Alka's Angle

Some of you may watch the HBO reality show “We’re Here” and seen the episode in season 2 in which Rev. Craig Duke, a United Methodist clergy from Evansville, Indiana, participated. Rev. Duke accepted the invitation to be in the show “because,” he said, “I wanted to empathize, not just sympathize with LGBTQ people in my community and to express support for my daughter, who recently came out as pansexual.” The show aired on November 8th and even though Craig knew that not everyone will understand or support his decision, he did not think it would cost him his job.

Two days ago President Biden marked the beginning of AIDS Awareness month by sharing a new national HIV/AIDS strategy with the goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030, in the United States. Hoping this response will be truly equitable, he committed to making sure that resources for HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment “will be available to everyone regardless of race, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability.”

We have entered the last week of the liturgical calendar, which means next Sunday we enter the Advent season -- the season of waiting and preparation, season for introspection and renewal. So, before we enter that season, I want to share all that I am grateful for in this past year:

I am sure many of you were paying attention to and perhaps even praying for 41 years old Julius Jones, who was on death row, expected to be executed yesterday, but just a few hours before that Kevin Stitt, the governor of Oklahoma commuted his death sentence, reducing the sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Jones has received the death sentence for the 1999 shooting death of Paul Howell in OK but Jones has maintained his innocence.

You may or may not have known that the Bishops of the Northcentral Jurisdiction called for a virtual special session of the Jurisdictional Conference for Nov 10-11, 2021. Because we could not take care of ‘usual’ business without General Conference meeting first, we had the opportunity to do something different. As a result we engaged in honest conversation about the future of the Jurisdiction, and covenanted to work towards ‘becoming beloved community’ by committing to the work of anti-racism. The whole covenant is framed around our baptismal covenant.