[Magdalen] Fwd: [Unfolding Light] — Not safe

[Grace Cangialosi]

> Begin forwarded message:
>> 
>> 
>> Dearly Beloved,
>> 
>> Grace and Peace to you.
>> 
>>          
>> Sitting with Jewish neighbors 
>> at their temple in shock and fear
>> after a synagogue shooting,
>> feeling their heartbreak and vulnerability, 
>> I confess: for a moment I felt safe.
>> I am, after all, not one of them. 
>> 
>> I will never be shot for being black,
>> never be murdered for being Jewish or gay.
>> I am a white, male, well-educated, 
>> middle class, able-bodied Christian.
>> I'm not the one they'll kill for being myself.
>> I'm glad that danger is not mine.
>> 
>> That, I confess, is my violence. 
>> When I am glad of my safety,
>> when I hide behind my privilege
>> and separate myself from them,
>> when I think “them” and not “us,”
>> pretend I am not them
>> to feel safe—that itself is the violence.
>> 
>> We are one.
>> Our wholeness includes each other.
>> I do violence to my own being
>> when I separate myself,
>> when I welcome the safety of my privilege
>> and sever those I think are not part of me.
>> 
>> I am not free until all of us are free.
>> My only safety is to risk 
>> for the sake of the safety of all.
>> My only way to be whole
>> is to be broken with the broken-hearted.
>> My only salvation is not to be safe.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Deep Blessings,
>> Pastor Steve
>> 
>> __________________ 
>> Steve Garnaas-Holmes
>> Unfolding Light
>> www.unfoldinglight.net
>> 
>>  
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>> 
>>    —October 29, 2018
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Unfolding Light by Steve Garnaas-Holmes
>> 429 Central St. Acton, MA 01720 USA 
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