Advent Week Two
LIBERATION LECTIONARY
The Power of Peace
“Peace to you, if you’re willing to fight for it” Fred Hampton
ARTWORK: Sy Abdi
Daily Readings & PRAYERS
This week, use the daily scriptures for both study and sacred space. When your heart, mind and body cannot seem to feel peace, ask The Lord to bring you wholeness and confidence while repeating these encouragements from God’s word.
Sunday – Deuteronomy 6.22-27 This is how you are to bless the people of God. Say to them: ‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ “So they will put my name on my people, and I will bless them.”
Monday Psalm 34.12-14 “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”
Tuesday: 1 Thessalonians 5.23 May the God of peace sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and God will do it.
Wednesday: James 3.17-18 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Thursday: Isaiah 32.17 “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, tranquility and assurance forever.”
Friday: 2 Thessalonians 3.16 “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”
Saturday: Psalm 85 You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.
Music: Peace of Mind
“Peace of Mind” is a Ring Shout - from the Congo Square Concert by Wynton Marsalis
In the Wynton Marsalis production “Congo Square”, the opening sequence is called “Peace of Mind” after the oft repeated refrain which runs the entire song. The performance is a ring shout, a traditional call and response chanting song in Black worship music, work songs and spirituals.
Congo Square is an historical landmark in New Orleans, a gathering place inside of a park now named for Louis Armstrong. It was the only place enslaved Black and brown people in NOLA could find some peace. Every Sunday Congo Square exploded with the joyful noise of comfort and Black joy: peace of mind. The song lyrics are part of our prayer this week. Notice as you read them how much power, pain and resistance is spoken from the call portion, as the response rings out “Peace of mind! Peace of mind! Peace, peace, peace of mind!”.
Our ancestors waged war with indignity, torture and scarcity every day. And at every possible moment when they could capture it, they longed for peace. Away from their oppressors, singing in a circle, chanting their deepest prayers: freedom. Family. Peace of mind.
Reflection: Remembering A Peace Fighter
December 4th, 1969, Mark Clark and Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party were executed by Chicago police in a pre-dawn raid. Mark was 22 years old, Fred was 21 years old.
This raid was one of many that took place as part of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. The purpose of this program, described in one official document, was to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize the activities of Black nationalist hate type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership and supporters.” In other words, to wage war.
In the same year that the United States government killed Fred Hampton, he gave a speech at Olivet Church in Chicago, it’s been titled “Power Anywhere Where There’s People”, after the opening lines of the speech itself. This is an Advent message if I’ve ever heard one.
Brother Fred fought for peace with political education, giving power to people through knowledge and direct action. Peace came through provision, with the Panthers creating the free breakfast program, assisting people in paying for groceries, rent and utilities. Peace came through protection; Panthers could often be seen walking families to and from stores or schools to help deter community violence and confront police nuisance.
Peace comes with power. Power is pointless unless it brings peace.
When he spoke at Olivet Church, Fred told the story of Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, Black Panther Party leaders in California, who installed stop signs for a neighborhood when local government and police continued to resist a safety request from community members.
When power ignores people, there is no peace. When the hearts of the powerful disregard the voices of the people, the people must provide peace for themselves. Any civic leader who lived in that neighborhood in need of a stop sign would have been protected by the actions of the Panthers to place stop signs at an accident prone intersection. What was technically a civically disobedient act of protest was also the best way to address the people’s problems and bring some peace to a neighborhood intersection.
The people in a community already know everything they need in order to seek peace. It takes power to establish that peace as foundational and nourishing to the culture. For many of our people today, we see more war than peace. We often feel much more acquainted with struggle than stillness. Fred Hampton spoke stirring powerful words. He organized Black people to pursue Black power with radical boldness. He worked to challenge the status quo of Black oppression as a tool for white wealth. Understand this, the Black Panthers were not interested in fighting all of the time. It just so happens that living in the United States as Black people is a lifelong battle.
We are not fighting for the love of war, we are fighting to protect our peace, in hopes that wars will someday cease. We need a promise of peace and power fulfilled, for the ultimate provision and protection of the people.
Read the Olivet Church speech by Fred Hampton