Turning the lemon of Mr. Troy Davis’ death into life-embracing lemonade.

Last night was a sad one.

But today’s a new day. And the sun still shines.

I wrote a blog yesterday ruing the, then, impending unjust execution of Troy Davis.  A lot of people read it…and I feel called to not leave us with a dark cloud of gloom and doom over our heads. My primary vocation in life is to share good news.

As a progressive Christian, I am moved, motivated, and inspired by recalling the story of how a certain radical rabble-rouser from Nazareth ended up pissing off one too many of the worldly powers that be, was unjustly executed….and how that wasn’t the end of the story. God’s speciality is transformation and turning the lemons of life into lemonade. God redeemed that horrible Friday and turned it into a “good” one by committing an act of civil disobedience against the Roman Empire by breaking the imperial seal from the front of Jesus’ tomb and resurrecting Jesus from the dead. In so doing, God showed us that Jesus’ death wasn’t in vain and that his life and teachings were ultimately validated and proven true  — that the way of life truly is the way of unconditional, compassionate, self-sacrificial love of others.

I saw signs of this even last night — regarding the other execution that happened in our country yesterday. While Georgia was busy killing Davis, the state of Texas killed white supremacist Lawrence Brewer. Brewer was in fact guilty of committing a heinous murder and racially based hate crime against a black man. And yet —- I came across these words:

‎“The true prophetic voice on Wednesday came not from Georgia, but from Texas where aging African American Civil Rights activist Dick Gregory fasted for half a day to protest the killing of an avowed white supremacist who murdered a black man solely because he was black.” – David Henson

Here’s the back-story. Here’s a different version. Talk about someone walking the walk and incarnating the gospel through his actions! God was at work redeeming our mess and some of us noticed.

Inspired by this realization, I’d like to offer the following ways that we can join God in turning the lemon of our nation’s criminal justice system into lemonade – by engaging in some holy foolishness.

Sign a Declaration of Life.

Tell your loved ones that if you are murdered, you don’t want the person who kills you to be killed.

Eliminating the death penalty remains a daunting challenge for many individuals and organizations.  While progress has been made through the Innocence Project and the elimination of the death penalty for persons who are mentally challenged, 35 states maintain the death penalty.  One creative effort to discourage the use of the death penalty is the Declaration of Life.  This legal document states that if the signer is murdered she/he does not want the perpetrator executed.  The signed document should be kept with other legal papers.

Support a group of people who “aren’t supposed to exist” — because they reject our prevailing meta-myth that vengeance and retribution are somehow a good thing – the Myth of Redemptive Violence.

Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation

I can almost taste that lemonade, and it is cool and it is sweet.