Dear Grace Community,
For the last two Sundays I’ve spoken about the tension and unrest in our country and community around race and racism. I acknowledge my failure to challenge us to talk more about this until now. Yes, we’ve had conversations in groups, and we’ve studied things in groups, but on the whole, we haven’t talked about race and racism. As your pastor, I haven’t pushed this because it’s hard and uncomfortable.
I was also misguided by my desire to keep peace. I was reminded recently that while the church should never be partisan, it’s impossible not to be political. Political doesn’t mean a party. It means that we exist in the public realm, as did Jesus. Ignoring this isn’t keeping peace; it’s avoiding what’s happening in our world.
I’m writing now because this moment calls for it. I believe that our church must engage with the pain in the world. We need to have hard conversations, not because we’re a racist church, but because racism exists, and until we name it and learn more, we can’t be effective in being part of good change. There is no singular conversation to be had, and there is no one solution. I wish it were that simple!
Instead, I write to challenge you to start this work with me as a congregation. Your Christian Discipleship Team has put together a 2-Week Challenge for you.[1] Below you see a list of resources and a description of them. We challenge you to pick resources from this list and read/watch/listen over the next two weeks. Pick four things each week.
You will not connect with everything on this list. Some things may make you uncomfortable; they make me uncomfortable. This list is a starting point, a collection of resources curated by your Christian Discipleship team, and it is no way exhaustive nor perfect.
We are in an uncomfortable time, and if we don’t engage and educate ourselves, we miss an opportunity. If you choose to take this challenge, please register so that we can encourage one another.
In Christ,
Catherine
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2-Week Challenge Chart
[1] This idea comes from Eddie Moore’s 21-Day Challenge and variations of it that many churches are doing right now.
