Hawkins: [00:58:23]
Do you map your sermons to a particular action?
Let''s say George Floyd just been slain and you're the preacher in Minneapolis and you need to address that. You have to; you don't have any choice otherwise. That's what are you there for. I'm trying to figure how you prepare a sermon that would in the style of Ricoeur that would allow you to push for action. And what kind of action are we talking about? We're obviously not talking about taking up arms to take out the police or something, but we're talking about awakening the consciousness, raising in the soul the insistence that we don't let this happen anymore. How would you prepare?
Harris: [00:59:09]
The action can take on many forms. In my own experience, it's taken on protest; it's taken on marching, it's taken on confrontation of politicos and others. And it is taken on, you know, a kind of commitment and coalescing of people to vote and, you know, to do all kinds of things rather than to just sit back and enjoy the status quo.
Hawkins: [00:59:45]
All right. But would you ever say, in a situation like that, defund the police, or is that too radical?
Harris: [00:59:55]
Personally, I don't think it's too radical. But the way the society is, it just will not get you to your goal, because it will be politicized. [It will be] interpreted in a way that will bring blowback. Definitely will not advance your cause. You probably can't get elected to be a dog catcher in the United States with a slogan like defund the police. I mean, even though as Black people, we know how destructive the police have been and can be, I have said on occasion to my congregation that no matter what happens here, don't call the police because they're going to exacerbate the problem. And before they leave, somebody is going to be dead. Right now, you know, while I make that statement. You know, there may be times when I'll pull back from that statement and, you know, and say, well, we have to call the police and just pray that they don't mess things up more than they currently are. So, you know, it's a difficult position, especially for African Americans, to be in.
Hawkins: [01:03:55]
You've described a five-part method in theory for getting in front of the text that includes reading, rereading on reading, writing and rewriting, or as you say, the act of actually preaching the sermon.
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