A Letter from Lindy Nov 5
Beloved Pilgrims,
Well gosh, I’m back in the office, but confessionally, my work muscles are hurting after a travel-filled October. I am grateful, nonetheless, to be back in the embrace of beloved community. So much for us to hold together. I would not want to do so with anyone else.
A few opportunities to help shape the contours of how we might think, process, speak about the unbearable human crisis and tragedy in Palestine/Israel, the shards of pain manifesting into hate and violence toward our Jewish and Muslim siblings across our globe. David Brooks calls the current times “brutalizing,” for which I concur, as he observes the avalanche of negative emotions he sees everywhere: “shock, pain, contempt, anger, anxiety, fear,”--with which people are trying to cope. Such hard stuff all around us. I pray we find ways to shine God’s light of shalom, if yet we know how. For me, one step I will take is to participate in forums that create space to listen to those who have more experience, knowledge and wisdom than me that might help shape my words and actions.
Two such forums will be held over the next two weeks. Monday and Tuesday, Duke Sanford Polis: Center for Politics will be hosting a conference on Combating Hate and Bias, facilitated by Abdullah Antepli, Associate Vice President / Associate Vice Provost for Community and Engaged Research and Teaching, Associate Professor of the Practice, Public Policy, who was also one of the organizers of my recent trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He has extended an invitation to our community to step more deeply into this subject, his life’s work. If this critical conversation fits within the demands of your week, I invite you to join me.
On Tuesday, November 14, a second forum by my Durham colleagues who traveled with me to DC in September as a precursor to a larger event in the coming months with the Museum team themselves. This evening will be reflections on what we experienced in the hope of broadening our call to combat the insidious tendrils of anti-Semitism in Durham and beyond. All the more necessary this work in the shadow of the Israel/Hamas war. I hope you will join me at St. Joseph AME Church.
From global to local–mark your calendars for two opportunities to bless all God’s creatures great and small. Perhaps in recognizing and blessing, we take a step. First, SONAM is hosting a concert Saturday, November 11 as you have no doubt seen from the wonderful signage around the campus. We will also be blessing the service animals (and their handlers) for whom this concert’s proceeds will be directed. With that knowledge, we postponed Pilgrim’s Pet Blessing Sunday from October to November to tie these two events together–a weekend of animals, what could bring more joy?! And truthfully, also because the thought of our sanctuary filled with our beloved creatures without your pastor being present was not something I could bear.
Much to hold. Much to process. Much to invest yourselves in. I pray you will. I hope to see you Sunday. Remember to “fall back” before you retire Saturday evening. If not, Ali may recruit you to sing ;)
light and love,
Pastor Lindy (she/her) why pronouns matter
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