Letter from Lindy Sept 6

Good morning Pilgrims,
 
Along with a few of our fellow Pilgrims, I have spent the last two days doing a deep dive with the Racial Equity Institute's (REI) Anti-Racism Training (part 1)  through OAR (Organizing Against Racism). It has been a summer of such conversations for your pastor: from the Southern Conference, to the UCC general church to the Kaleidoscope Institute to this. My growing edge expands with each.
 
This training, which if I remember correctly, we signed up for last fall, was to have taken place in June. And well, COVID upended everyone's in-person plans. After a few months to shift their efforts to Zoom, a group of 40 gathered to engage under the careful direction of learned and thoughtful facilitators. That being said, 8 hours per day for 2 days is a lot of Zoom!
 
Our group spanned the spectrum of experience from corporate to education to nonprofit which brought richness to our conversation. Coincidentally, I was the only clergy person. There was also racial diversity within the group which further expanded our edges.
 
I was grateful to see, though, that this training is quite similar to the anti-racism work I do as part of my standing as clergy within the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ. The exception being that my denominationally mandated training brings the added complexity of scripture and church history into the conversation to better understand their role in contributing to the racist fabric of our culture.
 
The hope of this certification is that we clergy come to understand the necessity of ongoing engagement in this work within the church for the followers of Jesus to be active participants in dismantling the current and currency of white supremacy that undergirds the institutional and legal foundation of our country. It is also my hope for us here at Pilgrim to not only do the good work we are currently doing, but to also some day join in this training together as beloved community.
 
The understanding behind the requirement for this training every three years, similar to clergy ethics certification, is that this conversation, this work, is ongoing. There is always something more to learn. (The very definition of being a disciple :) The invitation is to expand the scope of our problem solving wheel beyond awareness to action, but to include within the two: information gathering that moves to analysis that shapes our visioning and strategic planning that then defines our action so that what we create is not a house built on sand.
 
I heard the very same invitation at the conclusion of Thursday's session when the facilitators encouraged us to finding a landing spot within OAR's caucus gatherings. And. And. To come back to session 1 training, rather than jump too quickly to Part 2. As the organizers shared, every time they participate, they gain new awareness.
 
Relearning and undoing that brings new awareness. 10 years into my denominational certification has proven this to be true with each and every training.
 
Grace and peace,
Pastor Lindy