“Hope is a Value” by Rev. Brandon Johnson

Rev. Brandon Johnson

“Hope” and “change” seem to be the political words of the day! I hear, read, and see these words on the radio, in newspapers, websites, and printed on banners. Seemingly everyone is offering some sort of change and some sort of hope. However, I believe in a hope that rises above the political rhetoric of this day and seeks to claim a border narrative written around justice and equality.

I claim a hope that…
• Offers health care that leaves no one beyond.
• Establishes and sustains a system of education that begins to undo systemic racism, classism, and sexism.
• Begins to look at the cruelty of war and torture while reestablishing basic human rights.
• Holds all of creation in care.
• Caries the mantle of justice to all corners of our society.
• Proclaims that borders and walls are constructed by human hands and often limit justice.
• Recognizes the sin of concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few.
• Seeks to undo the unchecked power of empire and imperialism.
• Looks to weave love into the fabric of our national life and extend it beyond our physical borders to the border tapestry of humanity.

Where do I get this hope? The answer is from a myriad of places. However, this day and in the coming months I will put my energy behind the Presidential campaign of Barack Obama. This is a result of believing in the person and in the movement.

William Sloane Coffin explained, “Believers know that while our values are embodied in tradition, our hopes are always located in change.” While, this political season “values” will be flung about, misused, and abused, rarely do we hear a candidate claim hope as integral to its worldview. Fundamentally, this hope is grounded in change; this hope is grounded in my faith in God and humanity. This day, this political season, my hope is also found in Barack Obama and his campaign for president. As a result, I will knock on doors, walk the streets, and go to the polls.

Obama offers a hope that is life giving, not political rhetoric re-written to sustain old systems of power and arcane notions of government.

Si se peude! Yes you can! Yes we can!

Brandon Johnson
Santa Fe, NM

“Redeeming Words” by Rev. Mary Allison Cates

Rev. Mary Allison Cates

As a minister, I rely heavily on the power of words to change the world. Each time I prepare to preach, two competing voices take over my head. The first reminds me that words have made me who I am. I am my grandmother’s wise and funny sayings, the revolutionary books I read in divinity school adorned by my underlining and scribbling in the margins, the familiar hymn sung at my wedding and ordination, the bad news uttered by the doctor, the first “I love you” from my son, and a host of scriptures, poems, and conversations from which I construct a workable narrative for life. The other voice, which boasts the ability to stop a good sermon in its tracks, always retorts with the notion that nobody listens anymore. We’ve all become hardened in our own beliefs to the point where we dismiss new ideas before we even consider them. The only words that register with us are the phrases coined and over-used in the circles in which we operate. Clichés from other circles and arguments for theories we’ve long ago dismissed, sound like nothing more to us than the “Wah wah, wah wah, wah wah,” from Charlie Brown’s teacher.

I have spent most of my life in a state of political ignorance and apathy. Perhaps this is because my parents rarely discussed matters of government, or perhaps I intuited, little by little, that I could never affect change in a system that looked more to me like a machine than a collection of human beings working to enhance public life. But when I first heard Barack Obama speak, my hope in the power of words began to overtake that negative, sermon-wrecking voice. His speech is void of the usual clichés. Something about him inspires me to really listen. I read Obama’s books and learned that his words are not the usual empty promises I had come to expect from politicians. Instead of denying and hiding his struggles, as so many public figures (including ministers) have learned to do, Obama has recognized that his struggles are his primary connection to others. His authentic examination of his own pain has led to a philosophy of government that is largely empathetic in nature. I was as surprised by this empathy in politics as I am by my own recent engagement in the upcoming election.

But the voice in my head that dismisses the power of words has reverberated throughout public and private speech. In the weeks since the conventions, the media has done its best to turn words that were once profound into clichés that have lost their punch. And naysayers love to call Obama a wordsmith, who lacks the experience to follow through on his lofty and eloquently delivered ideas. But what continues to differentiate Obama from his fellow politicians is that he responds to tough questions with candor and honesty, not the repetition of memorized phrases.

However, we, as ministers of the word must not get too smug in our judgment of those who repeat memorized phrases. Part of operating within a particular belief system is the danger that we will fortify our arguments for a fairer world with borrowed slogans and sayings. Such words are handy shortcuts in communication when we are preaching to the choir, especially for those of us who are relatively new to engagement with politics. But when they fall upon the ears of those in other circles, they mean nothing. We must take Obama’s lead when we talk about why we are voting for the Obama/Biden ticket. We must not take short cuts around the necessary soul-searching that is required for authentic communication. After all, communication that is not authentic is fruitless. And perhaps the most challenging and most important thing to remember is that we must be empathetic in our approach to those with whom we do not agree. Like Obama, we are connected to our fellow humans through our struggles, and it is this connection, as well as the words that uphold it, that will truly change the world.

Rev. Mary Allison Cates
Memphis, TN

“One More Thing” by Rev. Holly McKissick

My Dear Fellow Clergy:

Rev. Holly McKissick

Ask Nellie—bright, spirited, engaging—why she moved to Kansas City this summer to work on the Obama campaign—why she gave up her home, her job, her boyfriend, and she says: 

“I have worked on a lot of campaigns, stumped for a lot of candidates, but, I’ve never felt this kind of hope…. I knew I could not wake up on November 5th and wonder if there was ONE more thing I could have done to change the outcome?”

I can’t wake up on November 5th, either, and think, “Was there one more thing I could have done?”

I’ve been working on the Obama campaign since July—following the lead of my 13 year old daughter who is a campaign intern.

But it hit me last Monday—we have to do more.

In his acceptance speech on August 28th, Senator Obama stirred our deepest longings for a country that works together for a common good. His speech reminded us of something important: Americans deeply believe, “Our government should work for us, not against us.  It should help us, not hurt us.  It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who’s willing to work.  That’s the promise of America, the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation, the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper.”

The last two weeks, we’ve seen the politics of fear and anger rising up…threatening the hope and promise that the Obama campaign embodies.  Many have asked, why isn’t Obama “striking” back harder in the face of attacks and lies?  A part of me wonders, too: Who are the strategists? What are they doing?

But, this is the truth: Barack Obama is a brilliant leader. Absolutely brilliant. He knows what he is doing. By not striking back, he is making a place where you and I, as clergy—as leaders in our communities—have to step up.  He is creating a space where all Americans have to take responsibility for their communities.

Obama is a skilled community organizer. This campaign has been grassroots from the beginning, built on lessons in community organizing learned in Chicago neighborhoods working their way out of poverty.  As Clergy, we are full time community organizers. We know it’s about building relationships, helping folks to name their dreams and needs, and then building alliances and strategies to make them real.

Anyone who has been involved in this campaign “gets it.” This is not about Barack Obama. It’s not about November 4th. It’s about changing this country we love so dearly.  It’s about making a world where all of God’s children live in peace, no matter where they live.

It’s about embodying the change.

Join me. And wake up on November 5th ready to get to work.

Rev. Holly McKissick
Leawood, Kansas

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