There are three elements to churching, and Black Lives Matter (BLM) reflects all three. First, it focuses on proclaiming good news and witnessing for the value and dignity of black lives. BLM takes up God's preferential option for the oppressed in contrast to the institutions that deny this. As I've said before, all lives matter is not the gospel because it does not respond to a pressing problem. We don't see white people being killed or systemically harassed by the state in equivalent ways. When our society acts in ways that show that black lives do matter, then everyone will be better off. BLM knows that salvation comes first through those pushed to the bottom of society.
Second, BLM practices a fellowship of intersectional solidarity. It lifts up stories of those murdered and abused and works to form a community of love. BLM's founders are three Black women, two of whom are Queer and the third being the daughter of immigrants. They themselves embody the interconnection of multiple issues, identities, perspectives, and a prophetic challenge which the Queer theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid said needs to come from "people whose bodies are living parables of transgression." When your very being is considered unacceptable in society, you can provide a radical critique of a violent status quo. Implicitly, BLM invites all of us to hear these parables and convert from our society's oppression.
Finally, BLM does the gospel service of resisting evil and oppression, particularly resisting state violence perpetrated against people of color in our communities done to maintain white supremacy.
It is, therefore, distressing that those who self-identify as "Church" typically distance themselves from this embodied gospel, though some strongly identify with it. I have little patience for facile critiques of BLM that miss the central message of good news, straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel. No movement is perfect, but the "Church" needs to humble itself and listen more than talk at BLM. We can learn much from them.
BLM has an obvious spiritual core. I've seen liturgical elements in their events, including call and response chants, as well as check-ins at the end of actions that build relationships of support. The latter are almost identical to cabin sharing at church camp in what we would call "highs and lows."
BLM can also teach us that the gospel is less about proclaiming faith in Jesus than living the faithfulness of Jesus. Our churchy language itself can get in the way. Given all the pain people have caused in Jesus' name, sometimes the gospel is best expressed without Jesus being mentioned altogether. But for those of us who seek to walk in his way, such a confessional withdrawal is done out of loyalty to that way itself. The mystics among us might even call it apophatic churching!
What I'm suggesting is a quantum leap for our oldline congregations. Most Christians would never dream of mixing BLM with their faith, much less making the former the interpretive lens for the latter. BLM is not the only gospel, for there are as many gospels as there are proclamations countering bad news and oppression in our world. But in the United States, I believe it is one of the most essential practices of gospel living today. We need to get out of our pews, our buildings, our routines, and practice the gospel, BLM-style, for our world surely needs it now more than ever.
Listening,
Timothy Murphy
Executive Director