Sunday Worship Cancelled for March 15th
Dear Grace Family -
After much prayer, consideration and conversation the Grace UCC Council has decided to cancel worship services tomorrow, March 15. We will make a decision for our services each week until the worst of the COVID-19 infection is over. As the caregivers of Grace, we feel that protecting those who are most vulnerable to illness is of utmost importance.
I'd like to take a moment to quote someone who I feel is wise and loving beyond measure and who is truly a sage among us, Kelly Ospina:
I just want to remind everyone our weekly gathering is how we fill our own buckets to go out in the world and live our faith, but going to worship is not what makes us faithful.
We are in the time when we prepare ourselves for ressurrection. If ever there was a good time to draw inward, to reflect, to prepare for renewal this is it.
As a reformed Catholic, I still look to Mother Theresa as a personal hero. One of her quotes is if you really want to change the world, go home and love your family. Now is the time to do just that.
We will come together again soon. This is not a full stop, just a comma because as we of all people know, God is still speaking.
So - with those words ringing in our ears, I encourage you all to follow the www.cdc.gov guidelines for health and well being during this crazy time. Know that you are loved and if you need ANYTHING at all over the coming weeks, please reach out to your Grace Family. We are here to love you unconditionally - no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey.
In love, light and peace,
Chris Syltevik
Moderator, Grace United Church of Christ, Flemington
Building Bridges - February 20th
Karen Buys leading
10 participants
For this discussion, we stepped away from the text to consider an article by Te-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations”.
It may be found here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
The discussion began with several definitions of reparations. [I’m not going to reproduce those here; the reader can look them up as an exercise.] As might be imagined, this entire topic brought up a lot of discussion, and I have tried to represent some of the statements made (not always an exact quote).
“What’s the problem with reparations?”
Several responses were offered: Who gets them? In what form? How much will they be? Who pays for them?
Reactions of Whites to reparations would probably be best represented by their (previous) reactions to Affirmative Action and “Welfare Queens.”
Damages are not merely monetary, but of opportunities lost as well.
Mention was made of the changes in the Alabama prison population when opportunities for education was made available: recidivism was reduced; how was this paid for? There were no costs incurred: local churches sent unpaid volunteers into the prison to teach.
The Coates article notes that reparations payments to Israel were made before an overhaul of the German educational system. There, education was not an impediment to payment; it was an outgrowth. In addition, the payments made had an element of recency, being paid out shortly after the end of World War 2, whereas slavery ended more than 150 years ago, and subsequent egregious episodes (Jim Crow, etc.) were still a long time ago (100 years, 50 years,…). Pyaments were also made for losses of a tangible nature (property, art, jewelry).
In moving forward with reparations, the questions were asked, How do we overcome “We are not accountable”? How do we overcome, “There are people in our society who deserve our help”?
How do we make the system “fair”?
- Acknowledge that the current system is not fair
- Accept our (Whites) accountability
- Make changes
Some additional readings were circulated following the discussion:
Homework for next week: “White Fragility” chapters 8-10
Building Bridges - February 12th
Karen Buys leading
12 participants
Prior to meeting for this discussion, a number of articles and internet links were shared for discussion; here they are:
Indigenous people face the same racist social construct as other minoritieshttps://sojo.net/articles/super-bowl-over-discrimination-indigenous-peoples-face-not
We will be seenhttps://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/530/we-will-be-seen
A Meditation from Fr. Richard Rohrhttps://cac.org/to-know-thee-more-clearly-2020-02-09/
Survivors Recount the Relevance of Holocaust Remembrance https://nowthisnews.com/videos/news/survivors-recount-the-relevance-of-holocaust-remembrance?jwsource=em
The “Red Summer”
“The whole United States is Southern!”
https://www.memphis.edu/benhooks/creative-works/pdfs/payne.pdf
James Baldwin debates William F Buckley (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFeoS41xe7w&feature=youtu.be
Reviewing all these, we were reminded to be alert to the ally of denial, distancing. That is, the trick of saying, “Well, that was then, or that was there,” to say, “Not now, and not here.”
The “homework” from last week was to identify the (few) things that resonated with each of the group in the first six chapters. Many comments and insights as well as personal stories were shared. Here are a few (quotes are not exact and any emphasis shown is mine):
“The impact on me – asking myself – how does this fit with my understanding?”
To throw up ones hands in frustration and say, “I’m done with this,” as in “I can’t stand to think about this [racism] any longer,” is a measure of white privilege.
“Racism is a system; it’s more than personal prejudice or bigotry.”
“I find myself feeling the pressure of the history of my own family’s role in the construction of our racist society.”
“My education has been horribly neglected; I am ignorant, and I am grateful for this group.”
“We [the United States] are not nearly as progressive as we kid ourselves.”
“When I’m telling a story, can I resist not “naming” people when it is irrelevant to the story. Example: ‘I was talking to this Asian lady in the store’… or ‘I met this gay guy yesterday on the golf course’…”
“I didn’t catch the whole ‘White Savior’ bit in ‘The Blindside’.” [a Sandra Bullock movie; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Side_(film)]
The example of “The canary in the cage” [see Chapter 2, page 23]
“We Shall Overcome” was pretty simplistic; it is all so much more complicated than that.
“The concept of the United States as a ‘melting pot’ was propaganda.”
An opening question was asked, but the response was delayed:
How does racism affect white people?
As racism is a system, white people may realize that they (we) are a part of this system.
As a closing exercise we reviewed “Common Patterns of Whites” found here: https://robindiangelo.com/resources/
For the next meeting, we will step away from the text for a week to discuss “The Case for Reparations.”
Reading: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
— Duncan Taylor