Category: Focus Columns

MLK Jr. College of Ministers and Laity at Morehouse College

Announces It Will

Induct Sr. Pastor James Brewer-Calvert as an Honoree for Preaching

On Thursday, March 31 at 11 AM

At Morehouse College in Atlanta GA

            Your prayers and presence are warmly requested.  For those wishing to attend on March 31, the 11 AM Crown Forum Program and Induction Ceremony are free.  The 12:30 PM Honoree Luncheon, Keynote Address and Panel Discussion requires a ticket, which can be purchased in advance for $20.  A limited number of tickets are available; please call the MLK International Chapel Staff at 404-215-2608.  The International Chapel is located at 830 Westview Dr SW, Atlanta GA 30314.  

            The MLK Jr. College of Ministers and Laity received nominations of active preachers to be inducted from three main sources:  Morehouse College faculty, Morehouse College alumni, and current members of the College of Ministers and Laity.  James Brewer-Calvert was nominated, vetted, and accepted to be honored as an Inductee for the Class of 2016.  

 

Dear Friends,

This is an incredible honor, one that I never imagined.   I am deeply humbled to be even considered by the MLK Jr. College of Ministers and Laity and to join such esteemed company.          To think that this particular aspect of my spiritual journey was launched (lurched is more like it) at age 23.  One July morning during a VBS at Grace Episcopal Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey I offered a reluctant, mediocre message on a parable that was preached to six year olds.  Good friend Phoebe McKay was present and can testify to the accuracy of this tale.  Two months later at seminary a fellow student shared that she had to preach during the summer so she began to prepare the night before.  A voice spoke in my mind, saying, “James, you had to preach for the first time this summer, and I began to prepare you before you were born.”  And that, my friends, was my call to proclaim the Good News.

Preaching is a part of the Christian ministry that I initially shied away from, even after entering Union Theological Seminary.  I firmly believed that actions speak far more loudly and accurately.  However I was encouraged by the seminary faculty, including James Forbes, Ardith Hayes, Lou Martyn, Roger Shinn, and James Washington.  Many fine pastors have influenced my formation as a preacher, especially the late George E. Calvert who preached truth to power with love and grace; M. Bruce McKay who freed my voice by daring to share his doubts; Don C. Brewer who weaves philosophy, natural science, and homespun wisdom; Michael W. Mooty who articulates the faith with vision, clarity, and a slow boil; and my contemporary, weekly lectionary analysts Bob Browning, Greg Smith, and Buffy Calvert.

Christ-centered preaching impacts human transformation.  Consequently I work at the craft with a short memory (“Never cry past Tuesday.”) and discipline (“Sunday’s coming!”).  I give myself permission to argue next week with whatever I said last Sunday, because that is what the Bible does, and more.  Steady preparation for worship for me requires praying, exegeting Scriptures, clarifying a broad theme down to a single sentence, writing, cutting the excess, rewriting, building a figurative tree from roots to nests, practicing alone, and then delivering with joy and sincerity a faith-based, Spirit-filled message.  All this fifty times a year!

I’ve learned some lessons in the School of Hard Knocks.  First, sometimes the sermons I work hard to write are for me (those are left at home or dropped on my therapist’s couch); then it’s back to the drawing board to write one for the church.  Further, never deliver a sermon targeted to one particular person or group, because it won’t work and won’t be heard anyway.  As Gene Wilder said in Blazing Saddles, shooting Mongo only makes him mad.  Finally, mix it up and have fun.  Be creative.  Your listeners will appreciate the variety (“What will he or she do next?!”), the Bible models a wide range of styles and formats for sharing the Good News, and it keeps the preacher fresh and in the game.

Each time I step into a pulpit I pray to be a channel for the Holy Spirit.  The preaching event is a communal experience.  Sermons are not manuscripts, mere sentences on a page to be read really, really loud.  For sermons to come alive and dance, made so real that they have breath and dimension, they take two sides.  God’s Word welcomes being witnessed, felt, received, dissented, pondered, accepted, embodied, retold, born again as someone else’s narrative.  In the context of holy worship whenever speaker and listeners share the divine gift of synchronicity (a.k.a., have a kairos experience), change happens.  Believe this, and you become the changer and the changed.

By the grace of God I extend credit and gratitude to the significant congregations I served:  Church of the Living Hope in NYC; East Dallas Christian Church in Texas; Bethany Christian Church in Jackson, TN; First Christian Church of Decatur these past 18 years, all communities of beloved souls from whom I have learned and owe so much.  I offer a prayer of thanksgiving to my amazing wife, Betty, who is an incredible, intelligent, and well-read preacher on her own, and to our adult children.  My family knows all too well their sacrifices of countless Saturday nights, coping without husband or father who was off in his study, wrestling with the Word, striving and thriving toward that culminating statement:  “All power be to the Creator, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen!”

Happy Easter!  As always, First Christian Church of Decatur, I am delighted to be your pastor.  Shalom, James L. Brewer-Calvert

 

“A Pastoral Statement on Dismantling Structural Racism”

Event Sponsored by ABLE (Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment)

Held at the Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta GA

12 Noon, Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Remarks By:  The Rev. Dr. James L. Brewer-Calvert

ABLE asked five ministers from a variety of denominations to prepare 3-5 minutes of remarks, answering two questions (see below).  Following remarks by our speakers, the floor was opened to participants to engage in dialogue with the panelists.   ABLE leadership’s hope for the event is to build relationships that will allow us to organize and dismantle structural racism in our city.

1. Where do you see structural racism operating in Atlanta today? What impacts does it have?
2. What might an organized response by the faith community to dismantle these structures look like?  Do you have examples from your denomination or community where this has happened or is happening?

Notes for Panel Discussion

Thank you for your kind invitation and faithfulness, tenacity and grace.  I offer for your prayerful consideration a definition, a theology, and a witness.

A Definition

Racism is prejudice plus power.  A working definition for structural racism would include language like intentional and operational, embedded and legitimated.

A Theology

A passionately repeated refrain for Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea and Micah was that the Lord said, “I despise your worship, your feasts, and your sacrifices when there is no justice at the gate.”  The prophets spoke up and out for sedequah and mishpat, the Hebrew words for righteousness and justice.  They grasped that without one there could not be the other.  At the core of justice is mercy:  the embracing and carrying out of mercy is the embodiment of righteousness.   Two relevant Greek words that apply here are orthodoxy and orthopraxis.  Orthodoxy means right belief, right worship.  Orthopraxis means to do the right thing.   Our orthopraxis precedes our orthodoxy.   Practice before you preach.  What good is it to believe rightly if we don’t practice rightly?

Ministry is about relationships.  At the core of relationships are respect and recognition.  We all want to be respected and recognized, to be included and involved, to belong and be held.  One significant step toward dismantling structural racism is to break it down to the relational level by practicing the art of respect.  Appreciate one another for who — and whose — we are; call each other by name; listen to each other’s story; see one another as we truly are: a child of God.  If I make the effort to meet you where you are and listen to your story, and you do the same with me, and then we include someone else in the conversation, the circle widens, expands, includes;  in time and effort our circles overlap and interact, influence and connect.  By the grace of God, by building upon one relationship at a time, we have the power to dismantle any deep-seated need to dominate, deny, or devalue people based on race or religion, creed or gender, nationality or sexual orientation.

A Witness

Wherever and whenever we witness racial prejudice plus power to such an extent that neighbors are oppressed, that the shadows of hate lengthen and dominate the landscape, the antidote is our response to the Holy Spirit’s call to embody justice and righteousness, sedequah and mishpat.  Here in our very midst is cause and need for people from all walks of life to unite for the sake of the Gospel.  Are you like me, believing that the people, united, will never be defeated?  We who would most benefit from working, playing and serving together spend an inordinate amount of energy fussing and fighting amongst ourselves.  Our energy would best be served by yoking as one and working for a common cause, that of bettering the whole people of God.

I have witnessed the dividing walls of racism break down, crumble and disseminate when local congregations have participated in pulpit swaps and shared choir concerts; in exchanges of members to discuss and process what we have in common and our uniqueness.  Success abounds when faith communities work side-by-side on a common ministry.   When we unite as the Body of Christ to focus our energy on a shared community service project or program, protest or prayer, that which once divided falls away, veils of distrust are removed, and new ways are made possible.  The Apostle Paul said, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to [God] through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation…”  (2 Cor. 5)

Ministries of reconciliation are effective at dismantling ignorance and building hope.  In the last dozen years alone Christian Churches across Atlanta and Georgia have sponsored interracial, interchurch mission projects that have made a difference in folks’ lives.  Some projects took all day; others continue to this day.  We’ve gathered to watch and discuss the film “Selma” and we’ve co-sponsored free health clinics and the feeding of homeless neighbors.  We’ve built Habitat homes and marched miles to bring awareness to human trafficking.  Churches that once were isolationists now send their members to interracial assemblies and retreats.  Our most recent state-wide gathering focused on ‘Becoming the Beloved Community’.

Does this dismantle structural racism?  Maybe, maybe not…  Building relationships at the personal level in the community may seem like flinging a smooth stone at Goliath’s head, but, hey, look at how that story ended!

As always, First Christian Church of Decatur, I am delighted to be your pastor.  Shalom, James