A Riot Is the Language of the Unheard (Poetry in Honor of MLK)

Listen. What do you hear? 
What are the unheard saying
in their actions, in their words?
If they say, 
'We are hurting but no one hears us,'
shall we ignore the hurt?
Shall we then say only, 'Look 
at all the pain you've caused,' and turn away 
because it's easier to acknowledge 
the glass, the stone, than it is to know 
that the peace they've just broken 
was broken to begin with? 
That we didn't hear it break 
the first time?

---

In remembrance of the wise, nuanced stance which MLK took regarding his condemnation of riots - and his equal condemnation of the unjust conditions in society which go ignored until, it seems, nothing short of a riot will allow the rest of that society to take notice.

Recommended reading for today: "Christians, MLK Day, and Historical Amnesia"

Puzzle Wars

"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight.

That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family."

-Matthew 5:9 (The Message)

---

Today the kids of our Children's Church enlisted in the Puzzle Wars.

First they divided themselves into two groups.  Actually, I divided them into two groups which slowly shifted on their own--and I let them.  The genuine alliances formed in unspoken rebellion made the fight all the more fierce and the activity all the more meaningful in the end.

I found this collection of 24-piece children's puzzles and used two with similar color schemes for our two groups.

Available for purchase here.

Each group received an array of double-sided puzzle pieces. They inferred very quickly that this was a race to see which group would solve their puzzle first.

Partway through the activity, the kids in one team questioned one of the pieces in their assortment. It didn't seem to fit into their puzzle. They asked me about it, but I was nonchalant and they pressed on, grappling not only with the strange surplus but an underlying feeling that they were also missing something.

The other group soon reached the same critical moment.

And the same solution.

And the same results.

Finally, in the midst of their questions and petitions, both groups had an epiphany. They realized that I, their leader and the original source of their materials, didn't physically have the missing puzzle pieces in my possession. I had already given them all away.

They needed to communicate with the people on the opposite side of the room--the same people they had all but ignored entirely once the Puzzle Wars began, save for appraising glances to judge their competition's progress and periodically declare their own superiority.

What followed was something of an informal détente. It was an incongruously peaceful moment during the Puzzle Wars.

It could have been awful. It could have been rife with pillaging and sabotage.

But instead it was an exchange more mutually giving than any negotiation or transaction. It seemed there was no doubt in their minds that their opponents' need was just as great as their own, and that they would quickly and gladly produce the pieces for each other.

And then, with one picture completed, all of the children gathered around the other puzzle to collaborate and finish it together.

And the Puzzle Wars ended with two things:

Collaborative and joyful destruction of the puzzles--the work that, as it turns out, maybe didn't matter so much after all...

Source

...and the natural emergence of one beautiful, cohesive team that will hopefully matter to them for years to come.