Dear Friends in Christ,
I am continuing to this about the central question of Easter season: What is it like to live as a Christian after the resurrection? I believe this question is related to the primary question of our current time, in the wake of the many disruptions of 2020: What do we want our new life to look like?
This week, I have been thinking a lot about justice, particularly racial justice—not only the verdict in the Chauvin trial, but also the historic and structural scaffolds of racism. You’ll see in the announcements that the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project is marking the 1897 lynching of James McCoy with a ceremony this week, but of course (as Faulkner wrote) the past is not even the past. Our present culture is still struggling not only to dismantle but even simply to see the racism that still exists among us.
Our parish and the National Church are thinking about these issues. Here’s a few ways to join in the conversation:
- Our parish hopes to launch a Sacred Ground group—a study program on race—and there is a webinar this coming Tuesday with the Presiding Bishop on the topic.
- The Episcopal Church has recently released the results of a racial audit of its own leadership, which is worth reading and thinking about.
- The Episcopal Public Policy Network is soliciting input from Episcopalians on an initiative around white nationalist deradicalization. The survey take less than five minutes and will give the Office of Government Relations valuable insight.
I hope we can all work together, as our baptismal covenant invites us, “to respect the dignity of every human being.”
Yours in Christ,
Anne+