A Calling to Pagans
Tomorrow many Christians will celebrate a feast of fire which they call Pentecost. Some of you may remember the story, and it feels as if fire is raining down on all our heads today, around our country, just as it did on the early apostles of the Pentecost story.
I asked my friend, a Lutheran minister, what he plans to say to his congregation tomorrow. He had just driven several hours to get home in time to attend a rally here in Columbia which turned ugly after he left, thinking it was over. He pointed out that we can let fire consume and destroy, or we can let it rise up inside us to emerge as righteous action.
Anger which destroys is not what is needed right now. Anger which demands justice certainly is. That fiery anger can be the fuel that keeps us working for something better long after the last protester has gone home. Here in South Carolina, one of the only states in the country without a hate crimes law, there is one crawling slowly towards a vote – get fired up about getting that passed.
Don’t just collect cans of food at a once-a-year Pagan festival – find out what is needed in your own community to address poverty, unequal education, domestic violence, and all the plagues that would destroy. Don’t just look away from the white separatists and anarchists who would turn us against each other. Live your truth right in front of them. Speak up, step up, and do the work. Most importantly, don’t just lament your white privilege (or lack of it) – live your life in a way that will tip the scales of Maat back to balance, for all of us.
Finally, I want to quote Michelle Obama, a very wise woman, who tweeted yesterday: “It’s up to all of us—Black, white, everyone—no matter how well-meaning we think we might be, to do the honest, uncomfortable work of rooting it out. It starts with self-examination and listening to those whose lives are different from our own.
“It ends with justice, compassion, and empathy that manifests in our lives and on our streets. I pray we all have the strength for that journey, just as I pray for the souls and the families of those who were taken from us.”
My prayer as well, may it be so.
Holli S. Emore, M.Div
Executive Director
Past Messages from The Director
This Is Who We Are
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Now, more than ever before, Paganism and the many forms of earth-centered spirituality have become the threshold over which increasing numbers step, seeking what is both within and without, both healing and celebration, profane and divine. Some see the growth of Paganism as hope for the earth, itself. Many look to the eclectic and diverse…
Wishes for the Winter Solstice
Social media recently surprised me with old photos of me in front of kindergartners at a local school, telling them about the winter solstice. If you love to tell stories, as I do, you gotta love how transfixed five year olds are when you move into a bit of a singsong chant about how it…
The Burden of Liberty
Fireworks, footlongs, baseball and the beach are the usual order of the day on the U.S. Independence Day holiday. Our philharmonic here in S.C. will accompany lakeside festivities with the usual 1812 Overture, complete with cannon fire. And many will contemplate the years they served in uniform, or supported someone who did. Being in the…
Deep In My Heart I Do Believe
This week I watched a fantastic documentary film called Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance. The inspiration of Shared Legacies was in jarring contrast to the Washington riot we’ve been seeing replayed over and over on television. It’s hard to place the lives lost in the DC melee beside civil rights martyrs. Still,…
A Calling to Pagans
Tomorrow many Christians will celebrate a feast of fire which they call Pentecost. Some of you may remember the story, and it feels as if fire is raining down on all our heads today, around our country, just as it did on the early apostles of the Pentecost story. I asked my friend, a Lutheran…
