Yesenia Rodriguez Blog #4 July 10th, 2022 - We are fearfully and wonderfully made, so UNITE!

Hello everyone. Another great week has passed by. 

This week we read Chapter 25, “A Mixed Multitude” from the book, We Cry Justice. It talked about how we, as God’s children, need to stay together, show unity amongst each other, and overall emphasized solidarity is the key to getting us out of bondage. Just like how the people of Egypt were able to escape slavery once they joined together to rise up against the tyrannical king, we may do the same. Whenever the king wanted to ensure that slavery in Egypt was prolonged, he would ensure the groups of slaves would fight amongst each other and pit them against each other. That’s why we must show up in multitudes and really fight with and for each other so we may leave out of bondage. We must speak out not only for our own groups but for others. We must work together and uplift each other’s voices. At the end of the chapter, Liz Theoharis concluded by saying “Pursuit of justice, not backgrounds of ethnicity or income, unites us. 

During Wednesday's devotion, we decided to try a new type of prayer: Listening prayer, a prayer in which instead of just talking to God, we listened to him. We shared songs that we found valuable and sacred to our communities, and tried to listen for God in each of them. I chose “Brujeria” by El Gran Combo because they are a very popular band from Puerto Rico that reminds me a lot of my Puerto Rican neighborhood back at home. The song for me represents life, and how God has blessed us with this life and we should celebrate that as much as possible. This song brings community, and the trumpets in the song remind me of the trumpets we may hear when we reach Heaven. Even those who don’t speak Spanish in the group agree that the song is very life-giving and gives a celebration of the life God has given us with the people and community we love. The other great songs we got to hear God from that night were “Young, Gifted and Black” by Nina Simone, “This Is Me” by The Greatest Showman Ensemble, and “Without You” by Harry Nilson.

On Friday, we had the fantastic opportunity to talk to Church & Society's General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe. She has been serving a lifelong call to justice and ministry. So much is she dedicated to her call that she was calling us during her vacation! I felt incredibly lucky to hear her story on what it has been like serving as a woman in ministry who is constantly intertwining her faith with her justice work, whether is racial justice, women’s rights, or education, Reverand Dr. Susan has been dedicated. She encourages the Church community to base their values on respect, dignity, and listening to one another to encourage growth in numbers and spiritually. She also said a lot of her accomplishments and achievements were in part because of God and in part because she just didn’t say no when opportunities came to her.

We also spent time reflecting on another one of our readings: Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, & Identity by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi. The short stories in the book gave us different perspectives on how people’s identities affect them and their daily lives. It ranged from stories of interpersonal racism, internalized racism, institutional, and systematic. The people in the stories were of different races, incomes, genders, and sexualities, all wanting some type of unity. We were asked to pick three random facts like the people in the stories did when introducing themselves, so here are mine:

1. I share my birthday with former President Obama

2. I am a curly hair enthusiast 

3. I didn’t learn how to swim until I was 20 (but that didn’t stop me from snorkeling and cliff jumping in the past)

I really enjoyed listening to their stories. Everyone in the book was really vulnerable sharing how their identities have impacted them in the long-term even though they didn’t necessarily choose their identities. God made us the way we are. That’s why we were reminded of the Bible verse in Psalm chapter 139, verse 14: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; / your works are wonderful, / I know that full well.” That verse honestly brings me a lot of emotions, because sometimes it is hard to fully embrace who I am and the experiences I have had to face and will face because of my intersecting identities. So when I am reminded that God made no mistake while making me, who wouldn’t happy cry just a little bit?