Alka's Angle

A week from today, will be May 1st, also known as ‘May Day’ and ‘International Workers’ Day,’ celebrating workers and the history of labor organizing. The day is important for working people around the world as it is a significant display of international solidarity and worker power.  

Happy Easter-tide beloved people of God! Christ is RISEN! Jesus has done what Jesus came to do- to teach us to love and to care for one another, to empower us to speak against injustice and to support the vulnerable. Now it is OUR turn! As those who follow Jesus- now we have to CONTINUE what Jesus started- to care, to love, to speak and to support!

All around the world this Sunday will be observed as Palm Sunday- the day Jesus entered Jerusalem and the people welcomed him with celebrations, hoping Jesus was the “King” they had been waiting for. Jesus quickly made it clear that he was NO KING with THRONES or CROWNS, but someone who stands with the least, the last, the lost and the forgotten.

I am grateful for all those people who went out and used their privilege to vote this week. That is one way we let our voice be heard and do our duty to protect our democracy. Today I share with another way we can let our voice be heard and protect the vulnerable among us.

You know I was out of the office last week, attending the Board meeting of the United Methodist Church’s General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) As a board we have committed to meeting in places where we can also learn about the stories of the people who have lived on these lands, and the role of church in the suffering of people. As a result I have been privileged to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington DC, Cherokee National Museum in Oklahoma,  and the Apartheid Museum in South Africa, among many others.