DEI: Try It, You’ll Like It
Written by: Phyllis Byrd serves with the Organization of Africa Instituted Churches (OAIC) in Kenya.
Prayer
God of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion we pray that you will clear the blurred vision of or eyes, mind and spirit. It is our prayer that the body of Christ will live up to its fullest potential as we become the living reality of the Word that became flesh in the world. Amen.
I used as an example some years back a commercial which was popular in the early 70’s for Life cereal. Three little brothers in the commercial are sitting down at the breakfast table. The two older brothers were having a conversation about the “stuff” in the bowl in front of them that is supposed to be healthy. They to try/experience anything new that was good for their health. One of the brothers came up with a solution to their dilemma, let’s give it to Mikey the younger brother. According to his two brothers “he hates everything.” The bowl is pushed over to Mikey, he tasted the bowl of cereal and continued to eat the Life cereal. The two older brothers with excitement proclaim “he likes it, Mikey likes it!”
Sunday, December 8th St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of East Africa worship service was the culmination of Disability Week. It was week-long commemoration of events led by St. Andrew’s Disabilities Ministry. The Sunday morning worship service breathed life into the slogan of the global disability rights movements:
“Nothing about us without us.” At the same time, the service made visible the ethos of the United Nations disabilities theme of “Amplifying the leadership of person with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future.” The leadership team of St. Andrew’s Disability ministry, the Elders, and I, worked hard to assure the Sunday service included the spectrum of people living with disabilities many serving in professional positions in Kenya, as well as, an elected member of Parliament.
We invited the member of parliament who has been an outspoken advocate for people who are living with disabilities, she is a well rounded gifted individual. The Honorable parliamentarian is also living with a disability. The worship service breathed a fresh breath of life into the hearts and minds of the congregation. It was not just a “special” Sunday we check off our list of events in the year, feeling satisfied we have fulfilled an obligation. The service was a glimpse of heaven, as the body of Christ in its multiplicity of forms intentionally came together.
The congregation grew that particular Sunday not in the way many would measure growth. We grew as our minds expanded and shed the cataracts of pity which blurred our vision, we no longer saw the disability ministry as those people, as a project of the congregation, or viewed them through the lens of people who need “us.” Our sight was broadened as our peripheral vision was awakened to notice our surrounding neighbors and the images of a shared reality once eclipsed and beyond our direct sight. We saw that we desperately needed to digest God’s Life giving word instead of the quick tantalizing sound bites.
Our health as the body of Christ requires us to digest the whole Word, in order for us to be committed to develop a DEI strategy that is inclusive across the tapestry of our identity, beliefs and cultural belonging. A model of a healthy body, is one which feeds itself and absorbs the nutrients of the Life giving Word. The unequivocally results of proper digestion is seen as the body of Christ with diligent is always at work assuring human rights/justice are inclusive of all of humanity. Our response becomes a witnesses to the Word digested as we live, move, act and have our in God’s DEI. We therefore; are committed to Project Vision 20/20. It is the visual acuity of the body of Christ to see clearly the dis-ease in society and work together to make a change.
The entire worship service challenged us to be expansive and welcoming as stewards and children in communion with Christ and each other in every circumstance of life to live out and embrace the living reality of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
I am working with an amazing team of people, we are reflecting for action and intentional collaboration with many different people. We seek to do this with a new refreshing approach. One of the team members is an Imam. I call him my brother, he is Imam Mikal. I was inspired by him to share this passage in the Qur’an:
“O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another.,” The Qur’an (49:13)
I Corinthians 12 (The Message Bible)
12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive….”
Prayers
Africa: As a whole has experienced massive job layoffs due to the United States funded projects freeze. The regional impact according to the Kenya Daily Nation Newspaper is the following: 35,000 jobless in Kenya because of aid freeze. Across the whole content patients including children are affected. The freeze has also affected AIDS research, money for countries experiencing conflict and disease research to name a few.
While we are requesting your prayers for Kenya and the whole Continent of Africa the same prayer can be said for the USA as well as many other parts of the world. The impact is most felt by those who are the most vulnerable.
Let us therefore pray for Kenya, Africa and the world at large.
Phyllis Byrd serves with the Organization of Africa Instituted Churches (OAIC) in Kenya. Phyllis’ appointment is made possible by your gifts to Disciples Mission Fund, Our Church’s Wider Mission, and your special gifts.