In light of last week’s shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, the Mosaic Diversity Workgroup of the Presbytery of Denver invites all to pray for healing.
As we grieve and lament as a nation, we are reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s sermon title, “Where do we go from here?” “When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice”. (Sermon: “Where do we go from here?”- delivered at the 11th Annual SCLC Convention, Atlanta, GA, August 16, 1967).
Where do we go from here, really? When we face the myriad of problems in our country, especially racial profiling, gun violence, mental health, fear, and race hatred of those who are different. We need to cry out with the prophet “How long, O Lord, must I cry for help…?” It is a time for lament. Yet our Brief Statement of Faith encourages us “to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask the idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and work with others for justice, freedom and peace” (A Brief Statement of Faith, 67-71). We can do this and we must because we need God’s healing in our midst.
“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21b).
Olivia Hudson Smith, Co-moderator of Mosaic Diversity Workgroup
David Chai, Co-moderator of Mosaic Diversity Workgroup
William Sanders
Joe Mares
Darryll Young
Neil Berry
Amy Mendez