Protests and Direct Action

Allies in the Struggle

I’ve had several of you tell me you’re planning to be on the streets this Saturday, April 5th, and I’ve had a couple ask if the conference is going to amplify the planned events. We even canceled our Committee on Ministry meeting, because so many of our COM members were planning to be out protesting on Saturday.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, people across the United States are planning to take to the streets and parks this Saturday in defense of democracy. The event is called the Hands Off: National Day of Action, and people are meeting in small towns and big cities, as a show of solidarity with others who worry about the state of our nation and its leadership. The events are being heavily promoted by Indivisible. You can find out what’s happening near you at their website, and you can add protest events that you’re planning. 

Many people in our conference follow and are involved with Indivisible, and it’s become a key place to get information for people who want to protest. The success of Indivisible is one of the reasons the conference has decided not to promote every protest and event planned by our people. You can go to their event page, and find events with filters for the issues you care about in your location. You can also join Indivisible and post your actions there, and you’ll get a lot more eyes than the conference can offer you.

I also want to say something about the pressure to protest. We live in an age when so much is coming at us so fast, and there is a constant desire to Do something! Don’t just stand there! In our communities, there can also be a performative aspect to protesting – wanting people to see you on the streets so they know you’re an ally – and the flip side of that is the shaming of people who can’t be on the streets, perhaps because of disabilities or other factors we don’t see. 

At our Justice and Witness Ministry Team Retreat, we had a long discussion about the purpose of the JWM team, which according to our bylaws, “shall encourage the conference and local churches to engage in direct action as prophetic voices for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation.” But what does it mean to take direct action? That can certainly mean protesting, taking to the streets, and even taking arrest as a way of drawing attention to injustices. 

However, direct action can also mean offering sanctuary to a person from another country, whether publicly or privately. It can mean making space in your classroom for queer kids to be themselves, even if the government tells you not to. It can mean secretly providing transportation for a person needing reproductive or gender-affirming healthcare. It can mean countering white supremacy and masculine supremacy when it shows up in your own church meetings or in your family. It can mean choosing carefully where you spend your money and your time, and it can mean so much more. 

I truly believe that any leader who chooses to follow the path of selfishness will fail. The worshippers of selfishness are ascendant in this nation, but their way can only lead to more loneliness, to withering, and to death. At times like this, our call does not change. We must continue to take direct action in the aid of Love. Whether in private or in public, walk in the way of Love, and that way will lead you to more community, to thriving, and to life! 

Yes, please take action. Do it in whatever way you’re called to act. Bring as many people as you can with you through this valley of the shadow of death to the green pastures on the other side, and make each moment a referendum for the future you want sixty or a hundred years from now.

As always, thank you for being the Church God needs for this time and this place.

I am with you in the struggle.

- Tyler