Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 37

Two or Three Gathered in my Name
James Tissot (French, 1836-1902)
(Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
 

Read Ahead:  Mark 16:9-13

In our Easter Season, we are journeying closer to the Ascension of the Lord and the Day of Pentecost. The disciples, both in the Gospel accounts and the Acts of the Apostles, described how they experienced the tremendous works of the Lord, and despite death, saw Christ resurrected and ascended into heaven. Both their joy and their accounts were sometimes expressed with hostility or suspicion, as famously seen in the example of Paul’s persecution of the Christian community before his conversion.

To be a Christian committed to racial justice requires resilience, grace, prayer, and fortitude, especially when people doubt the veracity of our experiences. In this newsletter today, we invite you to pray with your experience and moments where you may have had people question your experience. How might God be calling you to continue to proclaim his message of racial healing and justice in the world today? What will you need to be supported in that work?

I recall my prayer about Jesus’ resurrection over these past few weeks. What feelings of joy did I experience as I saw him risen from the dead? How was I drawn closer to him? Did that make me want to tell others about my experience?

I consider who around me shares the joy of Jesus, and how they support me in my own call to a faith in him who does justice. With which disciples do I resonate with most? Which fellow believers in my own life share my Easter joy this year? Who helps sustain the joy in my life?

They returned and told others; but they did not believe them, either.

I imagine Mary Magdalene tells the disciples what she has seen, but no one responds to her in faith. They doubt her. What does she tell them? How does she feel, knowing that she is doubted by believers? How about the other disciples?

Have I ever told that joy to someone when it was not received well? Discounted? How do I respond? How do the other disciples respond?

I recall my experiences in prayer over the course of this discernment series. Where and in whom have I found support as I learn more about racism and the call of Jesus and the Church? What have I shared with family and friends? Who has understood what I had to say?

When have I had an experience or conversation about race where it did not go well? Who did not believe or understand what I had learned or what I was sharing? How did that feel?

Despite these difficult moments, Jesus continues to encourage us to always live in his love and fulfill his commandments to love one another. I talk with him about my desire to continue to work for racial justice, and I ask him how he dealt with rejection, misunderstanding, or disbelief. I ask him what I can learn from him.

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Has someone in my life not believed my experience of either learning about or experiencing racism? Who helps support me during those times?

Who do I look up to as a role model of resilience?

Looking at the resource around resilience, what ought I practice to cultivate my own racial journey over the long haul?