Revolutionary Love conference, overview and "Preamble"

I recently "went" to a conference called Revolutionary Love.  It was mostly done by "Zoom," though there were a couple of youtube sessions.  The original plan was to have it in Washington DC at All Souls Church (my church), but it was moved on-line because of social distancing in the time of coronavirus.  Middle Collegiate Church in New York City was the organizing congregation, and Jacqui Lewis, minister at Middle College Church was the conference leader.

I'm not sure how to describe it.  It was a call to action to "form a more perfect union;" one that is more inclusive than the framers of the Constitution envisioned.  After all, the "We, the people" at that time did not include indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans, women, poor people, or those who had no land ownership.  We, the people, at that time were the white landowners.

This was a very intense experience and involved about 25 hours over four days.  It was broken into general sessions, breakout groups, workshops, and some meditation and exercise sessions.  I will share parts of it that were meaningful to me and it will be several blog posts.

The " Preamble" on Thursday night was a discussion including Charles Randolph White; Cornelius Smith, Jr.; and Kenneth B.Morris, Jr.  White is a director who will be presenting a play about Frederick Douglass at the Arena Stage here in Washington DC. when we can go to the theater again.  Smith is an actor (he was in Scandal) who will play Douglass in the play and Morris is a descendant of Douglass and Booker T. Washington.  They talked about Douglass, of course.  I was particularly impressed with a quote from what is called the Fourth of July speech by Douglass and was actually delivered on the Fifth of July, "It is not light that we need, but fire."  I've always been inspired by Frederick Douglass and this stoked that inspiration.  Smith also did that quote as a song.

There was also a powerful presentation by Kaitlin Curtice, a Potawatomi Native American and a Christian.   The evening closed with Tituss Burgess (of The Unsinkable Kimmy Schmidt) singing "Count Your Blessings" and discussing the topic of "Revolutionary Love" with Jacqui Lewis.   They also sang a few songs together, including "I Need You to Survive" which resonates with me right now.