Dear United Methodist friends,
Today, Monday, June 1, 2020, we join an expansive Day of Lament as we remember 100,000 persons who have died as a result of COVID-19 and as we remember the violent murders of Black persons, most recently Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.
In these days of anxiety, grief, violence and fear, let us hear afresh the first verses of the Bible, appointed for Sunday, June 7.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,
and the earth was without form, and void. . .
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good. . .
Thus begins the story of creation and God’s repeated assurance of the goodness of all that God made. This goodness is God’s intent for every person in the human family. This goodness remains our calling and our destiny in Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.
We must be brave to walk in the light, the beautiful light of Christ. This beautiful light will lay bare the reality of white socialization to blindness of white privilege. This beautiful light will open to all the tragic history of enslavement and racism. This beautiful light will evoke repentance and the fruits of repentance – the dismantling of prejudiced, unjust systems. This beautiful light will reveal all people as a human family deserving of respect, safety and all that promotes wellbeing.
Today, we lament every place of resistance and denial of God’s powerful light. And then, we invite the beautiful light into every place of sickness, loss, grief, violence and pain.
Walk in the light, beautiful light,
Come where the dewdrops of mercy shine bright.
Shine all around us by day and by night,
Jesus, the Light of the World.*
With gratitude for your partnership in ministry,
*from Jesus, the Light of the World, No. 3056, Worship & Song