Marriage in Minnesota: Humility and the Vote

Wow.  I barely remember how to do this blogging thing.  It's been so very, very long.  According to the archives, in the past 18 months, I've posted 8 times here. And just twice in the past 14 months.  No wonder I feel rusty!

The reason...? Back in May 2011, the Republican-led legislator approved moving a question onto the 2012 ballot, asking voters to approve amending the Minnesota constitution to define marriage as a union only between a man and a woman. ...Some of you maybe heard a little bit about how that all turned out.  If you completely spaced out between November 6-7, here's a little recap:

Three states in the U.S. affirmed marriage for same-sex couples: Maine, Maryland, and Washington.

And one state--the first state out of 32 tries--rejected a proposed change to the state's constitution, that would have singled out a certain group of people in order to prohibit their freedom to marry.  And the state that rejected such a proposal...?  Minnesota!

I have a lot of topics, experiences, reflections, and reasons to hope that I want to share, but I'll be sifting through them and bringing some of them to you here.  A number of you have followed me on Facebook--or had stopped following me, because of the near-singular focus I've had since May 2011.

For now, I'll share this reflection that arose for me toward the end of a recent worship experience.

A week ago Sunday, I went to Quaker worship in the morning.  While sitting in the awaiting stillness, two things were quickening in me.

One was the concept of humility. The other was an image at the end of the film It's A Wonderful Life.

Toward the end of the hour, this particular worship has the custom of opening up the last few minutes for messages that didn't rise to the level of speaking out of the silence but were still on Friends' hearts. I offered something that went something like this:

When all is said and done on Tuesday, Election Day, regardless of the outcome on certain issues--and even is some issues go the way that we as Friends have been working diligently for, such as marriage equality--I will not feel "proud," as in "proud to be a Minnesotan."  I cannot feel pride when I know that so many people in this state have been transformed by the witness that has been made--about marriage, about the lives of our GLBTQ brothers and sisters.

In fact, I myself have been transformed. It's not that I took up this work as much as it has been that this work has taken me up. And I am humbled by that.

I have been on a path that started long before today. It's a path that long before I set foot on it, so many others have walked, and it's a path that long after I have traveled it, so many others will travel it after me.  But being among fellow travelers... has been so humbling.

And as I sat in worship today, an unexpected image came to me, one of the film favorite, It's A Wonderful Life.

It's the scene where George Bailey comes home after his trials and finds reporters and the Bank Examiner. But he is near tears because he has known the love of the entire town and the grace of the Spirit.  And then in rushes Mary, and they are both crying and speaking over one another because of the experiences they have had that evening, from tremendous despair to mountaintop joy.

And then the people of the town start rushing in--friends, neighbors, the cook, the bartender--and Mary and George are overcome by the love, the Presence... the "Power Over All" as some early Friends have said.

This is how I feel this morning. A humility that sometimes has overcome me, recognizing at a deep and wordless level that we are indeed one Holy Family, lifting one another up, and waiting for the Great Shepherd to be known among us...

Blessings,
Liz

Quaker conversations count when it comes to marriage equality

Someone from my Quaker community suggested I put a link to some of the work that's going on among Quakers (and other people of faith!) in Minnesota regarding witnessing to marriage equality.

There aren't enough hours in the day to write in detail how my life is filled with new friendships and new work related to living Love and understanding more about God's eternal Family...

If you use Twitter, you can do a search for #MarriageEquality or #MNUnited and you might get a glimpse into what's going on with me!

Blessings,
Liz

A new focus, a new blog. At least for now.

Dear friends and readers of The Good Raised Up,

It seems that God is asking me to engage in a new witness, and so much of my time and energy and concern has shifted to the issue of marriage equality.

The new blog I am maintaining is Equality Is Coming. Feel free to take a peek there, but don't cross this blog off your list just yet. As Way opens, I may occasionally be posting here--

I really hope Way will open for me to return to a more regular practice of writing here. I miss so many of you!

Blessings,
Liz

Racism, Quaker theology, and my own liberation

Over the years, as Friends General Conference has established programs to eradicate racism among the Religious Society of Friends, I have heard the statement, "Racism hurts everyone."

I've been confused by that, since I myself am not a person of color and I didn't see how I was being hurt.

For the past two years, I've attended the annual national White Privilege Conference and that statement--Racism hurts everyone--has worked on me. But it wasn't until the intersection of two things coming together that my heart and spirit opened to that Truth.

First, a local Quaker friend of European descent pointed me to a quote by White Philadelphia Friend Arlene Kelly:

We are not a homogenous group seeking to become more diverse; we are an incomplete organization seeking to become more whole. --Friends Journal, October 2010

The second thing was that I began reflecting on Quakerism's doctrine of the Inner Light. In particular I was thinking of the concept that the more we listen together, and the more we hear from different individuals gathered in worship as to their own discernment and understanding of God's guidance, the closer we get to understanding the full Truth that God wishes for us to know.

When I disallow myself the opportunity to listen to, worship with, and befriend people who are different from me--people of color, immigrants or "new Americans," people who are poor or working class--when I disallow those connections, I am automatically cutting myself off from the Love and Truth that my brothers and sisters in the Spirit have for me and for my White middle-class, US-born peers.

The whole of the Truth cannot be understood without the Whole of people.

If I am regularly worshiping with and seeking Truth primarily with only some of God's children, then I am likely not able to know the Truth that others who are different from me hold, because I won't have access to understanding their experience of the world, of the Light.

In that case, the Truth itself is less than whole, particularly as Quakers of European descent strive to undo racism, understand the complexity of White privilege, and work for justice in the world.

As that awareness began to sink into my heart, I felt a lot of energy and space open up within me. It was as if all those spoken and unspoken cautions about watching out for "this group" or for "that group" just floated away.

While I was "being socialized without my consent"* and without my knowledge, to keep "those people" at arm's length and in a box labeled "CAUTION: Others," I didn't know that I myself was being boxed in, with messages of what I was supposed to think, what I was supposed to say, and how I was supposed to be.

When I came into the Truth that all of us are needed in order to know the Whole of God, I indeed felt freed. And I have never looked back.

Blessings,
Liz

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*I have looked for a source for the concept of "being socialized without our consent," which I first heard at the White Privilege Conference in 2011 (WPC12) but haven't been able to find who to attribute it to.