My friends, if you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you won’t treat some people better than others…You will do all right if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It … commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves. But if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong… -James 2: 1, 8 – 9a. (Contemporary English Version)

Dear Friends,

Sometimes a sermon may seem to be political, but it may actually make a moral argument. I have heard it in sermons about refugees, for example. Sometimes it seems politics and morality overlap. Our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has asked us to engage in anti-racist education and activities. I have wished our diocese could be doing more. Last year I saw an announcement of anti-racist training at an Episcopal Church about 2 hours from here. I signed up and reserved a motel room for the two-day class, which was literally cancelled for lack of interest – only 4 people had signed up!

Last May, (2019), I joined a pilgrimage to the civil rights sites in Alabama. In four days, we visited the 16th St. Baptist church, the Memorial for Peace and Justice {aka the “Lynching Memorial”), and other memorials and museums. We walked across the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma. On our last evening together, our leader, the Rev. Gayle, an Episcopal priest and president of the DC chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians, asked the rest of us, 51 other pilgrims, what we were going to do about what we had seen. That night I had no answer.

But by fall of last year I had decided to invite some friends to my house to discuss the book, White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo. Then, as many of you know, we began a similar book discussion at Epiphany in February of this year. From then through June, we met monthly, three of those meetings by Zoom.

And now, Black Lives Matter. Because, really, when they don’t, all lives cannot possibly matter. Even so, it seems to me, black lives do not much matter to many, and in many areas of society. What we see is not new, but newly visible in our cell phone camera culture. Nearly every aspect of life in the US is touched by systemic racism.

Out of the trip to Alabama came a book, edited by Rev. Gayle, (also a contributor), called Preaching Black Lives (Matter). Forty-six contributors provided a variety of opinions, much of which was on what to say from the pulpit. Yet, I believe, in so many cases, the pulpits of majority white churches of pretty much all denominations, are achingly, stunningly, silent.

So, we are planning to continue the discussion, beginning tonight, October 21 at 7:00 PM, and all members of the congregation, as well as our neighbors, are invited. We will explore the concept of systemic racism and ask what we can do to change things. There is no requirement to have already discussed or even to have read White Fragility. We plan to use Ibram X. Kendi’s best-selling book, How to be an Antiracist. After the first meeting tonight, further discussions will take place on the third Wednesday of subsequent months, possibly through February or March.

As quoted above, as Christians we are admonished: “…if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong…” and it seems obvious that loving others as ourselves includes all human beings, all made in God’s image. This isn’t easy, but it is necessary. I hope you will join the conversation, and if you want to reach me directly please email me at phylruth@gmail.com.

And so again, Black Lives Matter. Preach it in whatever pulpit is available to you, because Black. Lives. Matter. Period.

Peace Friends,

Ruth Skjerseth
Book Discussion Lead

**********

* Join us tonight at 7 PM on Zoom for our book discussion of Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How to be an Antiracist. Zoom Meeting ID: 846 3493 3085
Passcode: 156745; Dial by your location: 1-646-876-9923

* Come online to our Stronger Together Reconnection Chat tomorrow night(Thursday, Oct 22) anytime between 8:30 – 9:30 PM. ALL are welcome!

* Join us online or in person this Sunday at 10 AM for worship! If you would like to attend in-person worship, please make your reservation here. Again welcome Rev. Matthew Dumont-Machowski as he presides over worship for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost.

* As always, Epiphany’s vestry and staff are here to support you in any way we can. Please contact Susan Buckner, Senior Warden at: srwarden@epiphanyec.org