The weekend of May 2, 1991, was my oldest daughter Jane's high school reunion. She graduated 20 years ago from Cleveland's Shaker Heights High School in the midst of a highly visible and, to a large degree, successful civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. had been a family friend and visitor to our home. Shaker Heights had become peacefully integrated. She marched with her mother in many a peace demonstration.
Those were heady years when thousands of people, young and old, turned out to protest our government's policies. History records that our marching feet and our organizing paid off -- power responded to protest, civil rights legislation was put in place, and the Vietnam War was brought to an end.
Jane entered college in the midst of the sexual revolution when marijuana was part of the rite of passage and everything but everything had to be contextual. She took courses in the newly established women's studies program and focused her remarkable mind and her sensitive social conscience on the issue of women's rights. Upon graduation she became a VISTA worker in rural Wisconsin. Her first "real" job was as director of WomenSpace, a center for women in Cleveland. The center had been funded by churches and local foundations. Her mother, the author of this article, was the founding president.
We liked to think of ourselves as countercultural, and to a degree that was true. In my case, a 17-page FBI file documented activities that were noteworthy enough to be recorded by a suspicious establishment.
Today Jane is in her fourth term as a state representative in the Ohio legislature. She is the mother of two young daughters. Her daily life is characterized by hard political decisions and compromises. Her passion for social justice and peace remains constant, but she acts out these concerns within an increasingly conservative political atmosphere. As for me, I am now the general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ USA (NCCC) -- a position that once commanded the respect of presidents. Today it is a position that is more prayed for than praised.
For both Jane and myself, our commitments to justice, to economic equality, and to peace are getting more difficult to act out. The days of the massive movements have gone, and for those who continue to be concerned for the poor and marginalized, there must be a willingness to be truly countercultural, especially now in a nation awash in yellow ribbons and victory parades.
Looking back 20 years makes me realize the degree to which we were popular protesters. We commanded headline stories and effected measurable change. We elected the first black mayor in Cleveland; we organized the welfare rights organization. We changed the civil rights laws; we brought women into the ranks of the clergy, the medical profession, and even Wall Street law firms; and we lobbied Congress until the Vietnam War was brought to an end. The National Council of Churches was in the midst of the protests and functioned with a large, well-funded staff. Access to the seats of power was a regular occurrence.
THIS IS A VERY different day, and what is required of us is constancy and deep devotion. To make sense of it all, I go back to the gospel, and there I read of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. You will recall that for 40 days and 40 nights he was offered all the kingdoms of the world. He could have been ruler of all he surveyed. To him was promised power, prestige, wealth, and security, but he saw in this mirage of the desert the face of temptation and the pull of illusion. The temptations were real and powerful, but he walked away from it all saying, "I will serve God -- only God."
The story has special relevance to us in these months immediately following the conflict in the Gulf. We have seen how the desert tempted and how desert storms blinded us to the evils of power and prestige and control and security.
The protests against the war in the Gulf will not be recorded as successful. We did not stop the war, we simply recorded our protest. We said "War Is Not the Answer" and indeed it was not, but there was no euphoria in our souls, not even the satisfaction of being right, only the sense of being faithful.
Perhaps the success of past protests was our temptation. Possibly we were captivated by our influence. Was it that somehow we were taken in by the illusion that we could protest the "way it was" and still maintain our privileged status? Did we really expect the revolution to be funded by the Ford Foundation and tax exempt? Did we think we could be liberators and maintain rather than share our power? Did we somehow think that victory was a sign of faithfulness? Oh yes, we did good work and we were on the side of the angels, but we were not brought to our knees seeking guidance from the one who paid the price for being the liberator and lover of life.
Again the gospel is our teacher, for it was only after Jesus' rejection of the temptations and illusions of the desert that he was able to state the goal of his ministry clearly.
It was after the rejection of the desert temptations that Jesus went to the temple of his youth and declared, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19).
His ministry was clearly defined, and the alternatives to the illusion and temptations of the desert were spelled out. A choice was made -- life abundant, full and free for all. Make no mistake about it, the day that choice was made, Jesus became suspect. That day in the temple he sealed the fate already prepared for him. How was the world to understand one who rejected an offer of power and control? Faithful choices are always costly and rarely understood in the time in which they are made.
So today those of us who would be in service to the poor, the blind, the captives, must be prepared to be misunderstood. We will not be popular protesters, and we dare not measure our actions and decisions by the world's definitions of success. We are sojourners and strangers in this nation that rewards those who succumb to the temptation of the desert. No more is the NCCC a welcome guest in the places of power, but we do have enormous potential for influence. If we remain courageous and faithful, we will indeed be a powerful force for change.
Our society is in need of spiritual renewal and transformation, and the world cries out for a truly ecumenical ministry that is good news for the poor and release for all in captivity. Perhaps 20 years have taught us that the kingdom of God is not brought in by our energy alone but by God's mighty hand in God's own time. We are simply and clearly called to seek the kingdom and to serve the God of history as co-creators of a truly new world.
Thank you, Sojourners, for offering a space where those who feel called to the ministry of reconciliation, peace, and unity can join together and with one voice speak truth to power!
Joan Brown Campbell was general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ USA in New York City when this article appeared.
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