A New Way to Remember This Day

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. [2 Timothy 1:7, NRSV]

Did you know that September 11th is the anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi's first act of civil disobedience, beginning a lifelong devotion to nonviolence, peace and justice? 102 years ago Gandhi refused to register with the government of South Africa as a nonwhite. Gandhi gathered a group of 3,000 Indian workers and asked them to respond to the new law, called the Black act, with nonviolent resistance. After the law was repealed in 1914, Gandhi returned to India to lead the nonviolent movement for independence from Britain. During his lifetime, Gandhi said he was influenced heavily by the teachings of Jesus.

A number of years ago I was fortunate enough to attend two hours of nonviolence training by two members of Soulforce. This training was in preparation for the advocacy work my husband & I were going to do at the churchwide assembly of the ELCA. That training definitely changed my life because I discovered there is great power in simply standing still, refusing to move, even with the threat of arrest hanging over your head. It unleashed a tidal wave of spiritual energy that radically altered the dynamics of the hall in which we were gathered. It was more effective than any angry words or negative protest signs we could have used in its place.

My encouragement to all of you who are on the front lines of the LGBT movement for equality is to read about the life and teachings of Gandhi. Furthermore, check out the fine work that Soulforce is doing all over the country and support their efforts. [www.soulforce.org] This is the way I choose to remember 9/11. I celebrate the memory of Gandhi and pledge myself to the principles of nonviolent resistance. I believe it is a power that can radically shift the hearts and minds of those who oppose us. Gandhi put it this way "Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man."