A Voice In Ramah

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Another world is possible…

Being Love.

  • Love That Is of God…

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    Three Girls Watching a Plane, Vivian Cherry
    When I thought I was full, 
    God sent more.
    God inspired more.
    God provoked 
    and instigated more.
    And the Love 
    that is of God 
    grew.

    Love that is of God
    is big love,
    good love,
    enduring and grounded
    and soaring and sweeping
    and lyrical and quiet.

    It is ferocious love that 
    knocks-down-barriers-and-borders
    the I AM never made because 
    the love that is of God
    refuses to be small. 

    Love that is of God
    is practical and joyful
    and transformative 
    and subversive -- 
    refusing to ever 
    leave us be
    love.

    Love that is of God
    is sufficiency
    and transforms into abundance
    when shared with another.

    Love that is of God 
    never subtracts,
    never diminishes,
    never humiliates,
    never erases - anyone.

    Love that is of God
    is the antidote to lies.
    Love that is of God 
    tells the healing truth,
    weaves and re-weaves,
    and braids together,
    and adds and multiplies 
    and compounds love.

    Love that is of God
    is limitless
    and stubborn
    and it never, ever dies.

    That love is too big for borrowed tombs.
    That love swallows up death.
    That love shares power with 
    the beloved
    to keep 
    getting up
    because that love loves.

    Love that is of God
    makes a home
    in all of the places
    and in all of the people,
    and in all of the stories
    that we would not.

    Love that is of God
    beckons us to stretch,
    to be more - 
    to see more -
    to want more -
    to pursue more -
    to feel more -
    not because we are not enough
    but because we are more.
    Love that is of God
    says, "Be who you are."

    Love that is of God 
    shows off,
    leading with a heart
    that delights
    in the giggles of children
    and the songs of the aged.

    Love that is of God
    cries and weeps and storms
    and becomes furious
    and indignant
    at the sight of 
    God's beloved
    fashioning God's own 
    words and resources
    into weapons and bonds 
    and chains and stumbling blocks
    for God's beloved. 

    Love that is of God
    breathes on
    the canvass of every night,
    turning up the wattage
    of every sparkling star
    assigned to lead
    the beloved to freedom.

    Love that is of God sings.

    Love that is of God searches,
    never sleeps,
    travels light,
    makes room,
    gathers chicks
    and stubbornly refuses
    to leave
    not nary a one behind,
    not nary a one out,
    not nary a one alone.
    Ever. 

    When we think we are full, 
    God sends more.
    God inspires more.
    God provokes and instigates more.

    And we know the love 
    that is of God
    is alive among us
    when the 
    love of God grows.

    Image: “Three Girls Watching a Plane,” by Vivian Cherry.

  • No More Games, Santa. Justice…..

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    Day 3: Advent Promises – Change is Coming!
    Isaiah 9:5-7 (The Message)

    The boots of all those invading troops,
    along with their shirts soaked with innocent blood, will be piled in a heap and burned,
    a fire that will burn for days!
    For a child has been born—for us!
    the gift of a son—for us!
    He’ll take over the running of the world.

    His names will be:

    Amazing Counselor,
    Strong God, Eternal Father,
    Prince of Wholeness.

    His ruling authority will grow, and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
    He’ll rule from the historic David throne
    over that promised kingdom.
    He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing
    and keep it going with fair dealing and right living, beginning now and lasting always.
    The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
    will do all this.

    *******

    I don’t remember where I found this photo – maybe Twitter or Facebook – don’t know. I didn’t take it and I don’t know the child in the photo. But when I saw the caption, my heart fluttered. Santa, I don’t want any games – I want justice.

    And One is coming who has promised peace, love, abundant life and justice …

    IMG_0690.JPG

  • The Children Come

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    The Children Come (By Carolyn Winfrey Gillette)

     FINLANDIA 11.10.11.10.11.10  
     
    The children come, not sure where they are going;
    Some little ones have seen their siblings die.
    They’ve traveled north—a tide that keeps on growing,
    A stream of life beneath the desert sky.
    Their welcome here?  Detention, overflowing.
    O Lord of love, now hear your children’s cry!
     
    The children come in search of something better;
    They’ve traveled here with nothing in their hands.
    On one boy’s belt, a number carved in leather
    Leads to a phone, a brother here, a plan.
    They come alone—or sometimes band together;
    They bring a plea that we will understand.
     
    O Christ our Lord, you welcomed in the stranger;
    You blessed the children, telling them to stay.
    Be in the desert, with the tired and injured;
    Be at the border where they are afraid.
    Be on each bus where children sense the danger,
    As angry crowds are shouting, “Go away!”
     
    God, let each one know justice, peace and welcome—
    And may your gift of mercy start with me.
    For unto such as these belongs your kingdom,
    And in each child, it is your face we see.
    May we, your church, respond in truth and action,
    And with you, Lord, say, “Let them come to me.”
     
    Biblical references:  Matthew 25:31-46; 19:14-16
    Tune:  Jean Sibelius, 1899.
    Text:   Copyright © 2014 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette.  All rights reserved
    New Hymns:  http://www.carolynshymns.com  Email:  bcgillette@comcast.net
    Permission is given for free use of this hymn for local church use by those supporting efforts to help these children and immigration reform now.


    United Nations officials are pushing for many of the Central American children and families crossing the border to be treated as refugees fleeing armed conflict. 


    The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson
    Brooklyn, NY

    Matthew 2:18:
    A Voice In Ramah
    http://avoiceinramah.blogspot.com

  • Driven to Tears….

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    It was the evening of April 4, 1968 – and I was almost five years old. Sometime that evening, with the news playing in the background I stood beside my mother’s chair and stared into her face as she cried softly. 

    Martin Luther King, Jr. had been killed.

    Was he a member of our family?
    Did we know him?
    Why did she look so sad, like “something good” had tragically ended?
    Her tears were the earliest I remember arising from a sense of profound injustice. 
    I know tears. The summer before – summer 1967 – Newark erupted in a blaze of riots. I was four years old and I watched the rage of the circumstances play out on the faces of the adults around me. You do know that children growing up in trauma learn to watch the faces of the adults in their lives very carefully, don’t you? 
    I remember gun-carrying national guardsmen; people hurrying to get to safety. I remember angry cries, raging voices….adults with broken hearts and tear tracks etched on their faces.
    Tears mean something to me today. People driven to tears – the tears that roll on the heels of injustice, deep mourning, brokenness, or the tears that literally pour out because of pent up rage — mean something to me because they mean something to God. 
    …he will wipe every tear from their eyes…(Rev 21:4) — is God’s promise that something will be done about the things that make us cry.

    The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson
    Brooklyn, NY

    Matthew 2:18:
    A Voice In Ramah
    http://avoiceinramah.blogspot.com

  • Today’s Petition for Persistence

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    “Give us grace, O God, to dare to do the deed that we all know cries to be done. 
    Let us not hesitate because of ease, 
    or the words of men’s mouths, 
    or our own lives. 
    Mighty causes are calling us – 
    the freeing of women and men, 
    the training of children,
    the putting down of hate and murder and poverty – all these and more. 
    But they call with voices that mean work and sacrifices 
    and death to our own will and way. 
    Mercifully grant us, O God, the spirit of Esther, that we say: 
    I will go unto the King and if I perish, I perish.
    The prayer of our souls this day is a petition for persistence; 
    not for the one good deed, or single thought, 
    but deed on deed, and thought on thought, 
    until day calling unto day shall make a life worth living.
    We want these young people to grow the grim grit of a people 
    who would never believe they’re beaten and would never own defeat; 
    May they snatch success and victory out of the teeth of failure
    by keeping everlastingly at work, never giving up.
    Give us, O God, to walk with the One who never turned His back
    but marched breast forward, 
    never doubting that the clouds would break. 
    Amen.
    From “Prayers for a Dark People”
    W.E.B. DuBois
    1909/1910
    The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson
    Brooklyn, NY

    Matthew 2:18:
    A Voice In Ramah
    http://avoiceinramah.blogspot.com

  • Do You Remember Why You Signed Up To Fight?

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    Some years ago, I was fortunate to serve as the Executive Director of Girls Inc. of NYC. It was an amazing experience. I am forever changed by the girls I met and the women who stood with me.

    We did a project once where girls in our programs shared their stories of origin. They talked about their dreams for the future. I love the little publication that resulted from that project. I wrote something to introduce that project and reading my own words again after all of these years reminded me of my commitment to the struggle. Every now and then, we all need to be reminded why we signed up to fight. 

    What are you from?
    Why are you in the fight?
    Where are you going next?


    Here is what I wrote for them many moons ago…

    WHERE I’M FROM

    I stand on a history that gave me
    ground to grow in spite of
    growing up in Newark, NJ — 
    the sixth of seven children born 
    to a single mother
    who worked two jobs and still needed
    public assistance to make ends meet….

    I stand on a conviction that gave me
    hope in spite of a community holding
    low or no expectations
    dreaming small dreams
    rendering little girls invisible —
    boxed in by bold black lines with reinforced corners
    by the message of the day: “you can only reach as far as those around you.”

    WHERE I’M GOING

    Deeper into the thick of the fight
    grateful and humbled by the opportunity
    to actively push a course of action
    that ensures higher expectations 
    greater, more vibrant visibility
    and shattered boxes
    by the sheer force of a new message – the truth:
    “You, little girl, can reach as far as you can dream – and then some.”


    The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson
    Brooklyn, NY

    Matthew 2:18:
    A Voice In Ramah
    http://avoiceinramah.blogspot.com

  • How to Create More Hell on Earth for Kids

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    Want to know how you can create hell on earth? Decide that you don’t care whether children eat. And then, create more hell by shaping policies that determine what kids are worthy of school meals.
    Schools and school systems across the United States regularly deny meals to children because the child/parent “owes money”. When my daughter was in elementary school I paid for her school lunch through the school’s online payment system. I set up a warning level so that I would get an alert emailed to me when the account reached a certain level. Whenever I got the low-balance alert, I would panic (yeah – I set myself up for this madness!) and rush to replenish the account. My fear was always that I would mess this thing up – miss the alert, some technological snafu or some other thing would happen and that would set off the “lunch lady” caricature I had in my head.
    It never happened and my child was not denied a meal. But other people’s children are being denied school meals across the country. Every day. (Some of our schools are so overcrowded that kids don’t even get a lunch period. I’ve had two children affected by this – and they were dependent upon “understanding” teachers who would allow them to eat in class because they didn’t even have a lunch period. But that’s a discussion for another day.)
    But on this — what is to be gained by refusing a child a meal?
    What adult thinks it is good public policy to deny a child lunch – to humiliate and publicly shame them – because their parent or guardian has not “paid” their bill?
    Who physically takes food away from a child and throws it away as the child watches?
    What human being would agree to follow a policy that requires adults to throw away a meal rather give it to a child whose parent has an unpaid bill? (I mean, fight the power, people!!!)
    I believe that the United States has the resources to offer free school meals to all public school students regardless of income – but we don’t have the will.  What we spend on the administration of the meals program and the effort to deny a seat at the table for the “unworthy of a meal” kids is probably a sin. I don’t know – but I surmise that’s where the waste is –  bureaucracy. 
    It’s never a waste of resources to FEED A CHILD!
    But, why do kids need to eat anyway? And most importantly, why do poor kids need to eat? And what does all of this matter to me? I ate today.
    It matters because, by our wrongheadedness and thoughtlessness, by our misunderstanding of what we owe our children, by our lumping children into categories of “worthy and unworthy” of our support and investment — we are in effect supporting policies that are creating hell on earth for our children and for ourselves.
    What in the world do you think is going on in the hearts and minds and spirits of the children who watched adults throw away the food that they were denied? What about the children who got to eat and watched their peers denied a meal for something they had no control over? Do you honestly think no damage was done to any of these children, nothing to see here, move it along? 
    Do you have any idea of how that experience — and all of the other ridiculous and mean-spirited ways we publicly shame and call out children around their family’s income — communicates a message about what we value?
    Here’s the link to the story about how nuts adults can be – read it and weep. And then decide to stop creating hell on earth for kids.

    http://news.yahoo.com/schools-starve-students-over-money-195000176–politics.html

    The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson
    Brooklyn, NY

    Matthew 2:18:
    A Voice In Ramah
    http://avoiceinramah.blogspot.com

  • First Day of Christmas: A Child Has Been Born

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    First Day of Christmas: A Child Has Been Born
    For a people who were struggling against an oppressive regime, one whose power and authority seemed far reaching, generational and never ending, their hope for just and merciful leadership became real with the birth of a baby. 
    Hope became real with the birth of a baby.
    Not a military coup.
    Not a plague visited upon their oppressors.
    Not a violent war.
    Not power and might and horses and tanks and drones  — but labor pains, child birth, swaddling blankets and anxious parents.
    A child has been born. 
    Hallelujah.

    Isaiah 9: 6-7 (The Message Translation)
    For a child has been born––for us!
    the gift of a son––for us!
    He’ll take over
    the running of the world.
    His names will be:
    Amazing Counselor,
    Strong God,
    Eternal Father,
    Prince of Wholeness.
    His ruling authority will grow,
    and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
    He’ll rule from the historic David throne
    over that promised kingdom.
    He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing
    and keep it going
    With fair dealing and right living,
    beginning now and lasting always.
    The zeal of God –of–the–Angel–Armies
    will do all this.
    The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson
    Brooklyn, NY

    Matthew 2:18:
    A Voice In Ramah
    http://avoiceinramah.blogspot.com

  • Advent: The Season of WaitingWorkingWitnessing

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    Barbara Lundblad shares with us an alternative text for one of my favorite Advent Hymns – “O Come, O  Come Immanuel”.  She captures in such a beautiful way the yearnings of Advent for us in real time:

    We are hopeful…so hopeful…
    We desire to be free from weapons…
    To be liberated from despair and apathy…
    To be used so that justice will be made real for the poor, for children – for all of us.
    Advent is more than just a season on a calendar to me. It’s an orientation, strategy – a lens.
    We are actively “WaitingWorkingWitnessing”  (I just made that word up, that’s what preachers do when we can’t find an existing word to fit what we are trying to say!) – waiting for God to dispel the night and working with God as a witness against every shadow, a witness for the power of God’s big amazing restoring love to give us victory over every conceivable grave, to revive every “withered place”.
    That’s the everyday work of advent messengers.
    O come, O come Immanuel
    And bless each place your people dwell
    Melt every weapon crafted for war
    Bring peace upon the earth forever more
    Refrain:
    Rejoice! Rejoice! Take heart and do not fear,
    God’s Chosen One, Immanuel draws near.
    O come, green shoot of Jesse, free
    Your people from despair and apathy;
    Forge justice for the poor and meek,
    Grant safety for the young ones and weak.
    Refrain
    O come, now living water, pour your grace
    And bring new life to every withered place
    Speak comfort to each trembling heart:
    “Be strong! Fear not, for I will ne’er depart.”
    Refrain
    O come, dear child of Mary, come
    God’s word made flesh within our earthly home
    Love stir within the womb of night
    Revenge and hatred put to flight.
    Refrain
    Words by Barbara K. Lundblad

    The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson
    Brooklyn, NY

    Matthew 2:18:
    A Voice In Ramah
    http://avoiceinramah.blogspot.com

  • December 1, 2013: Advent Promises – No More

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    “But there will be no more gloom
     for those who were in anguish…”
    Isaiah 9: 1a (NRSV)

    “But there’ll be no darkness 
    for those who were in trouble…”
    Isaiah 9: 1a (The Message Translation)

    Whether it is gloom and anguish or darkness and trouble — the coming of The Messiah means no more of it.  No more gloom, anguish, darkness and trouble.  

    This promise is special to me. I used to think that I was in a battle against darkness.  I used to fear that trouble would win the day because I was no certainly no match.  But then, I was reminded that The One who is coming has already won the battle against darkness.  Trouble has an expiration date. My job is not to win the battle but to stand as a witness.  
    Most days, standing takes everything I’ve got.  But that’s my one job! Witness and affirm…no more gloom…One is coming who will pierce the night forever.
    Wait….


    The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson
    Brooklyn, NY

    Matthew 2:18:
    A Voice In Ramah
    http://avoiceinramah.blogspot.com

  • Battlefield Prayers

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    We know that this world is no friend to children. 

    Many people answer the call to be teachers, youth leaders, doctors, social workers, lawyer/advocates, etc., taking all that they are to stand in the gap between the world’s harsh intent and the hope represented by children’s dreams. I am often overwhelmed by the passion of leaders who have made the bottom line measurement for the decisions they make in their careers not dollars made, but lives changed. They courageously live with the marginalization that comes with truth telling and the refusal to “just accept this check.”

    How difficult and demoralizing it is when those who are fighting for children realize that sometimes, they have to fight their own co-workers, families, colleagues, faith community members. 

    The sad truth is, while there may be “an enemy out there” in the world somewhere, our most vicious battles are fought with the people who walk beside us, who are supposed to be wearing the same team uniform we wear.

    What do you do when you are afraid to turn your back in your own community because your own community is no friend to children?

    You are demoralized because you see your own people nurturing violent streets and releasing bullets content to hit any target…

    You are demoralized because you see your peer teachers transformed into “the jaded unwilling” – too jaded to try a fresh approach and unwilling to try and try and try and try again with a child and that child’s family….

    You are demoralized because the social workers who started with you now believe the “those people” narrative…..

    You are demoralized because your peers seem clueless about what causes family breakdown, what creates pathologies, and how to see and build on strength that all people possess. 

    Pray for peers and colleagues.

    It’s easier to think some children are broken, deserving of their sad lot – and that they broke themselves, than it is to peep the cards of a system that depends on rampant brokenness to fuel job creation. At a conference examining the seven NY neighborhoods that send children and adults into the juvenile/criminal justice system, the question was asked: what would we need in community if sending people to prison was not an option? What would our community investments look like? 

    A hush came over the room. Some saw the question as idealistic and Pollyanna. After all, we’ll always have poor people (Jesus said so, right?), always need prisons, always need a mammoth child welfare system, always need scores of youth prisons…always.

    Really?  So, you are not working for real change, because we’ll always…..

    Pray for peers and colleagues.

    Friends, you stand in the gap for children.  Check and re-check the assumptions and beliefs that called you to the gap. If you believe we’ll “always have” brokenness, then your practice will reflect your beliefs. You won’t be working to put yourself out of business, for sure.  

    Wolves are among us. Vicious wolves. These wolves work for another master and their job is to feed the voracious appetite of systems dependent on brokenness. They work to seduce you — you precious leaders who are called to be Repairers of the Breach –– into abandoning your passion, giving up your hope and idealism, ‘growing out’ of your desire to be change in the world so that you will follow them.

    Be on guard. Stay awake. Stay informed.

    If you find yourself being a better priest to Caesar and power than you are to the children in your care — this word is a reminder to you:  God has poured something into you. God has not given up on you. It doesn’t matter how you got seduced. What matters is that you can quit the seducer. God loves you, you have a part in God’s plan for restoration, and God is not firing you.

    Pray for peers and colleagues.

    I’m praying God’s refreshment in your life; God’s power and God’s love for you…I trust God for your turnaround, for your repositioning, for your wake-up.

    There is a powerful wind blowing – sent by The One who really can meet every need in our community – through us. I’m praying that you get caught up in The Wind again….



    Acts 20:29-32 (The Message Translation)
    “I know that as soon as I’m gone, vicious wolves are going to show up and rip into this flock, (people) from your very own ranks twisting words so as to seduce disciples into following them instead of Jesus. So stay awake and keep up your guard. Remember those three years I kept at it with you, never letting up, pouring my heart out with you, one after another. “Now I’m turning you over to God, our marvelous God whose gracious Word can make you into what God wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need in this community of holy friends.”
    The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson
    Brooklyn, NY

    Matthew 2:18:
    A Voice In Ramah
    http://avoiceinramah.blogspot.com