Racial Justice Mission Team

In this time of challenge and reckoning, the light of Christ is shining through the sins of the generations, revealing how white privilege has colluded with, chosen to ignore, or refused to see the sin of systemic racism in our midst. As Christians, we are called to open our eyes, and open wide our hearts to Black communities and all people of color who continue to be oppressed by our nation’s original sin – racism.

The veneration and idolatry of whiteness and white power creates degradation, enslavement, oppression, and racial violence that grievously injures Black and Brown people and diminishes the humanity of white people who commit both the interpersonal and structural violence that sustain racism.

The Holy Spirit is moving through this land in the voices and hearts of those challenging the status quo of hundreds of years of racial and economic injustice and who are calling for real, concrete change. The former PSEC sought to answer this call to work for racial justice and create a culture of anti-racism within our churches and our communities by
(1) facing and embracing our collective past,
(2) opening our eyes, minds and hearts to the present racial suffering and injustice, and
(3) repenting and turning our hearts once again to our loving God who creates all of humanity in the divine image. This intergenerational sin can end with us as we work toward creating a culture of anti-racism and repair.

To this end, PSEC’s Zachariah Walker Racial Justice Initiative seeks to offer ways that churches can stand in support of our Black members, neighbors, and friends. We have and will continue to educate ourselves about the terrorism of white power and the violence of systemic racism and turn our hearts to action and prayer. The Zachariah Walker Racial Justice Initiative will continue to seek ways to share historical information, educational resources, and worship suggestions that follow the liturgical calendar.

Past events and resources:

• An Interfaith service of repentance and a sacred remembering of Zachariah Walker and the many people of color murdered by acts of racial violence in the United States.
• Commemorative Service for the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington
• Book Studies including:
  • How to be an Anti-Racist, Ibram X Kendi
  • The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee
  • Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
  • Trouble I’ve Seen, and Who Will Be a Witness, Drew G I Hart
  • Four Hundred Souls, ed. by Ibram X Kendi
    ….and many more
• Many witnessing events at episodes of discrimination and displays of racism in our surrounding communities.
• Prepared liturgies and shared stories and commemoration ideas across the liturgical years.

Jesus told his followers to “…love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Loving our neighbor takes courage, commitment, and action. We hope that you will join the work of the Zachariah Walker Racial Justice Initiative in rekindling the fire for this work across the Keystone Conference by joining together in the work for racial justice as we remember the words of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his message to the wider church: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

The time is now to raise our voices for good, and together, commit and hold ourselves accountable to create a culture of anti-racism, and do the hard work of racial justice. May we, too, dream dreams of racial equity, and together, through our work in Christ, let us make these dreams a reality.

Are you ready to join together? Reach out as we reconvene in the coming year by contacting co-chairs the Rev Ann-Therese Ortiz ([email protected]) or Liz Brunton ([email protected])