Our daughter had an essay due on a book assigned at school. At 9 p.m., she sat in front of her computer starting at the blank screen. I assumed she had procrastinated. “You have known this would be due tomorrow. It’s 9 p.m.” And with what I thought was a great offer of patient generosity,… Continue Reading→
Day 2: Carolyn Sims
But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Luke 18:16 When I was seven years old, I was sitting in the basement of a J.C. Penney’s store, waiting for my turn to… Continue Reading→
Day 3: Gilbert Owens
As a convicted felon, it has been difficult for me to find a job commensurate with my education and work experience. One of the jobs I had was working at a cucumber processing plant in Roseboro for minimum wage. My foreman at the plant was an elderly white Christian man who I thought was arrogant… Continue Reading→
Day 4: Sung Moy
I can relate to my African American brothers and sisters with regard to racism, because I too have been on the end of experiencing violence and abuse because of race. As a child in the 70’s, I grew up in a rural community in New York. I always felt like a freak because other children… Continue Reading→
Day 5: Tom Hallberg
The first thing I noticed upon being in Zimbabwe for a few hours was my jetlag. The second thing I noticed was that despite what I was told before going, though they speak English, most Zimbabweans do slip back into their native tongue – one that I could recognize a few words. The third thing… Continue Reading→
Day 6: Kathy Swanzey
I was really excited when our family was given the opportunity to use a new friend’s pool membership. Whew! It was so hot that summer. My family was new to the area and we didn’t know many people in the community, but my son had struck up a friendship with “Zeb” (name changed). Zeb was… Continue Reading→
Day 7: Russell Nanney
When told about Jesus, Nathaniel asked Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” We may frown upon Nathaniel for his initial disbelief, but it was actually a fair question. Nazareth was the equivalent of a one-stoplight town. It was the most unlikely of all places for a King. What if someone told you that a… Continue Reading→
Day 8: Tom Greener
At some level, it is hard to say where the line is between expectation and prejudice. You see a white man with a starched shirt, khaki slacks, and short hair and you expect certain things. In so many ways, I am all the things the appearance of a white man with a starched shirt, khaki… Continue Reading→
Day 9: Edie Gleaves
This might come as a shocker, but the truth is, families don’t always get along. Someone has said, “Remember Winston Churchill’s immortal words at the beginning of World War II—‘We shall fight on beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in… Continue Reading→
Day 10: Tuck Taylor
My name is Tuck Taylor, and I am a racist. I do not want to be and I have often denied this to myself, and especially to others. I grew up in rural North Carolina, a white, middle-class, educated, child of the south. My kindergarten class (1969) was the first integrated class in our public… Continue Reading→
Day 11: Gil Wise
In 1996, Promise Keepers hosted a national gathering of pastors to address the segregation of the church and call for a move of reconciliation in the body of Christ. Over 39,000 pastors gathered in Atlanta, the largest gathering of pastors in history at that time. Atlanta teamed with pastors riding in on the transit system… Continue Reading→
Day 12: Terry Hunt
Who I am and how my life has been shaped, because of my cultural upbringing, has always been a challenge and opportunity. I was born and reared in a small community in rural North Carolina. I am an American Indian, from the Lumbee tribe, the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River, with approximately 65,000… Continue Reading→
Day 13: Jin Lee
As an immigrant, I can remember many experiences where race mattered. Particularly on the Lenten reflection of Sacred Stories: Because Black Lives Matter, I am reminded of a time in eighth grade when racism came at me from multiple angles. I was still struggling to learn English and trying to make new friends in Queens,… Continue Reading→
Day 14: Vickie Woolard
When I was five years old, I went to the Head Start program at our elementary school. We had beautiful classrooms and we learned how to be real students. At lunchtime, we went to the cafeteria and ate lunch with all of the big kids, and then we got on our bus and went home… Continue Reading→
Day 15: Brian Wingo
Issues of social justice are of great importance to me. Considering the recent events of Ferguson, Cleveland, New York, Chapel Hill and Paris, I am reminded of how far we have come and how much further we have to go. As I reflect, I find myself again listening to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a… Continue Reading→
Day 16: Jason Villegas
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come, to You, on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on… Continue Reading→
Day 17: Dennis Sheppard
One year when our pastor was on vacation, I was asked to preach for him. I was in college at the time. I had gone down to the church office to give the secretary my scripture and sermon title. As I was coming out of the church office, I ran into Boston Burke, the church… Continue Reading→
Day 18: Donna Banks
Many of you may not know that I grew up in the Alabama-West Florida Conference. I was born in Mobile, Alabama and my family moved to Pensacola, Florida the summer before my freshman year in high school. I attended Booker T. Washington High School, the preeminent Africa-American high school in Pensacola. It was the ‘70’s… Continue Reading→
Day 19: Gary Locklear
The Apostle Paul reminds the confused and bickering Ephesians that “they are no longer to be divided and separated into ethnic and social groups. Now that they are in Christ, they are one.” I grew up in a segregated community of Native Americans, African-Americans and Anglos. The community’s racial make-up was about equal among these… Continue Reading→
Day 20: Jessie Larkins
On Ash Wednesday, 2008, my family received a phone call that would turn our lives upside down. There was a 3-day-old African-American boy at the hospital. His mom had left him there, hooked on drugs. The adoption agency was calling from the list of approved parents and asked if we wanted to come receive this… Continue Reading→
Day 21: Leonard Fairley
“But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:31 We all know the adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Growing up as a poverty-stricken African-American male, let me be among the first to say that is absolutely,… Continue Reading→
Day 22: Steve Taylor
Mae Howell, mother, cook, servant. Mae Howell, the ample woman who moved through my grandmother’s home, transforming the environment, bringing order and cleanliness, creating those unbelievable smells that would gently tease my nose and cause my stomach to growl – “feed me now.” Mae Howell, African-American, black, that dignified “colored woman” with whom I would… Continue Reading→
Day 23: Joyce Day
I never thought much about racial differences as a child and young adult. I do remember being surprised that my parents felt it was inappropriate for me, a little white girl, to ask Santa Claus for a black baby doll. I, therefore, did not get one. I knew intellectually that blacks and whites experienced life… Continue Reading→
Day 24: Lib Campbell
When Did I See You? Matthew 25: 31 – 40 My daddy owned a wholesale grocery store in the 1950s and ’60s. He had a three-story warehouse, a couple of trucks, and a handful of employees who stocked the shelves and loaded the trucks. Their names have mostly been forgotten, except for a few who… Continue Reading→
Day 25: Adam Baker
Because I had lived in Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa, in the early 1980’s, I believed for a long time that race wasn’t an issue for me. Even though my family had enjoyed all of the benefits afforded to whites under Apartheid and had never openly protested that system of racist oppression, I was convinced… Continue Reading→
Day 26: Bill Haddock
The Day Daddy Stood Up for Leslie Leslie was one of Granddaddy’s sharecroppers. Leslie, his wife Chris, and his sister, Lil’ Sis, lived near Great-Grandaddy’s house up a sandy lane. They lived off the land and they were kept poor. Chris and Lil’ Sis were quite often around our house when we were growing up. Chris… Continue Reading→
Day 27: Won Namkoong
“I am a recovering racist!” The Reverend Laura Early said to us during our meeting with Bishop Hope Morgan Ward. Her confession caught my attention in the middle of serious church business. She continued, “Growing up and living most of my life where people were defined by color and outward appearance shaped many of my… Continue Reading→
Day 28: Julia Alliger
For I see your face as one sees the face of God… Genesis 33:10 We were walking across the parking lot of the old Hillsborough Walmart, excited (I thought) about a shopping trip. My eight-year-old niece clutched my hand a little tighter. “I wish I was white.” My stomach churned. This was not the conversation… Continue Reading→
Day 29: Bob de Andrade
A first-generation son of a Brazilian immigrant and a Michigan-born wife, I was brought up to be color-blind. But, in the 1960’s if you were that way, others were quick to point out your ignorance. I felt the first stings of racism at the age of nine. When a black youth, who visited our all-white neighborhood… Continue Reading→
Day 30: Mary Ellen Bender
I grew up in a small town in New Jersey, with almost no exposure to other races and cultures. When I was 12, my mother got a job with the Women’s Division of the Methodist Church. Through her, I met women of many races and cultures and heard about discrimination. In 1956, I traveled to… Continue Reading→
Day 31: Darlene Jacobs
I grew up in a Native American community in Robeson County, which holds a rich heritage and wonderful legacy. Even though the county has had a history of racial, social, and educational struggles, we were taught to be proud as Lumbee people. Two of the core values and cornerstones held by our forefathers were religion and… Continue Reading→
Day 32: Adam Seate
My friend Ken is currently incarcerated, serving a sentence of 20 months. Ken became my friend through the ministry of Celebrate Recovery, and from there, Ken eventually became an active member of the church. When Ken received his sentence for the crimes that he committed before I got to know him, I was brokenhearted. My… Continue Reading→
Day 33: Kelly Barr
I am guilty, I am the Pharisee. For years, I sat smugly in my pride, assured that I was not a racist. I tried always to judge men, as Dr. King suggested, by the “content of their character rather than the color of their skin.” Growing up in the Deep South, I was surrounded by… Continue Reading→
Day 34: Christi Dye
The moment I began to be most profoundly aware of how deeply race matters came somewhat late in life. I was 31. It’s ironic that having grown up in Mississippi and North Carolina, this moment came halfway across the world, in a hotel room in South Africa, in a reflection time among a group of Divinity… Continue Reading→
Day 35: Laura Early
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not… Continue Reading→
Day 36: Marilyn Boyce
I was 14 years old in 1958, living in a rural, very closed, small town in South Carolina. I had a driver’s license because children that age were allowed to have them at that time. Segregation and Jim Crow reigned, but in my tiny world, I didn’t know those words…I just knew that blacks and… Continue Reading→
Day 37: Suzanne Cobb
In April 2005, I went to Zimbabwe, Africa with ZOE. Our team had a different challenge than the previous teams. We were asked to create a camp similar to one of the Conference youth events for a group of orphans from within the program. We planned for worship, music, crafts and fun. I met Tatenda… Continue Reading→
Day 38: Rebecca Gregson
Even though raised in a Midwestern, mostly Caucasian neighborhood, I wasn’t aware there was any difference between white people and black people. I didn’t know such a word as race existed. I knew one of my neighbors couldn’t come over for supper on Friday because she didn’t eat meat on Friday. My other friend ate… Continue Reading→
Day 39: JD Quinitchette
I think about how I learned firsthand the impact of anti-Semitism. I grew up on eastern Long Island in the 1970’s, and I went to school with Jewish children who were still fleeing persecution in Poland, Germany, Greece, and other European nations. Anna Stremsky was one of them. I remember the day she came to… Continue Reading→
Day 40: Bishop Hope Morgan Ward
From What Is … To What Will Be We formed a partnership – two churches, one African-American and one Caucasian in membership. I commented to my sister pastor, Linda Harris, that it was a good thing. She responded, “Yes! We do not want to be surprised when we get to heaven and see who is… Continue Reading→