Racial Reconciliation
Sacred Ground Inspires Coalition for All
By the Rev. Margot Critchfield It was Michael Brown’s death in August 2014, and the subsequent Ferguson uprising, that changed my life. Like many other progressive and privileged White women, I’d been outraged and horrified by the murders of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner, but not enough to change. The circumstances around Michael Brown’s death […]
Seed Grant Promotes Growth in Social Justice Efforts in Virginia
By David Atwood and Sudie McGahuey By God’s grace, the church’s 2021 grant has provided a focus and power for the Social Justice Ministry of Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, Alexandria, Virginia. We have been able to better engage parishioners and to reach out to other local and state faith communities and organizations to learn about and promote improved prison […]
Reflection from Connecticut
By Greg Farr At the 2020 annual convention of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (ECCT), Resolution No. 7 was passed with the intent to recognize and confront systemic racism, white supremacy, and anti-Black bias in our nation and in our diocese. This resolution directed each parish, worshipping community, and/or intentional Episcopal community to take steps […]
Beloved Community with the Earth and One Another
By the Rev. Melanie Mullen Earth Day coincides with our remembrance of the martyrdom of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and that is appropriate, because both embody the heart of Becoming Beloved Community: truth-telling, restitution, and reconciliation. Dr. King’s final campaign before his assassination in Memphis was at the crossroads of labor, civil rights, […]
Preaching Earth Day
In this first episode of season 7 of Prophetic Voices: Preaching and Teaching Beloved Community, we launch our focus on Creation Care, speaking with Episcopalians committed to the Beloved Community about the texts for Proper 6, “Called to Be Partners in the Care of Creation” from The Episcopal Church’s “Honoring God in Creation” supplemental liturgical […]
Sacred Ground Action Group
By Julia Wight People were shocked and devastated by what was happening in this country: men and women of color murdered by police, members of a synagogue shot indiscriminately, attacks on Asians, Muslims, LGBTQ+ community members, and mass shootings, including of our most vulnerable children. It was in this environment, culminating in the murder of […]
Climate Justice
By Aisha Heurtas In my lifelong Christian journey, I have at times been disappointed with the church. I see injustices in the world—senseless violence, racism, gender discrimination, bigotry, poverty, hunger, and more. It would be easy to get lost in the ways in which we, the church and its people, have been complicit. It is true […]
Behind the Book: ‘Faith, Race, and the Lost Cause’
By Christopher A. Graham The work that resulted in “Faith, Race, and the Lost Cause” began at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in 2015 after the Charleston, South Carolina, murders. St. Paul’s, in Richmond, Virginia, had been widely known as the “Cathedral of the Confederacy.” After the American Civil War, St. Paul’s embraced that identity with […]
Opener for the Becoming the Beloved Community E-newsletter: March 2022
Greetings! I am excited to embark on this sacred journey of racial justice and reconciliation with you. We are living in challenging and dark times. The remnants of racism and slavery are still with us. We have witnessed it in the video footage of the murders of African Americans. We hear it in the hateful, […]
Easter Vigil: Preaching Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18, 9:8-13, Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21, Ezekiel 36:24-28, 37:1-14, Canticle 8, and Matthew 28:1-10
In this fifth episode of season 6 of Prophetic Voices: Preaching and Teaching Beloved Community, we speak with Episcopalians committed to the Beloved Community about the texts for the Easter Vigil. The texts covered in this episode are Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18, 9:8-13, Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21, Ezekiel 36:24-28, 37:1-14, Canticle 8, and Matthew 28:1-10. Our guests this week […]
