Slingistening

by Rev. Roger Wolsey, Wesley Foundation at University of Colorado at Boulder

My God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above!
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty of thee I sing!
Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord!
My God, my country, my eyes.

But not hers

not that brown eyed, brown skinned, brown woman pushing that cleaning cart down the hall of the hotel I'm staying in as one of not one, not two, but three jobs she has to keep her immigrant family fed.

At the top of the social pecking order, I'm Mr. Patriarchy himself.
Dudley Do-White incarnate.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, with a nice car and a balanced checkbook.
Due to sheer accident of birth, I'm on top and she's on the bottom.

And yet, I'm called to try to transcend all that, to see that "in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no free or slave, no male or female," no black or white...

Or am I?

Maybe yes, maybe no.

Maybe instead of preaching good news to the poor I should be preaching bad news to the rich.
Maybe I need to lift my voice and sing a prophetic song of challenge and hope to my fellow white brothers and sisters.
Maybe I need to listen more to the songs of others before I sing or do anything.

Or, maybe, I should sing and listen at the same time,
listen, sing, listen,
slingisten, slisten, sling...