May 9, 2024

A Resurrection, Not A Insurrection

“But my righteous one will live by faith. My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back. But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved (Hebrews 10:38-39) NRSV.”

On May 17, 1957 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the final address at the Lincoln Memorial for the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom titled, “Give Us the Ballot.” The gathering’s purpose was to urge the federal government to fulfill the promise of the three-year-old Brown v. Board of Education decision. In his address Dr. King stated, 

“So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind – it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact – I can only submit to the edict of others.”

I couldn't agree more with this statement. 

The language of our American democracy is voting. And, our ability to participate in public life — to have a voice in choosing who will be our elected officials, who make decisions that impact our lives, families, and communities — is at the core of what it means to be an American.

But fourscore and many, many, many centuries ago, white men brought forth on this continent a new nation, deeply flawed and built on white supremacy and christian nationalism. And voting was enshrined only for educated white men who owned property. People of color, Native Americans, women, people with disabilities, and poor people had to fight to secure access to the franchise over the centuries. This country, our country, can not legitimately claim to be a representative democracy when it dehumanizes and bans huge segments of the population from lifting up their voice; to prevent them from voting. 

I believe, and I am sure you would agree, that our democracy works best when all of our voices are heard. A democracy that doesn’t provide its citizens the opportunity to fully, freely and fairly participate in elections, cannot successfully impact and create lasting change on the urgent issues that plague our nation. 

Last week we stood with our partners, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival, for the announcement of the upcoming June 29th Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly & Moral March on Washington, D.C. & to the Poll.

This growing coalition of impacted people and national labor, religious and advocacy partners are united in our effort to mobilize 15 million poor and low-wage voters across the nation to vote in the 2024 elections. It is our hope to mobilize more than 250 UCC justice leaders and clergy from across our region to attend this historic assembly and demand a moral public policy agenda that expands democracy to all people and ends the crisis of death by poverty and low wealth.

Downloadable Flyer & Bulletin Insert 

Let’s not forget the lesson of Hebrews 10:38-39. As God’s people we must show faith in doing the work of justice and in believing that God has called us to do the work of justice.

It is by faith that many social justice movements pushed back, rather than shrink back from the challenges and threats they faced; and they created change. Change that we have benefitted from, and that is now under attack and being dismantled before our very eyes. Faith is more than some religious notion, some pie in the sky God who loves her people, and we can just sit back and wait for God to act. No! Faith is the power of God and the power of the people, the church working together. 

Despite living in the richest country in the history of the world, 800 people a day die due to poverty and low wealth. And the needs of the 135 million poor and low-wage people of this country are barely mentioned on cable news or in our political debates.

This is a time for a mass mobilization of consciousness. We are the resurrection, not an insurrection.

Join us on June 29th and stand side-by-side with poor people and low-wage workers to demand real change!