Oct 29 | Resistance Lectionary Part 18: Rest in Power

Today’s citation: Wisdom 3:1-8

Over the last few years as the police executions of black people have gained more media attention, the phrase “Rest in power” has risen in prominence as well.

Exploring the genesis of this phrase is tricky, but most sources I found claimed that it was becoming widely used in the hip hop scene of the ‘80s. It is most obviously a challenge to the phrase “Rest in peace,” which implies that the souls of the departed attain peace in the afterlife, resting from their labours on earth. This notion is supported by the passage we read today, as Christians prepare for the feasts of All Saints and All Souls.

“Rest in power” can most often be found in the unjust and untimely deaths of marginalized groups and/or activists who perish due to violence directed at them for their status or positions. It has been used in reference to Trayvon Martin, Malcolm X, Leelah Alcorn, and Heather Heyer. Several of the sources I explored suggested that it was an “ultra-left” phrase that implied that such deaths were “in power” because they continued to exert influence through the social movements surrounding them.

Naming this phrase as “ultra-left” seems short-sighted. The idea that the dead can still influence the living is an ancient belief that cannot be labeled politically as such. Our earliest forebears practiced ancestor worship, and many cultures continue to do so. One could even make an argument that veneration of the saints is a form of ancestor worship, and the parallels are made pretty clear in syncretistic faiths like Santería. Looking at this phrase through the lens of the saints proves to us that whether we believe in the worship of ancestors or not, it is foolish to suggest that a dead person has no ability to influence the living. To say “Rest in power” is one way to pray for this influence to continue.

“Rest in power” is also a way to name the circumstances in which the person died. It can imply that there will be no peace for the dead until the injustice which led to the death is rectified. This, too, is a powerful type of prayer, a prayer that in a way reflects the image of souls “running like sparks through the stubble” of our world.

This All Saints’ Day, we pray for both peace and power, for love and justice, for the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant, knowing that each one of us will one day enter into the loving arms of God.