Dear Fremont Family:
For Black History month, Charlie and I went downtown with friends to visit a new Black-owned Gallery called Contrast Gallery. The exhibit we saw was entitled, “Conversations with Myself” featuring artist Guy Marshall, a renowned Portland Footwear Designer. We learned that “Conversations with Myself” marked Marshall’s first public exhibition of his art featuring a rare unveiling of paintings that he had created quietly in his home for over 40 years!
Can you imagine? 40 years (very Lenten) of making art never to be seen publicly by others? I felt like I was being invited into someone’s inner world, invited to see the world, for a moment, through someone else’s eyes. The paintings were all stunning. Many of them were powerfully intimate, deeply vulnerable and comprised of “mosaic” elements of shape and color, so that if you looked at them from a distance you saw something completely different than if you looked at them up close. From a distance, there was always beauty, but up close there was also vulnerability, fragmentation even.
It reminded me of our stories this Lenten season from the Gospel of John; Nicodemus, the Samaritan Woman at the well, and this Sunday’s story of a man born blind from birth. These stories challenge us to see these persons as Jesus sees them. Nicodemus, a religious leader, has social status but tries to hide his interest in Jesus by coming at night because he has so much to lose. Jesus invites Nicodemus to loosen control and lose even more. The Samaritan woman has little social power but Jesus invites her to step forward and see herself as he sees her, i.e. empowered, and to use what power she has (a bucket) to meet his need (Give me a drink?), and this Sunday, the man born blind, even though his sight is restored, will become “invisible” as the crowd talks over him and around him. These stories invite us to explore our own spiritual community at Fremont.
Namely, how much do we truly let others see us? Do we hide the more vulnerable or fragmented parts ourselves? Do we empower everyone regardless of their social or self-perceptions to be leaders in our space or do we make judgments about who is acceptable? Finally, do we listen to those who are disabled (and even see ourselves in our aging as increasingly disabled) so that we can teach each other what it is like to see the world from different perspectives?
This Sunday, March 15, immediately following worship, we will begin the important conversation regarding the results of our Accessibility Audit that was conducted by Rev. Taryn Eudaly and our Disability Justice Ministry Team. I ask that you plan to stay and listen with open minds and hearts. Let us begin to see one another and allow ourselves to be seen as we have this important “conversation with ourselves.”
Grace and peace,
Erin
