11.17.07
justice is the fragrance of worship..
Lydia Bean tells her story and illuminates how important it is to combine a call to justice with new worship experiences that bring people into contact with God as a transforming power in the world.
“I’m the daughter of two progressive Baptist ministers, so I had every opportunity to know about Jesus as prophet of social justice… but .. invoking supernatural powers seemed a bit unnecessary…
“When I was in college, my little Texas hometown got hit by a drug sting. The drug sting arrested 20% of the Black people in my town—over 70% of the town’s young Black men. There was not the slightest ripple of opposition to the drug sting in Tulia’s small Black community.
“My father Alan Bean, a Baptist minister, got involved when he became concerned that the defendants couldn’t get a fair trial in the small town. Ultimately .. a movement [arose] that brought together the drug sting defendants and a few other local allies. In early April, a group of defendant’s families and the Beans and Kiker’s families began worshipping together in Alan Bean’s home on Sunday nights. The group read from the Gospels and the Old Testament prophets, read aloud new letters from the defendants in prison, and sang hymns, including many of the gospel songs that were first used in the Civil Rights movement. At first, the group met to worship only sporadically, but [later] my family was losing our welcome at all of the local churches, so we were grateful to have the fellowship. [Then] I saw how meaningful this prayer seemed to be to everyone around me. I started to wonder why I had never prayed like God was actually listening. ”
Lydia goes on to describe some critical lessons learned and how justice became a lens for seeing the wholeness and power of the Gospel. More..
