Jody Burnett

Summer 2008 Fellow, Protestants for the Common Good

When I was in college, I was a history and political science major in a pre-law curriculum. I had dreams of finishing school, securing a good job, earning a good income, and living happily-ever-after. My sense of what it meant to be successful, and what it meant to be comfortable, and what it meant to be secure, was based solely on a measure of personal achievement. I didn’t think much about my obligations to other people, and far from my mind was any notion of social responsibility. Moreover, I considered my faith in God to be very much a personal matter. I hadn’t yet made any connections between the mandates of faith and the values of society. In short, my worldview was composed exclusively of images from my own experiences -- experiences which were all, for the most part, relatively privileged. And my context for understanding socio-religious, socio-political, and socio-economic issues was, in hindsight, embarrassingly small.

Yet as I moved further through my undergraduate curriculum, I became increasingly interested in 20th Century American History. More specifically, I was increasingly interested in the various social and political movements of this era, and I was particularly interested in the Civil Rights Movement. At the same time, I was also taking more of an active role in the leadership of my home parish. It was also at this time in my life when I started to feel a shift in my vocational interests and, for the first time, I was beginning to openly explore my call to vocational ministry. And I don’t think that these changes were simply the product of coincidence; rather, these changes in my life and my perspective grew out of a convergence of new ideas and experiences. My faith and my social and political consciousness were profoundly shaped by my academic discoveries and my life experiences.

I saw in the histories of the Civil Rights Movement so many people working together to bring about positive change in this world. And I saw how this work was deeply rooted in the teachings of the Church and in the tenets of a Resurrection faith. I saw the Movement pushing society as a whole forward -- challenging people to give voice to a new Christian witness, calling them to see a new vision of the beloved community, urging them to live into a new model of discipleship. All the while, the leaders of the Movement were working to reshape society in the image of God’s Living Kingdom.

I saw all of this, and at once my eyes were opened to a new reality. I then began to understand that God summons us to be agents of God’s grace, love, and mercy in this world; God summons us to be God’s partners in mission. To do this, we must take an honest look at the world around us. We must see how our lives and the lives of our communities measure up to the standards of our faith. And we must then work to bring about change in the world, in the here and now. I carried these convictions with me into my time of formal theological education and formation. And now, after my second year of seminary, my passions for social justice and equality have again been stirred.

One doesn’t need to look very far to witness the vast inequalities that exist in society today -- the ever-widening gap between rich and poor and the disturbingly unequal access to education, health care, affordable housing, gainful employment, financial resources, and legal protection. As an up-and-coming faith leader, I think that it is important for people to understand these issues that face contemporary society, but I also think that we must learn how to take action. We must also realize that systemic change is necessary to really ensure equal opportunities. And this is not a battle that we can fight on our own. We have to be organized around common goals, with common purposes, working for the common good. This summer, I worked at Protestants for the Common Good (PCG), an organization that educates and mobilizes people of faith to participate in political democracy for the sake of social justice and the beloved community.

I hope to put my summer fellowship experiences to good use in my life as a priest in the Episcopal Church. At the end of the summer, I will return to Virginia Theological Seminary where I will finish my third and final year. When I graduate, I will return to Mississippi to serve a church there, and I plan to maintain my commitment to community involvement and social activism. I hope to work to foster healthier communities -- communities in which all people are given the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to participate, to love and to be loved. The beloved community is one that celebrates diversity and encourages creativity, one in which all people work together to forge common goals for common purposes. This is a community in which people realize the interconnectedness of this world, and realize that the challenges we face in contemporary society are ones that affect us all. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

In my mind, the role of the priest is to take a realistic look at the world around us, and to understand the complexities and the intricacies of socio-political and socio-economic issues. Yet we must, as people of faith, remember that these issues are not simply abstract, conceptual challenges; rather, these issues affect the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Thus, we should work to expand our circles of kinship and our networks of involvement as we seek to recognize that we all have a responsibility to each other and to this world. Simply put: we belong to one another; we are given to each other’s care; we are stewards of creation. We have a responsibility to stand up and to speak out for change. We have a responsibility to pay attention to the needs of people and to care for communities. And, as the Baptismal Covenant reminds us when we are asked if we will “seek and serve Christ in all persons and respect the dignity of every human being,” we have a responsibility to answer with a resounding “we will, with God’s help.”

Strengthening the progressive Christian network for justice, compassion, & peace