This brochure is a handout that may help us focus on some positive step in response to the Charleston tragedy. It is prepared so you can download, re-format into two columns on a narrow-margin document, and print back-to-back. Then by cutting down the center, you print two documents per page.
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NORTH TEXAS
CONFERENCE
UNITED METHODIST
WOMEN
CALL TO PRAYER
AND ACTION
“Let
justice roll down like waters….”
We
have more than enough knowledge/facts to see that we cannot legislate
tolerance, despite some efforts. We cannot legislate morality. We know that we
cannot legislate legal behavior, although we have many laws defining legal and
illegal behavior. Can we legislate justice?
This
latest tragedy in South Carolina is another dreadful statistic for our book of knowledge:
One young man killed nine people with a handgun. Those are facts not to be
debated. But once again it brings us to the question: what do we do, and here continues
the long-recurring debate.
Accepting
John Wesley’s conviction that knowledge demands action, we start with prayer,
wherein we ask for grace and mercy and discernment as to the course of action
we should follow. The one action we can take freely in this instance is to determine
to embody and promote love. But, to let justice roll down like waters, we must
move into further action.
The
Rev. Cynthia Moore-Koikoi of the Baltimore-Washington Conference said since
the Charleston tragedy: “The
Church has to provide the vision for what can be and the assurance that the
vision is possible in spite of the present circumstances. When we
pray, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,’ we are
committing ourselves to the work of community building.” To build
community necessarily demands that we do justice.
WE
United Methodist Women are the Church. And we are by our very Purpose committed
to community building: “to develop a creative,
supportive fellowship,” by turning Faith, Hope and Love into action, not just
within our individual units and churches but throughout the world.
One
aspect of this tragedy that requires vision and demands our attention is the
racial attitude involved. We need to understand more about how racism continues
to manifest itself in our communities and in our own behaviors. Could it
possibly be that, somehow, we might have fostered fear or suspicion of “the
other” in some uneasy mind?
On October 3, the NTC of UMW will sponsor a day-long study
racism at FUMC Denton. The study will be open to all and will be led by Janis Rosheuvel,
executive for racial justice for United Methodist
Women in NYC. Ms. Rosheuvel will explain how
racism is systemic to our U.S. government and culture and how we can help
change the system. You might plan to attend this study.
In Denton there is the Denton
Association of Christian Women, an inter-denominational, inter-racial group of
women who meet to get to know each other and to learn about Denton, its
successes and its challenges. If your community has such a group and you aren’t
currently a part of it, consider joining—or help start a group.
Another
possibility to consider is participating in the coalition called “Tale of Two
States: Handgun Purchaser Licensing Saves Lives.” The UMC is a part of Faiths
United to Prevent Gun Violence, a coalition of more than 50 national faith
groups and organizations that launched this initiative earlier this month. The
initiative will educate faith leaders and the general public about the
effectiveness of purchaser-licensing to save lives from gun violence. Recent studies released by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun
Policy & Research shows that handgun purchaser-licensing legislation led to
a decrease in gun homicides in two states. For further information or to
endorse this resolution, go to the website www.taleoftwostates.com.
And we must notify our legislators
that we insist they take action— to create laws that are meant to support and
protect us equally; to be sure those laws are enforced fairly; to
make education and opportunity equally accessible to every citizen; to
put us on the path to provide “liberty and justice for all.” Call or
email your U.S. legislators.
To do nothing is not an option. Our
faith, our Church, our young people, our country are calling us to take this
heartbreaking knowledge and prove ourselves committed to act to build
a community of this nation and world, where justice rolls down like waters.
