AllianceQ

A letter from the Council and EDM of the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance for Pride 2020

A letter from the Council and EDM of the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance for Pride 2020

Marked on our calendars this week are Pentecost and the beginning of Pride. Pentecost lifts up the ways in which we might be filled with the sudden, fiery Spirit of God. Pride month arose with the bold resistance of trans women of color after a violent police raid on the Stonewall Inn in June 1969. This year, Pentecost and Pride are finding definition in the unrest and the uprisings erupting across our country and globe in specific response to the murder of George Floyd and in broad response to police violence against black and brown people as well as centuries of racist violence and oppression. The Spirit of God is pouring herself out, driving us to cry for wholeness, knowing that “no one is free until we are all free.” [1]

As the leadership of the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance, we are committed to the work of inclusivity and justice for all people on all fronts. This means we are committed to being a pro-reconciliation, anti-racism ministry. As our General Minister and President Rev. Terri Hord Owens said in a video address on Friday, this means “we must choose every day to be who we say we are. That means not only standing up, but speaking up and acting in solidarity without fear.”[2]

We lament the death of George Floyd and all others murdered by law enforcement in our country. We support those demonstrating against these and against police violence in our country. We, like Rev. Dr. William Barber, “thank God [that] people are in the streets refusing to accept what had been normal for too long.”[3]

We recognize that America’s original sin of racism is something for which we must continue to repent. We repent of the ways in which we benefit from and perpetuate white supremacy. We acknowledge and seek to grow from the ways we have tokenized or minimized the concerns of our black siblings and other siblings of color. As we speak up and stand out against the racism and violence we see clearly in this moment, we recognize the importance of sustained work in the future and are committed to the ongoing work of learning, repenting, and growing in our work of anti-racism.

The Spirit of God does not move in isolation; when she stirs us and falls upon us, she invites us to gather together as one that we might be anointed to set the oppressed free. We are committed to continue this work along with all of you, growing together into the whole people God desires us to be. We are committed to dismantling systemic racism and the schemes of injustice in the world.

We are a people of Word and Rite. How do our words make a difference? How do we move from words to action? Pastors and preachers—with and without the titles!—are penning prayers, laments, confessions. Those are among our rituals; what practices and actions do the transforming? With justice ministries and organizational partners, AllianceQ is assembling liturgical resources alongside ways to take action and demand justice. Access the collective strategies on our website and contribute to ongoing, active antiracist work. Visit this resource and action page.

Claiming and seeking to follow the Spirit AND embodying the all-inclusive just love of Jesus with God’s power and peace,

The Council and Executive Director + Minister of the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance

[1] Martin Luther King, Jr., (1963), https://mlkglobal.org/

[2]https://www.facebook.com/terrihordowens/videos/245086473418034/UzpfSTYxMTQxMTEyNTozMDYwNjExMjk0OTk0MTQ6MTA6MDoxNTkzNTg2Nzk5OjI2MTA5OTQwNjA3NTU0MjA1NDE/

[3] https://indyweek.com/news/northcarolina/rev-barber-praises-george-floyd-protests-criticizes-trump-an/