Creating the Beloved Community

What kind of community do we want Springfield and Greene County to be for us, our families and future generations?

The release of the 2021 Community Focus Report in October raises this question for me, as do two other recent events.

The report notes the negatives and positives of life here. 

Negatives include: labor shortages, low wages, persistent poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, low voter participation, misinformation spread and received uncritically over social media, lack of affordable housing, slowing population growth and violent crime.

Positives include business development and strength, civic engagement, volunteerism, non-profit support, improved voter outreach and education, a spirit of collaboration and high-quality education.

We should celebrate the positives of life here, but, in the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “the fierce urgency of the now” demands that we act to address the negatives.

With the report as our guide, we can do so by forming a clear vision of what we want this community to be and then creating a plan to achieve it.

The cost of doing nothing is too high; the danger of caring only about meeting our needs and ignoring those of others, too great.

I saw that danger recently in what Fox commentator Ann Coulter, a provocateur of the extreme right, said during her talk at Missouri State University. (I support the university’s commitment to free speech, even the repugnant variety.)

Appealing to fear, anxiety and prejudice, she scapegoated immigrants and refugees. She falsely said they were taking jobs away from Americans—meaning, I believe, white, male, native-born, Christians ones. She referred to George Floyd, the black man murdered by a white police officer, asserting, without proof, that violent crime had increased because of Black Lives Matter. She said being opposed to racism was “the basis of all terrible ideas.”

Coulter’s vision of the community she wants for us and for America is a nightmare. It is hell on earth. 

In contrast, the day after her MSU speech, I attended the groundbreaking of the new Islamic center, the American Momen Park and Mosque, here in Springfield.

Despite strong thunderstorms, city officials, civic and religious leaders, Muslims, Christians, Jews and people of other faiths gathered in a field and celebrated one of our strengths as a community: our diversity, inclusivity and respect for people who are different from us.

Muslim spiritual leaders, drawing from their sacred scriptures, affirmed their faith in the God of creation, the oneness of humankind and their commitment to the love of neighbors and living in peace with all people and creation itself. 

One speaker, who had lived in other countries, said the welcome he and his family had received in this country surpassed that of elsewhere. Our hospitality to newcomers, he said, helped make America great.

I was inspired by the groundbreaking, glimpsing God’s kingdom there, the Beloved Community, as Dr. King described it:  One human family; united under one God, albeit understood and worshiped differently by us; animated and empowered by the spirit of God for the works of love, doing only good to others, regardless of color, religion, country of origin. 

Daily, people of faith, among others, are working for just this kind of community in Springfield, Greene County and on earth. In the fierce urgency of the now, please join us in this holy work

Sowing seeds of good

I am grateful for how Springfield’s religious leaders are responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

To paraphrase Jesus’ agricultural parable of the wheat and weeds in Matthew 13: 24-30, they are sowing good seeds—of love. 

During July and August, as the Delta variant infected hundreds of our citizens, filled our hospital ICUs with children and adults and led to further deaths, local pastors of several Christian denominations and leaders from other faith traditions loved their neighbors as themselves, and they called upon others to do the same. 

These leaders maintained Covid-fighting protocols, including masks for all, so their congregations could continue to worship and participate in other activities safely. Clergy were vaccinated and were masked in public settings, including while leading services and visiting members.

And they urged their members and the public to get vaccinated. Significantly, pastors of some large evangelical congregations in the area publicly supported vaccinations, a development that was covered extensively by local media.

This summer, more than 200 clerics in Missouri signed a statement communicating the facts about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines and promoting them as a way of keeping people safe and healthy and slowing the spread of the virus. (According to the latest study, the unvaccinated face a risk of infection 11 times greater than that of the vaccinated.)

In response, more people were vaccinated, increasing the number of the fully vaccinated locally. We are now close to 50 percent of the population as we advance toward the goal of mass immunity, estimated at 70 percent.

Aiding the effort, congregations hosted vaccination clinics, Christ Episcopal Church was one of them. Working with the Springfield Greene County Health Department, the church made vaccinations available at its quarterly community dinner. About a dozen people received shots, a small number but still a success. 

While many people sowed good seeds, sadly, a minority of others sowed evil ones. Influenced and manipulated by politicians, media personalities and charlatans, and often driven by a distorted sense of personal freedom and disregard for the vulnerability of others, they spread lies, disinformation and conspiracy theories. They threatened local hospital personnel. They disrupted City Council and School Board meetings. Wearing Stars of David, they desecrated the memory of the real Holocaust.

Meanwhile, businesses lost customers and revenue; teachers and students feared infection in classrooms, disrupting education; ICU beds filled with unvaccinated patients. And people died. 

The sowers of evil seed must be challenged with the truth— not in a spirit of anger and hatred, but in one of divine compassion, for only good overcomes evil. So confronted, in love, perhaps they will recognize the harm they are doing to this community; will understand that with their freedom comes responsibility for the welfare of all others; and will choose to work for the good of Springfrield and its citizens.

At the same time, people of faith and goodwill must continue to urge others to get vaccinated, to wear masks and to comply with all health and safety protocols as expressions of the love of neighbors that Jesus taught and lived. 

And as we sow seeds of love, we will produce a harvest of good. Our city and county will become a community where students can learn safely, where businesses can function fully, where houses of worship can thrive, where hospitals can treat more than unvaccinated patients and where life flourishes. 

The Rev. Kenneth L. Chumbley, retired September 1 after serving nearly 26 years as Rector of Christ Episcopal Church. He was one of the signers of the clergy statement urging vaccinations.

Americans must commit to democracy

In his Inaugural Address on January 20, President Joe Biden said, “Democracy prevailed.”

President Biden was referring to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol in Washington D.C.

As I watched the TV coverage of that horrific attack upon American democracy, I thought about Frank Staab.

Mr. Staab, a retired FBI agent, taught American history and government at St. Francis DeSales High School in my hometown of Louisville, Ky. 

He introduced me to the U.S. Constitution, our system of representative democracy, the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship and much more. 

Inspired by his class, I registered to vote (and for the draft) at age 18. I was eager to participate in the democratic process. 

And because of him, among others, I majored in history and minored in political science at the University of Louisville.  I joined a campus group affiliated with a political party; and, in 1972, for the first of many times that followed, I volunteered in the presidential campaign. I cast my first vote in that election. I have voted in every election since.

On January 6, 2021, the day this Republic was nearly overthrown, I thought of Frank Staab, who would have been appalled, because this attack, spurred by a lie, revealed an ignorance of and contempt for democracy and an alarming desire for autocracy.

Every democracy, including our own, is imperfect, but as Winston Churchill said in a speech to the House of Commons in 1947, it is better than all the other forms that have been tried. 

We Americans, whatever our political party, must work together to strengthen our democratic institutions in order to preserve them. 

Long before the January 6 insurrection, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences made a proposal to do so. “Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century” is the work of a commission of distinguished scholars, elected leaders and citizens. Common Purpose is available at www.Amacad.org. 

“We on this bipartisan Commission believe that the profoundly challenging conditions of the twenty-first century pose an urgent threat to the future of our democratic way of life….” 

Referring to America’s three previous “foundings”—the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the civil rights movement—the  commission calls for a “fourth founding: rooted not only in the language of our Constitution and laws, but also in our expanded national creed of liberty and justice for all; 

“not only in the actions of government, but also in the commitments of citizens; not only in the reinvention of federal structures, but also in the devolution of power to local governance; not only in research and analysis, but also in love of country and one another.” 

The commission proposes six strategies to strengthen American democracy: broaden representation, empower voters, make political institutions more responsive; and educate and engage citizens; redesign social media platforms to support Constitutional democracy and inspire Americans to commit to it and one another. 

The commission makes 31 recommendations based on these strategies, including investment in civic educators and civic education for all ages and all communities.

As the Constitutional Convention concluded in 1787, someone asked delegate Benjamin Franklin what kind of government America would have. He answered, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” 

I am thankful for Frank Staab’s class. We need many more such teachers, as well as leaders and citizens committed to preserving this Republic. May democracy prevail in America always.