All in This Together

Shame on me! We are more than half way through the month of February and I have not acknowledged in any public way that it is Black History Month. Iʼm not alone, unfortunately. Each year it seems there is less and less note of this homage made to our brothers and sisters of color who have made contributions to our country that we canʼt even begin to count.

Shame on our denomination! The following short item appeared in the most recent Disciples News Network distribution:

SOUTH CAROLINA DISCIPLES BRIDGE RACIAL DIVIDE

Two groups of Disciples in South Carolina — one African American, one Caucasian — will soon become one, concluding more than 100 years of existence as separate entities. The predominantly white Assembly churches and the predominantly African American Convention churches are in the process of combining their governance structures, following the decision by the Conventionʼs leadership last August to dissolve itself and move toward merger with the regional church. To read more, go to: www.disciples.org/DisciplesNewsService/tabid/58/itemId/1128/
South-Carolina-Disciples-bridge-racialdivide.aspx

And yet hooray for our denomination and churches of South Carolina for making Church whole after the complexities of respecting one anotherʼs needs, traditions and truths! Once again, MHCC can give itself a gentle pat on the back for being a front runner in racial relations and civil rights back when the first real efforts were made to correct our nationʼs wrongs. I say a “gentle” pat because after desegregation the white community seemed to lose momentum in its support.

Could the same happen with gay rights?

Do I really need to answer that? We need to continuously honor one another [not one and forget the other] because we certainly are in “this” all together. “This” meaning the life we enjoy, the freedoms we desire, the peace we seek, the justice we need and the opportunity all deserve to be happy, healthy, contributing members of society.

“This” is not limited to geography bound my imaginary lines drawn by temporal governments for we are citizens of an
absolutely shrinking and inter-dependent world.

I believe this would be a sizable step toward claiming the Kin-dom!

Peace,
Terry