opinion
A friend and former pastor died this spring, which was painful as a loss but more so because the many lives he touched haven't been able to gather and celebrate his impact. He was a Baby Boomer white male from Seattle who spent a large part of his career ministering to a majority black community in North Minneapolis, so the turn of events this week has left me with an added sense grief because a guy like Jim isn't around to speak truth about what was sparked in his city and rapidly spread across the country.
I can't say whether he would have joined the protests that began peacefully, but Jim's sermons, given to an upper-middle class, white congregation when I heard them, always revealed how close he was to people who had been marginalized or discriminated. He loved people very deeply no matter their color or culture or station in life, and a later duty stop brought him to Sudan during a time of terrific ethnic strife and reconciliation there. He wasn't a pastor who worked in theory. A story I was told after his passing was about how at big pastoral conferences Jim would skip catching up with his longtime friends and instead seek out the newest pastor, or one from a rural community who didn't have connections with the old boys club, or one who was just out of place. And that's where he'd sit and spend his precious time.
Bishop Larry Robertson is also on my mind this weekend, as the first of three protests planned for this week in Kitsap County began Sunday afternoon. We lost Larry earlier this year and his memorial service was truly a time of looking forward while he was remembered. Larry knew the feelings of young black men in our community that mirrored the passion that's driven the outrage across the country the past week, and he dedicated his 30 years as the leader of Emmanuel Apostolic Church to alleviating that divide in Bremerton. His memory is that we're better than we were, and that there are other Larrys still working among us. I had to hold that optimism in my mind as I watched the television news show looters kicking in the windows of downtown Seattle businesses on Saturday night.
Finally, a third pastor, a friend of mine, also white and of my generation, broke down crying during the sermon he gave to his congregation Sunday morning, unironically titled "Happy Thoughts." His tears were shared over Facebook Live video due to the health circumstances that already have us all feeling out-of-kilter with the lives we want to live. It all feels like too much sometimes.
Our Sunday edition featured a special project labeled "Rebuilding America," and who could have guessed that in the 36 hours after we wrapped it up the meaning of that phrase would change completely. The monumental task of coming back from a pandemic and economic collapse, which we intended to chronicle, is one thing. Now a physical task in cities across America begins where protests have torched cars, shattered storefronts, burned buildings to the ground, physically harmed individuals with fists, weapons, bullets. And then the real, actual mountain of healing that's been set before us for far too long, often with far too little action, is ready for another climb.
I don't know that I can say it better than Niran Al-Agba did in her column that challenged us to listen more when our neighbors want to share what it's like to feel prejudice rather than privilege. Action is needed, justice is needed, the words of the county's law enforcement leaders that are published today is needed... and so is listening when it isn't so easy. Pastor Jim, sitting down next to the person at the gathering who no one knew when he could have palled around with his old friends who look just like him, is needed.
When you make your voice heard this week, do so clearly and thoughtfully, and do so peacefully. Please. And keep listening, as we keep rebuilding.
David Nelson has been editor of the Kitsap Sun since 2009. Contact him at david.nelson@kitsapsun.com.
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June 01, 2020 at 09:03AM
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Rebuilding means so much more - Kitsap Sun
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