"For Christ is our peace and came to cross the ethnic barriers that divide us."               

Ephesians 2:14

Dear People of St. David's,

I pray that you are well and that these summer days are meeting your hopes and expectations, before the faster pace of the fall.

I returned from a restful, traveling vacation to find that we are in our new space, which we have all worked so hard to envision and bring about. It is not entirely finished, but enough that we, as a staff, are mostly in one place. Together, we will be able to broaden our ministry and activities after a year of "making do." We are a blessed people and God is in this place; energizing our lives and calling us to a new life in Christ.

But it is not all blessed. I also returned to the heart wrenching news that two of our very involved young people, who happen to be African American, were stopped by police after riding through a neighborhood not far from their home.

Jordan and Josh Friday and their white friend were riding their bicycles last Friday. They noticed that they were being followed and videotaped by a white woman in an SUV. As they were leaving the subdivision, two police cars stopped them because "suspicious" activity had been reported. Their names were taken and a police incident report was filed. When they returned home and told their mother, Anita, she went to the police station. Anita was told that there had been some burglaries in the area. The complainant was worried because she was leaving town and the boys were wearing back packs (which contained their wet swim suits and towels).

Really!?!

The news and reality of racism that we know in our country through Ferguson, Baltimore and Charleston is alive and well in our community and, truth be known, in our own hearts. We, Christians, follow a Lord who demands that we respect the dignity of every person and actually love one another. He calls us to be better than this and better than we are. There is work to do across our country, but there is also work to do in our own, blessed community and in our own lives. Christ came to cross the ethnic barriers that divide us so that we may be One Body, as we have been focusing on this past year. It doesn't stand with God that we treat others as less than we are, for we are all God's.

I invite you to hold the Friday family in your prayers in this heartbreaking moment. I invite you to prepare to do some work within our community and in your own life (yes, yours and mine). We are going to open this up, learn, invite God to change our hearts, and do what we can to change the world.

After all, that's why Christ came.

P.S. If you would like to read Anita's writing on this and understand more, please go to: