What's rising up

Daily Devotion - May 30

I will send a brief message each day (except Mondays)
while we are pausing gathering in person.
- Kara

Last night was filled with destruction and devastation. The impact is staggering.  Beyond protesters, and even rioters, are those who are taking advantage of our city's pain to sew more division and hate.  The emergency responders are overwhelmed; the nights are feeling long and dangerous.

But the mornings are different.

Neighbors are coming into the street and cleaning together.  Business owners whose restaurants or stores were damaged are being surrounded with love.  Organizers are organizing. People are responding.  

Belonging runs deeper than division, and we are here for each other.
Here is an example:

Yesterday, Kate Kunkel Bailey posted this on Facebook:

 

But this is why I love Minneapolis.

If you drove down Lake Street today, you would have seen literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of people cleaning up. You can start to imagine in your mind how it might not be long before the corridor is prettier than ever. Maybe you would have joined in, and you would have been welcome. The air smells acrid still—anguish does not immediately disappear simply for having been released. But a cool, fresh breeze is blowing, and birds are singing, and you would start to believe that healing can happen.

And if you followed Minneapolis folks on Twitter today, you would have seen the community rallying to care for its own. What problems do we face today in our city? Grocery stores and public transit are closed. In food deserts this matters. We need diapers, formula, food. It might be days before we can get out of our neighborhoods, people said.

And here you would have seen the organizers stepping in. Here is what to bring. Here is where to drop it off. Here, Minneapolis, is how we care for our own.

And when you dropped off your donations, here is the bounty. You were not alone, wanting to help. Our neighbors are fed.

We will do this again, if we have to.

I know that it’s hard to think of rioting as anything other than wasteful, but look at what is already rising up from it. It is not relevant, whether you condone or condemn rioting. It has happened. What is relevant is what you do next. We do not have to waste this moment.

What I know of my city is that it is good at making much with little, when it needs to. What I know of my city is that radical love lives here, too, amid the corruption and pain.

What I believe is that love wins.

Photo credit: Patty Mathews

This is part of the story.  This is not the whole story. The world belongs to God.
The pain and anger and sorrow, the destruction and fear and violence, the deep, systemic inequity and generations-long injustice, the longing for peace and justice that comes out in both wise and terrible ways is part of the story.  So is the love and care, the resurrection breaking through, the way that from these ashes a new city will be born, is already being planted right now with brooms and gloves and tears.  That's part of the story too.
 The world belongs to God.

____________

Here is a list of clean-up events, food drives, and places to donate.  See how you can help.

If you are looking for a specific, local, no-contact way to help, Sanford Middle School has this request:Teacher Elizabeth Berry Novak shares:
The school that I teach at is facing some hardships right now due to the murder of George Floyd.
There are 168 kids from Sanford Middle School living in the 3-block radius of the 3rd precinct. Many have younger siblings. Public transit is closed and their walkable stores have been destroyed. School Nutrition Services are also closed and many of these families need food and basics. We’ve also learned that some have tested positive for COVID19. Here's how you can help, and please share this:
- SUNDAY May 31 from 10am-noon: Drop off of food kits (see below) in brown grocery bags to the Sanford parking lot, 3524 42nd Ave S, MPLS. (curbside, you don't have to get out).
As far as we know, these grocery stores are still operating; pls check hours, and remember the curfew at 8pm: Longfellow Market, E. Lake Street MPLS; Lunds, Ford Pkwy St. Paul; Whole Foods, Snelling Ave St. Paul; Cub Foods, Hiawatha and 46th Street, MPLS.
WE NEED: 85 food kits! A good list follows; please make sure each kit fits in one brown grocery bag:
- 1 loaf of bread
- 1 package tortillas
- 1 bag rice
- 2 cans beans
- 2 cans soup
- 1 small bag apples
- 1 bag baby carrots
- 1 box cereal
(Note: non-refrigerated items in case power is still out and/or it takes an extra day to deliver)
WE ALSO NEED: Small jugs laundry soap and diapers. Just pick a diaper size, we'll figure it out.

CONNECTING RITUAL:

 

Perhaps tonight before bed, whatever time that is in each of our homes, we and so join our souls with each other and the people of the whole earth:

Guide me through today, Lord.
Help me watch for the whole story.
Help me take in the terrible parts.
Help me take in the beautiful parts.
Help me see the part I play in the story.
Root out the sin and division in me,
plant me in your love and fill me with hope.
The world belongs to you.
Amen.