This Sunday, February 19th, CtK's Adult Forum will continue conversation around our calling to confront racism and celebrate diversity in culture and ethnicity. So far the conversations have been engaging and thought-provoking.
If you're planning to participate, here are a few links which will help you get ready:
The 1993 ELCA Social Statement, Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture.
Reflection on the social statement from Montana Synod Bishop, the Rev. Jessica Crist.
Bishop Crist's reflection on repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, "Actually, Columbus Didn't Discover America."
See you on Sunday at 9:00am in the social hall!
Showing posts with label social statements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social statements. Show all posts
Friday, February 17, 2017
Friday, March 27, 2015
Friday Morning Small Group: The Cross and the Lynching Tree
Every other Friday morning, I meet with a small group of folks (all women, currently, but there's no reason it must stay that way) at Clark's Fork, here in Bozeman. Most of us order some kind of breakfast, and I think everyone has coffee or tea. We tend not to arrive all at once - a 7:00am start time means we trickle in.
While we gather, we check in on each other's lives, and sometimes jump start conversation of the chapter or two we've read for the morning's discussion. More often than not, once everyone is there we turn to "highs and lows" before we dig in to formal discussion of the text: we go around the table and each person shares a high point and low point of her life since we last met. And I've noticed a change in our lows over recent months: while they are still sometimes quite personal, it's no longer an anomaly for someone's lows to consist largely of what she's heard on the news - natural disasters, political machinations, wars and the violence of extremist groups, racially motivated hatred. It's all a lot. Maybe even too much, sometimes.
Our tendency to be "plugged in" most of the time probably doesn't help. This morning one of my friends said that she didn't listen to the radio on her way to small group, so that she wouldn't start the day depressed by the news. And I wonder if a general sense of powerlessness, and of not understanding those who think about and experience life so differently from how we do, contributes, too.
In order to learn from someone with a radically different life experience and history, and to have some likely tough conversations about race and faith (and their interweaving in American history), the Friday morning small group is going to read The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone. YOU are invited to join the conversation. The first conversation, on the introduction and first chapter, will be Friday, April 10th, at 7:00am at Clark's Fork.
Want to learn more? Here's James Cone on Bill Moyers Journal in 2007, a CNN blog post about the theologian and author, and a 2008 NPR "Fresh Air" interview with him. Here, also, is a link to the ELCA Social Statement Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture.
While we gather, we check in on each other's lives, and sometimes jump start conversation of the chapter or two we've read for the morning's discussion. More often than not, once everyone is there we turn to "highs and lows" before we dig in to formal discussion of the text: we go around the table and each person shares a high point and low point of her life since we last met. And I've noticed a change in our lows over recent months: while they are still sometimes quite personal, it's no longer an anomaly for someone's lows to consist largely of what she's heard on the news - natural disasters, political machinations, wars and the violence of extremist groups, racially motivated hatred. It's all a lot. Maybe even too much, sometimes.
Our tendency to be "plugged in" most of the time probably doesn't help. This morning one of my friends said that she didn't listen to the radio on her way to small group, so that she wouldn't start the day depressed by the news. And I wonder if a general sense of powerlessness, and of not understanding those who think about and experience life so differently from how we do, contributes, too.
In order to learn from someone with a radically different life experience and history, and to have some likely tough conversations about race and faith (and their interweaving in American history), the Friday morning small group is going to read The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone. YOU are invited to join the conversation. The first conversation, on the introduction and first chapter, will be Friday, April 10th, at 7:00am at Clark's Fork.
Want to learn more? Here's James Cone on Bill Moyers Journal in 2007, a CNN blog post about the theologian and author, and a 2008 NPR "Fresh Air" interview with him. Here, also, is a link to the ELCA Social Statement Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
ELCA Social Statments in Process
Did you know that there are currently three ELCA Social Statements in the process of being written? Did you know that YOUR input and feedback is needed in the process?
The following introduction is from this page on the ELCA website:
"Faithful participation in society is integral and vital to the mission of the ELCA. As individual members and as a corporate body this church lives out the Christian faith in encounter with the concerns that shape life in God’s creation. Social statements, messages, social policy resolutions and studies of social issues are important means by which this church carries out its participation in society.Currently, there are three processes underway: Criminal Justice, Genetics and Human Disabilities."
Click on the links to learn more about each statement/message and its process.
Check out this page for links to the ten existing social statements (on Abortion; Church and Society; Death Penalty; Economic Life; Education; Environment; Health and Healthcare; Peace; Race, Ethnicity and Culture; and Sexuality) and more information on why we have social statements in the first place.
Have questions? Let us know!
The following introduction is from this page on the ELCA website:
"Faithful participation in society is integral and vital to the mission of the ELCA. As individual members and as a corporate body this church lives out the Christian faith in encounter with the concerns that shape life in God’s creation. Social statements, messages, social policy resolutions and studies of social issues are important means by which this church carries out its participation in society.Currently, there are three processes underway: Criminal Justice, Genetics and Human Disabilities."
Click on the links to learn more about each statement/message and its process.
Check out this page for links to the ten existing social statements (on Abortion; Church and Society; Death Penalty; Economic Life; Education; Environment; Health and Healthcare; Peace; Race, Ethnicity and Culture; and Sexuality) and more information on why we have social statements in the first place.
Have questions? Let us know!
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