Blessings to you all on this Juneteenth.

As a white woman in the United States, Juneteenth was not a holiday I grew up celebrating.  I never heard it mentioned when I was a child or youth, and even though I went to a seminary right next to Harlem in NYC, I didn't learn about Juneteenth until 5 or so years ago when I lived in Boston attending another seminary.  Facebook friends were posting messages wishing people a happy Juneteenth, and I had to look up what they were talking about.  Such a stark example of the blinders white privilege creates and perpetuates.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, celebrates the day news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Texas, and ended legal slavery in the US (I make the distinction of referring to legal slavery ending because we know that slavery still exists in many forms).  That was June 19, 1865: two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law.  Two and a half years.  Granted there wasn't social media and email to spread the news back then, but the time between declaration and effect demonstrates that it isn't enough to just change the laws as they are written.  What the law says doesn't matter until it is enforced.

On Juneteenth, I have a few responsibilities as a white woman.  First is to acknowledge my privilege and my own racism.  It feels incredibly uncomfortable to write this, but I know it is true: I am a racist.  I am a white woman raised in the United States, shaped and influenced by racist systems and attitudes that value my white skin more than the black, brown, and Asian skin of other people.  I strive to unlearn my racist prejudices and assumptions, and I want to be held accountable when I mess up and act racially insensitively or down-right racist.  I pray I am correct that my actions are rarely overtly racist, and I acknowledge that I am cannot be the best judge of whether or not that is true.

Second is to pledge and take concrete action to be anti-racist.  This includes working not only on my own racism but also calling out racist remarks or actions I witness and advocating for changes in the racist systems around me.  I promise to work my way through this list of "75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice" created by Corinne Shutack.

My third responsibility is to lift up stories and voices that are not my own.  In that spirit, here are a few articles about Juneteenth and current events by people who know much more than me:

"How Companies and Individuals Can Use Juneteenth to Practice Active Allyship" by Kiva Wilson and Dr. Evelyn Carter

"Why Juneteenth is a Celebration of Hope" by Rachel Jones for National Geographic

"Black Lives + TikTok + A Movement NOT A Moment" The African PhD

Today has been the Christian celebration of Easter - the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  This celebration holds the central message and motivation for the Christian religion.  Easter claims that the power of God is stronger than anything of this world.

Jesus' message of the coming kin-dom of God challenged the powers that be, the Empire and the religious authorities, and those powers reacted how they always do.  They sought to stamp out their challenger, to quash and kill this man and his movement that sought to turn the world upside-down.  They managed to kill him, but little did they know that God would not let them have the last word.

Jesus rose from the dead, showing that fear, hate, and violence cannot stop the power of God to give new life and transform the world.  Jesus' message of the coming kin-dom of God - to love God and love those whom God loves - could not be contained by the grave.  It burst forth in the resurrection and has inspired the best of Christian attempts to create justice.

I pray you have had a holy and celebratory Easter.  I pray that despite the powers of Empire and the collaboration of religious authorities still operative today that you were able to find peace and respite this day.  I pray that this day of Easter has renewed your understanding of the unstoppable love of God and recommitted you to love God and those whom God loves.

Tomorrow is the beginning of a specially called General Conference for The United Methodist Church.  The General Conference is the only gathering of United Methodists that has the authority to make changes to the Book of Discipline, the document that governs the denomination.  Usually General Conference happens every four years, but at the 2016 General Conference, the delegates asked the Council of Bishops for help in how to move forward on the question of full inclusion of LGBTQ individuals in the denomination.  Now, in Saint Louis, Missouri from February 23-26, the same delegates that were at the 2016 General Conference will gather again to consider the report from the Council of Bishops’ Commission on a Way Forward that studied different beliefs about human sexuality and ways the denomination can structure itself in the future.
 
There’s a lot of detail to the different plans the delegates will be considering, and, as in every General Conference, there are sure to be many amendments put forward before a final vote is taken.  While there are three main plans right now, no one knows how many iterations will be proposed before sessions end on the 26th.  The ins and out of the process will be long and complicated.  Emotions are likely to be strong as delegates discuss deeply held beliefs on human sexuality that conflict with each other.
 
What this all comes down to, is The United Methodist Church is facing one of its most important discussions on how it plans to be the church.  Will we become inclusive, recognizing that God’s love is for all people, that the spiritual gifts of all God’s children should be honored, and their life events should be honored?  We will continue to place greater restrictions on the participation of one group of people, excluding them from serving as ordained leaders, barring them from consecrating their loving relationships in our church buildings?
 
I don’t know how things will turn out.  I don’t know if The United Methodist Church will be recognizable as the church I care deeply about, a church that strives to continue conversations between conservative and progressive while working together for justice.  I don’t know if my LGBTQ friends will continue to be harmed by the denomination I call home.  I don’t know if I will be able to continue to call this denomination my home.
 
I do know this – God loves all people.  God stands with all people searching for justice. Whatever happens at General Conference, there are many Christians who will continue to show their love for God by loving who God loves: everyone.

  iTemperatures in the Midwest have reached record lows this week.  The United States Postal Service has cancelled delivery for a few days.  Schools are closed not just because the road conditions aren't great, but it would be dangerous for students to walk to school or wait outside for buses.  Everyone is encouraged to stay inside as much as possible since being having exposed skin outdoors for even a few minutes puts you at risk for frostbite.

This type of bone-chilling cold is uncomfortable and inconvenient, but for most people I know, it isn't life-threatening.

That's not the case for the thousands of individuals and families experiencing homelessness.  If cities and communities don't provide warming shelters and open up more temporary housing during this cold, it is incredibly likely that some people will not make it through these cold days and nights.  I've heard on the news about some of the efforts of large cities (For instance, Chicago is running free buses for those who refuse to leave their belongings by entering warming shelters ​weather.com/news/news/2019-01-29-chicago-homeless-population-warming-centers-extreme-cold), but nothing on my local news station.  I know that local shelters have extended their hours, but these efforts are not part of the main narrative of this storm.  These vulnerable people are not part of the public's consciousness.

I hope that wherever you are, you are able to find a warm place to weather this bitter winter storm.  I pray that those without their own warm homes to retreat to during these days have found shelter and care from their communities.

"The Work of Christmas"
​By Howard Thurman

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.

Thurman, Howard. "The Work of Christmas." In The Mood of Christmas & Other Celebrations. Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 2001.

My local United Methodist Church is holding three different Christmas Eve services tonight in an effort to serve the spiritual needs of as many church members and neighborhood families as possible.  Each will focus on the nativity story, but celebrate the incarnation in quite different ways.

The earliest service is meant for families with young children.  The pastor and education director will lead the kids in an interactive telling of Jesus' birth complete with costumes and songs.  The middle service is modeled after a lessons and carols service, but is more contemporary in style.  The Praise Band will lead the music which are a mix of well known carols and newer songs, scripture will be read, and the children's choir will sing.  The final service is a traditional lessons and carols service.  There will be song, scripture, and prayer led by the organ, adult choir, and hand bells.  All three services are ending with a candlelight Silent Night (glow-sticks serve as candles for the first service).

The people who attend each of the services will do so for a variety of reasons, but mainly because they find one type of service more enjoyable, more in-line with how they experience the presence of God.  People connect with God in many different ways, and it is the job of the church to assist them in discovering how they best focus on the divine and connect with what is greater than themselves.  There are times when Christians get into arguments over what constitutes "real" worship, but I truly believe what matters is that people are able to experience the love of God through whatever practice or worship style allows them to do this.

So however you are celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas, I pray you are able to experience the Incarnation - to !know in body, mind, and soul that God is with us.  Merry Christmas to you all.

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent, the season that starts off the Christian liturgical year.  For the next few weeks Christians will prepare themselves for the arrival of Christ, both the memory of his incarnation and the in-breaking of the kin-dom of God in the here and now.  Advent is a time to recenter our lives on what is truly important.  As the current pastor of Trinity UMC, Rev. Dr. Steve Manskar, likes to say - "To love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and because you love God, you love who God loves through acts of mercy and justice."

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, and I have been lucky to spend this day with my family and good friends.  My Thanksgiving has been full of relaxation, food, and love: exactly what American culture has taught me to desire and expect on this day.  I am incredibly grateful for this day and the hard work my parents have put in to building a life where this is possible for our family.  I have enjoyed this opportunity to recharge, to continue old and new traditions, and reflect on the blessings I have.

Blessings are one word for what I experienced today - privilege is another.  I am privileged by my family history (upper-middle class), race (White), education (PhD), and a current job that allows me a day off with pay.  There are many in my community without these privileges, who had to work today, didn't have the money to travel to visit family, or didn't have money for good food.  Most people don't have a family cabin in the woods that can literally and figuratively remove them from their everyday worries and allow them space to gain perspective.

I say all this not as an apology for my privilege, but as an acknowledgment of the responsibility that stems from my place in society.  I have a responsibility to be grateful for what I have and not take it for granted.  I have a responsibility to recognize that my experience is not the only, or even the most common experience.  I have a responsibility to use the privilege I have, the blessings I've inherited and sometimes earned, to create a more equitable future for all people.

So on this Thanksgiving, I want to say that I am very thankful.  I am also ready to turn my gratitude into action that brings forth justice.

This part of my website is still under construction, but I intend to offer thoughts, prayers, and resources related to current events.