We Can't be our best as people when we stand alone

  • Sunday, April 8, 2018 5:30am

Being a pastor often puts me in a position to walk with people and to share with them while they are in a struggle or experiencing deep pain.


Recently I had the opportunity to be with a family as a loved one was facing death. It is the toughest time for a family. It is certainly not the easiest time for me to be with a family.
Many times I don’t have words to say, or know what to do. Even being seminary trained, I still find there are no easy answers.

What I have learned is that simply being present to listen, to watch or to just be is the best gift I can offer in times of loss or struggle.

This got me thinking that maybe we need this idea of “being with” each other in a broader context of community. There are so many other kinds of losses: health, employment, housing, sobriety, freedom and self-respect. Traumatic loss can destroy families and undermine one’s sense of personhood.

People simply were not created to be alone. We need to know each other. We need to take the time to be there for one another: to see people as something other than a stranger and to recognize that anyone of us can find ourselves fragile and broken needing the support of another.

Maybe if we could see each other in this way, we would want better for each other. We might do our part to make things better. We could see people as having infinite value even if we don’t always vote like them or politically agree with them or even believe as they do. Maybe we would learn to fear people less and treasure people more so we might want the best for each other.

Maybe we would begin to see our communities as places where all might thrive; where there doesn’t always need to be winners and losers, but where we can acknowledge our common lives and create better dreams.

We are at our best when we are willing to walk with one another, stand for one another and do our best for one another. When we begin to place ourselves in the shoes of “the other,” we can better realize that we have so much more in common than we might otherwise see. We are so fragile. But when we are together, we become less vulnerable. We might even dare to hope.

I don’t know about you, but it feels like the time of the year where the call to walk with one another is now and can be heard more boldly. We have just experienced the city being called together in a citywide Good Friday service, where many faith communities came together as one to ask forgiveness, and to be a bit more merciful, looking to the cross of Christ with hope.

The upcoming Stacks Take Over will raise funds to help families in need of practical items and will impart a sense of compassion for all who participate. The March against Human Trafficking on May 19 will empower us all the more to break the chains of evil and to free our brothers and sisters who have been held too long in fear and despair.

We can’t be our best as people when we stand alone. We need each other to live. In the face of illness, in the face of poverty, in the face of death, in the face of homelessness, amid the challenge of diversity, when overrun by adversity or any of the heartbreaking and life-altering issues humans need, we must be willing to stand together. Any less is possible; it is just less than human.

We must be better, we can be better. Join with me. Stand.

David Johnson is the pastor at TriWorship Church – Multi Ethnic Faith Community. He can be contacted at 206-861-3844, daaron2001@gmail.com and on Twitter at @Daaron1980.

New Day Church Podcast- Reconciliation Talk  4/3/17 
https://liveoutofbeingloved.wordpress.com/

Can’t take my joy away | Diversity Column
I was recently taken aback by the cover of an Esquire magazine where it had a picture of singer, producer and song-writer Pharrell Williams, who wrote the very popular Grammy award-winning song “Happy” (hope you have heard it). On the cover it shows Pharrell with a sad face while holding up a sign with a sad face on it. The title said “Make America Happy Again.”
I have to admit that after the election and inauguration, I wonder if “great again” actually means anything I can depend on, especially in areas where it counts: bringing us closer together, or making us safer or healthier or encouraging us to work for a greater good, not only here at home but in the world for all people. Admittedly, I never liked President Trump’s slogan “make America great again,” and yes, I really was proud to be part of an America driven by President Obama’s administration. But, my concern runs deeper than that. We are a nation that has been built by standing alongside visionary giants, many of whom have been trailblazers in the name of liberation, justice and reconciliation. We are a nation of immigrants that has grown both in stature and in influence by learning to struggle past our differences to build even greater and more inclusive communities. Yes, sometimes growing has been filled with struggle, but it has never been overcome by embracing fear, pondering to our worst thoughts about one another or fleeing to a perfect “before” that never really existed. I struggle with the reality that so many fellow Americans seemed to support or at least give a “pass” to — offensive and taunting rhetoric that seems to devalue women, minorities, the disabled, the LGBT community, immigrants and more. I do believe that there is a huge difference between using the “bully pulpit” of the office of the president to encourage a political agenda (an agenda that I would hope would help us create a better community and a better nation) and simply using the language of a bully. It does seem that fear, anger and frustration could easily drive us to a place of gloom, sadness or what even our newscasters have called a place of “darkness.” Is this why Pharrell held up the sad face?
Where did our “happy place” go?
What do I really mean by happy? Webster says happy is “feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.” Synonyms might be “light-hearted” or “care free,” particularly in the circumstances of one’s life. Happy can also mean “fortunate or convenient,” as if life were a “happy accident.” Happiness, then, is conditional and based on too many variables, only some of which are in our control.
The word “happy” also seems centered in the odd idea that we ought to be going about life both “light-hearted” and “content,” as if some of the most wonderful moments of our lives were not born out of challenge or struggle. Do those who are pursuing justice, liberation and reconciliation begin by being happy? Do we need to be happy in the progress of pursuing good? Do we expect every day of marriage or child rearing or even pursuing our dream job to make us light-hearted? Do we see it all as nothing more than a happy accident?
We must embrace and enjoy the moments of happiness and know that seasons of happiness will come and go. But one’s goal should be the constant possession of joy. Joy “is stronger and a less common feeling than happiness.” Joy is a deep feeling that is rooted in something more of substance. For me, joy is greater than happiness because its center is rooted in my faith in God.
To quote Rick Warren, “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.” In that understanding, I find hope and a real-time vision that I am called to partner change, struggle and the longing for goodness. I don’t have to be successful each day or even content along the way, but I can be filled with joy, that what little I can offer actually does have purpose and meaning. Darkness is never overcome by darkness.
Darkness dissipates in the presence of the light. I can be light and encourage people around me to live as light. Joy and happiness can co-exist, but when happiness grows thin, I must tenaciously hold on to joy!
In the midst of a condition that may challenge happiness, I can choose to trust; I can choose to not be overrun by circumstance; and I can remember that I am never in any of these circumstances alone. First, God is the author of my joy. God empowers people to do the right things; enables them to make right changes; and God has chosen me — and you — to be joy for others. Second, I trust that prayer will foster compassion, truth, justice and reconciliation. I will pray for our president and for our nation. I will pray that wherever hearts must change that there will be change. Wherever justice has been denied, justice will overcome. I pray that each change of heart will be followed by actions that could lead toward forgiveness, healing unity and peace. Each day offers us, and the president of the United States, an opportunity to decide to be there for others, to do good, to be light and to fill the world with happiness. If that day comes, I will be thankful. Should I face disappointment, I still wake up each morning to a new hope, and I will choose to live in joy. Humans may fail. Jesus will not, and in that hope we will overcome.
David Johnson is the pastor at TriWorship Covenant Church – Multi Ethnic Faith Community. He can be contacted at 206-861-3844, daaron2001@gmail.com and on Twitter at @Daaron1980.


Bible Verses on Racial Reconciliation 
Shared from 'Journey to Mosaic' Trip - November 2016 
Psalm 139:23-24
2 Corinthians 5:17-18
Revelation 7:9
2 Peter 3:18
Exodus 23:9
Matthew 25:35-40
Leviticus 19:33-34
Mark 12: 30-31
Philippians 2:1-11
Ephesians 2:14-18 
 

A call to Community -  By David Aaron Johnson
Federal Way Mirror Jul 4, 2016 at 3:00PM  

Is it me, or does it feel like the world as we thought we knew it is dying right in front of us?
 
Two weeks ago, Orlando. Before that was San Bernardino. Before that was Mother Emmanuel Church in South Carolina. We hold vigils and we begin our never-ending discussion about "rights," as if the right to simply breathe was insufficient to entice us to question some of our pride of ownership and what seems to be a constant need to fear someone or something in order to be a full American.
 
But that can't be. It wouldn't make sense – it isn't us. So we build a memorial and we move on.
 
But then it came to Federal Way. Oh, it was smaller, perhaps, more like the never-ending line of those who have died in our cities: murdered because they were in gangs, or had the misfortune to live where gangs were seemingly better protected than people. Or maybe it was just because they were different, or maybe because on a bad night they were murdered just because someone could do it.
 
There has to be a reason why anger, fear, mistrust and a disregard for human life have become epidemic. I don't know; maybe it's me. I am inner-city, struggling-neighborhood born and bred – but this feels different. I was also raised on Martin Luther King Jr., the words spoken in my Father's church and in the shadow of the Klan. We were called to be a community. We were called to be "for" one another – not because it was easy and not because it always made us feel good or even made us like one another.
 
We were to be community because only in a community could we grow bonds of trust where there were none. It was there that we could find hope. We need hope. We need strategies for community. We need to grow relationships that reject violence as an option.
 
We need people of integrity willing to step forward to be "for" one another. Fear-mongering and name-calling is not only beneath our dignity, they have also already failed. Racism, cultural exclusion, xenophobia and violence have marred our history. They are not ideals sufficient to protect our children. They cannot create a future worth having. We need to learn – or relearn – community.
 
So what does it mean to create community?
 
First, a call to community means understanding that community can never be experienced in isolation. The idea that community is better and safer when certain "types" of people are not permitted deeply challenges the advantage of diversity in community. With apologies to the poet John Donne, no one and no people is an island, and the truth is we need each other and can benefit from what each brings to community. We make our greatest and best impact on the world around us when we work together and offer hope for their lives as well as our own.
 
Second, a call to community is the call to love our neighbor as ourselves. Love isn't a feeling. It is an action. It means desiring what is best for another person even when we don't always like them. This is a value that is central to the Christian faith but is beneficial for all in community.
 
It means getting to know your neighbor (see my last column). It means hearing their stories, their struggles, their joys and their pains. This also means believing that there is value in everyone, even if one may not see their own value and worth.
 
Third, a call to community is the call to show acts of compassion. Reducing rhetoric is a start. Faith and fraternal organizations as well as business leaders could offer opportunities to learn from one another and engage in small projects that not only build relationships but become signs of our mutual humanity and hope.
 
Compassion leads to justice, inclusion and mutuality, so that peace-filled living just makes more sense. Because in community, "We are all in this together."
 
It is not always easy to live in community, but after these last few weeks, I don't know about you, but I am so willing to try.
 
David Aaron Johnson is the lead pastor at TriWorship Covenant Church – Multi Ethnic Faith Community (www.triworship.com). He can be contacted at 206-861-3844, daaron2001@gmail.com, and on Twitter at
 
@Daaron1980.



Seeing through the eyes of the ‘other’ By David Aaron Johnson

Federal Way Mirror May 9, 2016 at 1:00 PM
 Contributed photo
—  You know, I have been working on reconciliation for years. You don't grow up in the inner city of Kansas City, Missouri, without wanting peace and justice and reconciliation to happen and feeling just a bit lost when it doesn't.
I thought that I pretty much had my act together until I got my first Kansas City Chiefs hoodie as a gift from my brother – and then wore it on a multi-cultural immersion trip to a Native American reservation.
OUCH!
I have never felt like I was the insensitive one – the one that dismissed another culture's feelings. But I did. And I was, well, embarrassed that I did. Worse, I wondered what that meant for me as a person who works for reconciliation.
Seeing through the eyes of "the other" is a critical and necessary goal if we are to value diversity seriously or if reconciliation and perhaps even unity is one of our goals. "Other" can become a real limitation when we can't actually imagine the circumstances of the other person – when we cannot see life though their eyes, experience events as they do, or feel the way that they do.
More challenging, it leaves us with only a limited ability to genuinely engage those whose circumstances and journeys are different than our own.
It is simply easier to ignore "other" peoples' fears, worries or concerns. It is easier to fear "other" peoples' deeply held desires if they differ from our own. It is harder to find common ground when those "other" people never seem to care enough about me.
But this is the only world we have. We are all in this together. We need to begin the work of engaging the "other" with the same respect and understanding that we would want for ourselves.
My experience visiting the Native American reservation with my Kansas City Chiefs hoodie taught me, as a means to see through the eyes of the other, to practice the following:
• We must attempt to place ourselves in the shoes or place of the other. This comes from the reality that, when we don't come from the same place, we need to be intentional and deliberate about pursuing an understanding of the journey of the other, particularly those who are marginalized. Place yourselves in the shoes of the other. Without this we can make serious mistakes that hinder unity, including passing judgment and being insensitive to one's personal struggle or lack thereof.
• And we must be willing to hear the voice of the other. This literally means actively listening, inviting them to speak, and then holding back the need to jump in with our own answers and our own needs. Stories give access to history. History that needs to be heard, and once told, will reveal who we really are beneath what appears on the surface.
Unity and reconciliation is a process that happens when we take the time to genuinely know one another. We must share the stories of our separate journeys, acknowledge those paths of distinct and shared struggles, and be prepared to "feel" both our common and varied senses of fear, pain and even victory. A goal of reconciliation is to see and to be seen – to see the beauty in each one's journey and to see and acknowledge each one's struggle. Reconciliation to me is to be seen for how God has made us, and to know our value for it.
David Aaron Johnson is the lead pastor at TriWorship Covenant Church – Multi Ethnic Faith Community (www.triworship.com). He can be contacted at 206-861- 3844, daaron2001@gmail.com, and on Twitter at @Daaron1980.


Pastor with heart for reconciliation plants multiethnic church in Federal Way amidst racial tension 0 by RAECHEL DAWSON, Federal Way Mirror Reporter Apr 1, 2016 at 8:30AM
by RAECHEL DAWSON, Federal Way Mirror Reporter Apr 1, 2016 at 8:30AM

Pastor David Johnson planted TriWorship Covenant Church in Federal Way. The church’s mission is to create a multiethnic space for reconciliation. Contributed photo

- Pastor David Johnson planted TriWorship Covenant Church in Federal Way. The church’s mission is to create a multiethnic space for reconciliation. Contributed photo — image credit: Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week, according to Pastor David Aaron Johnson. "That's a horrible reality, still," he said. But Johnson is on a mission to change that with the planting of TriWorship Covenant Church in Federal Way. About one year old, TriWorship is a multiethnic church with a focus on reconciling diverse ethnicities as one of its central values, among many others. So far, the church has between 35-40 diverse members and meets every Sunday morning at Saghalie Middle School. "I heard the Lord affirm the need for a multiethnic church in the midst of the race tensions in the nation," Johnson said. "I heard God tell me that it wasn't an accident that the cracks opened up in exposing some of the ugliness of racism at this moment." Johnson said the opportunity and need for a multiethnic church is emerging out of that, "because until the church is unified, it's going to be difficult for the world and the community to be unified." Johnson planted TriWorship, which identifies as the Evangelical Covenant Church denomination, after shifting from the African Methodist Episcopal Church denomination. The Evangelical Convenant Church is a multiethnic denomination that promotes inclusion, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church is a predominantly African-American Methodist denomination that is the oldest independent Protestant denomination founded by African-Americans. After being assigned to Washington state from Kansas City, Missouri, where he grew up, Johnson spent six years at Walker Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Central District of Seattle. He said he was excited to be put into a community that was so diverse, compared to the "all-black neighborhood, all-black schools" he grew up in, because it aligned with his heart of reconciliation. "My first encounter with people of the other race would be in high school, and that was the result of an integration project that the school district had going on," Johnson recalled, adding that the district bused students to a school that was more racially diverse but was still "lower class." "So even though we were different ethnicities, we had a common identity as we dealt with some of the same things, and that was my first encounter with this ideal of reconciliation." In Seattle, Johnson thought he would be able to work toward that ideal but encountered several barriers. While the church was welcoming to all people, as many were intrigued with the black church and would come to "hear the good black church music, good black preaching; the spirit and emotionalism that we bring and the intellectualism and theology," there was some pushback to being more accommodating. "The church was a place where we'll be who we are; we'll welcome you, we love you, but we're not going to change," Johnson said, referring to the Walker Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, whose cause is liberation. Another barrier was the name of the church. Johnson said he would invite people to the church and they would reply that they didn't think it was the church for them because of the word "African" in the church's name. Eventually, Johnson determined he couldn't go forward in the church even though he was on a pathway to promotion, had many opportunities within the church, and considered them his family. Johnson and his wife, whom he met in Washington, left the church and decided to start TriWorship in Federal Way, which is the second Covenant church in the city. Planting the church in Federal Way was special not only because they live here but because Federal Way is one of the most diverse communities in Washington state, he said. With the theme "Out of many, One church," TriWorship's goals are to reconcile people to God, equip people for their purpose and send compassion into the world. They're also involved in social justice ministry. Last year, the church partnered with the Black Alliance Movement in Tacoma for a community forum on the Ferguson, Missouri, unrest. And although the church has a good amount of members, Johnson said the demographic is mainly white, black and biracial. "We've had a Hispanic community but we desperately want more. We want to pursue more of the Hispanic community and Asian community," he said, adding that the church wants to see more of all in the community. "We believe it's possible and doable." Johnson believes the idea of a multiethnic focus in churches is a contagious vision because people want to see unification, and he pointed to the Black Lives Matter movement as an example. While Johnson believes the way to get there is through a multiethnic church, he also feels very passionate about people of color in leadership roles within the ministry. "I think that this is a paradigm, a paradigm shift, that needs to be intentional and embraced fully for us to get to a true, reconciled community," he said. "It's just part of the journey, and I believe that we are where we can see that happen and we should want to make that happen. We shouldn't rest until that happens because that is a goal of reconciliation. "We can walk hand in hand as brother and sister in a community, no matter what flavor or color the leader is." For more information on TriWorship Covenant Church, visit www.triworship.com or call David Aaron Johnson, lead pastor, at 253-256-5389. RAECHEL DAWSON, Federal Way Mirror Reporter rdawson@fedwaymirror.com or 253-336-5352 0