Hello my people!
Today is Maundy Thursday—a day in which we commemorate Jesus' command to love. It's not a new command for Jesus and his people. They've been urged to love God with everything they have—heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love their neighbor—even the stranger—as they do themselves. These mandates are central to Jewish life, found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. These calls to love are as old as time, as old as Ubuntu—the ancient philosophy that reminds us that we are only human together. We are each other's keepers.
The Love about which Jesus speaks is not wimpy, co-dependent, or romantic. Love demands justice, insists on equality, and will not abide by lying, cheating or violence. This Love is soul and world healing. This Love is action, creating the reign of God on earth.
We can't pretend that what we are seeing in Christian Nationalism is love. WE CAN'T PRETEND THIS CAMPAIGN OF VIOLENCE, HATRED, AND BIGOTRY IS ABOUT GOD. IT. IS. NOT. It is about EMPIRE, and it is dangerous.
Make no mistake about it: We are in a STATE OF EMERGENCY.
YET, beloved, our prayers are more dangerous than empire, our love—God's love—more potent. Even though these are the hottest-mess times—our God is a strong tower, a way maker, a shelter in the time of storms.
How do we know this? Because we've learned from our ancestors that God is Love and Love is Power. We remind ourselves in this Holy Week of God's Love that will not let us go. Tonight, join our Maundy Thursday programming; Tomorrow, be deeply moved by our Good Friday worship. Saturday, come enjoy some quiet reflection time in our Easter Vigil.
And on Sunday, AMEN, we proclaim the powerful way Love rises, even out of death in four ways. Rev. Natalie has a beautiful Sunrise Reflection for us at 7:00 am on our social channels. We will worship live at East End Temple, 245 E 17th Street, at 9:30 am and 11:45 am; the 11:45 am will be streamed in all the places. (If you want to beat the crowd, come at 9:30 am!) At 3:00p, you can worship with your family again on YouTube.
Beloved, Love is calling us to move the world toward healing and Middle needs our home back so that we can organize again in our own space. As we journey toward the end of our second year of our Rising campaign, we have just $225,000 to raise by June 30th to meet our goal this year. Please make a special Easter donation to help us rise. (www.middlechurch.org/donate).
And please put Freedom Rising on your calendar and bring your network to come help us love the hell out of the broken spaces.
I love you; you give me hope. Remember, it's not the fear, it's not the heartbreak—it's the rising.
Jacqui
P.S. I'll be talking on Jonathan Capehart's Sunday Show on Easter Sunday at 6:00p about how we as a nation can rise.