Thank You, Bishop Barber!
AM Psalm 80 • PM Psalm 77, [79]
Isa. 58:1-12 • Gal. 6:11-18 • Mark 9:30-41
I had studied the readings and the piece from Isaiah 58, particularly the second half (verses 6-12) captured my attention. It’s a familiar passage, starting with:
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
I was thinking about how my spirituality has progressed over the last twenty years from internal and personal practices to include outwardly directed political and policy-oriented manifestations of my faith. While I worked on this, I decided to listen the Inaugural Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral, from January 21. I was appreciating the music and the prayers, when exactly the same verses I was working with showed up as The Third Reading, read by Reverend Dr. Paula Stone Williams, co-pastor of Left Hand Church in Longmont, Colorado, and a transgender woman. And I thought, “Well, she knows something about the bonds of oppression!”
Then I realized that the homilist, Bishop William J Barber II, D Min, whom I knew from Poor People’s Campaign, would preach on exactly that passage. What a gift! Bishop Barber is also president of an organization called Repairers of the Breach. Much of his message focused on the last verses of the passage. To paraphrase, if we take care of the oppressed, and clean up our own act, then:
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
He used the New International Version, which is clearer to me:
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
Bishop Barber eloquently and passionately described the many breaches that exist in our world and the economic and spiritual cost of failing to address them. For more, I direct you to him:
And the text of his sermon can be found here.
I am grateful to God for the synchronicity that led me to this sermon at exactly this time.
Written by Cathy Campbell
Cathy is a semi-retired professional counselor and Healing Touch Practitioner. She advocates for marginalized groups, especially LGBTQ people.