This week, I want to draw your attention to three things: Mental health, the mass killing in Uvalde, TX, and vital conversations on racism. Each is a relevant reminder of our commitment to follow the Great Physician and the Prince of Peace.
Mental Health
One of our guiding principles at Park Avenue is a commitment to being a community of hope and healing. In our practice of trusting the God of hope and wholeness with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, we seek to be a church of hope and healing, justice and reconciliation in a hurting and fragmented world.
Living into this principle means playing our part as a church and as followers of the Great Physician to offer hope and healing to people living with mental health challenges.
Many of us at Park know the daily, often lonely, experience of living with mental health challenges, as well as the harmful stigma and hurtful societal messages attached to it. We want to know that God is with us, even though it can feel like faith is a struggle. We want to know our community of faith embraces us and desires to walk with us.
So, in case you missed Nancy Howe’s message last Sunday, Creating Caring Faith Communities, I encourage you to listen to it here. Her message begins at the 1:02 mark in the video.
And this Fall, we will be partnering with NAMI Minnesota to offer a series of classes to help both adults and kids.
Mass killing in Uvalde, TX
Like you, for the second week in a row, my heart breaks over another mass killing. Last week, a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods, CA, and three Asian women killed in Dallas’ Koreatown. This week, an elementary school in Uvalde, TX. Sadly, by the time you read this, more news may break about another mass shooting in this epidemic of gun violence in our country.
To be honest, I’m angry. How long will this go on before necessary change is enacted? A question we ask every time. Of course, we need to pray. But prayer is not an invitation to abdicate responsibility to act. Faith is made complete by faithful actions, is what the Book says (James 2:22). As people who follow the Prince of Peace, we need to participate in the solution. No more delay. Now is the time.
If you want to know how to act to end gun violence, read Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe’s post here. Dr. Henry-Crowe is the General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church.
And one of the ways you can put your faith into action quickly is to join me in calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and demand action to prevent gun violence and enact lifesaving gun legislation.
Vital Conversations about Racism | White people talking to white people
In July, I will be facilitating four 90-minute sessions called Vital Conversations about Racism: White people talking to white people. Beginning on Wednesday, July 13, and continuing weekly to August 3, we will meet weekly at the church from 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Why “white people talking to white people” about the evil of racism? My intention is not to exclude anyone but rather practice what a friend said to me years ago. “White folk need to do their own work and not rely on people like me from the Black community to do it for them.” He’s right. White folks have work to do. A lot of work.
An overview of the four-week series looks like this:
Session 1 | July 13 | Introduction & Deconstructing White Privilege
Session 2 | July 20 | Building the Beloved Community
Session 3 | July 27 | Meaningful Conversations on Race
Session 4 | August 3 | Continued Struggles in Race Relations
If you’re interested, send me a message by clicking here.
If you’d like to do a little preparation, read Dr. Robin DiAngelo’s book, What Does it Mean to Be White: Developing White Racial Literacy.
And if podcasts are your thing, you can prepare by listening to the Scene on Radio series, “Seeing White.” Here’s the link to information about the series.
And remember, let’s breathe love.
Pastor Gregg
