Eastern Shore Episcopalian - Summer Issue 2018

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Reconciliation by Coming to the Table By Jane Carrigan and Lynda Davis, Co-facilitators of Coming to the Table, Annapolis On May 5, members of the Annapolis branch of Coming to the Table (CTTT) participated in the Diocese of Easton’s Service of Repentance, Reconciliation, and Holy Eucharist at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park Visitor Center in Church Creek, MD. Coming to the Table is a national organization whose mission is to “provide leadership, resources, and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism that is rooted in the United States’ history of slavery.” CTTT was founded by descendants of both enslavers and enslaved people in partnership with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Inspired by the vision of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said in his 1963 March on Washington speech “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.” The vision of Coming to the Table is “of a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial “The approach... involves four interrelated practices: facing and uncovering history, making connections, working toward healing, and taking action.” wounds of the past—from slavery and the many forms of racism it spawned.” The approach for achieving this vision and mission involves four interrelated practices: facing and uncovering history, making connections, working toward healing, and taking action. At the Service of Repentance, Reconciliation, and Holy Eucharist, the CTTT members read an excerpt from James Cone’s book The Cross and the Lynching Tree and then asked the audience members to respond to the following question: “what would you need to understand or have others understand in order that healing and reconciliation can take place?” Bringing people together to discuss such questions based upon their own personal experience is one way that CTTT encourages people to achieve reconciliation, a process that works toward acknowledging, healing, and transforming historical wounds and addressing systemic injustice. CTTT also encourages people to take the following steps to achieve reconciliation: 1. Face, uncover, and identify the harms of the past and how their legacies can be corrected.
RECONCILIATION A good place to start is with reading the Transforming Historical Harms booklet by David Anderson Hooker and Amy Potter Czajkowski. This is available on CTTT’s website http://comingtothetable.org under the “Resources” and “Free Guides” tabs. 2. Make connections with others by listening to their stories. One way to do this is to join a multiracial group like CTTT. If you are interested in starting a CTTT group in your church or community, please go to CTTT’s website and click on “Resources” and then click on “Free Guides and Info on Starting a Local Group.” 3. Work toward healing by embracing compassion, courage, and discomfort over shame, blame, guilt, fear, and comfort. 4. Consider making amends, atoning, and exploring reparations. CTTT recently published a Reparations Guide that you can access on the website. 5. Join local groups in your community who are working on current issues. Some examples are the Talbot County Branch of the NAACP, the Eastern Shore Network for Change (ESNC), and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Delmarva. Imago Dei: Diversity Awareness Commission An Invitation from Bishop San The 150 th Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of Easton held in February, 2018, tasked the bishop to create a Commission on Racial Reconciliation. As bishop, it is my feeling that the work of the commission needs to be more comprehensive and broad based in its mandate. Furthermore, the issue of diversity awareness across the spectrum of human sensibility needs to be addressed in an intentional, reconciliatory and loving manner. Diversity awareness is about expanding the tent to go beyond racial reconciliation to include the whole notion of our createdness in God. Each of us is made in the image and likeness of God (imago Dei) despite race, color, class, creed, gender orientation, ability and disability, economic state in life or nationality. My theology on orthodoxy is that ever since creation God has shown God’s self to be the God of order and not chaos. In fact, God’s most impressive and perfect creation is that of diversity. As such it is my personal reflection and humble conviction and noted by some renowned theologians that diversity is orthodoxy. It continues to be an ongoing challenge in small dioceses including ours to populate committees and commissions. This reality requires creative thinking and an approach toward faithful engagement of the work of mission and ministry. It is my sincere belief that it is time for the diocese to engage this work of diversity awareness as a comprehensive subject inclusive of racial reconciliation. To this end, I am inviting interested and knowledgeable individuals to volunteer their time and talent to be members of this commission. If you are interested please submit your name to your parish or call Lynn Anstatt at Bray House 410-822- 1919 or email lynn@dioceseofeaston.org. 5
Page 1 and 2: SUMMER EDITION 2018 Reconciliation
Page 3 and 4: A Note from the Bishop (Thoughts sh
Page 5: At noon, we met together under the
Page 9 and 10: HOPE The next big event in the 150t
Page 11 and 12: 150th Anniversary Gracious God, thr
Page 13 and 14: A SEA OF RECONCILIATION, HOPE, & LO
Page 15 and 16: to directly connect that which we d
Page 17 and 18: The Rev. Deacon Reese Rickards, in
Page 19 and 20: EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS A Fundamenta

Eastern Shore Episcopalian - Summer Issue 2018

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