Dear Caldwell,
We will have a non-perishable food drop-off at Caldwell this Saturday,
September 11, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
and Sunday from 12:30-2:30.
Brother Justin gave a great word Sunday about the essential role that context plays in our lives. He spoke about why we offer a land acknowledgement on Sundays and how, when we gain the context of events, we are to reconcile ourselves (and repent and live differently) regarding certain truths of our nation’s past. We do so as those called in the pattern of our Lord, who reconciled with us in and through Jesus Christ.
Our faith calls us to stand in the gap. Sometimes that is standing in the gap for others who need our help. Other times we are called to stand in the gap between what we know and what more we need to know to be fully God’s people.
That work, that calling, goes out in a particular way to those of us who are white. We see through “white eyes.” We are, however, given the chance to learn how others see and experience the world. As those who seek justice, we need to work constantly and steadily to realize our whiteness and how it can blind us to injustices, including in our own actions and biases, that oppress our neighbors.
The good news is that we can enrich and broaden our context in so many ways these days. We can read books by authors whose perspectives are different from ours. We can listen to podcasts that lift up and prioritize the perspectives of others. We can unlearn the incomplete histories that shape the national narrative and listen to the voices that were left out. We can serve alongside those who are different from us. We can sit and listen to those who are willing to share.
What I love about our life together here at Caldwell is that we have so many chances to do that here. We are all learning, all the time, and there are two such opportunities that I wanted to share.
On Thursday, this week, Meck Min has offered me the chance to host one of its “Food for Thought” gatherings to talk about my book and what we are learning across our diversity. Normally, these are over lunch, but this is COVID-tember. So the gathering is online. It should include some time for discussion and questions, which can allow us to hear the perspectives of others.
You can register here to join that time together this Thursday. Feel free to bring a lunch.
A second opportunity is the chance next Wednesday to join other local Presbyterians in a new Anti-Racism training session. I have the blessing of co-moderating the Presbytery’s Anti-Racism Ministry Team, which leads this offering that is required of all clergy and many of those in presbytery leadership roles.
We have some slots available in the training next Wednesday, but you should move quickly to register if you are interested. The curriculum is: “What LIES Between Us”, an anti-racism educational course from brownicity.com.
Our next training session will take place Wednesday, September 15th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm via Zoom. The cost of the training is $30 per person and includes all materials needed to participate.
In closing, please lift up our beloved Noah Proud and the Culpepper-Martin family as Noah leaves Wednesday to live with his family in Texas. It is a bittersweet goodbye as Noah starts life anew after three years in foster care here. Surely Noah has taught me to see things in new ways just as Justin and Jessica and their kids, and all of you, have taught Noah to see the world as God desires.
including this group that came out to tell the courts how great a guy he is. We wish him Godspeed as he moves to Texas.
One of the prayers my mother quoted most often comes from 1 Corinthians 13:12: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
Paul’s reminder assures us that our questions will be answered when we see God face to face. In the meantime, however, we have so many chances to open our eyes, hearts and minds to new perspectives that can make our lives so much richer and meaningful.
Thanks be to God.
In Christ,
John