On this Martin Luther King Day, I find two items – one urgent and one important – occupy my thoughts.
I'm Black
The front cover of the new book “I’m Black. I’m Christian. I’m Methodist,” a collection of essays about the experiences of Black United Methodists. Photo courtesy of Abingdon Press. The Rev. Rudy Rasmus edited and wrote an essay for the book.
Urgent: I hope many United Methodists will tune in at 3 p.m. EST Jan. 19 to watch the livestream of a panel of writers who contributed to the new book, “I’m Black. I’m Christian. I’m Methodist.” M. Garlinda Burton, interim executive of the General Commission on Religion and Race, will moderate what promises to be a robust discussion of institutional racism in The United Methodist Church. Featured will be several of the book’s ten writers and its editor, the Rev. Rudy Rasmus of St. John’s UMC in Houston.
An announcement from Religion and Race says:
“In the book, ten Black women and men explore life through the lens of compelling, personal accounts. They are leaders whose lives are tangible demonstrations of the power of a divine purpose and evidence of what grace really means in the face of hardship, disappointment, and determination.
“This conversation will include topics such as:
- What Has Racism Cost the Church?
- Intersections of Race, Gender, and LGBTQIA+ Identity
- Ministry and Racism”
Important: I’m consistently struck by a sense of cynical irony when a study report emerges, often with statistical analysis, that confirms something we church folk have known empirically from the get-go.
Last week, Columbia Journalism Review’s On the Media column noted: On Jan. 14, “the Justice Department’s inspector general published a report on the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their families at the border. Afterward, Rod Rosenstein, the former deputy attorney general who oversaw the policy, said that it ‘should have never been proposed or implemented.’”
The New York Times article goes on to say that the policy was pushed by United Methodist layman Jeff Sessions, who was Donald Trump’s attorney general at the time. The article says: “During a meeting with Mr. Sessions on May 11, 2018, the attorney general told the prosecutors, ‘we need to take away children,’ according to the notes. Moments later, he described Mr. Trump as ‘very intense, very focused’ on the issue, according to one person taking notes at the meeting.”
The inspector general’s report brings small consolation to a group of United Methodists who attempted at the time to file a church “chargeable offense” against Sessions for immorality in carrying out that policy that separated some 3,000 immigrant children from their families. The effort to hold Sessions accountable was quashed by church authorities.
To his credit, President-elect Joe Biden has promised to create a task force to help reunite children who are still separated from their parents. Yet who can give back to those children and their families the years that forced separation took from them? How much psychological and emotional damage has been inflicted on children and youths held in detention for the past 2-1/2 years? And who will aid in their healing, if any healing can be had from such horror?
All of us should hang our heads in shame that Jeff Sessions, the chief enforcer of such a heinous policy as family separation, is associated with The United Methodist Church. Our shame is even greater that few of us United Methodists made any concerted effort to get the family separation policy overturned and free those children from their imprisonment. If you or your congregation had any success in freeing immigrant children and reuniting families, please send me your stories.
Getting our heads around COVID-19 devastation
Over the MLK holiday weekend, my husband and I managed to register with the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services to get coronavirus vaccinations. We’re in the 1B category, people over age 65 and/or those with chronic conditions that make them more susceptible to the virus.
During the same week, the United States hit more coronavirus pandemic milestones: 4,000 new infections in a single day, and more than 350,00 deaths. Among them was Patrick Matsikenyiri, 65, former director of the Africa University choir and longtime music leader in The United Methodist Church.
Joe Pinkser of The Atlantic magazine has written an article intended to help us get our heads around the true reality of coronavirus devastation in this country. Here are his main points, but be sure to read the entire article to fully understand the situation.
- "On average, each person in the U.S. who has died from COVID-19 was deprived of about 13 years of life.
- "For the first time since World War II, U.S. life expectancy at birth could drop by a full year.
- "About one in 800 Black Americans has died from COVID-19, while one in 1,325 white Americans has.
- "Roughly 3.1 million Americans have lost a close relative to COVID-19.
I related strongly to that last statistic because of its implications. According to a measurement developed by scientists at Penn State University, each person who dies leaves behind an average of nine immediate survivors. Think of it: at this moment, there are more than 27 million Americans grieving the loss of a spouse, parent or child to COVID-19. Yet, as Pinsker notes: “This multiplier, however, doesn’t include extended family members, stepparents and stepchildren, long-term cohabiting partners, adopted family members, or friends. This means that the number of people who have lost someone close to them is larger still.”
As we’ve noted before, this heavy weight of grief is compounded by the fact that we’ve been unable to comfort one another in person because of the need for physical distancing to avoid coronavirus infection. We’re doing the best we can in this area, but as a famous anecdote says, we need “God with skin on” to process our grief in the healthiest way. We all long for the day when we can gather safely again in our churches, but that day is still many months in the future.
Media Mentions as of Jan. 18, 2021
Pandemic adds priority at church food pantries – Elizabethtown (KY) News Enterprise
Can spiritual directors help in these times? – Arkansas Online
Ahead of inauguration, faith leaders urge devotees in state capitols to take precautions – Religion News Service
Finding Faith as an addict: How a former Latter-day Saint found love and acceptance as a Methodist – East Idaho News
Unity for its own sake not enough to bring us together – Bryan-College Station Eagle
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.