Maryland bishops: Confronting the Sin of Racism

Posted Jul 8, 2016

Confronting the Sin of Racism
A Message from your Bishops
July 8, 2016

Compassionate God, whose Son Jesus wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus: Draw near to us in this time of sorrow and anguish, comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life; through the same Jesus Christ, our  Savior and Redeemer. (Holy Women, Holy Men p.733)

Dear friends in Christ,

We’ve just finished a very difficult week. While the diocesan staff was taking the Episcopal Church’s anti-racism training, gun violence between police and the African-American community once again captured headlines.

While the latest shooting deaths by police were in Minnesota and Louisiana, it was in Dallas, Texas where several police were targeted by snipers.

This madness knows no boundaries. This is what happens when a society worships the gun and sees it as the answer to fear and perceived lack of power. Our faith in firearms is idolatrous.

“Seeing the Face of God in Each Other” is the name of our church’s anti-racism curriculum. We spent two days confronting our own roles in the systemic racism that infects our church, our communities and our country. The Episcopal Church has been challenging institutional racism for decades. The House of Bishops issued a pastoral letter, “The Sin of Racism” in 1994 that was the culmination of years of efforts to address systemic racism in our own church.

Out of that work came our church’s commitment to confront this evil. The training we took is part of that commitment to overcome racism, poverty and violence. Unless we confront the racism within each of us we will never confront it in our communities or congregations.

We urge everyone in this diocese to take this training. We urge every congregation to be in conversation with your local police or sheriff’s departments, with neighborhood associations and local community leaders.

We worship a God of love. We proclaim the beloved community that God wants for all God’s creatures. Our work is before us.

As we encounter Christ in prayer and sacrament this weekend, let us engage God’s world around us in direct, respectful and compassionate conversation. Let us become the sign of the beloved community of God here on earth.

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the people of this land], that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP p. 823)

Faithfully,
+Eugene Taylor Sutton, Bishop of Maryland
+Chilton R. Knudsen, Assistant Bishop of Maryland


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