Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

Yesterday I accepted an invitation from the teachers at the two schools that sit just blocks away from our church building - Star Lake Elementary and Totem Middle School - to join them in an action of support for Black students and Black lives. Many teachers parked in our parking lot before going to stand on the corner of 272nd and Military with signs proclaiming their love and support for Black lives and desire for justice for Black people unjustly killed by police. 

I stood with them for a little over an hour holding my simple cardboard sign. Those of us holding signs mostly just stood without talking- all wearing masks and standing fairly still in the warm June sun. This gave me the opportunity to do something I haven't done before - stand and listen at the corner of the busiest intersection in our immediate church neighborhood.  

I saw all kinds of people drive by in all sorts of cars. Folks of many races and ethnicity and (judging by cars alone) economic classes have reason to drive through this intersection. Compact cars full of vaping teenagers and semi-trucks full of goods passed through, as did family mini-vans and construction work vehicles. Fancy cars with tinted windows and beat up vehicles as well as city buses and delivery vans. Many, many folks of all these descriptions honked in support, waved, rolled down windows to wave and seemed delighted and moved to see people holding signs in support of Black lives. Only one person drove through yelling, upset. Many people did nothing, went on their way. 

In Benedictine Spirituality, Christians are called to listen in particular way. In Benedictine monasteries the monks call to listen to God was also a call to action. This way of listening in prayer, to each other, to themselves and in the world - listening in order to act and with openness to being changed by what you hear - was one way to be in obedience to God.

This is so different than how our culture teaches us to listen. So often "listening" is simply waiting for my turn to talk, or a time spent marshaling my own opinion so I can express it. This "hearing" doesn't open our hearts to the movement of the Holy Spirit, or the possibility that we are being called to change.

As a white person who wants to be in right relationship with God and with all the human beings made in God's image, I think it is time for me to listen to my siblings of color in the way that St. Benedict articulated for us centuries ago, with openness to being changed by what I hear.  As children of God, we are always called to this radical, holy listening that leads us to action on behalf of God's purpose, God's justice, and God's hope. 

As I listened on the corner of 272nd and Military yesterday I wondered if I was doing the right thing, the best thing with my time. Then I realized that standing there was not an action in and of itself, but an opportunity to listen for God's call to act. I heard our neighborhood's hunger for justice, on that street corner, in the honks and waves from white, black, and brown people who drove by. I wondered how our faith community can be part of that hunger for justice, and participate even more deeply in the call to connect and serve this diverse community of people, each of whom is made in the image of God.

This week, and every week, church let's focus on listening in order to act. Let's talk about what we hear, and how God is calling us to action as a result. And then, when we act, let's listen again to see how we can do better, see more clearly, and continue to draw close to the new horizon of justice and love that God calls all of creation to pursue, together.

with gratitude and hope,

Alissa