LONG TIME PASSING

There is one thing, actually more than one, that I miss about my college and theology years and that is the voices of the folk singers who would not allow us to disregard or ignore the many injustices that were taking place in our country. Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan (who won a Nobel Prize for literature because of his poetic truth-telling), Peter, Paul and Mary – the list is long – spoke to my generation.

I did not march or protest as I was secure behind seminary walls and was almost immune to what was happening in the world beyond those walls. And even if I was not personally affected by the racism they sang against, the war they knew was really unjustified, and the divisions among us, I knew what they meant. In hindsight I regret my non-involvement other than simply praying that their voices would be heard.

A long time has passed and some of them have passed into the next life. But we need them today. We need voices who will speak out against the injustices we see all around us, the bigotry and racism that is still very much present. There are those who say we are a Christian country and that they are Christians all the while preaching hatred and division. We are not and they are not.

Peter, Paul and Mary sang this in River of Jordan. “There is only one river. There is only one sea. And it flows through you, and it flows through me. There is only one people. We are one and the same. We are all one spirit. We are all one name. We are the father, mother, daughter and son. From the dawn of creation, we are one. We are one.”

The problem, of course, and the issue at hand is that we don’t act as one. That does not mean that we agree on all issues or even the way to resolve issues like health care and taxes and all those political issues that divide us. What it does mean is that we recognize, when we deal with these issues that do need to be resolved that we take into account that we are indeed one people and that what hurts one of us hurts all of us.

We live in the greatest country on earth. It does not need to be made great again. It is already great. But it needs to be and become better. So do each and every one of us. That is what Dylan and Seeger and their kin tried to get across in their music. That was Jesus’ constant message. It still is and always will be.

Many listened back then and did something about it to help bring us together. The question today is “Is anyone listening?” Even more, where are the voices today that will bring us to our senses? I have been listening but I have not heard any such voices coming from our political leaders. I have not heard it loud enough from our religious leaders. They especially need to speak up, from every denomination and race and creed and speak as one. I am waiting. I am listening.