Dear Caldwell,
This Sunday, we will hear a word from an important, emerging voice in our city – James Ford. Then, we will dream. But, first, a word about James.
When he was with Caldwell last, on the Sunday of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday 2016, he preached about how David and Saul, though from radically different positions in life (one of privilege, one not) reached a point of solidarity in their shared cause to ensure the future of God’s people in a broken world.
Here is how James ended that sermon:
It should be noted that just prior to Dr. King’s demise he was forming a huge movement called the Poor People’s Campaign. This was to be a collective of oppressed groups all over the country demanding that freedom ring and justice prevail. He recognized that the time had come to expand the reaches of the movement and I submit the same to you today. It is no longer just our black brothers and sisters, but our Muslim, Immigrant, Latino, LGBTQ brothers and sisters also need to see sign of our solidarity. As Dr. King is quoted as saying, “the time is always right, to do the right thing.”
In a sermon on race, James ended on poverty and the need for solidarity. It should be no surprise then that James is now a leader in examining and addressing two interrelated issues in Charlotte – poverty and race. As the co-chair of the city-wide committee formed to implement ideas stemming from the recent Charlotte Opportunity Task Force, he has a rare vantage point on what ails Charlotte and how we might all help those whom Jesus went out of his way to love. (You can read more about that in the most recent Observer article here.) http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article148240884.html
Of course, the news reminds us of how vital this work is. Consider the work of the U.S. House of Representatives just yesterday in repealing the parts of the Affordable Care Act that help two of the most vulnerable segments of our population – the poor and the elderly.
For Caldwell, the timing of James Ford’s preaching at Caldwell is intentional. After hearing his word in worship about how communities of faith can bear witness to love, mercy, justice and hope to the most marginalized, we will reconvene in Belk Hall over lunch to talk about an extraordinary opportunity that has come Caldwell’s way to do just that in yet-determined ways.
Sunday’s congregational conversation is only beginning of a broad conversation about how Caldwell is called now and well into the future to live boldly out of its identity and mission in a world that stands, in the words of the Confession of 1967, “in peculiar need” of our Gods intervention.
See you Sunday.
In Christ,
John