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| With Dean Mike Kinman at the site of Mike Brown's death in Ferguson, MO |
I had only traveled to St. Louis once before this past
weekend. What brought me to this gateway city this time was my role as
president of the Community of the Cross of Nails in North America -- part of a
worldwide network of individuals and churches inspired by the Coventry
Cathedral (England) message of forgiveness and commitment to the ministry of
reconciliation.
Members of the board met in St. Louis the weekend of Nov.
13-15, 2015 to encourage the ongoing ministry of Christ Church Cathedral and
its dean the Very Rev. Mike Kinman. The Cathedral has been a place of welcome
and support to those involved in the peaceful protests after the civil unrest
in nearby Ferguson, Missouri that followed the shooting death of Mike Brown by
a police officer in the summer of 2014. In addition, when black churches began to be
targeted by arson in and around Ferguson, the Cathedral led an effort to raise
$700,000 from 300 Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations around the country
to help the burned churches rebuild.
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| Street-side Memorial for Mike Brown |
Board members traveled to Ferguson to learn about the Black
Lives Matter movement. What many of us
know and think about this movement that began as #BlackLivesMatter on Twitter
reflects in many ways our own background, age, color and politics. What I wanted to learn was why the often
expressed rejoinder to “Black Lives Matter,” namely “All Lives Matter,” stuck
such a cord of disconnect with many activists.
What seemed clearer to me was that yes, all lives do matter, but the
pain and oppression that is being expressed in the Black Lives Matter movement
is a unique cry of a broken society. In our inner cities, especially when black boys
and men come into contact with the authorities and come out on the losing end
of the encounter, it can and does seem to them that their lives mean next to
nothing.
We visited and stood outside the well funded and fortified
Ferguson Police Department -- site of many of the marches and vigils. Like many
smaller cities, more and more tax revenue had shifted towards fines and
penalties, and subsequent jail time for those unable to pay. This widespread
practice has led to growing resentment and a growing divide between the police
and the local population. We also gathered
for conversation and a good lunch in a local black-owned business that was one
of the few restaurants to remain open throughout the protests and violence of
last year.
We went to the street in Ferguson where Mike Brown was shot
and later died. It was a
pilgrimage, as we were not to litigate the case or to stand in judgment. We
were there to be reminded that his lifeless body was left for four hours to
bleed out onto the street before it was finally removed. To many who watched on that hot summer day,
it seemed that his life mattered little.
But it mattered to his family. It mattered to him. His life should have
mattered more to all of us.
As we were ready to leave, the dean led us in silent prayer,
and seconds after we responded from our Coventry litany “Father Forgive” the silence was interrupted by gunshots
fifty yards away. We could see and hear
cars fleeing the scene as some young people ran away by foot. Once we realized
it was gunfire and not firecrackers, the group quickly moved behind the
apartment building and soon got into our cars a left the area, making sure we
drove by the scene to see if there had been injuries or even worse, a wounded bystander. Silence and
prayer gave way to the shots of gunfire and violence. Father forgive.
It was a sobering and surreal moment that reminded us that
many cannot simply get into cars and leave, as we did, and that that gun
violence is all too prevalent in this country and takes the lives of many
innocent. As the dean commented, “the gun
industry has sold the idea of fear to the white population and power to the
black population.”
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| With German CCN President the Rev. Oliver Schuegraf
The next day: after a beautiful liturgy in the Cathedral Sunday morning
when we presented a Cross of Nails at the altar to the Wardens and Dean, we
departed St. Louis with a greater appreciation for the racial reconciliation
witness and ministry of our newest CCN partner.
Our prayer and hope is that their story will inspire and motivate others
in this worldwide network. It certainly inspired me.
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| With Dean Kinman in St. Louis |
The Rev. Mark B. Pendleton
Rector, Christ Church in Exeter, NH and
President, CCN-NA
