Our Faith Mandates Our Engagement in All of Society

“A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children.” -The Rev. Raphael Warnock, U.S. Senator

This powerful statement by Senator Warnock reminds us that our faith calls us, requires us, to move beyond the walls of our places of worship, out into the community, advocating for justice, compassion and equity for all. Our faith teaches us of the dignity and sacredness of each human life, and that we are called by Christ to love one another. We live out our faith in the public square.

At our most recent Dismantling Racism Taskforce (DRTF) meeting, Terry Apter shared this prayer from Cole Arthur Riley’s book Black Liturgies titled ‘For Voting’ (formatting added for emphasis).

God of every voice, Motivate us to use our own. 

• We confess that we are taken with the fashionable fatalism of our culture, which leaves us unprepared for the enduring nature of justice work. Help us to have compassion for all the memories that have formed us to feel this present helplessness. 

• Renew our practice of love in community, that civic engagement would feel vital to us. 

• Instill a commitment to local government, elevating the discussion of the common good in our immediate places of belonging. 

• Surround our public leaders with wise counsel and a diversity of voices, that we would not elect leaders of arrogance and unchecked narcissism, however alluring their promises may be. 

• Expose the status desperate, the power hungry, as politicians attempt to influence us to support them. 

• Thwart all attempts at voter suppression, the evil schemes that uniquely target Black people, the overworked, and the elderly. 

• Spur on your people of color to pursue public service. Grant them the courage and resources to challenge officials who have failed at serving with their full humanity. 

• Hold us in our purpose, that we would never become too accustomed to injustice. That we would never become numb to the pain of the world. 

• This vote is only the beginning, but it is a sacred beginning. May it be so.

Last spring, the DRTF initiated a monthly newsletter called Stand Together. Compiled by Emily Grant, this is a monthly list of actions and events for community engagement. (Please contact the church office if you are not receiving this newsletter, but would like to.) This is a powerful resource! With a challenge from the DRTF to “Show Your Love In Public” here are a few key actions from the September issue:

• TUESDAY, SEPT 24 - BELOVED COMMUNITY MARCH. March Starts: 5 PM, Saint Augustine’s Chapel, 1411 Oakwood Ave. Rally Site: 6 PM, MLK Gardens, 1215 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Contact Sarah McCracken Cobb for parking and walking details. More info.

  
  

• TUESDAY, SEPT 24 - AFTER THE RALLY West Raleigh is providing dinner for the large group of bus riders from the Beloved Community who are participating in this important “Long March For Unity and Justice.” If you can attend the Rally, PLEASE plan to return to church and join us for dinner with these committed friends from the Beloved Community Center.

• SUNDAY, SEPT 29 at 9:45 am - HAASIS/FAMILY FAITH CLASS. Devin Ross, Lead Organizer of ONE Wake presenting.

• THURSDAY, OCT 10, 7 - 9 pm - LOCAL NON-PARTISAN CANDIDATE ASSEMBLY. Watts Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, 3703 Tryon Rd, Raleigh, NC 27606. More info.

• SUNDAY, OCT 20, 3 pm - STATE NON-PARTISAN CANDIDATE ASSEMBLY, Sheraton Imperial RDU, 4700 Emperor Blvd, Durham, NC 27703. More info.

Additionally, we believe this Voter Guide from the NC Council of Churches is an excellent tool for understanding the complexities of voting in NC, as well as some of the key issues on the ballot.

Certainly Martin Luther King, Jr., was reflecting on Paul’s letter to the Philippians, when he said,

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (Why We Can't Wait). Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention, speaking about her parents, echoed MLK’s words, “They understood that it wasn’t enough for their kids to thrive if everyone else around us was drowning.”