Confessing the Intersectional Body of Christ

TL/DR: The conversation between Lana and Tripp continues. This week, Tripp gets all liturgical and such. Lord's Prayer much?

Good morning.

A couple of weeks ago, we started this conversation by looking at the practice of confession in the liturgy. I wrote an open letter, you responded with a challenging foray into all that we need to confess in some fashion. It is perhaps short sighted for us not to look at the vast array of social sins, institutional barriers, and personal limitations that we engage in.

Being anti-racist, for example, is laudable. Recognizing all the ways we fail, however, is more necessary and gives a more accurate picture of just how we relate to one another in this world.

Last week at Richmond Hill, we hosted a group of “early career” preachers from a local seminary program. I helped out by leading worship for them. Leah Schade was the guest preacher and instructor for the weekend. It was a powerful experience. One of the aspects of the services that stood out for me were the two different versions of the Lord’s Prayer that they used.

On Thursday they said this version from the United Church of Christ…

Our Mother, in heaven,  
may Your name be honored  
and Your kin-dom come,  
where all people are free and loved.  
We pray that Your will be done,  
not only in heaven, but on earth,  
as we work to dismantle  
systems of oppression and injustice.  
Give us this day our daily bread  
and the resources to share with our neighbors. 
We ask forgiveness,  
not only for our own wrongs,  
but for the wrongs done against us,  
as we work to heal and reconcile.  
Lead us not into a path  
of self-interest or complacency,  
but deliver us from  
the destructive power of power itself.  
For Yours is the kin-dom,  
and the power, and the glory,  
forever and ever. Amen. 

On Friday, they said used the version from A New Zealand Prayer Book…

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker,
Pain-bearer, life giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name
echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the
peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will
be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb
from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation
and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For your reign in the glory of the 
power that is love, 
now and for ever. 
Amen.

Once again I find myself drawn to liturgical language to help us have this conversation. Liturgy is the stated theological practice of Christian communities. It is both creedal and confessional. It is descriptive and aspirational. Liturgy states, “this is who we are.” The response of the worshiper needs to be “now, what do I do with it?” Ion Bria, an Orthodox liturgical theologian and ecumenist, called this the “liturgy after the liturgy.” The liturgy invites us to live in the world a certain way. The work we have to do is to ask and answer, “What is the way?”

Both of these prayers compel the worshippers into a “what’s next” way of thinking. They encourage an eschatological mindset. We are, as Christians, all about the fulfillment and fruition of God’s dream for the cosmos. This is what it looks like for both individual Christians and Christian communities to engage in the world.

You wrote…

Richmond Hill’s willingness to make racial reconciliation its mission is only saying yes to a very long journey that will never end. It’s acknowledging that when it comes to black bodies, white people can never be the ones to lead that charge. While those white people are asked to step aside to make space for black bodies, they are also gently reminded that it is their job to openly protect those same black bodies.

Racial reconciliation is therefore implicitly connected to trans liberation, i.e., without racial reconciliation, there can’t be trans liberation.

I agree.

And I think we have to be not just aware of this particular anthropological truth, but be actively engaging relationally with the intersectionality of the people we hope to serve…both black and white people, per our mission, “…to seek God’s transformation of Metropolitan Richmond through prayer, hospitality, racial healing, and spiritual development.”

This is a theological and an interpersonal challenge.

And it calls us to do a metric ton of spiritual work.

Thus, at Richmond Hill we pray…

Ground of all being,
Mother of life, Father of the universe,
Your name is sacred, beyond speaking.

May we know your presence,
may your longings be our longings in heart and in action.
May there be food for the human family today
and for the whole earth community.

Forgive us the falseness of what we have done
as we forgive those who are untrue to us.

Do not forsake us in our time of conflict
but lead us into new beginnings.

For the light of life, the vitality of life,
and the glory of life are yours now and forever.

Amen.

“New beginnings” are intersectional. All of our privileges, our sins, our identities…And we are always in conflict whether we know it or not. You name this clearly.

We tend to vilify just one evil so we don’t have to look at the other atrocities we commit daily.

We chant “free Gaza” without chanting “Free Nagorno-Karabakh.” We demand an end to the mining of cobalt in the DRC without demanding an end to the mining of nickel in Indonesia. We criticize the use of AI in water units, while eating one beef patty emits as much CO₂ as tens of thousands of AI queries.

The problem is that we latch onto one objective evil (Gaza, DRC, or AI) and utilize that as an abstraction layer to distance ourselves from the other effects our lives have. When we put on eyeshadow with mica, little children die in the mines of Jharkhand and Bihar; when we water our lawns, communities go thirsty; and when we post this Substack, we devastate communities in Inner Mongolia.

It is time for me to get my son ready for school, so I need to put a pause on this.

But this begins to frame my understanding of what we face.

I look forward to what you have to say.

Peace and All Good Things,

Tripp