Hello Beloved!

To state the obvious: we are living through history. And it’s hard to make sense of history while it is happening. Through my whole young adulthood in the 90s as a passionate, frustrated would-be activist without many demonstrations to go to, I wondered what it was like to be alive during the civil rights movement. Now I know: it’s very confusing. 

One of author Glennon Doyle’s young daughters once asked her if they would have been marching during the antiracism movement of the 60s. Before she could formulate a response, her other daughter answered, “No, Amma. We wouldn’t have been marching with them back then. I mean, we’re not marching now.”

Glennon goes on to say, “The greatest indicator of whether we’d have marched or stayed home, spoken out or remained silent, been brave or safe in the last civil right movement is whether we’re marching, speaking up, and being brave in THIS civil rights movement. Who you are is not about what you believe or how you feel. Who you are is about what you do or do not do.”

Probably the most common refrain I hear from the white people in my life right now is: “I just feel so helpless. What can I do?” 

It is hard to know how best to apply our time, money and emotional or physical energy, especially if we are short on any one of those things in the middle of a pandemic. What if we have limitations: mobility, mental health, immune system, and can’t protest? What if we are just too overwhelmed already to think about “taking on” one more thing? And the thing white folks often fear above all, pandemic or no: what if I humiliate myself, or accidentally do more harm?

The short answer is: there are so many things you can do no matter what your limitations or fears, and they are probably easier than you think. Moreover: lives literally depend upon us doing this holy work. Here, to start, is a very short list of some simple places to start: 

1. Talk to the other white people in your life about racism, particularly those who think differently from you. There is no shortage of great resources these days (memes, videos, movies, books, articles) to give you fodder for dialogue and help you keep the conversation productive (see a very short curated list below). Talk to your parents, your children, your neighbors (NextDoor, I’m looking at you!) and that one uncle in particular. 

2. Money. Give money to bail out protestors, donate to Black-led community initiatives and organizations, and patronize Black-owned businesses (I signed up this week for this CSA in East Oakland). Post your recommendations on social media. Also: tip people of color well. Continue to pay people of color in your employ (housecleaners, etc) who can’t work during the pandemic. And as Paul from the Bible invited us to: give to all who ask, e.g. homeless folks asking for spare change. Know that reparations are a thing we can do, starting individually.

3. Keep educating yourself. We are never done unlearning the racism that we were raised to. The more we know, the more we realize how little we knew before, and as Saint Maya Angelou said, “then when you know better, do better.” There are lot of great reading/watching lists circulating right now. Post your favorite read in the chat during worship or on our private FB group. 

4. Repent now! Come to our next Racists Anonymous meeting, which is back up and running on Zoom. Share the link with friends around the world! Anyone can come now. It’s a chance to come clean, in safe space, about what you are learning about your own blind spots and behaviors that perpetuate systemic racism. 

5. Advocate. Sign online petitions, and call local and national leaders around specific demands (defunding police departments, holding individual officers responsible for use of unnecessary force). 

6. Commit to not calling the police on people of color. In many nonviolent situations when white people might call the cops for help, it ends in trauma or tragedy for all the people of color involved. 

7. In fact, police the police: if you see police have stopped a person of color, stop whatever you are doing and start filming. It is your legal right, and your being a witness may change the police officer’s behavior, or provide important documentary evidence.

8. Check in with the people of color in your life about how they are doing. Text, call, snail mail—but don’t badger if they don’t reply. Different people need different things right now, and don’t take it personally if they don’t want to talk to a white person about their feelings, or reassure you they are OK. Send them a simple prayer of support. 

9. Pray. Prayer changes things. Really, really pray for an end to systemic racism (and that it may it begin with you). Come to our daylong prayer vigil this Friday and hold sacred space for black lives and all protestors in this time of upheaval.

10. Write it out. While it’s not explicitly about antiracism, I can’t recommend highly enough my friend Rev. Maren Tirabassi as a writing workshop leader and writing coach—and she is going to be with us this Saturday from 10-11:30am! Process your thoughts and feelings, memorialize and catalyze them into something nourishing and constructive. 

11. MARCH. And if you can’t march, there are lots of other ways to support activists: make signs for others to carry. Go to a car caravan. Park yourself on a sidestreet of a protest and hand out snacks and bottled water, and cheer through your mask. 

My beloved white siblings: if systemic racism is going to end, we must be the ones to end it. Can you commit to doing just two of the items above this week? And tell one other person you did them, and perhaps inspire them to do the same? And can we keep this flame of longing for racial justice burning until all are truly free? 

See you in worship this Sunday. Rev. Maren Tirabassi is preaching (did I mention you should come to her workshop on Saturday? You’ll be glad you did), we will sing the African-American National Anthem led by Kara Korbel-Chinula and other moving music, offer appreciation to this year’s Sunday school teachers and youth ministry mentors, and more. Most importantly, we’ll be a living embodiment of the Kin-dom God longs for and offers us, heaven here and now.

Christlove,
Molly

A very incomplete list of anti-racism resources for yourself and others: 

Scaffolding anti-racist learning
Medium’s Anti Racism resources
Sesame Street Town Hall on Racism
Dear White People: what we want you to do
Anti-Racism workshop with Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis of Middle Collegiate
75 Things white people can do for racial justice
White Women’s Toxic Tears with Lisa Sharon Harper and Jen Hatmaker
Bystander Intervention Training
Your kids aren’t too young to talk about race resource roundup

Blue Fire Vote Results!

Our Church Clerk Janet McDonald with help from Blue Fire team members will be counting the ballots for the rebuilding plan this Saturday, June 6. The Blue Fire Team together with Moderator Julie Greer and Clerk Janet will deliver the results during worship on Sunday morning. Exciting times!

• Prayers for Emma S’s father Scott who’s had a cancer recurrence.
• Prayers for Carmelle Knudsen who is having hip replacement surgery Mon., June 8.
• Prayers for Bob Russell who is having knee surgery Tues., June 9.
• Prayers for Dane Isaac who is dealing with a recent job loss.
• Prayers for Jim Coates and family in the death of his beloved aunt, Lesley Alexander, who died May 27 at the age of 94 in Santa Barbara.
• Continued prayers for Constance Dixon-Sorogane as she recovers from a broken arm.
• Continued prayers for Seth McNaught as he recovers from knee surgery.
• Continued prayers for Anna Mae Morrish and family as they continue to grieve the loss of Rich Morrish.
• Continued prayers for all those in our community recovering from surgery or illness: Holly Coates-Bash, Susan Aberg, and Alexandra Ellman.
• Prayers for all black and brown people and frontline activists in the struggle for full human rights.
• Prayers for families who are navigating the complexity of childcare options during the pandemic.
• Prayers for all those sick at home or in the hospital, and for the medical professionals and caregivers supporting them.
• Prayers for all those in our community who suffer from depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges who are experiencing an uptick in symptoms during the pandemic.

Molly & Kit's Zoom Office Hours

Kit's Office Hours: Thursdays, June 11 & 25, 3-4 pm. Join here, https://zoom.us/j/942871743, anytime between 3-4 pm. If you prefer to call in from a landline, dial 1 669 900 9128 and enter the meeting ID: 942 871 743. 

Molly's Office Hours: Wednesdays, 5-6 pm. Join here, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/510116139, anytime between 5-6 pm. If you prefer to call in from a landline, dial 1 669 900 9128 and enter the meeting ID: 510 116 139.

While we read Anne of Green Gables,
Lizzie squirms– your foot is hairy.
It’s my spiky leg, I remember my mother’s shins, my mother’s flannel shirt, the golden chain against her collarbone proof that my dad fleetingly thought of her. Anne wants
scope for imagining. A helicopter
drowns us out. I lie, they’re helping
people at the hospital. Tonight,

two protesters will lose an eye.
My neighbors will exhaust themselves
all thinking they’re the one up
keeping watch for arsonists, don’t tread on me, I saw a Jeep, no plates, the text chain goes, and called it in, that was my husband, someone says, I dream of packing a suitcase,
I dream someone protects me with a gun, I bring the kindling in my shed,
I store the lighter fluid back under my sink.