Dean Powery on the Power of Advocacy
On the twenty-second anniversary of the September 11 Attacks, Chapel Dean Luke Powery remembers the first responders who went into danger to help people in crisis.
“They were advocates in that moment for the helpless, the voiceless, the lost, the dead,” he writes about the first responders in a column for the (Duke) Chronicle. “I wonder if on this day in honor of all the first responders — the angelic advocates — we would commit ourselves to be advocates as well.”
In discussing the importance of advocating for others, he cites the biblical example of the Canaanite woman who bravely goes to Jesus for the healing of her daughter. “This is what advocacy is,” he says about the mother’s example. “Someone has to cry out for the tormented ones, the sick ones, the disabled ones, the imprisoned ones, the ridiculed ones, the anxious ones.”
He closes the column with a prompt for action: “What human being(s) can you serve this year with your advocacy? On a day of remembrance such as Sept. 11, I hope you will be remembered for a legacy of advocacy.”