A Statement from Second Presbyterian Church Regarding Systemic Racism
The following statement has been adopted by Session and is provided below for your review and prayerful consideration. We hope it adequately reflects our shared purpose and understanding of how God is calling us to witness during this time.
A Statement from Second Presbyterian Church Regarding Systemic Racism
As a congregation that values God’s demand for social justice expressed in the prophets and the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have identified ourselves as a Matthew 25 Congregation. This involves a commitment to join other congregations of the PC(USA) to dismantle structural racism and eradicate poverty. We have also committed as a PC(USA) Earth Care Congregation to ecojustice – caring for the earth in our care for our neighbor. Our identities as a Matthew 25 Congregation and an Earth Care Congregation go hand-in-hand.
As we celebrate our 175th Anniversary our congregation is engaged in a season of self-examination. We look back to bring light to our present ministry and to move forward in faithfulness. The review of our history has intensified in conjunction with an intense season of self-examination by our nation ignited by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. The review of our history also takes place during a pan- demic that is disproportionately impacting communities of color. We join with all who lament the structural injustices toward people of color that Covid-19 and George Floyd’s dying plea — “I can’t breathe!” — have laid bare. We find ourselves in a Kairos moment of reckoning with our nation’s past and current practices of racial injustice. We recognize and condemn white supremacy and racism and stand in solidarity with those who are continually at risk because of these inequities.
Recognizing that words matter, and public declarations serve to call us to action and hold us accountable, we hereby affirm and commit to the following:
We affirm and celebrate the humanity of all persons and recognize that in this moment Black lives have been and continue to be demonized, devalued, and destroyed.
Through the Moving Together Task Force, we commit to a continued excavation, examination, and docu- mentation of our past so that it is reflective and inclusive of all persons and events impacting our history.
We commit to an ongoing examination of our faith and understanding of social justice and equity issues as they affect our church and our city through continued education and connection with organizations and churches led by people of color.
As we strive to live into the call to be a Matthew 25 and Earth Care Congregation, we commit to enacting change to effect a more just and equitable community through an examination and prioritization of our mission efforts and church policies and practices.
We seek to repent, repair, and discern. We commit to act with faithfulness and imagination to bring an end to structural racism and systemic poverty.
In this Kairos moment, we take courage as we remember the words of Thomas Merton: You do not need to know precisely what is happening or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibili- ties and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope. In such an event, courage is the authentic form taken by love.