You’re Invited, Aug. 12: Discussion on Spirituality and Racial Justice at 7:30 PM

Click here to register for the August 12 discussion described below — registration is required!

Five years ago, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church identified racial reconciliation as a top priority and directed each congregation and every Diocese to commit to a study and the creation of an action plan to address systemic racism. Few in our church have responded to this mandate. Clearly, as Christians we are called to explore our part in racial justice and history.

Please join us as we being to discuss racism and our national and local church’s response. We will watch short videos and have moderated conversations. The videos are our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry speaking on Spirituality and Racial Justice. You must register to attend. Click here to register. Once you register, you will be sent a zoom link for the meeting time. You will use the same email address you registered with to login.

Additionally, in the following weeks there will be a six week course called My Work To Do which is being sponsored by our deanery (the local area for our Episcopal Churches). Again, registration will be required to get the zoom link. While set to be a space for white people to explore their own thoughts and ties to racism, this open to BIPOC who are not triggered by all white space. A brief summary of the key points of My Work to Do are:

  • It is meant to help the participant become comfortable talking about race but not easy to engage the questions asked.
  • It is emotional and draining, requiring much introspection and does not involve crosstalk or discussion time.
  • There are race issues we never learned in school growing up, world views and life experiences we have never seen or experienced.

Financial Update: Please know that in the coming week you should receive a statement of your annual pledge and also Capital Campaign pledge. So far St. Cross has weathered the COVID storm with the help of the Payroll Protection plan. Timely payments of your pledge and any outstanding Capital Campaign payments help us keep our budget in the black and forecast any changes we may have to make before the end of the year. If you need to change your pledge amount, please let me know. In the next week or so the Finance Committee will have a brief report to update the congregation on where we are now and where we hope to be by the end of the year.

Rev. Rachel+