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February 2025
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It Takes Time4/25/2021 IT TAKES TIME
The Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B I watched a movie last week called “Time.” It is a documentary about a Black mother of six children and her 20-year struggle to get her husband paroled. She calls herself an abolitionist fighting for prison reform. At her speaking engagements she argues: people of color receive harsher sentences than White people do. “Time” as used in this film might mean doing time in prison, the time it takes to be granted parole, or losing time with your children while incarcerated. It takes time to change an unbalanced criminal justice system. Christians are in the fourth week of Easter time, a grace filled period marking the raising of Jesus. It is presumably a mystical time untethered by chronology. There is no reason to keep the season unless you believe in the risen Jesus. Yet, day by day, we live in real time when we deal with palpable things that happen to us or are caused by us. Jennifer M. McBride reminds us: “Christians participate in God’s movement in the world through concrete [my emphasis] acts of discipleship that anticipate Easter liberation and embody the good news of the promises of God.” This proactive Christian posture takes time to accomplish. Three recent examples: The indictment of Derek Chauvin is a welcomed anomaly in terms of police convictions. But it will take much more time to end the racist structure that feeds mistrust and hate. It will take time to find sensitive ways to keep the peace in our communities without resorting to the use of lethal force in every situation. Though progress has been made to reduce carbon footprints during this Earth Week, even with a White House pledge to “slash U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases in at least half by 2030,” it will take a long time before we find ways to erase our individual carbon footprints. Vaccines are available to fight the COVID-19 virus but it will take time to reach herd immunity when we can feel safe about going to work, worship, school, and elsewhere without worrying about being infected with or transmitting the disease and its variants. What does “time” have to do with the Good Shepherd, a nomenclature used by Jesus of Nazareth (before his crucifixion) to describe himself in today’s gospel (John 10:11-18)? The story is usually interpreted this way: Jesus is the shepherd and we are the sheep. Jesus will take care of us if we follow his path. Even when we stray off course the shepherd will seek us out to protect and save us. What if we understood this familiar meme to designate you and me as the shepherds, the leaders, who can help others find refuge, be free from harm, sickness, and plunder? Not all shepherds are good ones, of course. Some government guides, elected or not, are dictators undermining especially those living on the margins of society. Some clergy are patriarchal, dismissive of women and guilty of abusing the sheep. Some custodians of the peace are prejudicial in their judgements on our streets and in our courtrooms. There is a need for more good shepherds. Theologian Gennifer Benjamin Brooks suggests that the good shepherd narrative invites us to a “clear understanding of the call to oneness in the name of Christ, and to address and welcome diversity in whatever form it is represented in the wider community.” Whose stories do we listen to? What is the make-up of our congregations or the people we serve? What color? What gender? What age? The sheepfold in America is not homogeneous. There is the saying that “time heals all wounds.” The woman in the documentary “Time” implied that that aphorism is ludicrous. There are simply too many open wounds in society that need healing. Time alone will not suffice. [1] People want justice now. Coming to closure on the divisions and struggles in Congress, in our streets, in our congregations, in our homes and places of work requires action now, not procrastination. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (4:8-12) for today is not to be overlooked. The story begins when the Sadducees imprisoned Peter and John because they healed a man who could not walk. Eventually the high priests were impressed by the healing, the bold testimonies of the disciples, and the crowd of 5,000 who witnessed the miracle. Many centuries later our task is to pick up where Jesus and those early disciples left off, to give testimony to the healing presence of Christ in our midst. Protests against the incongruities and corruption in our governments, our criminal justice system, our economy, our schools, our health care organizations will slowly diminish and eventually erode the fraudulence that exists in our societies.Time ran out for Jesus. Time may not heal all wounds but, like the aspirations of the tenacious woman in the film, something can happen. A steadfast determination to offer healing to those suffering from divisions and disparities in society is our vocation. All it takes is some of our time. ____ 1. This is not reference to those in long term treatments designed to help them return to a healthy life.
Gail Waring RSM
4/25/2021 11:31:58 pm
Unjust social systems, I have come to believe, are rarely changed in a generation. I’m thinking more about “deep time”. I have hope for change on a smaller scale, day by day, person by person. So what you write in the last paragraph is congruent with my expectation of myself and others. Changing an unjust social system takes deep time, I think. Thanks for connecting with us! Comments are closed.
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