CEO Installation: Sermonic Response from Elder Suzanne P. Kelly
In response to the sermonic charges offered by Bishop Jeffrey L. Smith and Ruling Elder Rev. Elona Street Stewart, MCC's new CEO Elder Suzanne P. Kelly shares her vision for the future of manifesting the unity of the body of Christ and building the common good in the world through the Minnesota Council of Churches.
Watch Elder Kelly's sermonic response here and find her submitted text below.
Before I begin my remarks, I want to quickly thank Bishop Howell and Pastor Bettye Howell for hosting this occasion. And congratulations again on this beautifully remodeled edifice and for the expansion of your work in this community. Thank you also to the MCC Board members and staff who are here this evening. Several others were unable to attend because, as we know, ministry work never stops. To my family, friends and Christ Temple Church family please know your presence makes my heart glad. Thank you all for your support.
I am deeply honored to accept this charge and to join and lead a team of faith-filled individuals who have what the Rev. Otis Moss III calls the “spiritual audacity” to address the role of racial equity, social justice and inclusion efforts at a time when calls for retrenchment are reaching a crescendo.
Rev. Moss says, and I wholeheartedly agree, that the time is now for faith leaders to draw upon their inner resources – courage, faith, compassion, agape love, perseverance – to activate their agency and purpose to accomplish lasting generational change in our communities.
As people of faith individually and the Council of Churches collectively, we have been set apart. The scripture describes us a peculiar people, set apart for service to God. And that is what makes us unique. We are not simply a secular non-profit. Nor are we solely focused on disrupting racism. Both are components of our work. But what makes us unique is tied to us being anchored in Christ. Because of that, we approach our work not as an occupation but as a calling and a commission set forth in scripture that commands us to do good and make a difference in our communities. I direct you to the prophet Isaiah who writes:
- The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.[a]
2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,[b]
Likewise, the prophet Jeremiah admonishes us to:
- 5 “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens and eat the food they produce. 6 Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you… Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”
In other words, as believers, as churches, mosques, and synagogues, we must invest in our communities, live there, work there, and make them better. We must pray for the peace of our communities and work to bring about that peace.
Secondly, we are unique because we are called in whatever we do to show forth the agape love of Christ. Agape love dismantles fear, confronts hate and indifference and requires us to demonstrate an ethic of care. Scripture commands us that we must seek to do good in the earth, to show forth love and treat our neighbor as ourselves. In this season when political, racial, and socially divisiveness is amplified and many are indifferent to the idea of the common good, one might ask: who is my neighbor? The answer has not changed. The Gospel of Luke shares the story of the good Samaritan. Jesus uses the parable to illustrate that our neighbor is anyone around us, or anyone in need regardless of their race, religion, or economic status. Our neighbor is that person who God calls us to love despite our differences of doctrine, opinion, or life choices. Demonstrating this unencumbered love is the only option we have, to combat the unchecked hatred flowing through society today.
And finally, what makes MCC unique is that while we absolutely must confront and seek to disrupt the status quo, as people of God we cannot adopt a scorched earth approach. While we will continue to offer clear and unapologetic critique to galvanize change, we will also include a message of reconciliation, healing, and opportunities to repair harm.
Transformative change requires us to intentionally set tables where power dynamics are not just acknowledged but corrected. Tables where multiple perspectives are truly valued. We - and yes - I am including the institution of the church in that “we,” must examine our own histories, biases and “isms” and be willing to intentionally change the ways we share power, the way we think, and the way we act. We must understand that change is not a singular event, an occasional recitation of a land acknowledgement, one-time participation in a sacred site tour, or taking your out-of-town relatives to snap pictures at George Floyd Square. Transformative change is an ongoing process.
Likewise, we must push past religious and denominational isolationism, to a place where we understand that complex social problems require collaboration across faith communities in partnership with philanthropies, government entities, the business community, and non-profits. Together we must find common agendas. Collective impact works because it involves multiple organizations and people from different sectors working to address long-entrenched social issues. Our goal is to work across faith communities to advocate for systemic changes that result in generational change for the poor, the broken and the broken-hearted, to those bound by substance abuse and those imprisoned literally and those imprisoned figuratively by a society that routinely uses policy and practice to oppress and keep people from achieving their God-given purpose.
We have a moral obligation that we cannot run away from. Warren (Warren, L., 2017, Race and the Credibility of the Church) writes, “Regardless of the political environment, we should always be able to rely on the faith community to be a moral voice in calling out evil. Faith leaders have a moral responsibility to condemn hate and advocate for a revolutionary love that embraces, cares for, and respects the dignity of all people.”
When we allow people to try and politicize Christ or defend their racist ideology under the cloak of Christian Nationalism. When we support the othering of Muslims or Jews or immigrants or refugees with our silence – we are complicit. Not only are we demonstrating values that are antithetical to the Christian faith, but we are undermining the credibility of the church. I encourage you to go back and read King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In it he wrote that not only will this generation have to repent for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
I commit to you tonight that MCC will not be silent. We will continue to be agents of change. That is why this role called to my spirit. I imagine MCC as an epistle illustrating the powerful ability of multi-denominational Christian leaders and congregations - united with common purpose- to deliver light, agape love, and service to communities and people plagued by racial divisiveness, political and religious polarization, poverty, and civic discord. I want to be an integral part of creating, demonstrating, and telling that story.
Tonight, I am reminded of the first sermon I ever preached as a newly minted young minister. It was at a women’s detention facility then located in Maplewood. The women housed there were different ages, races, and cultures. But their lives shared a common theme. At some point each of those women had been labeled, judged, discarded, vilified and unforgiven. Their circumstance had been weaponized to somehow define their worth and their value. I thought God, what can I say to these women that can have influence? And the Lord told me to tell them “It’s an inside job. It’s an inside job.”
You see in that moment my job was simply to let them know that despite their current circumstance; there is hope in Christ. Change is possible, healing is possible, forgiveness is possible. Why? Because despite all the mistakes, despite all the baggage, despite the labels and addictions, and bad behaviors God is doing an inside work. While the world is judging based on what it looks like in the moment, God sees what it can be in the future. We too often forget that God is not finite. He is not bound by time, circumstance, or seemingly impossible situations. No, we serve an infinite, limitless God and for Him nothing is impossible. He just needs us to believe that and act.
I share this memory because when we as the Council of Churches, when we as believers individually and collectively embrace the agape love of Christ and get to the pure essence of why we’re here we will come to understand that this organization, this ministry, and each of you is here to deliver hope to communities and people throughout Minnesota.
Hope through service to newcomers – refugees, immigrants, asylees – those vilified by political rhetoric and othered based on misguided fears and prejudices. Hope to those who want to engage in true civil discourse but do not have the tools or the safe spaces to do so. Hope to those suffering what Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart describes as the cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over one’s lifetime and from generation to generation following loss of lives, land, and vital aspects of culture.
But hope – just like faith – without works, without corresponding action, is dead.
And so, as we move forward from tonight my job, our job, is to ensure that the Church fully lives into its moral mandate. I love what Rabbi Sharon Brous says, “that we who want and dream of building a better kind of society must begin by building a different kind of faith community.” It’s an inside job. We cannot be as effective as we could be changing the policies, practices, and resource flows in our fractured communities unless we first address the policies, practices and resource flows that exist within the Body of Christ. Transformative change begins with honest critique.
I believe MCC is at a pivotal point in its 77-year history. The foundation has been successfully laid for leaning into not just dialogue, but action, to repair racial harm for Black and Indigenous communities. Likewise, the Council is a trusted and dependable advocate for continued social and economic support for those displaced by war, famine, and political turmoil in their home countries. To keep that momentum will requires a leader adept at navigating the six conditions of systems change. A leader who is comfortable considering multiple perspectives and keeping stakeholders engaged in the work of racial reckoning and healing, despite discomfort. A leader who is courageous enough to push for change to historic practices and policies that have disproportionately caused glaring disparities for BIPOC communities. Maintaining and growing the Council’s membership will also require a leader who understands and can facilitate conversations that build from a place of interest convergence, and agape love, as we wrestle with the challenge of achieving racial and social justice in the current socio-political climate. I have heard the charge given this evening and I stand before those assembled here to say that I will be that leader.
If we are to be credible and transformative. If we are to successfully rebuild the beloved community. We must not be afraid to call out Christian Nationalism, which has nothing to do with the teachings of Christ and everything to do with trying to lend moral credence to the tenets of white supremacy culture. We must not be afraid to engage our elected officials in real dialogue about why those living in the squalid conditions of encampments without adequate food, medical care, access to chemical dependency and mental health treatment are disproportionately BIPOC men, women, and children. We must not be afraid to raise the alarm every time another one of our children falls prey to the vicious cycle of gun and gang violence. Shiloh cannot fix it alone. Rev. McAfee cannot fix it alone. Mad Dads and A Mother’s Love cannot fix it alone. The Elder’s Council cannot fix it alone. Rev. Patterson and SPBIMA cannot fix it alone. It is not a “them” dilemma, it’s a “we” dilemma.
Can you imagine what it would look like if the one million Christians represented by the Council of Churches joined together to say enough?
Collectively, we as believers can no longer look away. Because the inconvenient truth is that we all are created in the image and likeness of God, and we are our brother (and sisters) keepers. We must strategically change the narrative about which communities are worthy of investment and which can be left to benign neglect. And as faith communities we must stop discounting the power of collective prayer to stop violence and temper hatred. The scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14 gives us a promise:
As I close, I invite you to hold me accountable. My leadership behaviors are rooted in a deep sense of purpose toward those who have been disadvantaged due to generational poverty, discrimination, legal and policy hurdles, ineffective systems such as public education, and other factors that limit their access, voice, and contributions. My behaviors are driven by an ethos that “to whom much is given, much is required.” I am intentional that my leadership legacy is to collaboratively create policies and change systems so that when I retire there are measurably fewer gaps and disparities based on race, immigration and refugee status and income; and that the faith community as a collective is viewed as a leader in building the beloved community. Hold me accountable to demonstrating those behaviors. Hold MCC accountable and join us in partnership and service to the beloved community.