J. Herbert Nelson
Editor’s note: This article as originally posted Nov. 7, 2015. It is re-posted today as J. Herbert Nelson was announced as the selection committee’s candidate for Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Community organizer, social justice advocate, African American preacher and head of the Office of Public Witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Washington, DC, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson challenged the overwhelming white audience at the Covenant Network of Presbyterians conference to use their positions of privilege to lead the struggle of emancipation for others “even if it does not benefit you.”
He stated plainly that “racism is the dividing issue of our time” but we know that “race is a false construction. We must get over the divide because God has made us one.”
Nelson then noted that “cowards can’t do this work.”
“Persons unwilling to cross boundaries and persons struggling with their own istness and others otherness, cannot do this work. We are going to have to learn that the world is so divided and struggling on so many fronts that it is the apparatus able to bring some communal sense to broken people in a broken world that will empower.”
Celebrating the work and the victories of the Covenant Network in achieving changed definitions for both ordination and marriage in the PCUSA, Nelson said, “Yes, it is important for us to be concerned about ourselves, but we must be concerned about the freedom of others.” He then talked about the radical changes needed in national and global systems that keep some people in positions of privilege and keep other people down.
He said, “Our emancipation has to be for the purpose of providing emancipation for others.”
“So,” he asked, “What are you envisioning beyond what you can now see?”
As a former board member of the Covenant Network, Nelson speaks with an authoritative voice when he says, “If you think the work of this organization is over then you lack vision.” His call to continued organizing and advocacy focused not on sexual liberation issues that have characterized CovNet’s work for 19 years. Nelson called his colleagues to recognize the civil rights advocates upon whose shoulders they have stood and to now allow others to stand upon their shoulders in the next movement of civil rights advocacy in the United States.
He said, “There are yet those who want to know, ‘how did you get free?’” Then he reminded the audience that “Every movement in the United States has had to ride on the shoulders of others. Every movement in the United States has had to rely on subversive espionage of someone in another group who would give help in secrecy or sometimes stand up in the public sphere exerting great courage to help the ones who would follow. It’s time for you to be those subversive agents to help others who have not yet been emancipated. Decide that this is a struggle worth having even if it does not benefit me.”
He preached, “Human rights does not end with civil rights….(and) until all people are totally free we cannot stand idly by and declare that our work is now done. As long as anyone is left behind in the pursuit of justice … our calling will be the calling of our risen Lord — for the emancipation of all people.”
Nelson spoke with clarity and insight about the challenge that African American Christians initially experienced when Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered individuals and groups wanted their help in the church and in the political world working for liberty. Nelson admitted that there was angst and struggle between the National Black Caucus of Presbyterians and the Covenant Network of Presbyterians.
Nelson revealed that “I believe the Bible is right and the Lord will sort it out at the harvest. It is not my responsibility to judge how God is going to judge but to make sure I’m getting in and bring others with me.” So, he said, “This became a very difficult discussion for me as a member of the Board because I had to stop and think through what does this mean to be in relationship to a group people who, once brokered into the denomination, will immediately have a space of privilege based on race and yet those of us who have been struggling for years will never have that privilege – certainly not by any overture to a General Assembly.”
Saying it plainly and naming the continuing reality of racism in the PCUSA, Nelson continued, “it is persons of European descent being brokered into a denomination of persons of European descent – while others struggle to get a foot in the door no matter how many laws are passed, there’s already another hoop to get through or a hurdle to jump. We are structurally brokered out.”
But then Nelson acknowledged, “We never know who or what people God will use to usher in a new reality.”
Nelson pointed to the appointment of Tony De La Rosa to the highest position in the Presbyterian Mission Agency as an example. “Just 15 months after passage of marriage equality, who would have thought the denomination would courageously appoint a married gay Hispanic man to such a role?”
But token appointments are not sufficient, Nelson contends. “We cannot continue into the 21st century without diversifying our leadership and our membership. We can no longer be a 93 or 94% white denomination and hope to succeed.”
When asked to describe the first tangible step, Nelson replied:
“We have to cross the boundaries. How does CovNet engage in something not directly related to its own self interest? Gun violence; justice work; push the lid off of poverty … the issue is not Planned Parenthood but how can the burden of raising a child fall totally upon a female who is living a life as a second class citizen, not making the same wage as a man doing the same job.
“This is a condition of poverty that we are re-creating through the immigration issues today but removing the immigrant man from a home — to keep our commitment to fill beds in privatized prison — then deport him outside the country and then we wonder why that home no longer has a man and why the woman needs welfare help to raise her kids. We must find something to get serious about in terms of justice in this country.”
Turning his attention to voter ID laws, Nelson told a personal story about his 103-year-old grandmother who could not vote after she responsibly relinquished her driver’s license.
Then he said, “When we talk about first steps, just pick one. There are so many injustices that we face and the disenfranchised face those issues at a much greater level. Pick an issue and start working.”
To which a person responded by admitting that, “We have been so charity-oriented and the prospect of dealing with structural issues seems so daunting – that we simply revert back to the charity mode.”
Nelson replied, “yes, because when you’re privileged you can do that. Most of what people are trapped in is structural: structural racism, structural sexism, structural manipulation of immigration law. Will those who benefit from those designs ever have the courage to challenge it? Many of us in this room benefit from these policies, these structures. Our connections, our money, our living, are bound up in these structures. Will we have the courage to admit it, repent of it and challenge it?
After punctuating his point with a story about First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, Ala. and the civil rights movement, Nelson said, “The promise is not that we will live to see the redemption but we don’t work for what we can see, we work for the unseen.”
Related articles:
http://layman.wpengine.com/survey-finds-most-want-next-pcusa-stated-clerk-to-be-a-committed-follower-of-christ/
http://layman.wpengine.com/j-herbert-nelson-selected-nominee-pcusa-stated-clerk/
16 Comments. Leave new
Mr. Nelson – I find your comments insulting and degrading of those of us who have labored on the front line of very small parishes for years, watching congregations dwindle because of so-called “social justice bravery.” It takes no courage to swallow hook-line-and-sinker the kind of bilge promulgated by some of the so-called “social justice” groups in the world. For your edification, I refer you to just one such group, the Muslim Brotherhood and one of its fellow-traveler organizations, HAMAS.
You may recall that some of your predecessors tried to have a clandestine meeting with HAMAS and, when confronted with the evidence of that meeting, at first denied having the meeting until it became apparent that the evidence was undeniable.
I invite you to read Mr. McCarthy’s critique of the Muslim Brotherhood and its many incarnations.
But please, don’t talk to me or my kind about “courage.”
BTW, if you want to show some real “courage,” go try to talk to the members of ISIS/ISIL – I’m sure they’ll be delighted to liberate you a bit more.
Here’s the link – http://www.nationalreview.com/article/426726/ted-cruz-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-organization
There are many observations that could be made regarding Rev. Dr. Nelson’s remarks. My impression is that his remarks were made as an Officer of a PCUSA office.
Many, though a lesser number every day due to departures, believe that the core direction of the PCUSA should be the salvation of souls (bringing people to Christ and to Church) and to discipleship and mission work in the communities where they are located. Further, that the national body headquarters should work and support the Churches that make up the denomination – not the other way around.
Instead, the total direction of the PCUSA has become that of a social action agency and a political party wannabe.
Can this current dichotomy of 2 major directions continue to exist within the PCUSA? I don’t see how.
To me, the consuming over-arching emphasis of the PCUSA – for now and for sometime in the future – can be found in the Rev. Dr. Nelson’s remarks.
The remarks of Heath Rada, talk of reconciliation, mutual forbearance? Just talk. There is not, and will not be, a place for a Church of 2 directions in one body.
Racism is not the dividing issue of our times. In fact, all major American institutions and opinion makers are squarely on one side of the question of race. And have been for two generations (50 years) now. Racists have been considered far outside the norms of American society for a very long time. Equal Opportunity programs have had one thumb on the scales to try and make up for past injustices with some success. They’re bound in by other realities that limit their potential. Primarily, the breakup of the black family,
the 70% out of wedlock birth rate for African Americans, the same % of black children in single parent families, and the very high rate of black on black violence.
It is almost impossible to have an honest conversation about race in America without being called racist. While, in fact, black American leaders carry on two separate, dueling conversations about race–one among themselves, and a quite different one in the public space.
If Covenant Network is looking for a new cause, try this one: Christ born, Christ died, and Christ resurrected to save all of us from our sins. A Christ who loves each and every one of us, whatever color, the same. But Covenant Network is not about God’s work on earth. It’s a liberal political action committee working its own political agenda and calling it God’s work. It’s not. If anything, it’s the height of arrogance.
Extraordinarily well-put.
The dividing issue of this time is belief in, and love for, God. Either you believe that God is, and that he has spoken to us through the prophets and apostles–or you do not.
Those who do not believe reject every counsel of his that is against their carnal desires–while claiming loyalty to him.
The PCUSA has been a less-efficient service club than the Lions, Kiwanis, Moose, etc. except that the PCUSA comes with robes and an organ (the musical instrument).
Yes, thank you so much for this VERY well-put post, Tome….should be required to be read and thoroughly digested by everyone is society.
too bad he is probably not listening, Donald, but you make good points.
i liked his point about certain groups getting a “..a foot in the door” and making a place for those of non-european descent.
They can have my place, since i left the denomination 5 years ago when nincompoops like this guy got their way.
His last statement is spot on – “The promise is not that we will live to see the redemption but we don’t work for what we can see, we work for the unseen.” I agree that we are to work for the unseen. However, his entire discussion is based on what we do see, and how we are to correct what it is that we see, and what we have seen. He negates himself. Or did I miss something?
I feel some people would be extremely surprised (and maybe even secretly disappointed) by how little race means to very many people in our society. Perhaps some even might not want to accept that fact for job security reasons.
And by the way….this post was the only one I have made on this article….don;t know who is claiming to be me now….but at least this time we think more alike 🙂
Spot on??? What spot, please define.
“”If Covenant Network is looking for a new cause, try this one: Christ born, Christ died, and Christ resurrected to save all of us from our sins.””
Christ died for the elect, that is, Christ’s blood is sufficient for all, Efficient for the elect.
Praise God for your courage in exposing the wicked in your response, and will any of the so called people running for President do the same??
When I say ‘spot on”, I mean that I agree.