Neighbors and Neighborhood

²⁸ One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰ you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:28-31 NRSVUE

As part of the Dismantling Racism and White Privilege Relate team, I often think about the relationships that have formed among those of us engaged in this ongoing effort. How spending the time and sharing the experience of these last few years has taken the conviction felt by a small group facing difficult truths has inspired action in the entire PC-USA denomination. We have become friends, reviewers, students, mentors, and supporters of each other. We have done it decently and in order, and I think the reason we have been able to do this is because we each came to this work believing Jesus when He said “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

As has been recounted in the first two installments of this Lenten blog series, after the bus trip to Montgomery, the writing of the Apology, its presentation to the Presbytery, and a couple of meetings, in-person DRAWP gatherings came to a halt. During the uncertain times of the Covid Pandemic we soon, however, began to get together on Zoom, not only for monthly meetings but for group book studies as well, reading and discussing titles that included The Broken Heart of America and The Black Tax.

From a review of Walter Johnson’s The Broken Heart of America, on Goodreads- “A searing portrait of the racial dynamics that lie inescapably at the heart of our nation, told through the turbulent history of the city of St. Louis. From Lewis and Clark’s 1804 expedition to the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, American history has been made in St. Louis. And as Walter Johnson shows in this searing book, the city exemplifies how imperialism, racism, and capitalism have persistently entwined to corrupt the nation’s past.”

And a presentation by Walter Johnson at the Missouri Historical Society- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L96ej9VQtaI

From a review of Shawn Rochester’s The Black Tax: The Cost of being Black in America, in Goodreads- “In his new book The Black Tax: The Cost of being Black in America, Shawn Rochester shows how The Black Tax (which is the financial cost of conscious and unconscious anti-black discrimination), creates a massive financial burden on Black American households that dramatically reduces their ability to leave a substantial legacy for future generations. Mr. Rochester lays out an extraordinarily compelling case that documents the enormous financial cost of current and past anti-black discrimination in African American households. The Black Tax provides the fact pattern, data, and evidence to substantiate what African Americans have long experienced and tried to convey to an unbelieving American public.”

The first part of the author’s presentation to DRAWP can be seen on the Giddings-Lovejoy YouTube channel-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eRhSpNGDaEVenable park

These meetings and book studies not only gave DRAWP members a chance to learn more about each other but to give context to each of our life and daily experiences of the places where we live. I’ve started an interactive map designed to provide access to the spatial relationships and historical events that we share in the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy, which can be found here- https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1njY0rAOnyEX3TmIpZtPik-U85mL24Xhd&ll=38.642441139604%2C-90.25635242885741&z=11

In June of 2022, we were able to gather in person for the first time in more than two years, at a picnic in Creve Coeur’s Venable Park, not far from the Presbytery offices (more about this historic place can be found at https://news.stlpublicradio.org/race-identity-faith/2021-09-17/creve-coeur-leaders-to-rededicate-park-for-black-doctor-forced-out-in-the-1950s and on the map in the link above.) It was a hot Sunday afternoon, and it took some time to get used to actually being together, but a wonderful way to share fellowship, stories, and plans for the future. We have since met in person a few times (including a recent preview of an excellent exhibit here-  https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/event-details.htm?id=F8D2EEFB-BA9A-3994-F0EF6D7D362862CD) but continue to do much of our work through meetings on Zoom. We are now taking advantage of technology as a convenient way to relate to each other, instead of the mandatory distance it provided during the pandemic, yet we are still mindful of health safety as covid moves into a more endemic part of our lives.

As the DRAWP Relate team moves forward, we are planning both in-person and online opportunities to build relationships within, and among, the congregations of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy, and any thoughts you have regarding how to do this will be greatly appreciated. These are from Victoria Sherman, co-chair of the DRAWP Relate team-

“You can’t understand most of the important things from a distance, Bryan. You have to get close.” So quotes Bryan Stevenson about his grandmother’s wisdom in Just Mercy (page 14).
In 2019, people on the Montgomery trip to the Legacy Museum and the Memorial for Peace and Justice came close to each other on a bus. Black Americans and white Americans. The result was the writing of the Apology – the Litany of Repentance, which was approved at the General Assembly in 2022. People grew in their understanding of important things from white perspectives and black perspectives. I heard one black woman say she did not realize that white people could care so much. White people saw that Black Americans still feel deep grief from the enslavement of their ancestors. People shared joy and pain over our efforts of trying to come together as human beings.
We need to find ways to get close to each other to understand. Much divides us besides colors of our skin. Economic differences, housing patterns, biases both hidden and unhidden, fear, and lack of trust. No wonder we have trouble loving each other and problem-solving together.
The Relate Team of DRAWP is working on ideas to be together. Jesus ate with all types of people. How about getting together to share a meal? Or a concert? Or a sporting event? Or a worship service? Or coffee?
The Relate Team will be planning some of these opportunities this year. If you think you might be interested, contact your pastor, the Presbytery, the DRAWP committee, or me – Victoria Sherman (vmos@aol.com).
Think about this: “Best way to show love is to share a meal.” Who’s coming to dinner? (Words credited to Miriam Harkey whose daughter Hannah leads teams for Peace Meal teams at St. John’s Episcopal Church on Arsenal St.)
Victoria Sherman
Member of St. Mark Presbyterian Church, Ballwin

We anticipate more gatherings like the picnic at Venable Park, and there will be this Summer another book study, this time reading What Kind of Christianity?  by Dr. William Yoo, Associate Professor of American Religious and Cultural History and Director of the MDiv program at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. From a review by the Presbyterian Mission-

“Yoo works to debunk several misinterpretations of history. One is that “white Presbyterians didn’t know how bad it was” for their enslaved siblings of color. If they’d known, according to the myth, white Presbyterians would have done something about it. “Many white Christians defended slavery so vigorously,” Yoo writes, “that some Black and white abolitionists identified white churches as the most impenetrable strongholds against their cause.”
The article can be found here- https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/dr-william-yoo-a-seminary-professor-and-author-helps-the-pma-board-take-an-honest-look-at-presbyterian-complicity-in-slavery-and-anti-black-racism/ and an excellent presentation by Dr. Yoo here- https://www.youtube.com/live/YlA5jIDQiCs?feature=share

There will be other opportunities to participate in this work provided by the DRAWP Advocate and Educate teams, and those will be the topics of the next two blogs in this series. But as we continue on our journey toward the empty tomb, let us remember how we are not only commanded to love God, but compelled to love God, and our neighbor, through the love we are given to share-

²⁸ One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰ you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:28-31 NRSVUE

Thanks again,
John Northrip
johnnorthrip@att.net
314-401-1735