LIVE READY TO LEAP

My spiritual life has been punctuated by mystical experiences
of the presence of God which leave me with a deep sense of
God communicating as “deep unto deep.” One of these experiences
is a vision that has recurred since I was very young.

This vision has come infrequently but always when I am in a
crowd facing a stage or other point of group focus. In the vision
I suddenly see, above and to the right, a rope, several
feet long, dangling in midair as if from nowhere. No one else
seems to see it but the rope, with its tip a foot or two over
people’s heads, begins to slowly float from side to side winding
its way back and forth across the crowd. As I watch I have
a powerful sense that when the rope comes over my head I
will have one chance to leap up and grab hold and be carried
off for some adventure. The most salient feeling, however, is
not the excitement at being whisked away but, rather, the
sense that even though no one else can or will see the rope I
must not hesitate, regardless.
Over the course of my life this vision has taught me that moments
to act on my beliefs may be rare and I must be vigilant.
The film, Same God, documents such a moment when I saw
the way that the administration  at Wheaton College treated
me much better than they treated my black female colleague,
Larycia Hawkins, despite the fact that we were both
tenured and both reprimanded for making what they called
equally inappropriate comments on social media. When a
journalist asked if I would speak out publicly about this I asked
for a few minutes to pray and think about the decision. She
acknowledged that I would likely be fired for such an action so
I should take my time. When I discussed it with my wife she
had similar fears and asked “why does it have to be you?”
When I stilled my heart to listen to God I immediately remembered
the vision of the rope. As I told my wife and the journalist
the administration can’t see what they are doing but I can
and this opportunity will only knock once.
What I have learned about embodied solidarity is that it usually
sneaks up on us in the form of moments. It is difficult to
teach our eyes to see what others refuse to see, especially
when they will hate us for it. But if we keep our eyes open we
can live ready to leap so that when moments of injustice
present themselves we can seize them before they disappear
forever.
Despite many painful repercussions and lost relationships I
have never regretted seizing that moment and I am thankful
that I had the privilege of acting in Embodied Solidarity with
Larycia and with the muslim women she supported.