Oppression??

Last June one of my friends and I walked to the bank down the street, which is where EDS banks. We both had reimbursement checks and wanted to cash them. In the bank, the cashier started with my friend, who is a person of color. The cashier talked to her manager who then spoke to my friend about the check. The manager explained that he needed to call the school to be sure everything was okay with the check. My friend started getting upset and expressing her views loudly. To her, the bank personnel was being racist and that was why they were taking so long and giving her problems. To me, I thought that the manager and cashier were doing what was expected of them.

Now jump to today, I have another reimbursement check and go to the same bank. I spent twenty minutes cashing this check. Again a manager needed to call the school to confirm that the check was legal. She and the cashier kept explaining that the bank's policy for certain size checks was to contact the business where it had been written.

I know that sometimes people/businesses are oppressive. I'm saddened that the first thought of my friend was that the people were being racist. Unfortunately my friend has probably experienced a great deal of judgement based solely on the color of her skin or on her gender. To her, she reacted appropriately considering her background.

When I am met with what I think is discrimination, I try to look around me and see how others are being treated. During the first incident one reason I didn't think they were acting racially was because they didn't automatically accept my check while hassling my friend. They didn't suddenly say, "Oh, you two are together. Well, never mind, ma'am, your check is good with us."

I also look to see how others are reacting. Does anyone else look awkward with what is happening? Both times, no other customers were in the bank. However the personnel appeared as uncomfortable as my friend. Both times they explained over and over that this was their policy.

Unfortunately when one has experienced oppression many times, one doesn't expect to be treated in a just manner. People don't necessarily want to decide to be fair to others when they don't experience fairness for themselves. AND I am amazed by the people who can come from a place of oppression and treat others with the respect that they often did not receive.

The chains of oppression will be broken when we don't have to consider if how we are being treated fairly or not. My prayer for the world is that these chains no longer have power of anyone.

Grandma's Birthday

Today is my grandma's birthday ... sort of. Legally Grandma's birthday was January 13 and she was born on January 12. Although she liked to let on that she was aggrevated by this error, I think she really enjoyed being able to tell the story.

Gertrude Lucille Baily was born in a tiny community called Dumont that was about 20 miles from the county seat. When she was born, a horrible snow storm blew in and no one could get to town to file her birth certificate. So on January 13 when someone could get to town, she was officially born.

What I remember best about Grandma was that she was always singing to herself and to us grandkids. And she was not a talented singer. I truly believe she was tone deaf, but she loved singing and music and shared her love with each of us. One of her favorites was "Froggy Went a Courting." This song facinated me because Frog and Miss Mouse were getting together. It also felt so very Grandma with her rural ways. She had an appreciation for times past and tried to share those ideas with me.

Happy Birthday, Grandma! Yes I know that today is the real day.

Matriculation

Today the new students at EDS were matriculated. I went through the same process last June. This formal worship service not only welcomes the new students into the academic family of EDS, but also defines their commitment to study as belonging to God.

The dictionary defines the verb, matriculate, as enrolling in a college or university as a candidate for a degree. Most schools consider students to be matriculated when they start going to school. As many other religious institutions do, EDS has a religious ceremony. The act of matriculation, rooted in traditional universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, is an opportunity to recognize the new students as members of the academic community.

At EDS the students state their "desire to be enrolled ... in the Episcopal Divinity School." The returning students, along with the faculty and staff, renew that they continue to be responsible to the service of God in both ministry and life. The new students then step up and sign the book that contains the signatures of previous new students.

The service was a wonderful opportunity for me to recognize that my studies were important to God as well as to the community. If each of us as we began our work in the world had the opportunity to formally sign a book and pledge our lives to the pursuit of knowledge and justice, would we consider our work to be less of a chore and more of an endeavor? Would we approach our daily lives as adventures? Would we see the skills that we bring to the world are in fact talents blessed by God?

What a difference we could all make in the world if we considered our life works to be a blessing and promise from God!

Reconnection

Recently I've been reconnecting with friends who I haven't seen in many years. Facebook has been an amazing opportunity to find people who I knew from childhood. Sometimes when I send a message or a request to someone, I don't feel very sure of myself. Does this person want to have contact with me? Are we going to relate to each other as well as we did when we were younger? A lot of concerns and fears come when I think about reuniting with old friends.

I also felt this way when I reconnected with God. In a sense God was a friend with whom I had lost contact. I had walked away from God and didn't look back until my emotional life became such a mess that I was desparate. I had pretty much said, "God, you are of no use to me. I'm leaving." As a human I know how I would react to someone treating me that way. "If that's the way you feel, good riddance. I don't need you either."

When I approached God after my planned ignoring, I waited for the disdain and aloofness that would be expected from humans. I tried to sneak into church as a casual observer. First God wasn't going to allow me to sit on the sidelines. And second God didn't react as I expected. I was welcomed much as the prodigal son in the parable. God didn't lay any guilt on me for the way I had behaved or for my absence. I was welcomed with love and understanding.

I had never understood that God wasn't like us humans. God knows that I have faults and need to grow in many areas. Instead of holding it against me, God greets me with a hospitality that I have rarely extended to those who hurt me.

I have begun to realize when I am asked to be like God that this type of hospitality may be what is expected of me. Am I willing to put aside old hurts to see the changes in people or in myself? Do I keep my grudges close to my heart where they can never be healed? Or do I try to offer grace as Jesus did for us?