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You are here: Home / Archives for racial reconciliation

racial reconciliation

Our Commitment to Racial Justice and Reconciliation

June 5, 2020 by St. George's Leave a Comment

The events of the past week or so have shaken our entire country as well as our local community. The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in recent weeks have showed us, yet again, how African Americans fight daily for their dignity and sometimes for their very lives, because of racial injustice. St. George’s stands by our welcome statement: “You are welcome at St. George’s regardless of race, nationality, sexual orientation, gender expression, or tradition.” Under-girding that welcome is our Baptismal Covenant which asks us: “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” Our response is always, “I will with God’s help.”

In order for our welcome to be genuine we must acknowledge the realities of inequity which are the opposite of welcome. We follow Jesus on the way of love, which means we speak up when our neighbors are unjustly treated and under attack. When one of us suffers, we all suffer. We reject the sin of racism in all its forms as part of our baptismal rejection of the “evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God.” We pray for repentance as well. We have often left undone those things we ought to have done to change the systems which unjustly tip the scales in favor of white people in our nation.

A statement came from our Diocesan leaders yesterday. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry issued this word to the church over last weekend: As rector of St. George’s, I wholeheartedly embrace these statements and commend them to you. I also preached an additional sermon this past weekend. These are all summaries of where I stand and where I hope we as a parish can stand together in all our diversity of opinions and backgrounds.

There are young people leading peaceful protests in our community, and I call us to lament with them, listen to them, and ask how we can help. I applaud our city police yesterday for marching with them and pray for police who are also traumatized by the actions of their counterparts elsewhere. Largely in response to these young people, our city council yesterday adopted a resolution condemning racism and affirming that black lives matter. I was present at a march last Saturday and have tried to be a non-anxious and supportive presence at protest events in Market Square this week. They are literally in our backyard, and if we say we are welcoming, we need to be attentive. This is a moment for evangelism, to proclaim to our neighbors, by word, but mostly by example, the good news, through our actions of love.

I am asking some members of our racial reconciliation book group, which has been meeting for over a year, to share some of what they have learned about how we might continue our work. I will open up a space where parishioners can speak and hear each other without judgment. We will pray together for the whole human family. We will not try to fix each other or assume there is one right way.

Our conversation follows many previous ones. It will not be the last one, and there will be more to say. This is long, hard work. Lord, have mercy upon us and help us.

 

Your rector and brother in Christ,
Joe+

Filed Under: Adult Formation, Fellowship, Grace in Action, Interfaith, Ministries, News Blog, Parish Life, Pastoral Care, Rector's Blog, Sermon Blog, We Care, Welcome, World Mission, Worship Tagged With: racial reconciliation

Why I Want to Talk About Race

April 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment

From the Rev. Joe Hensley, rector, St. George’s Episcopal Church
Fredericksburg, VA | April 14, 2015

Ugo and SarahWhen I heard that our regional church would be holding conversations about racial reconciliation, I cheered and signed up to participate right away. Why do I want to talk about race and racism? There must be a better way to spend my Saturday. I have attended and even led numerous trainings about these issues, and I keep going back for more. Why?

I want to talk about these issues, because we, as a society, have trouble talking about these issues. We start talking about how everyone should be treated equally, which is fine. As soon as we start talking about how whites have received far more benefits than non-whites, then people start to get defensive. We are willing to admit that the system was broken for a long time, but when we start trying to talk about how the system might still be deeply flawed, about how people are still dying because of racism, then we start having difficulty. I say this without judgment. I do not want to talk about race in order to make other white people feel guilty. I do want other people, especially white people, to see that we enjoy benefits simply because we are white, which is not how God created the world to be. I want us to experience the freedom which God does intend for all of us. Racism resulted in the literal slavery of African-Americans in this land, but it has and continues to hold us all in bondage to falsehoods about humanity.

I also want to talk about race, because I have a lot to learn about being white in America and about what it is like for people who are not white in this country. My experience is not enough. I need to hear what other people have gone through and are going through. In order to know what it means to be in the Body of Christ, I need to know what other members of the body are feeling.

I will give up another Saturday talking about race, because I believe God created us to love each other. The categories of race have done little to help us love. Most often they have made it easier to mistrust, despise, and kill one another. If I am to love my neighbor as myself, then I need to be talking about race. If we do not talk about it, racism will continue to work its evil on us.

These conversations do not make anyone better than anyone else. They do not give us higher ground upon which to stand and shake our finger at people who have other things to do. I hope others will want to participate, because they do knit us together in ways that we might not ever imagine otherwise. Why do I want to talk about race? I do not know and cannot wait to see what will emerge from the next conversation.

The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia will be holding “Hand in Hand Conversations” about race during 2015. To sign up for this event on April 18 at Trinity Episcopal in Fredericksburg, visit the Hand-in-Hand Listening Session registration page. For information on other listening sessions and Bishop Johnston’s racial reconciliation initiative, go to www.thediocese.net

Filed Under: Sermon Blog Tagged With: diocese of virginia, racial reconciliation, social justice

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