About a year ago now, I wrote an article about how United Methodists are called to stand against racism. We, as a church, are about to begin this important journey. Some of you claim that you as individuals or as a church have no part in the cycle that is racism. While we may not be overtly racist, moments of silence while injustice occurs in our very community, to our own church members, means that we have participated. Heck, if you walk out the main church doors, stand on the top step, and turn toward the right, you can see the cross that sat on the steeple of the old “black church.”

How does this not pertain to St. Paul’s in Bay Head? How does this not pertain to all our lives?

This Sunday, we will join with Rev. Kate Monahan as we begin our Discovery worship series. Over the next 3 weeks, we will have opportunities to explore what culture and racism actually are. We will have opportunities to have conversations about what our own personal culture is and how it impacts the world as we see it. We will have the opportunity to explore and define racism and how we have experienced it. And we will do all of this while exploring scripture and remembering who we are, and whose we are as beloved, cherished, chosen, forgiven people of God.

For now though, I want to take a step back in time to February 4th of 2022 as we remember why this conversation is important:

“Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?” ~ United Methodist Baptismal Covenant I
I pray these words are familiar to you as these words are a part of the Baptismal Covenant we make with God and the community either for ourselves as we reaffirm our faith, are baptized at an older age, confirmed, or on behalf of others in the baptism of a child. As the United States begins to celebrate Black or African-American History Month this week, I want to share with you the importance of this statement.
Did you know that despite John Wesley’s strong adversity to slavery and racism, our denomination has a history of institutional segregation and racism? He was known for speaking against slavery, baptizing “negros,” and licensing black preachers. One of Wesley’s final letters was one of encouragement for William Wilberforce, an anti-slavery crusader in the Americas.
But three years after his death in 1791, segregation within Methodist Churches has become so oppressive that black Methodists begin to walk out of their churches and form new communities. In 1939, multiple bi-racial Methodist Church denominations combined and created a Central Jurisdiction, an institutional form of segregation, for black churches, preachers, and bishops. It wasn’t until 1956 when the General Conference began to allow churches to transfer out of the Central Jurisdiction and into regional Jurisdictions. And even then, it wasn’t until 1968 that the Central Jurisdiction was formally abolished as The United Methodist Church was formed. Since then, a series of firsts for African-American clergy and laity have occurred within the church and The United Methodist Church has declared that racism is a sin.
You may be thinking, “Okay Pastor, I’m not a racist so what does this have to do with me?”
It goes back to our Baptismal or Reaffirmation of Faith vows, which many of you have taken in the last year through the celebration of baptisms in our community- “Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?”
If you’ve said “I do” to this statement, if you’ve said:
“With God's help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ. We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their trust of God, and be found faithful in their service to others. We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life…Through baptism you are incorporated by the Holy Spirit into God's new creation and made to share in Christ's royal priesthood. We are all one in Christ Jesus. With joy and thanksgiving we welcome you as members of the family of Christ.”
~ United Methodist Baptismal Covenant I
… then you have committed to ensuring that every single person has the opportunity to live fully into who God has created them to be as a Child of God. You have taken on the responsibility to love others by standing up and speaking out when you do see someone who is actively working against those who have been pushed to the margins of our society.
This is not a call for everyone one of us to head up a unit of an anti-racism campaign. It’s a call for us to live into “challenging unjust systems of power and access…work[ing] for equal and equitable opportunities in employment and promotion, education and training; in voting, access to public accommodations, and housing; to credit, loans, venture capital, and insurance; to positions of leadership and power in all elements of our life together; and to full participation in the Church and society.” (https://www.umc.org/en/how-we-serve/advocating-for-justice/racial-justice/united-against-racism)
It's not easy. And everyone will do it differently than the person next to them. But friends, if we are to truly love our neighbors, then we are called to engage in this important work.

Blessings friends,
Pastor Nicole

For additional information check out these links:
https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-does-the-united-methodist-church-say-about-racism
https://www.resourceumc.org/agencies/communications/church-and-conference-resources/dismantling-racism-campaign
https://www.umc.org/en/content/timeline-methodism-in-black-and-white
https://www.umc.org/en/content/dismantling-racism-town-hall