Dear Caldwell,
It’s good to be back in the office after last week’s Youth Mission Trip. Thanks to all who welcomed the mission team back with such warmth and love on Sunday.
As I travel from Sunday to Sunday this week, I saw the bumper sticker above on a car in the grocery store parking lot. It’s a quote from author Alice Walker, who wrote The Color Purple among many other greats. As they say, the sticker “got me to thinking.” When I worked for Bank of America, for several years my job was to be a liaison to a range of outside advocacy and activism groups. I used to try to understand the difference between advocacy and activism, but I’ve come around to thinking there isn’t a difference. Advocacy is a form of activism, though activism may for further.
As people of faith, we are called to act on our faith. Guess what? That makes us all activists. Our faith isn’t to be reserved for Sunday morning worship or private piety in our homes. We are to bear witness to the gospel of Christ in all we say and do. The bumper sticker is really a restatement of what we in the Reformed tradition hold true – that we owe our lives in response to God’s grace and insturction in Christ.
Here in Charlotte, we have let a terrible thing happen. We have allowed our public schools, once a national model of integration, to become re-segregated by race and by class. This is a recipe for disaster for our city. More important, it is a moral crime against our children. Thankfully, we are waking up to what we have let happen.
I hope you will mark your calendar for a special city-wide public forum that Caldwell will host on Monday, August 24 at 5 p.m. Several local and national experts will take part in a panel discussion to explain the risks of what has happened and to explore how we can recover from it.
If you would like to be in the audience, PLEASE RSVP to save a seat because we hope to have full house in the sanctuary. RSVP to mailto:sandrawconway@gmail.com
This forum is for the faith community in particular, a segment of our city called to speak up on issues of justice and equity. When you check your calendar, you may note two things: First, that’s the first day of school. Second, the event starts at 5. This avoids this event overlapping with the ongoing, vitrally important Mecklenburg Ministries “Can we talk” dialogues on race that are held at 7 p.m. on Mondays.
However you may think of yourself – as an activist, and advocate or something else – the first step on any issue is to build awareness. Come on the 24th and let’s learn more together.
Finally a quick reminder: Feel free to jump in to Theology on Tap tonight at 7 p.m. at Leroy Fox Restaurant – a wide-open interactive dialogue on the meaning of our faith.
In Christ,
John