Oh HELL no! Not On Our Watch…
What a lousy, horrific, sh*tty day yesterday was. On the one hand, Warnock!! Ossoff!! But then the madness in DC. Last night my thoughts finally crystallized and I tweeted, I’m “so damn tired of living in a country that treats Black grief as a threat and white rage as a sacrament.” It’s now been liked more than 240K times, so that sentiment is resonating. I know you’re tired, too. But here is the truth: We have been called for such a time as this.
Though we’ve been devastated by SO much madness in 2020, we are NOT going to sit around licking our wounds while white supremacists work to destroy our democracy; ain’t nobody got time for that. Despite our grief, we are rising to heal souls and the world with just love. Here is what it looks like right now to build our movement:
1. Join our MLK Sunday teach in on January 17 with Anu Gupta and me. We’re going to talk about America’s racist caste system and what we can do to heal. To thank you for your support, if you use the code CASTE by 11:59 p.m. Saturday January 9, you’ll get a $5 discount! I’ll be preaching in worship that morning and we may have a newly elected special guest joining us from GA…
2. Join our free 4-week class with J Mase III, “Black Trans Lives Matter in the Text Too: Investing in a Black Trans Liberation Theology.” J Mase III is the co-editor of the Black Trans Prayer Book and a renowned poet and justice educator, don’t miss this chance to learn from him.
3. We are co-leading several events at The People’s Inauguration Click here for more details.
4. Our annual Revolutionary Love Conference is April 15-18. Register now!
Folks are counting on us to speak truth to power; to be revolutionary in our love and inclusive in our welcome; to be creative and prophetic; to be generous to the vulnerable; to build an intergenerational, interfaith movement of justice with colleagues across the nation and all around the globe.
That’s why over 5,000 showed up for our antiracism trainings after George Floyd was murdered; why 650 came to our virtual Revolutionary Love Conference in 2020—despite COVID-19. That’s why 250 people from as far away as Paris and as close as Philadelphia have joined our radically diverse community since March. Why? Because they know what we know: Love is love, and love is the only force that can drive out hate. They know white supremacy is a lie, and that Black lives matter. In fact, Brown lives matter; immigrant lives matter; Jewish and Muslim lives matter; Trans and Queer lives matter; women’s lives matter—each precious life matters to God, and to our community.
Worship is one way we fuel our movement. Come Sunday, Rev. Amanda will preach a sermon about light in the midst of darkness, and I’ll offer prayers. The music will be stunning.
Even though a fire gutted our sacred space, our work is more important than ever. To power our movement of love and justice, make a donation at middlechurch.org/donate. We are at $720,000 of our $1,000,000 fiscal year (June 30, 2021) goal. To help us replace, reimagine and rebuild after the fire, make a donation at middlechurch.org/Rising. Thanks to your generosity, we’ve raised $780,000 in our rising fund! You can still mail donations for either to Middle Church, 50 E 7th Street New York, NY 10003.
Together, family, let’s grieve, pray, love, organize and move with all we have toward a more perfect union, one in which Love is our guiding light. Love. Period
In solidarity,
Jacqui