Dear Caldwell,
As we travel from Sunday to Sunday this week, we do so as those who live “between the already and the not yet” of God’s world. We began the season of Advent Sunday with the hopeful expectation of what we know is eternal – that Christ IS Born, and so we proceed to make a new place in our hearts for the arrival of our Lord.
At the same time, we walk through a world where signs of human brokenness and struggle are all around us. Our call is to bear witness to both the love and justice of our Lord, Christ Jesus. In that regard, here are two things you should know about this week:
First, today our city is returned to the events of the shooting of Keith Scott. The District Attorney has just announced that his office finds no reason to charge the officer who shot Mr. Scott. No doubt, we will now see many different responses. As the DA said today, we do not live in one Charlotte – we live in a city that many experience differently. Today’s news no doubt falls heavy on many who already feel oppressed, dispossessed, disenfranchised, forgotten even hopeless.
One response will be that some of our neighbors plan to protest peacefully tonight as a way to continue to call attention to a review of police policies in handling deadly force. Several grassroots groups plan to rally at 6:35 tonight for a peaceful protest at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Headquarters on Trade Street.
This morning, we received a request to offer The Third Place as a place of refuge and safety for those who intend to protest peacefully and we agreed to open the coffee shop as an act of hospitality. If you would like to help host this space, you are welcomed to do so beginning at 6:00 p.m. In this way we can stand with those who feel frustration, among other emotions, by opening God’s house to our neighbors.
A second opportunity to bear witness comes this Saturday concurrent with the plan of the Ku Klux Klan to march in Raleigh. In Charlotte, communities of faith will gather for a peace march at Marshall Park at noon. In this way, we point to our Lord’s higher calling on all of us to stand for love when others point to hate.
No doubt, we walk in complex times, times that disappoint our Lord and call for our active discipleship. As a sending of sorts for what awaits you until I write again, I relay this benediction, which Anne Hunter Eidson offered at our staff meeting yesterday.
BENEDICTION FOR FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
May the Holy Spirit
forge a new heart in you this Advent ―
a heart for peace, not war,
a heart for hope, not fear.
May the stars of the Advent sky
lead you out of darkness into the lap of God
where peace becomes your shelter
and love becomes your home.
Awaken,
be ready,
for the Prince of Peace is coming
to bring peace
to a warring world.
Amen.
―Pamela C. Hawkins, Preparing the Way from Weavings Journal
In Christ,
John