The following statement is an outgrowth and co-creation of an ABCMNY Ministers Group, an informal community of regular and occasional participants, who have gathered weekly since the pandemic began in the Spring of 2020, for support, collaboration, and to discuss a variety of timely topics.
Read moreCharlottesville—Our American Baptist Witness
In witnessing the actions too horrible to comprehend, and impossible to stop considering, thinking and feeling people have needed to ask ourselves, who are we really, as a country—and as a people residing on the same soil? Our incomplete historical memories are infused with mythology and aspirations of who we are. Have we forgotten who we really have been historically, and replaced it with who we want to be as a nation and as a people of this nation? Who we say we are, and who want to be are not necessarily the same.
Read moreStrength from the beginning of the week, for the remaining week ahead.
Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? -MLK, Jr.
Read morePrayers for Peace in Charlotte Requested - Black Lives Matter!
African Americans there who were grandparents seemed to be experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome. They recounted horror stories from decades past, and expressed their age-long hope that because they had gone through the targeting and violence so many years ago, that their children and grandchildren would not have to experience it themselves.
Read moreSpeak truth to our neighbors. Be angry but do not sin.
Our neighbors are not always who we think they are. So let us not grow tired in well-doing, but love God, especially now, with all of who we are, and seek always to recognize and love our neighbor as our own kin. Be angry, but don’t sin is the directive for us all.
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