Financial Advisor Spiritual Reflection

I was asked to offer a 30-minute spiritual reflection on diversity, equity, and inclusion to a broadly diverse staff with a variety of religious beliefs and backgrounds. This was the culmination of a month-long celebration of Black History with art, music, dance, and food. The mission of Wespath is to “care for those who serve by providing investment and benefit services that honor the mission and principles of The United Methodist Church.” My reflection was retelling the story of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s concern for America and its treatment of Black folks and the poor. The story goes…shortly before Dr. King was murdered. King seemed quite agitated and preoccupied, and Harry Belafonte asked King, what was [bother] him. King replied, “I’ve come upon something that disturbs me deeply. We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know that we will win. But I’ve come to believe we’re integrating into a burning house.” That statement took Belafonte by surprise. It was the last thing he would have expected to hear, considering the nature of their struggle, and Belafonte asked him what he meant. King replied, “I’m afraid that America may be losing what moral vision she may have had. And I’m afraid that even as we integrate, we are walking into a place that does not understand that this nation needs to be deeply concerned with the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. Until we commit ourselves to ensuring that the underclass is given justice and opportunity, we will continue to perpetuate the anger and violence, that tears at the soul of this nation. Again, startled at the statement Belafonte said to King, “What should we do?” Dr. King replied, “Become the firemen, let us not stand by and let the house burn.” And so, Dr. King and countless other Civil Rights leaders (firefighters) decided to tackle what I believe is the most crucial threat to DEI and that is poverty. In Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, King said this about poverty in 1964: “A second evil which plagues the modern world is that of poverty. Like a monstrous octopus, it projects its nagging, prehensile tentacles into lands and villages all over the world. Almost two-thirds of the people of the world go to bed hungry at night. They are undernourished, ill-housed, and shabbily clad. Many of them have no houses or beds to sleep in. Their only beds are the sidewalks of the cities and the dusty roads of the villages. Most of these poverty-stricken children of God have never seen a physician or a dentist.” “So it is obvious that if a man is to redeem his spiritual and moral ‘lag,’ he must go all out to bridge the social and economic gulf between the ‘haves’ and ‘have not’ of the world. Poverty is one of the most urgent items on the agenda of modern life. There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.” The time has come for an all-out world war against poverty. “The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled, and feed the unfed. A great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these.’” And so, in 1967 the firefighters began the first Poor People’s Campaign that Rev. Dr. William Barber and others are trying to revitalize today. King, Barber, and I am included, believe that DEI is only possible when we achieve the adage—People do not care what you know until they know that you care. The church by definition is simply a place where people come together to worship and honor God with their time, talents, and treasures. A church is not a building of brick and mortar but instead, it is the hands that build it. Wespath, you are a church because you address the evil of poverty by fulfilling your mission for thousands of customers and their families. So, the question: What does diversity look like in today’s church? The answer lies in our relationships to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, nourish the thirsty, and care for the marginalized. What does diversity look like in today’s church? It looks like what you all did this month. By sharing culture and I beg of you to NOT STOP with today. Continue to expand the mission you have created. Continue to think creatively about where God/the creator of the universe does the miraculous. What does diversity look like in today’s church? Dr. King said countless times that 11 a.m. on Sunday is the most segregated hour in this country. However, I am not concerned about Sunday morning because Sunday is just a glimpse of what we should be doing Monday through Saturday. Sunday morning is just an appetizer, and the main course is practicing the disciplines of love, empathy, and shalom