I am listening to NPR! People are invited to call in and share their memories from 10 years ago today -- when heavy snow was dumped in the area and most parts of the state sat in standstill for days. Cars stalled on LSDrive and thousands of people were left without power for days. Reporters called it “Snowmageddon.” They speak of it -- because today marks 10 years, and because, while it is beautiful and sunny in the neighborhood right now, more snow is on the way for us this weekend. This is expected for Chicago in winter. We prepare for the conditions to protect ourselves from them. I hope you have! Another condition that our country has been dealing with for a long time is racism and the current state of our country has brought it to the surface in a brutal way.
Next week we enter into February, which is also observed as ‘Black (Hi)Story Month.’ And while we understand that limiting the acknowledgement of any culture for a specific month seems ridiculous, and while we do speak of our cultures and races throughout the year, we, at Broadway, do take advantage of the fact, and celebrate the culture and its richness. We will be inviting speakers from our congregation who will share of their life and experiences as a Black/African person. I look forward to the experience and invite you to join us every Sunday. You will be blessed each week.
However, we feel we need to do more to prepare ourselves to deal with the current racial divisions in our country. So, we are also planning a book study for the month!
‘Me and White Supremacy’ is written by Layla Saad who invites us into a 28 day journey to prepare and plan our actions/participation in the work of anti-racism. The study will be led by Emily McConnell and victor poncé (members of the Broadway community) and will meet on Sundays from 3:30-5:00pm.
We have an orientation session this Sunday, January 31st @ 3:30pm to prepare ourselves to begin reading on February 1st. Click here to join Book Study by video. Or call 312-626-6799; Meeting ID: 837 2921 1880; Passcode: 481057. I strongly encourage many of us to join in the study. I understand it is hard to commit to church activities on Sunday evenings, and I know that the work is important, and the study commitment is short! You can buy the book on Kindle for less than $5, however, I invite you to have a hard copy -- it is less than $20.
Beloved, we are called to be partners in the work of peace and welcome in this world and to do that we have to work against racism. Join us in this work! Be mindful of it at work, in the grocery store or anywhere you find yourself. Let us continue to find ways to be agents of love and peace in this world. Let us reclaim our faith and God who is neither biased nor partial. And remember, I am always your partner in this work of justice!
