Spiritual and Civic Education Opportunities
written by The Rev. Meribah Mansfield, Deacon
“What can I do?”
That was the question that we heard loud and clear during last Sunday’s coffee hour. A cry to God, in anguish, as we witness and experience the civil unrest in America rising out of racial inequities that have been imbedded in our culture and on our soil since 1619.
Well, we are all on this journey to Become Beloved Community together. We are all learning and growing together. Here are a few resources to use and things to do. Choose what you need for each day. Where do you find yourself in this long-term commitment to racial healing, reconciliation and justice? Maybe today is for learning and tomorrow is for action, or vice versa. Racism is an everyday in every way thing, and we need to work to dismantle it every day, in every way. Below are links to resources that can help us on our way:
Wear Orange on Sunday, June 7. (click orange title for link)
The color orange honors the more than 100 lives cut short and the hundreds more wounded by gun violence every day. On Sunday, June 7, we pray as a nation for an end to gun violence on our streets, in our homes, and in our places of worship. And we pledge to transform our prayers into action so that no more children, no more innocent people of color, no more families caught in a cycle of violence die as a result of the weapons of war that have taken over our communities.
Register for the Episcopal Justice Assembly on June 10 at 6:00 p.m. (Assembly Registration LINK). This will help prepare us for the digital Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 20 (Mass Poor People’s Assembly LINK).
Participate in St. Stephen’s Thursday evening Bible study on prison abolition, from June 11-July 16 7:00-8:00 p.m. For more information, click on the following link: Prison Abolition and Christianity
Register for and participate in the Diocese’s Anti-Racism training via Zoom on June 27. It’s free! (DSO Anti-Racism Training Info LINK)
Explore the resources on the diocese’s Becoming Beloved Community website, http://dsobeloved.org/.
Subscribe to the Becoming Beloved Community weekly e-newsletter at http://dsobeloved.org/subscribe/. This is the way to be notified about upcoming events and opportunities in a timely manner.
Review the great resources here: LEARN, PRAY, ACT: Resources for Addressing Racist Violence and Police Brutality:
https://episcopalchurch.org/responding-to-racist-violence
Choose a couple of things to do from this article and get started: 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice:
https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234
Engage with Justice in June, spending just a few minutes each day to become more informed as step one to becoming an active ally to the black community: Justice in June
