Alka's Angle

I am sure many of you have recently seen these memes/quotes on social media platforms. These are a reminder to me that as Christians we are called to walk the talk, that our faith without actions is nothing, that along with prayers we need to also think of solutions. These are in response to the recent mass shootings that our country has experienced. We all know of the ones in Buffalo, Chicago and Uvalde, TX, but did you know there have been more than 200 mass shooting in 2022, and 27 school shootings.

As we get closer to the end of this month of remembering and celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I want to remind us of a few things:

Some of you, who are involved at the Annual Conference or denominational level, know that one of the ways I serve our connectional church is by serving on the Board of Directors of the UM General Commission on Religion and Race - a commission that was established in 1968, in the newly formed United Methodist Church, to hold the denomination “accountable in its commitment to reject the sin of racism in every aspect of the life of the church.”  And while our primary focus continues to be the racial disparity with the church and beyond, our work now extends to a broader context - nationalism, homophobia, disability awareness, gender bias - because we know that all oppression is connected, and therefore cannot be dismantled in isolation. 

Dear Broadway Family,

(Trigger warning - the first paragraph is about church and homosexuality. Feel free to skip this paragraph, if this might be difficult for you)

 This Sunday will be the first Sunday of May and the beginning of Asian Heritage Month. Asia is a huge continent with many countries and cultures- reflecting also in the 22 million people that identify as Asian American in the United States. According to pew research, the people identified as Asian Americans in the US come from more than 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, each with unique histories, cultures, languages and other characteristics. A few facts about Asian Americans: