“Dirt off Your Shoulders”

A sermon preached on September 27, 2017 at All Saints Chapel at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, CA.

When I decided to go ahead and preach on this around 11pm night before last, it had something to do with an echo I hear every time I listen to that line of the Gospel. It is the echo of the voice of … Jay-Z.

In his track “Dirt off Your Shoulders” from the Black Album, Jay-Z encourages his listener to “go on brush your shoulders off” and “get that dirt of your shoulders … you gotta get, that, dirt off your shoulder.”

So here was an opportunity to actually engage that connection that will not go away. I Googled it, and guess what? I am not the only one – there was even a blogger who imagined a cheesy YouTube video that had Jesus adopting Jay-Z’s hip-hop style, and rapping “shake, the, dust-off-your-feet.”

For those not familiar with the track, in Jay-Z’s context shaking the dust, or dirt, off, is more about being in an enviable position — it’s about posturing. It’s about having made it to the big time, and shaking off the haters who envy your position. It is also, unquestionably and ultimately, about being a successful black person in a white supremacist system. Which requires much shaking off of much dirt. Because sometimes, particularly if you are not in a position of privilege, if you exist within a system of oppression, shaking the dust off or, perhaps, taking a knee, is all you can do.

But I am in a position of privilege in an oppressive system. So what am I to do with those who would not welcome? What am I to do with people I care about not being welcomed based on the color of their skin, their immigration status, their sexual orientation their gender identity and on and on? What am I to do with the dust that lands from those who do not wish to hear the Gospel proclaimed? What am I to do with speakers who come to spread a message of hate in my neighborhood?

Am I called to take that person on every time, engaging in a long and unwinnable debate? Or am I to acknowledge the belovedness of that person and the dust they stir up, gently shake it off and move on, continuing to proclaim the Good News and to heal. Can I let that be my “testimony?” Is Jesus telling us something we might need to hear today, in this climate that has elevated voices of “great unwelcome,” about what it takes to keep our energy focused on mission -- on the work of “bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere?”