A woman named Fire stood in the Chapel at First Presbyterian Church-Spartanburg this past December and proclaimed:
“…we are the image
of the Divine Being.”
She was a poet participating in the monthly Poetry & Conversation gatherings hosted by an innovative arts organization, Spoken Word Spartanburg. These gatherings, held the first Monday of every month at 6:00pm in the First Presbyterian Chapel, facilitate community conversations about race, using spoken word poetry as a way to deepen and heal difficult discussions. All are welcome.
Fire is a poet, and she is a black woman, and she spoke to the heart of our profound equality as human beings.
The Chapel at First Presbyterian is a jewel of architecture in my hometown: intimate, sacred, shining with the blue light of its windows. Its craftsmanship is exquisite. The church keeps this Chapel open from 8:00am-5:00pm Monday-Friday, as a place to which all may come to encounter God. All are welcome.
The Chapel was dedicated in 1952. The racial divisions of that time are still very much with us, although our laws and culture have changed. The neighborhoods and faith communities in my home remain largely divided along racial lines. Great pain and distrust persist.
These problems seem impossible to solve. They are so old and painful. We are so much a part of them.
And yet Fire stood in the Chapel of First Presbyterian. She spoke the truth so much of our history and our system of racism and our fear would deny: that we are equal. She created a light through her courage and a beauty through her words that illuminated the splendor of that place.
She showed us, not the perfection of society, not a utopia, but a transformation: what has seemed impossible, we can be.
Standing up in the divide, standing up in the history, standing up in the pain, standing up in the distrust, Fire leads us. In the moment that she speaks, we see into the impossible.
And with her vision, she asks us to stand up in the impossible too.
“…we are the image
of the Divine Being.”
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As we consider community transformation, and as we tackle the hardest questions of what is critically needed, and of what works, and of what is possible–let us stand up in the impossible.
Lead us like Fire. Stand up in the divide. Show us what we can be.
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All are welcome.
–Project for Community Transformation
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