The Martyr of Black Friday (Why I Won't Shop Today)

Black Friday has never been the same since 2008. That year, it turned from something mildly annoying to something approaching evil. I know, I know. You're already calling me a Debbie Downer. I know, I know, I'm probably too late to stop you from shopping today.

But if I could, I would.

Yes, I'm a junkie for consumer electronics. Yes, I love to buy as much as the next guy. Yes, I know and understand that retail sales will help drive economic recovery. Blah, blah, blah...

But there is something about Black Friday that reveals the dark underbelly of our consumerist economy. There is something about the pushing, shoving crowds, eager to save a few bucks, that causes the skin to grow cold. There is something about the gleeful TV reporters, interviewing the early shoppers like they are some kind of modern-day heroes, that makes me sick.

You see, I can't help but remember the Martyr of Black Friday. Do you remember him? He was a Haitian immigrant named Jdimitai Damour. who worked at a Wal-Mart in New York State. And on Black Friday, 2008, he was trampled to death by hoards of shoppers who apparently did not see, or did not care, that a man's life was at stake.

What makes his death even more surreal is that he was apparently not a *small* man. He was a big guy. But there is something about the push of a hoard that can overwhelm anyone.

The best recounting of his death I ever read was from the LA Times, and reporter Erika Hayasaki. A good portion of that story is below, with a little editing for space....

 CRUSHED IN THE RUSH FOR BARGAINS
by Erika Hayasaki

"He took his last breath on a gray floor, between a row of soda machines and a device that disperses change for cans and plastics.

Trampled by a mob of bargain-hungry Black Friday shoppers, Jdimytai Damour, 34, died by asphyxiation, leaving people across the world asking: Why, and how?

Audio-enhanced chatter captured on a cellphone video posted on YouTube, along with interviews with witnesses, offers a hint. The video shows a police officer crouching by a 6-foot-5, 270-pound man lying at the entrance of a Long Island Wal-Mart. A paramedic pumps the man's chest so forcefully his limp legs and feet joggle. Shoppers peer in from behind glass doors, as others stand a few feet away, hands in pockets.

"They need to shock him," a voice says. The paramedic stops pumping.

The man's shirt has been pulled to his neck, revealing his large belly. A woman in the crowd mutters "pregnant." Another cracks a joke.

The women begin to laugh.

The trouble began well before the sun rose.

Just after 1 a.m., Jennifer Jones, 25, and niece Alicia Sgro, 14, parked themselves behind the 200 or so early shoppers, in front of the Valley Stream store, 20 miles east of Manhattan. Jones wanted the 32-inch plasma flat-screen TV on sale for $388. Sgro hoped to pick up DVDs, like "Cloverfield," on sale for $2 to $9.

Dressed in heavy coats and a blanket, they brought Pop-Tarts, muffins and Chex Mix for the wait. The couple in front of them wanted the $25 microwave. The guy behind wanted the $5 blender.

By the time Nakea Augustine showed up at 3:15 a.m. on Nov. 25, the line had grown to 1,000, snaking down to a National Wholesale Liquidators store, stopping near a fire hydrant....

By 3:30 a.m., the crowd had grown to 2,000, and Jones and her niece decided to fold their chairs, standing to mark their territory. In the 30-degree darkness, their bodies felt hot-glued to everyone else. The line began to heave and sway, like a tugboat dragging its vessels through a heavy current...

Shortly before 5 a.m. an announcement went over store intercom: "Doors are about to open in the next five minutes." As opening got closer, people started counting down: "Five, four, three, two, one!"

Augustine saw a worker inside begin to open the door, slowly. Suddenly, everyone started pushing from all directions. They knocked the door off its hinges. A worker tried to use it as a shield, but the glass shattered.

The crowd ran right into the soda machines. Pop Pop and others darted to the side where Damour had been, and held the machines in place as the crowd surged forward.

He didn't see Damour anymore...

Augustine tried to keep her balance as she was pushed forward. She saw people fall and knew she had to keep moving or she'd fall too. One woman had cuts from the glass across her face. Augustine saw Damour sprawled out. She managed not to step on him.

Durell George, 26, who works in Internet sales, heard people screaming and tried to jump out of their way. A woman in brown pants and a long coat fell but others pulled her to the customer service section. George went to see if she was OK.

Augustine kept going, down the jam-packed aisles, still moving with the crowd, still heading to the deals. People guarded the televisions so no one else could grab them. Augustine raced for the toy section and snatched up a bike, a dollhouse, 10 Hannah Montana dolls for $5 apiece.

Two hours later, Augustine checked out, just as the store announced it was closing. She got in line, and spent $495 on 36 items. She did not know what became of the man who had fallen to the ground.

Pop Pop had continued to staff the door, but word eventually spread through the employees that Damour was dead. Paramedics took his body away and police declared the area a crime scene. Pop Pop joined other workers in a prayer.

Later, Pop Pop thought of his daughter. She works at the same Wal-Mart, but was off on Black Friday. It could have been her, he thought, or him...

Nearly a week after Damour's death, candles burned next to photos of him, atop an altar near the spot where he died. People left comments in a condolence book:

"So sorry that people did this to a young and honest hardworking gentleman."

"You damn animals, there was no reason to rush in like a herd of cattle and kill an innocent young man."

"Jdimytai is an angel and he's not doing maintenance anymore."

On Monday, a coroner ruled Damour died from suffocation. On Wednesday, his family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Wal-Mart.

By Thursday evening, life at the store had mostly returned to normal. Bored-looking greeters stood hunched at the front doors. Workers rounded up stray grocery carts. Employees clocked out. Overnight staff clocked in.

Pop Pop came outside for a cigarette break, standing steps from where it all happened.

"To me, that boy got killed over $100, for a TV," he said. "When you see somebody on the ground, you just don't step on them and keep going. . . . That's somebody's life."

Damour's altar stood mostly ignored for nearly two hours that night. Customers rushed by without stopping, or even looking. They were too busy getting to the deals."

Let's be clear: no bargain, no sale, no "one-day-only" deal is worth a human life. Not then. Not now. Not ever. In fact, it's an event like this that truly shows the final horror of Black Friday, and what it means for us.

My friend and colleague, Rev. David Weber, well described it last year in a short post on Facebook. He said:

"Americans stopped for awhile yesterday to give thanks for what they have, then rose this morning, early, and left the house, praying 'But it's not enough.' "

 Exactly.

Frederick Buechner once said that if you really want to know what you value in this world, watch where your feet take you. As each year passes, I see the wisdom in this. The feet are a great barometer for,  and window to, the soul. The places we end up spending our time, the people we spend it with, the things we do, they show us, more than our words who we are and what we value.

Yes, we SAY we value giving thanks. Yes, we SAY that we are grateful for the simple things --shelter, clothing, food, friends, family. Yes, we SAY that the "best things in life are free."

But is that how we live? On Black Friday, as we watch the local news reports of the pushing, shoving crowds at our local stores, is there any evidence that we really believe this?

No. Our feet tell us otherwise. They tell us we are still far too afraid and far too empty of all that really matters. We fill ourselves up with the latest gadgets. We convince ourselves that money is so tight that the few bucks we save today will somehow make some lasting difference in our family's lives. (Hint: it won't)

Jim Wallis pointed all this out in a great blog yesterday. He writes:

The relentless pressure of advertising tells us that “there is never enough,” and that you should “worry” constantly about what you eat and drink, what you wear, whether your future is secure, and more. But Jesus says the exact opposite. They say, “Worry all the time!” But Christ says, “Don’t worry!”

The pressure we feel doesn’t just come from the ads we get in our inboxes or see on television. All of us have family and friends who are going to be doing a lot of shopping. If a friend goes out and spends money on us, we feel guilty if we don’t reciprocate at roughly the same level. What’s worse is if someone gets us a gift and we don’t get them anything at all. The problem is not giving gifts.  Giving gifts becomes a problem when the exchange of stuff replaces building relationships.

Wallis notes the final insanity: All of this happens allegedly in the service of "holy days." The idea that the Christian holiday of Christmas --celebrating the birth of a poor peasant child into the world-- is appropriately marked by an orgy of consumer spending is INSANE. It's sick. It's a twisting and bastardizing everything that holiday used to mean. (And still does...)


Christmas is about:

PEACE
HOPE
JOY
LOVE

No amount of mall shopping can buy any of these things.

That is why so many people are increasingly opting out of consumerist giving at Christmastime. At Northaven, for example, we'll begin our "Alternative Gift Market" next week.

It's a very simple idea: members pick out one of a dozen agencies in Dallas and beyond that works with the poor, the homeless, lgbt rights, women, children, etc...

Then, they give a donation that we forward on to those agencies (100 percent of it. We pay for any overhead internally...). The member then gets a card to give to their loved one that says:

"A gift has been given in your honor to (Christ's Foundry) or (Reconciling Ministries)" or about a dozen other agencies that are familiar to our members.

That way, people give gifts of real meaning; and gifts that actually help others! There's no pushing. There's no shoving. And, more than any other kind of external gift, the people who get these gifts can know and understand that they are cared and loved....because the whole process is simply a "paying forward" of the gifts we've been given.

The beauty is, you don't have to do this through our little "Alternative Gift Market." You can do it through hundreds of agencies and groups near and dear to your heart, or the hearts of those you love.

Wallis suggest what we most need in our society is to move from "greed is good" and to "enough is enough."

I think he's right. If Thanksgiving means anything, it should remind us of the thousands of blessings we take for granted each and every day. Our lives are dripping with blessings. If you have forgotten this, start with the big ones: food, clothing, shelter.

Do this today: Open up the crawl space, and take a look at the furnace in your house. I mean this literally. Use your feet to take you there (remember: they teach us what we value) go and LOOK at it.

Then, go check the outside temperature. And give thanks for the heater. Give thanks for every day it works.

Yes, it sounds silly. But sometimes we have to start there to really remember and realize the extent of the blessings all around us. And the more content we become with who we are, with what we have, with all of our gifts (large and small), the less we'll have the need for "MORE."

At the Jim Finley Retreat last year, he cited a prayer that is attributed to the Buddha (although apparently he probably didn't say it.) It's a prayer of Thanksgiving that breaks down thankfulness to its more basic component:

"Let us all be thankful for this day, for we have learned a great deal; if we have not learned a great deal, then at least we learned a little; if we did not learn a little, then at least we did not become sick; if we did become sick, then at least we did not die. So, let us all be thankful."

All gratitude begins with gratitude for the gift of being alive right now, and for the gift of things like food, clothing, shelter, friends.

And! The more we give thanks for the "big" blessings, the more we'll be able to see and recognize all the small ones in our lives too.

Every great religious tradition speaks of this kind of "mindfulness" or "paying attention." Jesus did it when he called us to "consider the lilies of the field," and the "birds of the air." The more we meditate on simple things like this, the less we'll worry about tomorrow.

And the more content we will become with who we are. The more that "hope, peace, love and joy" and spread into our hearts, and keep us from mistaking the love of family or friends with the love of a new XBox 360.

Honor the holidays.
Honor your loved ones.
Honor Jdimitai Damour.
Make difference choices this holiday season.
You can celebrate the real reason for the season.

And nobody has to die.

2011 Updates: Today, I have written a second blog on these issues, and invite you to check it out. If further explains and clarifies my own personal views on these issues. Find it here.

I've also written a new song about it, that you can find here.

Also, my friends at "Occupy Dallas" have posted this truly disturbing video of shoppers almost being trampled, just like Jdmytai. It's hard to fathom how, even with his death this still goes on.

Finally, in doing some Googling, I discovered a pitiful CODA to this story...
In the years since this has happened, apparently Walmart has been vigorously contesting a measly $7,000 fine from OSHA.

First reported in the New York Times, many observers have been baffled: Why has Walmart spent upwards of $2 MILLION to fight a $7,000 fine?

The answer seems to be: precedent. Walmart appears to believe that agreeing to the fine will bind them to legal precedent and perhaps bigger fines, should there be additional incidents in the future. The bottom line seems to still be the bottom line, and not concern for people. How pitiful.


(As always, if you like this post, then "like" this on Facebook by clicking the box below, so others can see too...)

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Bullying, And The Theology Behind It

 (I intended to post this sermon weeks ago, but life marches on and I never got around to it. This was preached in response to the bullying deaths of several LGBT teens in the weeks prior. You can hear it here. Significantly, at the conclusion of the sermon it got a standing ovation...which I take not to be for me, but for because people really do want to see the Church change on this issue...EF)

BULLYING AND THE THEOLOGY BEHIND IT
A Sermon Preached at Northaven United Methodist, Dallas Texas
 October 10, 2010


As I shared with the Northaven family in an email this week, I am feeling called this morning to address the issue of the "bullying" of LGBT young people that has been so much in the news the past few weeks. It seems to me that now is the time to speak out on this issue, and I believe God has given us the opportunity to do so today.

As you may have heard, over the past few weeks, SIX young persons who were either self-identified as gay, or bullied as if they were, have committed suicide, including one here in our state. This is clearly a deeply disturbing moment, and the kind of thing that feels like an epidemic.

And it reminds us of this morning's Hebrew Scripture reading:

"My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick ... For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me."

Yet I can almost hear cynics in the greater community saying, "Well, yeah, it's bad, it's horrifying, but statistically does that indicate an epidemic?"

So, this week I talked with Sam Wilkes, one of the directors of "Youth First Texas" (a Dallas-based group that offers support and services to LGBT youth all over North Texas). Many of you know well of "Youth First Texas," and we're pleased to count them as partners and friends here in the Dallas area.

Sam gave me a chilling statistic: Last year, Youth First Texas did a survey of the kids their organization serves. That survey found that 50 percent of the kids served by Youth First Texas have not just *contemplated* suicide, but 50 percent had actually *attempted* suicide. (50 percent!) That, friends, IS an epidemic.

"My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick...For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me."

These horrifying recent suicides simply point to a preexisting societal issue: that over and over and over, LGBT young people are being driven to the point where they seriously consider ending their lives. We MUST speak about this. The Church of Jesus Christ must speak about this.

The first thing I'd like to do is to take a moment and address young people themselves. This is one of those places I hope this message gets out to those listening by podcast, or reading later.

To young people everywhere: Please know that God loves you. Know that God loves you just as you are. Whatever you have been told by others about who you are, whatever you have been told in other churches about who you are, know that God loves you for who you are.

Here at Northaven, we believe that God accepts LGBT people as good children of God. Every person has flaws. Nobody is perfect. But being gay is not a "flaw" to God. If you are hearing messages contrary to this, please know that there are many churches, many groups, who can help you. Maybe they are not very near where you live, but they are out there.

And if you are feeling suicidal, please, please, please, REACH OUT. Find a trusted friend or loved one to talk to. Call our friends at the Teen Contact Crisis line here in Dallas. (Northaven has a long history with Contact.) Their counselors are trained to help sensitively and caringly help kids who are LGBT. You can find them at www.teencontact.org, or 972-233-8336. Our friends at Youth First Texas also offer many activities for LGBT youth, and I am told that young people come from all over North Texas, sometimes from small towns and long distances, to find support and connection among the Youth First Texas community.

So, to the kids, PLEASE reach out. God would never want you to hurt yourself, no one in this church would want you to hurt yourself, and your life matters to God.

(By the way, if you are adult who is experiencing your own questions, we here at Northaven are honored to be the home of the "Coming Out Workshop" led by our own Jim McBride. Jim is a very skilled counselor, and the group has helped many people in Dallas over the years. A new group is actually scheduled to start this coming Tuesday night. And you can find information at our church's website).

The second thing I'd like to say to young folks is to pick up on a phrase I have heard online a lot this week. I've been watching some videos called "It Gets Better." It's a series of videos addressed to young folks to send them the message that whatever they are going through, there is hope.

It seems to me that we here at Northaven know intuitively know something about this. In some way, we can also give you the hope that "It Gets Better." We have dozens and dozens of gay couples and lesbian couples who are raising their families in quiet and proud faith. They and our traditional families form what we call a "blended church" where everybody prays, worships, loves, and serves together.

Sometimes here, inside our walls, we may forget how many people do not have the haven we have here. Here at Northaven, we have a gay couples who will celebrate 50 years together next January. We have many others who have been together 10, 20, 30 and 40 years; quietly living out their faith, raising their families. So, to those who may be listening, and in need of hope, please know that we here KNOW that LGBT persons are loving parents, partners, neighbors, and friends. And someday that can be possible for you too. It can get "better."

Here at Northaven, we have known for several decades that God calls us to love and accept all of God's children, and that sexual orientation is not a barrier to our relationship with God, or to God's love for us.

We know that Jesus never says one word that would justify the "bullying" OR rejection of LGBT people in any way. We know that Paul's words in the New Testament do not say one word about loving, committed long-term relationships that we see between gay couples and lesbian couples in our congregation and in society today. We know that if you turn to the teachings of Jesus, what he did teach is that we should love God, our neighbor and ourselves. We should treat our neighbors and others the way we wish to be treated.

We at Northaven know that in many denominations, it is not the words or teachings of Jesus that allegedly justify the rejection of LGBT people. The only thing that justifies it is the received "teaching" of human beings in another historical time and culture. Despite these things we know, it is clear that many people within the Church of Jesus Christ (Church with a capital C) continue to reject and condemn LGBT people, and are often blatantly homophobic in their practice.

Before I turn to that, let me talk a bit about the bullying that's going on in society right now, and just why it seems to me it has become so lethal and dangerous. I actually believe there are some specific reasons as to WHY it is a lethal kind of bullying.

You know, teasing is something we humans do to each other, and something that happens in nature...

Among our staff here at church, we like to tease each other and joke around in staff meetings. There is something quite healthy at being able to laugh at yourself and laugh with others. I've said before, I think it's actually something of a sign of spiritual good health. When it's done in genuinely good humor, it can be a very healthy thing. We do this in committee meetings sometimes too. We can gently tease each other and laugh with each other.
But that's not what's happening in these instances of bullying.

There's also the sense that groups sometimes push weaker members to as to make them stronger. You see this in a litter of new born puppies, and that extra pushing that is done to the weakest and the smallest can help them grow stronger.
But that's not what's happening in these instances of bullying either.

Finally, teasing takes place among kids. When I was in the 7th grade at Westwood Junior High, I had a nickname. It's a nickname I will not share with you, but it was a pretty humiliating nickname for a 7th grade boy. I remember being teased in gym class. I remember the pain of that. But teasing happens.
But that's not what's happening in these instances of bullying either.

You see, friends, when I was teased in 7th grade, never once did I believe or understand that this teasing was about my personhood. Never once did I connect this teasing with something inherent *about* me, who I am as a person.
But this IS what happens with LGBT persons.

Because of the negative stereotypes of LGBT persons in parts of our culture, because of the negative theological and spiritual messages about LGBT persons in parts of God's Church, what in other places might just be "ordinary teasing" takes on an added, dangerous, and clearly sometimes lethal layer.

This teasing becomes something that -- to both the bully and the "bullied" -- appears to be justified, sanctioned, perhaps even blessed by God and the church. (It's not, but that's what it can seem like...) And this is what raises this bullying far beyond and past more normal "teasing." It reveals the horrifying truth we must confront in the Church of Jesus Christ: that the negative messages about gay and lesbian persons, the homophobic theology of churches, and even the silence of churches, allow bullies and bullied alike to believe God approves of it.

So, having talked about this horrifying theological/spiritual layer to this bullying, I would like now to address some more folks who are probably not here today in the room.

I would like to speak these next thoughts directly to the Church of Jesus Christ (with a capital C). Those who might be reading or hearing this out in the greater world. I want to speak now directly to clergy colleagues. I want to speak to lay people in other churches.

Dear friends in Christ, it is time to end the harmful and negative messages in much of today's Christian theology. I call upon all who consider themselves Christian to search their hearts, and search their faith, and to move toward the unconditional acceptance of LGBT persons.

And in terms of effect on the culture, in terms of what people hear in an anti-gay Christian message, I want to say it all becomes one message to the ears of the hearers, in the ears of the culture. Let me illustrate. I'm sure you have all heard of the small Baptist "sect" from central Kansas. I will not dignify them by mentioning their name. But they are useful as an example today.

They picket at the funerals of LGBT persons who have died. They picket at the funerals of members of our military. The hold up signs that say "God Hates..." (and I will not say the rest ... You know what it is...) Everybody I know condemns them. Even other churches who reject LBGT persons reject their tactics. They are a marginal group, offensive on the scale of the KKK in a previous generation.

But, dear friends, a year ago, the pastor of the largest Baptist church downtown preached a sermon titled "Why Gay Is Not OK."

And I am here to say this about the juxtaposition of the Baptist sect in Kansas and the Baptist preacher downtown: In terms of effect, effect on the culture, effect on the church, the message that is "heard out there," there is NO daylight between them.

One wears a slightly nicer suit and smiles at the camera while they say it. But in terms of effect, the words of "God Hates ____" and "Gay Is Not OK" are exactly the same!

That is why we must call on all Christian Churches to reject such things. Because, dear church, this theology is potentially lethal, providing a theological framework for a bullying where words can turn to literal violence.

Along these lines, maybe you heard this week that one of the large anti-gay Christian groups, Exodus International, has announced they will cancel their surreally-named "Day of Truth." This was a day on which this anti-gay group encouraged Christian high school kids to confront their fellow LGBT teens with clear anti-gay messages in school.

As I said, the leader of this group has apparently told CNN they will cancel this year's event. While I cannot applaud the still dangerous goals of this group, I sincerely applaud them for backing off this dangerous program. And I suggest that the mere fact that they did cancel this event, in the current cultural milieu of these suicides, suggests a tacit admission on their part that they intuitively know this program was harmful to kids.

So, the clear call is to repentance -- to renounce and reject theology, spirituality, and practice that excludes, marginalizes and otherwise harms LGBT persons from understanding or hearing God's full and unconditional love for them.

But beyond this call for repentance to the Church of Jesus Christ, I want to address a final word to clergy and lay folk who may be in churches in the so-called "big fat middle." (I call many of these churches "don't ask, don't tell" churches...) They are churches who never say anything, positive or negative, about gay or lesbian people, in part because they live in constant fear of controversy. They are nice people. They are good people.

But I am here to say that this silence has become culpability. This silence, is now, itself, sin. Because of the existence of great swaths of anti-gay theology in "Christian" churches, it becomes even more imperative for those in the middle to speak out. So, if you are a clergy who has always been silently supportive, now is the time to publicly say something. If you are a congregation that is mostly "don't ask, don't tell," now is the time to say something.

Study after study shows that one of the words young people under 40 mostly closely associate with the Church (capital C) of Jesus Christ is the word "homophobic." That should tell us something. The reason to speak now is because if you do not, many will assume that you agree with an anti-gay theology. Future bullies will hear and believe that. Future LGBT teens will hear and believe that. Your silence could, quite literally, help kill people.

I know that sounds dramatic. But that is precisely the point. With scores of LGBT teens attempting suicide, with six that have recently happened it is far, far FAR past time for us to speak boldly and prophetically on this issue.

If you are a church in the "big middle" who is caught up in fear, and wanting to have a conversation on these issues, I can certainly encourage you to prayerfully consider our new "This I Know" study, a companion guide to the film "For the Bible Tells Me So." We have produced this study with prominent nationally known theologians, and it would make a great way for your church to start talking about these issues. You can learn more about it at www.thisiknowstudy.org.

People all the time ask me, "Eric, why did Northaven feel the need to vote on being 'Reconciling?' Why paint it on the wall of your Atrium? Why NOT just do it silently? Or why not just be a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" church?"

I always used to say, "Because it's important to send a message to ourselves and to the world that there is a difference between your church and the churches who are preaching messages of exclusion.

But given the suicides of recent weeks let me say this more boldly, it's important to put SEPARATION between your Christianity and the Christianity of the Kansas sect, and the Baptist preacher downtown. Speak out!

Ironically, tomorrow is national "Coming Out Day" and many LGBT persons may be coming out of the closet for the first time. Churches and ministers who are silently supportive must also "come out." It makes a difference. Maybe your church isn't ready to be fully Reconciling. At least commit to a small group of the "This I Know Study." Pastors, address the bullying and your own acceptance of LGBT persons in a pastor's column. Do SOMETHING. Take action to show God's love for LGBT persons. NOW is the time.

This week in a blog entry, the Rev. Debra Haffner passed along a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. You may recall that Bonhoeffer was a German minister during the time of WWII, who struggled mightily about how or what to do to stand up to the Nazi regime. Bonhoeffer said this:

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."

A lot of people hate when anything about the Nazis gets mentioned. I get that. People in our culture are forever calling other people Nazis. But this quote isn't really about Nazis. It's about somebody inside the church, in the "silent majority" of churches, deciding they can no longer be silent, and realizing that their silence is aiding not the work of God, but the work of those who would spread hate.

Earlier, I mentioned the small Baptist sect from Kansas (notice, I won't even call them a church) and how they are somewhat like the KKK. But there is one crucial difference. Groups like the KKK eventually were marginalized when the church of Jesus Christ finally said "ENOUGH!" and pushed back against them. Average ordinary churches made being in the Klan a social anathema. People would no longer would tolerate that kind of racism, a racism that, like the current situation, too often seemed to be sponsored by, or silently approved by, the Church.

One day, the forces of hate against LGBT may also be marginalized. But it will only happen when those in the middle of the road finally speak up and finally stand up.

The Gospel lesson is instructive. Ten lepers are healed. Only one comes back to offer thanks and praise to Jesus. Only one stands up. The other nine do not.

Dear Church of Jesus Christ: It can seem like a lonely and risky business to make a tough social stand on an issue like this. But more than your fear is at stake. Quite literally, as we have learned these last few weeks, lives are at stake.

Church of Jesus Christ: be bold and prophetic in support of gay and lesbian people. Now is the time.

Amen.

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Three Shows Coming Up

Just a last minute post to say how excited I am about the shows coming up in the next few days.

First off, Connections is back with our new show. We've been rehearsing the past few months, and tomorrow night we're back with our fifth tribute show:

Connections Tribute to Billy Joel and Stevie Wonder

November 13, 2010 7 pm
Stonebridge United Methodist Church
1800 South Stonebridge Drive
McKinney, TX
(214) 726-0578

I've often written blogs about my love for the artists we cover. I don't really have time to write an entry on Stevie Wonder, even though he's a musical genius. But I did write this a few years back about Billy Joel and his music.

I'm more than pleased to be singing some of my favorite Billy songs...."Piano Man," "You May Be Right"...and most of all "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant."

And as of Saturday night, I will be able to say I've been able to sing my top three alltime favorite songs with Connections ("There's a Place in the World for a Gambler," and "Make Me Smile" being the other two...)

Added bonus: Cornell is back!!! The incomparable Cornell K is joining us again for this show, on woodwinds an recreating Steve's harmonica parts.

Then, Sunday I'll be doing a short set of my own music at something called "Chile Pepperama." A whole bunch of local musicians will be providing the music throughout the weekend:

Then, Tuesday I'll play another noon set of my music for the great folks down at "The Bridge" in downtown Dallas. My friend and fellow bandmate, John Fleming, arranges for a local musician to play a show for the homeless folks there.

 

That's me playing there back in early September. It will be a joy to be there again. It's a great cause and I always enjoy going.

The show tomorrow night will be a first and last:

First time to see the new Billy Joel/Stevie Wonder show.

Last time to see the band this year.

Hope to see a lot of you on Saturday and Sunday.

Eric

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