Friends,

I have the best family. I'm away visiting them. It is good.

-Liz

Be Performative. Please.

I'm hearing a fear of being performative in my circles and I want try and get at what that means for actions as Christians, and as churches.

The word performative once meant words that perform. You say the thing, and it becomes the reality. Naming a child, baptism, the words of institution, the declaration of marriage, the words of a will. They are said, and now the thing becomes true. God is the ultimate performative actor, saying "let us create" and the creation becomes.

British philosopher J.L. Austin (1911–60) in his book How to Do Things with Words (1955) used (invented?) the word to describe phrases that do not describe, but rather act. By saying the words, the action happens.

This is almost the opposite of how the word is being used today--to mean phony, only for show, without depth. OED describes this as a second meaning, usually pejorative, conveying a false commitment. Selling rainbow clothing but funding anti-queer organizations, flying black lives matter banners but not working on improving your hiring practices.

It is important to critique businesses that take a social stand, and to ask whether the loudest voices are looking to support the oppressed or to gain social prestige.

At the same time, I hear people worried that if they do any public imaging then they are being performative in the bad way.

The problem is this: public imaging actually helps.

When my congregation decided to hang their rainbow flag, there was an immediate positive response. Calls from parents, feeling that their kids were supported. Calls from someone who drove by. In an area that felt primarily unsafe, it communicated that there are people who care. (There were complaints as well, but that's a different topic.)

Ervin Staub's research in The Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil showed that simply not accepting bullying, racist, and sexist language changes the behaviors of a community. Signs showing clearly that everyone is welcome reduces the violence against the oppressed groups. For people who weren't sure what they think, it helps them see it is normal to support others. For people who are haters, it shows that their hateful behaviors will not be supported by their neighbors.

There is no such thing as a perfect ally. All of us, when trying to stand up for others (heck, even when trying to stand up for ourselves) do not do this perfectly. Our signs often claim a stronger stand that we take at all times. We often are not as good at stopping inappropriate words or behaviors. We often say things we should not have said, miss things we should have seen, fail to change ourselves as much as we need to be changed. That's the whole point of the community prayer of confession.

Accusations that we are being performative when we hang a Black Lives Matter banner and yet do not fix our racist institutions is missing the order of operations here. It is ordinary to first take the risk to say what feels edgy, and then to ask later, how can we do better to live our words. We have to say we want to be anti-racist (anti-homophobic, anti-sexist, etc.) before we can see all the ways we are failing. And none of the people complimenting our rainbow flag has come to church. The flag is doing its work without our involvement.

Perfectionism is a trait of White Supremacy culture. The idea that we cannot act until we can act perfectly, cannot speak until we have learned it all, that we cannot make change until we know the plan, these are all dysfunction that keeps us from acting. The gift that Christianity brings to this discussion is forgiveness.

Frankly, I'd like some phrases to be performative, in their earlier sense. Black Lives Matter, say it so that it becomes true. Queer rights are human rights, say it so it becomes true. No one is defined by their paperwork, say it so it becomes true.

"The greatest nations are defined by how they treat their weakest inhabitants" Jorge Ramos.

What is your church speaking out about? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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Quabbin Mediation uses the work of Ervin Staub to provide a short (2.5 hours) Active Bystander Training online or in-person.

VISIONS, Inc., is an organization providing diversity and cross-cultural training for interpersonal interactions. This shorter course covers their guidelines for cross cultural-dialogue.

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