We have become painfully aware that racism impacts those who are the most vulnerable in our communities: black, immigrant, and people of color (BIPOC) because of our deepening relationships, the unequal impact of the viral pandemic, and the public execution of George Floyd.
Sometimes we shy away from the work of social justice because it confronts the status quo and challenges the power structures that have been in place for generations.
Sometimes we are uncomfortable when our faith intersects with the pain of the oppressed and we must leave the safety of our pews and journey into the danger of the streets.
Sometimes people reject social justice, “I don’t come to church to deal with this political stuff, I come to church for peace and comfort.”
“Love as an action is the only thing that has ever changed the world for the better. Love is Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Josie Robbins. Love is a little girl in Pakistan named Malala Yousafzai standing up to armed men who said that girls shouldn’t be educated… Love is Fannie Lou Hamer, whose contribution to the civil rights movement was honored on the floor of the House of Representatives in 2017… Love is equally the contribution of a woman like Frances Perkins, the secretary of labor who executed much of Roosevelt’s New Deal… Love is a commitment to seek the good and to work for the good of and welfare of others.”
-Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Love is the Way, pages 20-23
