A Call To Action And Prayer At The #JusticeforTrayvon Rally

R3 Contributor

Prepared Remarks of Rev. Earle Fisher at the Justice for Trayvon Rally held at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

In our attempts to cultivate energy and interest in this event (and others like it all around the country) we have been meet with both the ocean breeze of optimism and the scorching heat of skepticism. In times such as this, both responses are understandable. We have done a lot of praying, held a lot of vigils, done our share of marching and protest and still find ourselves in this cycle of calamity. Many of us are tired and frustrated (I know I am). We keep witnessing the opportunistic speeches and pop-up prophets who conveniently speak up when an incident becomes popular then electric slide back into the shade of comfort and complacency until the next national tragedy. Our churches have become valleys of dry bones that send up shallow shouts on Sundays and remain silent during the more depressing days of the week. So we stand here today, not to merely echo the sentiments of previous moments (albeit some very profound and prophetic). We stand here to call our people out of vicarious altruism and into victorious action. We stand here to move and make a change today.

Many have wondered how we can shift from tears to triumph and from pitiful moments into progressive and productive movements. Well I submit to you that there is not algebraic and complex formula. We have had and continue to have the power to produce what we seek to see in our communities. We don’t have to wait until the next Trayvon Martin is senselessly killed (many of our young men die every day at the hands of their peers right here in the city). We don’t have to remain numb to the injustice of too-little-too-late responses from so many ministerial leaders who are silent about some of the most pressing matters (especially relative to local matters). Those who sprout up like weeds when the action news teams pull up and then wither away after the show is over. We can (and many people already are) do the work that brings for the change of an obscene infant mortality rate… and storm cloud of poor stewardship practices of local politicians… we can adjust and purge the dusty and dim darkness of gender inequality and the mismanagement of the school merger.

Again I say there are those who are already doing some of the work of social justice that some of our leaders think is optional and not optimal. Therefore I stand today to do what our media ought to do but does not do. I am making a call to action to support the efforts that are already taking place here in this soon to be greater city. I want to give some shout outs and hopefully draw attention to people who need more resources and more volunteers to guide us into a place where these tragedies and travesties become minimized or non-existent.

Here is our call to action. I want to thank and lift up Manna House under the leadership of Dr. Pete Gathje which aides and helps homeless people in midtown. We need to support that effort. Shout out to The Hospitality Hub. Thank God for the Union Mission. We celebrate the Racism and Reconciliation work of the Memphis School for Servant Leadership and Rev. Billy Vaughn. We need to highlight the Peace and Justice center in Midtown and the efforts of Bradley Watkins to make peace and justice a local reality. We need to support that effort. We need to put pressure on ALL of our elected officials to create a MEMPHIS BLACK CAUCUS to train up and develop young adult minority leaders to serve the needs specific to the marginalized people of color in the greater Memphis area. We need to lift up the work of local SADD chapters (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and other mentorship programs that aim to teach our young people how to understand and navigate through the reckless winds that blow through our culture and community. We need to celebrate the race relation work of Common Ground … we need to support MUTV1 which is a local television station that is minority owned. And lastly I want to highlight any house of worship of any faith tradition that has remained committed to the need and non-negotiable nature of social justice! I thank God for these efforts and I know there are more out there, we just need to support them!

Our call to action is to become informed and involved in efforts that are already taking place… and if you have the vision and the drive to start another organization then we need to support you too. So as I lead us in a closing prayer please keep this in mind, “change does not fly in on the wings of inevitability.” We have what we need, we just need to synthesize these efforts and be sure that we are unified enough to not support and sustain a system that treats us like objects and not subjects. We are a human and humane people who are deserving of dignity, respect and love. Let us share this love today, not just with mouths and minds, but also with hands and hearts.

Let us pray…

Eternal God of Love and Justice, unequal weights and unequal measures are both an abomination in your sight. We confess that we have tried to make your love lopsided and a joke out of your justice.

Help us to grapple with our role in the dysfunctional ways of this world and find resolve, redemption and restoration in your Ways, your Will and your Word. Help us to be fair in all our dealings.

God of Forgiveness and Faithfulness, guide us to reconciliation and peace that surpasses our own understanding. Touch the hearts of grieving parents, restore the joy of children who walk and play in the streets and keep them from the hand of hostile enemies. Sustain the death angel.

Bring us to the path of peace and harmony which we stray so far away from. Investigate the archives of our heart and remove all guilty stains. Lead us to appreciate all skin that has been kissed by the Sun.

God whose Footsteps are sure, even in times of storm and misty rain, clear the clutter from our mind, remove the malice in our hearts, protect the deposits of our soul and stand firm on the ground of your Grace.

Hood us with the garment of peace. Store within us a rainbow of righteousness. Aide us in seeking and living your Truth with a capital “T”.

If we have ever needed the LORD before, we sure do need you now. Go by and stand with those unjustly treated under the law. Move us to transcend wrongful death and incarceration.

Teach us to take the injustice out of our justice systems. And to overturn and system of injustice.

God of our weary years; God of our silent tear; thou who has brought us thus far on the way…

THOU WHO HAST BY THY MIGHT, LED US INTO THE LIGHT… KEEP US FOREVER IN THY PATH… WE PRAY… AMEN!!!

Follow Earle on Twitter @pastor_earle