Lucy Morris

There was my daughter Makayla dancing in the darkness – just spinning around, saying, ‘Look at me, Daddy’. I said, ‘Makayla, you need to go to bed, its 3 am. You need to go to bed.’ But she said, ‘No, look at me, Daddy. Look at me.’ And she was spinning, barrettes going back and forth, pigtails going back and forth. I was getting huffy and puffy wanting her to go to bed, then God spoke to me. ‘Look at your daughter! She’s dancing in the dark. The darkness is all around her but it is not in her!’ Makayla reminded me that weeping may endure for a night, but if you dance long enough joy will come in the morning. It is the job of preachers….to [send] this word to us in the hardest of times: do not let the darkness find its way in you. (Brous 2024:130)

Paul talks about the body of Christ as a communion of different gifts. But it is also a communion of differing politics, strong options and perceptions for things about which people care deeply, and diverse cultural backgrounds and assumptions about race, sexualities and genders, about faiths and nationalities. Rabbi Johathan Sacks reminds us God has gifted us with the dignity of difference.

“How have we come to this: as Christians whose faith commits us to be active peacemakers in Jesus’ way? How has it come to pass if I talk about peace from the pulpit, I may be subjected to abuse, hatred and threats of violence? We are faithfully required to share peace from the position of powerlessness, humility and vulnerability and instead, we comprehensively fail, embedded as we are in a church flourishing among the established powers and principalities of the ruler of the world .”