I write this somewhere between Boston and Denver, making my way by air eventually to Missoula. I am returning to the Mountain Sky Conference after celebrating the life of Bishop C. Dale White, who I served under when I was a member of the New York Annual Conference. Bishop White ordained me an elder in 1985. He also led a clergy orders retreat on Wholeness later that fall. The things he said and taught have remained with me to this day.
Bishop White impacted my life in ways he most likely never knew. In the middle of the anti-apartheid movement, White invited people from throughout the NYAC to join him in front of the South African Embassy and risk arrest, to protest the dehumanizing policies of apartheid.
I was a pastor in rural upstate NY. I remember reading his invitation and breaking out in a cold sweat—arrest?! While I recognized that the Gospel demands much of us and that it is costly to follow Jesus, his invitation asked me to cross a line I didn’t think I could. I confess this to you: I stayed up in mountains that day, not driving the several hours to NY to join him and others in protest.
I would spend the next several years reflecting on my decision and (in)action. Why was I unable to join him in that act of seeking justice? How closely was I willing to follow Jesus?
There is nothing safe about the Gospel: it requires a willingness to stand up against injustice and pay whatever price that results from such faithfulness. Our baptismal vows reaffirm this when we respond to the question, “Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?”
Watching Bishop White, in his thoughtful, gentle way, stand up against wrongs, defend the earth, and seek peace, and do it deeply grounded spiritually, began to shape my own understanding of faithful ministry. Over time, I began to preach, teach, and lead in ways that helped the congregations I served discuss hard things, make decisions about prophetic ministries, and take risks together on behalf of the Gospel.
Who helped you live more fully into the Gospel’s demands? And who is watching you, as you live out your faith? What are they learning from you? Are you challenging others, not through your words but through your actions, to enter into discipleship in ways they never dreamed of? Are you helping those around you take stock of the world, to honestly assess the brokenness, injustice, and oppression, and to respond in ways that make for Beloved Community.
Throughout Bishop White’s memorial service, there was a constant refrain:
“What does the Lord require of you? To do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”
May it be so for each of us.
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