Shannon W. Dycus is the vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Eastern Mennonite University. She, along with two current students and EMU’s vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, attended Mennonite Church USA’s (MC USA) Hope for the Future Conference. The group celebrated and learned with other cherished leaders of color in MC USA.
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[Editor’s note: Shannon wrote this litany based on what she heard while attending the Hope for the Future Conference at the beginning of February.]
Bienvenidos. To such a time as this.
This began with four of us and a dream for hope.
How do we support each other into leadership in a church not designed for us?
This is OUR church, not one we are fitting into.
We are the church now.
We can’t have this space without each other.
What time is it? Where are we?
How do you know about who you are?
Who we are equals where we are.
Our elders tell us who we are.
Our young adults remind us who we are called to be.
Why don’t I know you?
Research. Repentance. Restoration.
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight.
For such a time as this.
Bersyukurlah. Be Thankful.
All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so so good.
There’s a revolutionary scent in the air.
Not wanting to be on God’s strongest soldier list.
Is there a breath we need to release?
Weariness and hope.
These are sacred moments of preparation.
Our community shifts to make room for us.
Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for such a time as this.
Maybe she was going against the system. Maybe her feet were tired.
You didn’t just win a contest; you gained a voice.
How do the Scriptures give us new language for oppression and displacement?
Give me courage, God. I have no helper but you. Save me from my fears.
In this such time, kneel in this place and receive blessing from the elders.
Read the text for yourself first. Build your memories with each to ground your work.
When God calls, God sustains the call. Learn to speak the truth in love.
Wepa! Merengue and Bollywood as joy shouting from our bodies.
This is our story. This is our song.
A time to dance and a time to sing.
A time to pray and a time to heal.
A time of crisis and a time to change.
What time is it on the clock of the Mennonite church?
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Empowerment. Representation.
Where are our shared learnings?
Chronic unresolved racial trauma.
And the margins are bigger than us.
Ableism. Homophobia. Anticolonialism.
We’ve got learning to do at such a time as this.
Our organizations cannot move beyond the places where we are.
This has been sacred space relying on the Spirit that has dwelled within for generations.
We persevere in prayer. We rejoice in hope.
Hope is a song held in our shared harmonies with verses sung boldly by our new young leaders.
Hope is a dance with the stranger, displacing our routines by new turns of the Spirit.
Hope is a practice. For such a time as this.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog belong to the author and are not intended to represent the views of the MC USA Executive Board or staff.
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