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We opened, later than usual, with the Collect for Social Justice (#27, p. 823 BCP). The late time allowed some of us to attend Holy Eucharist for St. Joseph.
Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Interlude: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred, Scott; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Marilyn.
In place of a gathering question, we met in two breakout rooms to share what we personally bring to James H. Cone's The Cross and the Lynching Tree.
When all met together, Cone's discussion of "the Blues" generated a lot of energy. Scott had a new understanding of the word: more than just a sad mood, "blues" refers to the misfortune and humiliation that the white world imposes. Tom remembered a blues incident in college: when he thanked a blues band for their great show at a frat party, one of the musicians said, "You liked it? We just complained about white people for two hours." Joyce always thought her mother's blues recordings were sad, "but now I get it." Pete phrased it well: blues "lifts you beyond" whatever's getting you down. Susan quoted Cornel West, who called blues "tragicomedy." Another great image was from Richard Wright, how singing the blues is like fingering a sore, partly to relieve the pain.
Pete said that most of the reading made him cringe, especially when he thinks, "I was an outsider to all of it." Jessica was struck by the connection between the lynching culture and the Romans' crucifixion: "Crucifixion was addressed to an audience." Nuno picked up on that, the sense that African Americans have lived under constant threat throughout our history. George Floyd is emblematic but only one of a dozen recent examples that displayed that threat to white Americans. Pete admitted that he "cannot 'walk in those shoes,'" but can only imagine from such readings as this.
We continue our reading for next time, April 2. We will start our TR from what emerges from our discussion.
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