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Passion or Holy Week, for
the Church, is the time between Palm Sunday and Easter. For
me, the most memorable events of the week are when Jesus
caused a leafy but fruitless fig tree to wither followed by
his demonstrative cleansing of the Temple.
The Temple a/k/a “House of
Prayer” was the center of religious power but had become,
instead, a center for institutional abuse and exploitation.
Despite its unrivaled
historical influence upon black people and black culture,
the black church - seen by many as the heartbeat of the
black community, should take heed.
The Problem?
The sexism and
heterosexism espoused by dying mainstream churches as well
as the moral and ethical lapses of church leaders does not
bode well for the future of the black church. Younger
generations are increasingly seeking guidance and support
elsewhere and many do not view the institutional black
church as relevant to their contemporary needs.
Like the Jesus of Holy
Week who found an abundant supply of foliage but no fruit on
the fig tree, 21st century seekers are hungry.
They are starving for solutions for their perplexing
circumstances and answers to their problems.
They no longer come to
church merely to watch faith leaders Whip/Nae Nae or to see
how many cartwheels/somersaults worshipers can perform down
the aisles. Instead, they want to know whether their church
or its leadership can make a positive difference in their
lives. They also want to know if faith leaders and the
church can change the current course of events and make
things better or if they will challenge the system that is
oppressing them.
However, congregations too
often discover that the church and its leaders have out-Pharaohed
Pharaoh to become a black version of an anti-black
institutional center of power that also exploits and abuses
black lives.
The Response?
Jesus’ response to the
Temple’s institutional exploitation and abuse was what
biblical scholar Wilda Gafney calls “snatching wigs and
overturning tables.” Gafney defines this as a holy and
disruptive response to violence against black lives.
Snatching wigs and overturning tables, she says, is the
“practice of exposing that which poseurs and perpetrators
want to keep hidden under the cosmetic veneer of
respectability.” Often it is our religious institutions and
leaders that perpetuate and reinforce structural oppression
that needs to be “turned over and dismantled.”
Also, faith leaders can –
and should – offer a new symbolic center to the community by
shifting the church from its trendy institutional emphasis
based on a “legitimacy of materialism’ to a moral and
socio-political focus that centers around wholeness,
wellness and healing.
After all, as my seminary
professor Andrew Sung Park has written, “The primary reason
of Jesus’ coming into the world was to bring good news to
the afflicted and the sinned-against.” We are quick to offer
forgiveness to the abusers and exploiters but slow to
emphasize prayer and ministry for the healing and
restoration of the victims of exploitation.
In any event, my take away
from the events of Holy Week is that: Now is the time to
stand up to exploitative and abusive power. Even if, by
snatching wigs and overturning of tables, our actions lead
to our own crucifixion.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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