Upstate Update Special Edition, Saturday 7-9-16

Upstate Update Special Edition

Philando Castile

Alton Sterling

Brent Thompson

Patrick Zamarripa

Michael Krol

Michael Smith

Loren Ahrens

"May it begin with me, with us, with hope and promise and courage..."

Bishop John S. Macholz

A Message From Bishop John S. Macholz

Three days. Seven deaths. Countless arrests. Growing unrest. Deepening frustration. Endless wondering. Unanswered questions. How did we get to this point? Where are we going? When and how will it end? And how do we get to wherever that is?

In her video released on July 7 Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton encouraged us to 'show up and be present in community and go out from our congregations to be with others' in these troubled times. As I hear that the lyrics from a song from my childhood keep running through my head. It was an anthem of sorts from that time and place that is still relevant today. Some of the lyrics are "You know, we've got to find a way, to bring some understanding here today." Later the song suggests that "we've got to bring some loving here today."

That may seem so simple but to implement it is a great challenge. If we are to move beyond these times and realities it will take much greater understanding. Understanding of who we are as God's children. Understanding that others, created in the image of God, are our sisters and brothers. Understanding that violence only begets violence. Understanding that in order to understand we need to develop relationships, create friendships and begin to see in all God's children the face and love of the One who calls us toward unity and hope.

What if we took the charge seriously to go out and develop relationships with one another? Began to simply talk and share and offer a hand of hope and openness? What if this Sunday or a Sunday to come each of our congregations encouraged two or three folks to worship not in their home congregation but in another local congregation where we might meet and pray and sing with sisters and brothers in Christ who are different from us in some ways but identical to us in our claim to be sisters and brothers in Christ? Might that begin a conversation, develop new relationships and begin to bring about a renewed understanding?

I don't know but I do know that we have to do something. Something in the name of the One who claims the whole of creation as redeemable. Something in the name of the One who sees beyond color or language or ethnic background or differences small and large. Something in the name of the One who welcomed and welcomes all throughout history and time.

May it begin with me, with us, with hope and promise and courage and the knowledge that, accompanied by the Christ who was crucified and risen for the sake of the world, we can only speak peace and hope and promise celebrating our differences while recognizing the oneness we share as sister and brothers.

"It's time to go out there people." (Elizabeth Eaton) Receive the following words as benediction and possibility; may they be useful in these days and times.

"Go out into the world in peace. Have courage. Hold to what is good. Return no oneevil for evil. Strengthen the faint-hearted, support the weak, help the suffering. Honor all people. Love and serve the Lord rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. And may almighty God, the Father, + Son and Holy Spirit bless you now and forever.

Amen.

A Message From Bishop Elizabeth Eaton


	Bishop Elizabeth Eaton

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

"So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them." Genesis 1:27

We are killing ourselves. We believe that all people are created in God's image. All of humanity bears a family resemblance. Those murdered in Orlando were not abstract "others," they are us. But somehow, in the mind of a deeply disturbed gunman, the LGBTQ community was severed from our common humanity. This separation led to the death of 49 and the wounding of 54 of us.

We live in an increasingly divided and polarized society. Too often we sort ourselves into like-minded groups and sort others out. It is a short distance from division to demonization. Yesterday, we witnessed the tragic consequences of this.

There is another way. In Christ God has reconciled the world to God's self. Jesus lived among us sharing our humanity. Jesus died for us to restore our humanity. God invites us into this reconciling work. This must be our witness as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The perpetrator of this hate crime did not come out of nowhere. He was shaped by our culture of division, which itself has been misshapen by the manipulation of our fears. That is not who we are. St. Paul wrote, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ." (II Corinthians 5:17-20)

Our work begins now. We need to examine ourselves, individually and as a church, to acknowledge the ways we have divided and have been divided. We must stand with people who have been "othered". We must speak peace and reconciliation into the cacophony of hatred and division. We must live the truth that all people are created in God's image.

This morning your churchwide staff came together to mourn and to pray. We prayed for those killed in Orlando and remembered the Charleston Nine killed only a year ago. We prayed for the family of the shooter, for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and for our Muslim brothers and sisters who now face the threat of retaliation. And we prayed that the Prince of Peace will bring us to the day when we stop killing ourselves.

Your sister in Christ,

Elizabeth A. Eaton

Statement on Baton Rouge, Minneapolis, and Dallas killings

My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. Lamentations 2:11 NRSV

Please, Lord, you know our rights, Lord. You know we are innocent people, Lord. We are innocent

Lavish Reynolds, girlfriend of Philando Castile

The National Council of Churches mourns the recent shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA, Philando Castile in suburban Minneapolis, MN, and five police officers in Dallas, TX. These killings point to the racial tensions that plague our society and the disturbing disregard for the sacredness of human life, exacerbated by the prevalence of weapons.

We pray for a full recovery of those wounded in Dallas and for the friends and families of those killed in each of these tragic incidents. Words seem inadequate to express the depth of our sorrow and the extent of our concern for the stability and well-being of our country. Our society is in need of a radical transformation, away from suspicion and anger to trust and reconciliation. We are committed to the pursuit of both racial justice and sensible measures to prevent gun violence, and to working to bring about reconciliation among our people.

We commend the following statements from NCC member communions:

Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:

"We are killing ourselves, and until we in the white community feel that the death of a person of color is our death too, it's not going to change."

Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, Presbyterian Church (USA):

The Bible reminds us that, â€œYou are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is the one who is in you than the one who is in the world (I John 4:4). Our ability to overcome the world by the God-bestowed power within us requires faith and courage.

Other statements will be posted on the NCC website as they become available.

Please visit our website upstatenysynod.org

Thank you for spending some time reading this edition of the Upstate Update. We hope, and pray, that you found it useful. If you know someone who could benefit from the Upstate Update, please forward it to them and ask them to sign up directly.

Kathy Neugent

Executive Assistant to the Bishop

Upstate New York Synod of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

kneugent@upstatenysynod.org

Phone: 315-299-4955 Fax: 315-299-4981

Resurrection people who pray first, walk together and change lives.