A Pastoral Letter
My sisters and brothers, Today we will again renew our baptismal vows. In doing so we will reply, “I will, with God’s help” to the fifth and final question of our Baptismal Covenant: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? It is a promise, that in my own privilege, I know I far too often fail to keep. And so does the Church. And so does our nation. While most of us are pleased to pledge our support to the idea of peace, many of us, myself included, shy away from the complex and costly work of justice. Our unwillingness to strive for justice among all people has placed the heavy burden of oppression on the Black community. Our black sisters and brothers have, for far too long, carried the weight of a history of dehumanization and inhumane treatment – slavery, lynching trees, segregation, and now a growing list of names that have become hashtags, victims of a violent and racist system that ...