Keeping Our Center ~ Day 97

I’m sure this would condemn me in the eyes of some, but I’ve never been a big Jesus Freak. Don’t get me wrong, I think Jesus is pretty cool, and I do my best (which is sorely lacking some days) to follow his teachings, but I’m more of a Spirit girl. Having said that, when I was at the Richard Rohr conference in May of 2019, I was completely taken by Janet McKenzie’s painting Jesus of the People.

I have never felt compelled to have a picture of Jesus before. Once I had a print of the laughing Jesus, but that’s it, and it’s long since gone. Well, Janet was one of our speakers that weekend, and her story about the painting was as compelling as seeing the painting itself in the exhibit she had set up for us.

As Janet’s story goes, this remarkably different portrait called Jesus of the People won First Place in the National Catholic Reporter’s global competition in 2000, and all hell broke loose. She was invited onto the Today Show and was boo-ed by the audience; people hated it and hated her. She had to have her mail separated because of bomb threats. West Borough Baptist Church sent her such a threatening letter that her neighbors were prepared to get out their guns and stand guard at her house (thankfully a blizzard derailed their impending arrival). She received a pointed letter from someone saying that no one has a right to portray Jesus as black, Native American, a woman, thick-lipped, and so forth.

But then some loved it. She received another letter from a 17-year old thanking her for helping people know that Jesus isn’t blonde-haired and blue-eyed, but created in all our images. When Jesus and the People was displayed in a gallery after 9/11, the gallery invited people to come in and be with the painting. Many who came simply stood before it and cried. Yes, the energy from that painting is that intense and meaningful. I can’t explain it, but it reached out and grabbed me.

Seven of us from Sacred Journeys marched yesterday in a Juneteenth Day rally to encourage people to stand together for racial equality, to call out the racism in our systems of justice and elsewhere, and to remind people how important it is to vote and to work together for change. The rally actually began as two rallies, one for allies and supporters and one for Black people. We heard some difficult stories that touched my heart, and increased my resolve to be part of the change that needs to happen in this country.

But the most moving moment was when the two groups paused face to face across the intersection of 14^th Street and Wisconsin Avenue. The strength of our voices grew as we joined them in chants for justice and peace. And as our groups merged together to march down Wisconsin to the John Bryant Center, together we shouted, “Black lives matter!”

Now I know better why that print of Jesus moved me. That painting says loud and clear that the incarnation of God is not fully realized until we see the Divine in every person. We are one. When one person suffers, we all suffer.

And the people asked Jesus, “When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger… and not help you?” And Jesus says still today, “Are you kidding me? You do this over and over and over because you still cannot see God in everyone.”

By the way, I now have a signed print for my office.

Kaye