “normal people” forming human shields to protect strangers from the gunfire. We learned of “average men and women” picking up and carrying the wounded to safety.

We learned that, even in our divided nation, even in so-called “sin city,” people have the innate propensity to put aside their differences to love their neighbors as they love themselves.

On Monday morning, we awoke to the description of our humanity as told in the story that precedes the account of Cain and Abel. We awoke to the knowledge of good and evil. The good news is: In the midst of evil, we know there is good.

Thus, in the midst of the unfairness of it all, we know there is hope.

So together, we pray:

God of Love, Awaken the pure good of which all human beings created in your image are capable. Awaken the selfless, sacrificial love that is within us all— the very same love revealed to us in Christ—the love that we know has the power to change the world. Amen.

The Opposite of Love Is Indifference

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short ArticlesLeave a comment

kid swearing

“For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

When I was a kid, this is the passage of scripture used by my Sunday School teachers to keep me on the straight and narrow. This verse may the be the reason I tried not to “cuss, drink, chew or go with girls who do.”

And maybe this is what keeps me on the straight and narrow today.

However, the older that I get, and the more I study the scriptures, I have learned that there are more evil things we can do in the body than saying a curse word.

If loving our neighbors as ourselves is the highest good, as Jesus said it was, then refusing to love is the lowest evil.

It was Jewish Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel who reminded us that the opposite of love is not hate. It is indifference. Evil can be silence. Evil can be refusing take a stand. Evil can be refusing to take a knee. Evil can be looking the other way, tuning something out, refusing to understand. Evil is not giving a damn.

When I get to heaven and appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive payment for the good or the evil I have done with my body, I hope to be able to say:

“Do you remember your command for us to love one another?”

“Do you remember the stories you told about accepting those who have been marginalized by religion and culture?”

“Do you remember your sermon about blessing the poor, the meek, the mourners, the peacemakers, and the oppressed who hunger and thirst for justice?”

“With my heart, soul, mind and body, I gave a damn.”

Heroic Role Models

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short ArticlesLeave a comment

Danny Baker

Last Sunday, Pima County Sheriff’s Sergeant Derek Tyra was supervising seven other deputies handling traffic control and basic event safety, protecting the runners during a race in Tucson named for Gabe Zimmerman, the Aide who was killed in the shooting involving Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on January 8, 2011.

During the race, Tyra received a call that a car driven by a suspect in a shooting was possibly heading toward the runners. As a car matching the description of the vehicle passed by, Tyra gave chase and decided to perform a “high risk stop” which meant he would have to place himself between the suspect and the runners.

Tyra managed to pull the vehicle over and safely apprehend the suspect.

“The man is a hero,” the race director said. “He says that it’s just what they’re supposed to do, but it’s pretty amazing that he was able to intervene with a live shooting suspect just steps from all these runners. He may have saved any number of lives with his actions today.”

“I just happened to be at the right place at the right time,” Tyra said. “I didn’t think twice about it.”

As I read this amazing story, I immediately thought of Fort Smith Police Captain Danny Baker, who ran in uniform alongside of Marine Captain Maggie Seymour and local runners who were pushing three children with special needs in the Ainsley’s Angels in Arkansas’ inaugural event on Monday morning.

It was remarkable that Captain Baker was able to run the 3.5 miles on a hot, humid morning in uniform. However, it was more remarkable how he ran. Captain Baker ran placing himself between the runners and the vehicles that were passing by in the left lane on busy Highway 64. He ran with one eye on the runners and the children and one eye on the traffic, motioning the runners several times to keep to the right.

Captain Baker kept everyone safe, and he didn’t think twice about it.

Thank you Captain Baker and law enforcement officers everywhere who serve and protect our communities selflessly and sacrificially. You are not only heroically fulfilling your duties, but you are serving as role models for us all.

For this is part of our mission as the body of Christ in this world. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “Love your neighbors as yourself [and remember] that love does no harm to your neighbor” (Romans 13:10). God calls us to selflessly and sacrificially place ourselves between our neighbors and anything that may harm them, and not think twice about it.

It’s just what we are supposed to do.

Getting Our Hands Dirty

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short ArticlesLeave a comment

Harvey

John 9:1-7 NRSV

Let’s think for a minute what it did for that poor blind man when the disciples began theological debate over his blindness.

“So, they say you were born blind?  Well, let get out our Bibles and see if we can find some theological reason for your blindness. It has to be because of sin.  But since you were born blind, perhaps it’s not your sin that is to blame but the sins of your parents.”  Yes, I’m sure all of that blaming did a whole lot for that poor man!

But how often have we’ve been guilty of doing the same. For some reason, because we are Christian, we believe it is our holy responsibility to try to explain human suffering and misery in light of our faith in God.

Since Hurricane Harvey flooded Texas, I have heard people blame the Mayor Sylvester Turner, climate change, the lack of zoning regulations, Donald Trump, the recent solar eclipse and even same-sex marriage. I am sure there will more blame associated with Hurricane Irma in the coming days.

In the face of human pain and suffering, there are two predominate responses by the church.

The first one is that God has a reason for it. God is sitting at the command center in complete control of every earthly thing that happens.

The other point of view is one of silence, just silence.

I find both of these responses troubling. Those who believe God has some kind of divine purpose for every evil thing that happens in this world paint a very mean portrait of God. And those who respond with silence make God out to seem detached and uncaring.

However, I believe the life, suffering and death of Christ teach us that when the rains poured down, so flowed the very tears of God. When the waters overflowed the banks of the bayous, so broke the very heart of God. When lives were suddenly drowned out, so emptied the very self of God. God was not causing the evil. Neither was God silent.

This is where I believe the story of the man born blind can be helpful. When Jesus is questioned about the man’s suffering by his disciples, Jesus doesn’t answer their questions, but neither is he silent. Jesus responds that this is the time, not to assign blame or responsibility, but rather, to bend to the ground and get his hands dirty, so that the glory of God might be revealed.

In the wake of the many storms in our world, may we do the same.

We Are God’s Help

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short ArticlesLeave a comment

rescue

The catastrophic images from Texas bring back painful personal memories from 1999 when Hurricane Floyd flooded our home in Eastern North Carolina. Carson and Sara, who were four and two years-old at the time, were rescued by boat, while Lori and I stayed behind to put more of our things into the attic. We spent the next three months living in a FEMA camper in the driveway of our decimated home.

In the days the water receded, I remember being overwhelmed with feelings of despair. We had only lived in our home for six weeks prior to the flood. It was the first home we ever owned, and we had yet to make our first mortgage payment. Because we did not have flood insurance, rebuilding our home seemed impossible.  I cannot recall any other time in my life when I felt more hopeless. If ever I needed divine help, it was then.

Thankfully, help from God came. Every week help came. Help came bringing pry bars, hammers and saws to rip out carpet, pull up flooring, tear out sheetrock and pull out wet insulation. Help came bringing new flooring, sheetrock, and insulation. Help came with paintbrushes and paint.

Help also came bringing what we needed the most: hope. Help came with a message that rebuilding our home was possible. Help came with the good news that although we could not go back to the good old days before the flood, with the help of God, we could go forward into good new days.

The movie All Saints, which is now playing in theaters, is a true story of the All Saints Episcopal Church of Smyrna, Tennessee. The church was preparing to close their doors for good and sell their property when a group of refugees from war-torn Southeast Asia showed up.

In one scene, the teenage son of Rev. Spurlock asks his father about the fate of the refugees if he decides to allow the church to close.

Rev. Spurlock responds: “We must pray and ask God to help them.”

His son replies: “Dad, aren’t you God’s help?”

The people of East Texas need our prayers. However, when we pray for God to help them, may we remember that we are God’s help.

Today, we can be divine help by sending our dollars to Texas by giving to the mission fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) at http://www.weekofcompassion.org. You can designate 100% of your gifts to help communities affected by Hurricane Harvey.

In the days, weeks, and months to come, we will have opportunities to be divine help by sending ourselves, bringing tools and building materials. More importantly, we will have opportunities to be divine help by bringing what these people need now more than anything else: hope.

We will have opportunities to go with the good news, that with the help of God, although it seems impossible, good new days are indeed ahead.

Eclipsed by Grace

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short Articles2 Comments


On Monday, if just for a moment, our busy lives were eclipsed by miracle.

At some point we stopped whatever we were doing, with friends, family or co-workers, to wonder at crescent shapes in the shadows on sidewalks, peer through homemade projectors crafted from an empty box of Cheerios, or gaze through a new pair of solar glasses that we will likely misplace or discard before we need them again. The hot August air cooled. The sky darkened. The moon eclipsed the sun, and we expressed a collective “wow!”

The news channels stopped talking about the threat of  nuclear war, unstable world leaders, democrats and republicans, racists and terrorists, and showed us beautiful pictures of heavenly bodies that united us in awe.

It was just what our country needed.

We needed a pause to see the sheer mystery and miracle of it all. We needed a break to experience the utter grace of this mystery we call life. And we needed to do it together, in community, as one people.

It didn’t take long for us to see it, to experience it, and to get it. We only needed a few minutes for it to come into focus. Sun, moon, crescent lights on shadowy sidewalks, cool August breeze, projections in a homemade projector: It was all miracle, and it was all grace, completely unearned, undeserved.

Moreover, as the sky lightened, we began to see that this miracle has been here all the while, every day, every minute. The sun, moon, sky, shadows on sidewalks, trees, leaves, cool breezes, our co-workers, our family and our friends, even the concrete and the Cheerios we had for breakfast last week—it is all miracle, and it is all grace. It is all gift.

And this grace that we call life has the mysterious and miraculous power to unite us all, because it is for all: Caucasian, People of Color, Christian, Muslim, Jew, None, gay, straight, English-speaking, Hispanic speaking, rich, poor, abled and disabled.

The good news is that if we will pause, if just for a moment, we can experience this grace any time, any day. We can see it, and we can get it everyday; and with our human family, with our sisters and our brothers, we can express a collective “wow” at the love and the grace that bonds us together.

Charlottesville Wake-Up Call

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short Articles2 Comments

torches2

I first expressed the following bullet-points following the actions of domestic terrorist and white supremacist Dylan Roof in Charleston, South Carolina. Many were calling the murders of the African Americans who had gathered for a Bible Study at the Mother Emanuel Church “a wake-up call.” I have heard the same expression used this weekend following the white supremacists who gathered to spew their hate in Charlottesville. What happened? Did we fall back asleep? It is way past time for America, especially the church in America, to stop hitting the snooze button, stop closing our eyes to ignore the racism and bigotry has been emboldened in our country today.  It is way past time to wake up, rise up, stand up, and speak out, as intolerance cannot be tolerated.

  • We must wake up to the reality that racism is not only a wound from our country’s past, but it is a deadly virus that still plagues us today. White preachers, including myself, have been too often afraid to even use the word “racism” from our pulpits for fear of “stirring things up,” as if we might reignite some fire that was put out in the 1960’s, or at least by 2008 when we elected our first black president. We must wake up and boldly call this evil by name and condemn the racism that is ablaze today, in all of its current manifestations: personal racism; systemic racism; political; and the subtle racism that is prevalent in our homes, in the workplace, in the marketplace, in government, and even in the church, for Jesus could not have been more clear when he said: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

  • We must wake up to the reality that hatred in this country is being defended by people who are calling it “religious freedom.” In America, we believe all people are created equally; therefore, “religious freedom” never means the freedom to discriminate. Slave-owners used the same religious-freedom arguments in the nineteenth century to support slavery. Today, we do not tolerate people who want to own slaves, nor should we tolerate anyone who wants to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.

 

  • We must wake up to the reality that many who cry out that they want to “Make America Great Again” loath what makes our country great today, that is, our cultural, ethnic, religious and racial diversity. We need to boldly speak out that it is this diversity that makes us look most like the image of God in which we were created. This diversity also looks like the portrait of heaven we find in the book of Revelation: “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (7:9). We must wake up to voice our opposition to the purveyors of fear, some who are even calling people bear more arms “to take our country back.” Furthermore, we must wake up to stop folks mid-sentence when they start reminiscing about going back to the good old days of the 1950’s when “we had prayer in school,” as they are completely disregarding the fact that during this time African-Americans in our country were not only treated as second-class citizens, but were being lynched in trees.

 

  • We must wake up to the reality that the most segregated hours in our country occur on Sunday mornings. We must find ways to build bridges and tear down the walls that we have created that prevent us from worshipping and doing ministry together. To stand against racism, hatred and violence and to stand for social justice and equality for all, we must do it side by side, hand in hand, as one body, one Church, serving one Lord.

Thank You Enid, Oklahoma

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Short ArticlesLeave a comment

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Boomers or Sooners, it doesn’t matter. The people of Enid, Oklahoma possess the same boundless spirit today that settled the Cherokee Strip in the 1893 Land Rush. It is a spirit of possibility, opportunity and welcome.

Soon after I staked my claim here, I inquired about the possibility of bringing an Ainsley’s Angels’ Ambassadorship to Enid. Ainsley’s Angels is a non-profit running group that shares joy and acceptance by including children and adults with special needs (Athlete Riders) in endurance events. However, I was told that the small population of Enid would not be able to support it, and I would need to incorporate a larger city, like Tulsa. They said that I would not be able to raise enough money or recruit enough runners.

Well, they just didn’t know the people of Enid, Oklahoma!

I introduced Ainsley’s Angels to Enid with a 5k in August. Three Angel Runners pushed two Athlete Riders. In September, twenty-one Angel Runners pushed nine Athlete Riders in the Great Land Run 10k.

When our church learned that Sunday was the only day of the week that the food-insecure were not served a free meal in Enid, we suggested recruiting 52 businesses or organizations to prepare and serve one meal a year on Sunday in a nice sit-down restaurant atmosphere from our church’s kitchen. However, some responded by saying that doing this weekly would be unachievable, and we should perhaps aim for once-a-month.

Well, they just didn’t know the people of Enid, Oklahoma!

Today, groups from our high schools, businesses, civic organizations, Vance Air Force Base, and even a group from an assisted-living facility, have volunteered to prepare and serve a Sunday meal to hungry men, women, and children with grace, dignity and love.

When some of my colleagues heard that I was going to publicly stand up and speak out on behalf of the LGBTQ community after the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, I was told that the people of Enid, who live in the conservative Bible Belt, were going to run me out of town.

Well, they just didn’t know the people of Enid, Oklahoma!

After I helped lead a prayer vigil on Enid’s town’s square, the leaders of our church had a meeting and reaffirmed our church’s commitment to be a people of grace and welcome to all God’s children though differing in race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental ability, political stance or theological perspective. They said they wanted their pastor to love all of our neighbors, and all means all.

When I told people that I wanted to serve and worship with the African American churches in Enid, someone told me that this would be very difficult, because Enid was still somewhat segregated.

Well, they just didn’t know the people of Enid, Oklahoma!

I have been honored to preach at St. Stephens AME Church on two occasions and to be the Master of Ceremonies at Enid’s Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. On World Communion Sunday in October, our church was led in worship by the African-American voices of the Southern Heights Community Choir and of the First Missionary Baptist Church. On that day, we renewed our commitment to partner with the larger Church to overcome barriers of race and ethnicity, and we renewed our commitment to social justice by being an anti-racism, pro-reconciling church in our community.

Thank you Enid, Oklahoma for still being a place of boundless possibilities, opportunities and welcome!

I thank God that I got a chance to know you!