Racial Equity Initiative: 2023 Goals
Racial Equity Initiative Team • June 16, 2023
The REI Planning Team has set our goals for 2023. We will continue to pursue some of our goals from 2022, but we also added a new goal related to reparations for African Americans. We will study and educate the Calvary community about both the state and local Task Force recommendations for reparations, which are due to be published at the end of June. We will advocate for various forms of reparations as we move through the year, and look forward to engaging the Calvary community as well as the community outside our walls in discussions about reparations.
2023 Calvary REI Goals:
- Improve and increase communications and publicity about REI and community events.
- Continue to learn and educate the community about the history of systemic racism and the skills to dismantle its effects in our church and society, and within ourselves.
- Form strong alliances with the SF Black & Jewish Unity Coalition and the Presbytery of SF West Bay Area Antiracism Group.
- Explore, educate about, and advocate for reparations for African Americans at the church, local, state, and federal levels.
At the start of Lent, the children 'buried' an alleluia in worship. We put the word away during a season. On Easter, we bring it back.
On the first Easter morning, the women went to the tomb, assuming their alleluias were going to stay buried forever. Their rabbi was dead. Their hopes and dreams, buried with him.
An encounter with the angels in the empty tomb makes them reconsider what they thought they knew of death, of endings.
Maybe you've buried a lot of your hopes and dreams recently too. What might the Easter story have to say to us anew this year?
Calvary's 7am Easter Service
As Jesus enters Jerusalem, he is greeted by raucous crowds. It is a celebration of him. It is also a counter protest to Rome. The crowds have gathered and are crying out "hosanna", which means "save us".
Save us from injustice. Save us from cruelty. Save us from crushing poverty.
Jesus does not silence the crowds. And he responds to their cries by weeping over Jerusalem and by turning over tables in the Temple.
It is easy these days to say who we are against. Maybe it has always been easy to do so.
What is harder is to create space for people to change their minds, change their views, change their behavior.
As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he stops in Jericho and accepts an invitation to eat at the home of someone who society wanted to cancel.
How can the story of Zacchaeus help us give space for each other?
The Good Shepherd calls home all of the sheep, even "those" sheep. No matter how far you've wandered, no matter who has tried to separate you from God's fold, Jesus is waiting. It's time for a homecoming.
Jesus continues his journey to Jerusalem and his disciples ask him a question as they walk. They want him to answer the questions we always want God to answer for us too—why do bad things happen to good people?
Join us as we consider Jesus' answer to the question.
The story of Mary and Martha is often painted as a story where one does right and one does wrong. We know, however, that life is often more complicated than that.
We know that faith is embodied through being present and taking action—and everything in between. Join us on this second Sunday in Lent as we consider, how can we live along the spectrum of faith and works.
The 2024 Annual Report
In today's scripture reading, someone asks Jesus who, exactly, qualifies as a neighbor. Jesus tells the story of a person found half dead on the side of the road, but seen by at least one passerby as half alive, a neighbor worthy of care. Join us as we consider the question for today's world.
Stay woke! Or we might miss the glory of God (at least according to Luke's gospel). The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record the story of Jesus's transfiguration on the mountaintop. But only Luke records that the disciples witnessed this amazing transformation because they had stayed awake. In a time when we are tired and overwhelmed with exhausting news, how can we stay awake to witness what God is doing in the world and in our lives?