Prophecy is Action Charles Elias Chartouni/June 02/2020 شارل الياس شرتوني/النبوءة عمل
“Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken contrite heart…,Deliver me from bloodshed God…, create in me a clean heart and renew within me a resolute spirit …” (King David, Psalm, 51/19, 10, 16)
” Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. ” (Paul, Letter to the Ephesians 4/ 31-32 )
” These shoes I wear are gospel shoes, Oh! my Lord. ” (He’s the Lily of the Valley, Gospel Song)
The prophetic and pentocastal gesture of the Miami Police Department is an outstanding testimony to the power of the Biblical narrative in the life of the American society, its ethics and the centrality of forgiveness as a healing ministry, and as a major predicate in a process of moral rehabilitation and political reconciliation.
The theological predicate of forgiveness is part of the intellectual, ethical and political repertoire of contemporary Western Democracy, and a major tool to address moral, political and social grievances.
The American Black Churches, and the Gospel song tradition testify to the paramountcy of spiritual and moral atonement in their theological vision, and the Civil Rights movements they elicited throughout history, ” none but the righteous shall see God “ ( Take me to the Water, Gospel Song ).
This powerful imagery should serve as a lever for major reformist undertakings in the domains of security, community service and policing ethics and developmental policies.
The residual effects of urban and rural poverty among Afro-American communities, the destructive impact of decontextualized globalization all across, and the rampant delinquency developing at their heels, have come to the foreground of the public agenda.
They must elicit joint undertakings, at both Federal and State levels, with the different civic and community actors that have featured throughout history the power of the American Civil society and its elaborate associational life and institutions.
This prophetic gesture should impel politicians, Civic and Church leaders to pursue the exemplary legacy set by Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement which laid down the ideals and modus operandi that none of the subsequent movements was able to relay or match.
Political, Civic and Church leaders and institutional actors have to live up to the challenges and overcome the deadlocks set by ideological extremism, their congery of systemic economic and social dislocations, and defense mechanisms triggered by social anomy, generalized anxiety, prejudice, pent up resentments and existential uncertainties.
