My sincere appreciation is extended to the committee which invited me to participate in this marvelous gathering of people committed to the building of real community in Metropolitan Detroit and to making ours a more peaceful and less violent place to live, learn and even in which to disagree. I have no doubt that there are those who see the attempt to build community and the non-violent approach to conflict resolution as "polyannic" and unable to be practiced in "the real world." But I believe that this goal, this vision of Metropolitan Detroit as real community is a goal worthy of the time and energy it will undoubtedly require to achieve it, even if that achievement requires more time than any of us present today have remaining before us.

I have been asked to share a few thoughts on the subject "Transforming Life in Metropolitan Detroit by Transforming Life within our Religious Congregations" and I am happy to do so. But let me first share with you a fond memory I have from a comic strip I read a very long time ago. In a comic strip called, "Kudzu", which dealt with the coming of age of a young southern teenager, one of the characters was the "Preacher", an older itinerant who, it seemed, preached in different places and times, and every once in a while would preach in Kudzu's church on a Sunday, and the reader would be invited into the service in a colorful Sunday Paper strip. One Sunday we join the "Preacher" in the midst of the sermon and in the first frame he shares; "Now you know we got to quit all this drinking!" In the second frame the congregation answers as if with one voice, "Amen!" Third frame, the encouraged Preacher shares, "And you know we got to quit all this smoking!" And as if with one voice the congregation answered, "Amen". The now emboldened Preacher declares, "And you know we got to quit dipping all this snuff." And in the following frame the congregation responds with deafening silence. The preacher then turns to the reader and, with sheepish grin, declares, "A good preacher recognizes when he has left preachin' and gone to meddlin'."

Humorous as I found the strip, it reminded me then, as it continues to now, that there is a point at which individuals and congregations will draw the line, and respect no one, including the preacher, who attempts to take them further than they determine that they are willing to go. This perhaps puts in context the true challenge which lies before us in building a meaningful expression of community in Metropolitan Detroit. The nature and degree of the malady which afflicts our Metropolitan Detroit is such that nothing less than true transformation will fix what is so obviously broken. Yet, many in our neighborhoods and communities would declare that attempting to construct more diverse neighborhoods, more truly integrated social structures and organizations, a more equitable and just society, is for us to have "left preaching" and begun to meddle.

Living in as divided a metropolitan area as Detroit is cannot be a chance circumstance brought on by coincidental policies, otherwise innocent procedures, and uncoordinated decisions. As the insightful detective often states looking over the crime scene, "This was no accident." As such, the effort to bring true transformation to our area will be a painful and demanding process requiring candor, confession and commitment. Any one of which is frequently in short supply in our body politic.

How did we get to this place? How have we come to a time when people boast of their unwillingness to come to Detroit, while others brand any partnership with those outside the city as attempts to "take over" or control, or "sell out"? How is it that such animus and suspicion prevail between those of us who, are as far as everyone else in the world is concerned, are all a part of one Metro Detroit?

I come today to suggest both the nature of the sickness and its possible remedy. I am not here to fix the blame, but to propose some ideas that may fix the problem. Not that I am more insightful than any others here, but sometimes the preacher's task is to affirm and reiterate that which is already known or at least suspected. I come to suggest that we, all of us, have allowed ourselves to construct a circle of "we." And whoever we are, urban or suburban, white, black, educated, illiterate, wealthy, or poor; whoever we are, we have come to believe that we are distinctly different from "they." "We" know what is right, while "they" don’t know the first thing of what needs to be done. "We" love our families, our neighborhoods, our cities, while "they" are busy undermining the foundation upon which we seek to build our lives. "We" are reasonable and deserve the best. "They" are not and deserve no more than they can scratch out for themselves. "We" are on the side of the angels and are on our way to heaven. "They", quite frankly, can go to hell.

I am convinced that there are those of us who allow substandard housing to exist; and inferior education to exist; and lack of economic opportunity to exist; and blighted communities to exist; and the perishing of the homeless to exist; and ethnic cleansing, whether in Europe or Africa, to exist; or the pandemic of AIDS to exist; or the torture or abuse of prisoners to exist, or even the willingness of a "we" and "they" division of the world to exist; is because we don't believe, in that secret chamber where the passions of our heart reside, that "all men, (and all women) are truly created equal." Rather, some of us believe "we" deserve more and better, and "they" don't. This capacity to cherish the "we" at the expense of the "they" drives so much of what dominates our discourse and deliberations throughout this area and across this country. Whether "we" are Republican or African American or conservative, or middle class, or Protestant or Children of Abraham; the capacity to draw the circle of "we" and use it to the detriment of whoever the "they" might be, is destroying us as a nation and as a metropolitan community. Somehow we must find a way to broaden the circle of "we" without losing the sense of the "I".

I cringe every time I hear someone speak of our goal as being a "color blind" society. I know of no context in which being "color blind" is a positive attribute rather than a handicap. Why would we set a goal to be a handicapped society? Would not it be a far greater goal to be a society that can acknowledge real differences without assigning negative distinctions? In such a context, I can be aware of and proud of my African heritage without denigrating you for your different heritage, or race, or faith or gender. Our metropolitan community sorely needs someone or something to become the agent that calls us to see and think beyond the narrowest understanding of "we" and open our heart and soul and mind to the breadth and value in the diverse creation of God’s humanity.

This is the calling of the faith community. Our political leadership will not, for far too many of them make their living by dividing and conquering, pitting the interests of some against others and hoping simply to gain the support of one more than half. Our business community frequently will not, for their drive is the profit motive; maximizing dividends and maintaining a focus on the bottom line. And even our media will not, for it is controversy and scandal that creates headlines. "If it bleeds, it leads" still drives the electronic media and the need to emphasize how we can create community is not prominently located on their agenda. It is still common to hear, "We don't make the news, we just report it."

No, this call to remove, redraw or replace the circle must come from the religious congregations of our community. No other perspective seeks to look for the "common good" from the broadest possible vision. No other voice calls all of us to a higher and divine standard of brother and sister hood. No other people are bold enough to declare that what we do, we do not for ourselves, or even for our community, but for our God.

This capacity to bring change to "the circle" and embrace God's diversity can perhaps most easily be grasped in the telling of the New Testament story of the Good Samaritan. In it, there are a number of legitimate reasons to ignore the "misfortuned" Jericho traveler, lying injured on the side of the road. He is of another clan. He is in too great a need. He will require too much time, energy, effort and money. He wouldn't be in this situation if he had made better decisions. Assistance might easily be "throwing good money after bad." For the same reasons many of us even now walk on the other side, this Samaritan could have stayed inside his circle and ignored the pain and circumstance of those outside it. Instead he hears, he helps, he heals and he honors. "Put him on my account" the Samaritan declares, "and I will pay you what he owes!" Now who in their right mind, except through the intercepting power of God can perform such an act and make such a declaration! Yet the lasting power of the story is in its closing challenge. The Rabbi Jesus declares to his audience, in the wake of the Leviticus teaching to love your neighbor as yourself, "Go and do likewise." Go, thou believers in God, and do likewise.

And here is where the challenge to our congregations will arise. To become a Transformed Community we must transform the mind and heart and vision of our congregations, congregations which all too often allow ourselves to be drawn into circles of "We" rather than moving beyond them, to hear, to help and to heal others who are not quite like us. Who but people of faith, will proclaim and model the ideal that "God is no respecter of persons?" Who but people of faith, will seek to build community on the firmer foundation of the will and history of God as we have come to know God through our prayers, our experience and our study? This challenge to "do likewise" means that congregations are not called simply to be facilitators in this process of transformation; we are to be the catalysts! 

Certainly, this will not be achieved with ease or by hoping it will naturally occur. In order to become catalysts we will have to first be intentional. We will have to plan, plot and imagine ways in which we can come face to face with others, in order to learn and to share, to give and to take. Pulpit exchanges, combined choirs, town hall meetings within the congregation on issues of justice, race and equity, even the watching of some movies in integrated settings followed by discussions are small first steps, but they are steps in the right direction. If we do not reinforce our internal desire for transformation with external action toward that end, we are hearers of the Word and not doers.

Beyond being intentional, this transformation must be purposeful. While it is true that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, it is also true that if you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. These conversations, exchanges, songs, movies, and gatherings must be aimed toward the end of building community, building understanding, building commiseration and the sharing in each others' hurting and helping. Our purpose is not to be seen by others as a congregation "doing the right thing" but to be seen by God as an agent of transformative change. Whose mind will be opened by what we intend to do? Whose blindness will be healed by the revealing we will bring about? Whose callousness will be removed by the experience we are creating? Having someone and something definite in mind will keep us from drifting into experiences that make us feel good but end up accomplishing very little.

And beyond being purposeful, this transformation must be theological. We must draw our strength and direction from the confidence that what we do, we do out of obedience to the will and desire of God. If the transformation is to be real, thorough and lasting, it will take a miracle. But miracles happen when the Almighty gets involved in the affairs of humanity. My tradition tells me that God gets involved when the goals of humanity are to do a work that gives glory to God! If God can transform the heated circumstances of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego, why not the heated atmosphere of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne? If God can bring peace between the lions and Daniel, why not between the suburbs and the city? If, with God, nothing shall be impossible, the transformation of Metro Detroit is neither a mountain too high, nor a dream too big! If we can allow a living God, to infuse a living vision, into a living people, those transformed people can become agents of transformation for a community distressed to feel a Divine presence in its midst.

With all due respect to Kudzu's "Preacher," leave preaching, and meddle if you must! The Call of God is too clear to be muddled in its translation. Meddle if you must! The Vision of Community is too great to be whispered in the valley, when it ought to be shouted from the mountaintop. Meddle if you must! The Goal of real community is too important to be lost to a generation of shy and timid preachers. Meddle if you must! A transformed community of Metro Detroit requires a transformed community of faith. Meddle if you must, but I am convinced that God will stand with you. "Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God, but children of the Heavenly King must speak their joys abroad. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion; we're marching upward to Zion." And if we do what we can and what we ought, perhaps Detroit will resemble, That beautiful city of God.