Reflections
This past Wednesday night I wrapped up the second course of “Sacred Ground” at St.Peter’s, and have now begun to prepare for the offering of this very special experience in Water Valley beginning this August. As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, “Sacred Ground” is a curriculum offered by the Episcopal Church that explores the history of race in this country from a deeply personal and spiritual perspective. Meeting every other week ( mostly) throughout the fall, it is instructive and challenging, but it is understood as a spiritual journey that allows participants, not to be critics of others, but to reflect on their own history and formation. The subtitle of the course is “A Spiritual Journey of Faith and Race”.
A personal story illustrates what I’m talking about:
As most of you know, Kathy and I have a Sudanese daughter who we took into our family while we were living in Jackson. Tabitha was on the cross country track team at her high school, and would often run through our neighborhood for practice. One day a private security guard stopped our daughter, a teenage Black girl, and asked her what she was doing in the (almost exclusively white) neighborhood. When Tabitha told me the story I found the guard and read him the riot act. How dare he make such racist assumptions, I more than implied. I went home feeling quite self-righteous, and believing that I had defended my daughter from the stereotypes projected on to her from local law enforcement. I was raised right. I was a liberal. I knew a racist when I saw one.
That same afternoon two groups of teenage boys from two local high schools came knocking on my door selling magazines for school fundraisers. The first group was from Jackson Academy. I grumbled, inwardly, but bought a subscription. They thanked me and went away happy.
About an hour later another group of teenage boys from Murrah High School came knocking on my door, again trying to sell me magazines. Again, I grumbled, inwardly, but bought another subscription. They, too, thanked me and went away happy.
But these afternoon encounters were different for me, and the difference was instructive- and painful. There was a significantly different internal emotional reaction when I opened the door to a group of white teenage boys from JA, than when I opened the same door an hour later and encountered a group of black teenagers from Murrah.
What caused those different reactions? I had been taught right. I believed all the right things. But something in the air that I had been breathing for almost 60 years( at that point) had shaped me in ways deeper than my cognitive thought.
This course, which I have facilitated for two years, seeks to help me understand that air that I, and we, have been breathing and to understand our reactions. We will be meeting early Wednesday evenings( exact times to be determined later).
I will be offering three introductory/ question and answer sessions later in the summer for anyone who might be interested in taking the course-Sunday, July 30(after church in the Salt and Light building); Wednesday, August 2 (5:30pm in the TIN building); Sunday, August 6 (after church in the Salt and Light building).
I’ll be talking about this throughout the summer, so feel free to ask me questions, offer comments, or tell me I’m crazy.
Other Matters of Interest
Sunday After Worship-Reception for The Rev. Deacon Tina Frizzell
Tina’s ordination last Saturday was a wonderfully meaningful and special moment. To celebrate this important occasion Nativity will be hosing a reception for Tina (and Liz) this Sunday after worship in the Salt and Light building. Plan to join us, and if you are able, please bring food for the reception. Thanks!
Summer Clergy Substitutes
The Reverends Taylor Moore and Christopher Powell, from Oxford and Chicago, respectively, have agreed to help out on Sundays this summer after Ann’s surgery and while she is recovering. Introductions will come later, but I wanted to let you know that we’ve got things covered!
Looking “Fallward”
Our Bible Study on Sundays this Fall will be held 9:15-10:00 in the Salt and Light building. We will meet from September 24 to November 19. We will be studying the Gospel of John.
Free Summer Day Camps-This Is Noteworthy
TIN is offering a series of wonderful day camps for children this summer that are free to all participants. If you know a child who might be interested, please pass on the info. If you would like to be a camp sponsor ($100 for a sponsorship), please see Becca Finley.
Blessings and peace.
See you Sunday!
Duncan
(601)260-1937
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