By Ric Hudgens

[My remarks at the opening of the art exhibit “Justice for Peace” curated by Fran Joy at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston, Sunday, January 31]

I’m grateful to Fran Joy (right: “Black Angel”) for the invitation to speak at the opening of this exhibit “Justice for Peace”. Please consider this my little square to the freedom quilt we are sewing this afternoon.

Everything I write and speak about when I’m given the freedom to do so is what I describe as “creating spaces for God’s freedom dreams.” The God I believe in is a God who dreams dreams. These are dreams for the fulfillment, liberation, and freedom of humanity and indeed of all God’s creation. They are God’s freedom dreams.

Our calling as inhabitants of this planet, as creatures in the midst of this wondrous creation, is to create spaces where God’s freedom dreams can come forth and unfold to their fullest. Too much of human society and civilization is given to frustrating and upsetting these dreams. However (and this is a statement of faith on my part) God’s dreams are more persistent, relentless, and even inscrutable than any force that can be brought against them. As the Christian New Testament reminds us “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.” The fulfillment of God’s freedom dreams is envisioned by the Hebrew poet in Psalm 85 as a time when “justice and peace will embrace.” It is that image that I want to work with a little in what follows. One of the first things I had to learn entering a Black Baptist Church was the importance of hugging. Everyone hugs! I wasn’t used to it and I soon learned to love it. Hugging is not only good for feeling welcome but scientists tell us that it has innumerable benefits. Hugging has an impact upon our neurology increasing our production of oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin. Well-hugged babies are less stressed than adults. Hugging lowers our heart rate, improves our immune system, and balances out the nervous system.