Posted on 03/27/2012 4:03:10 PM PDT by lightman
Message on Racial Justice in the wake of Trayvon Martin's death
from Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson
In the wake of Trayvon Martin's tragic death, I call upon members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to join in public lament and to ask searching questions as we renew our commitment to act courageously and to work tirelessly for racial justice.
With all who mourn Trayvon's death we cry, "Lord, have mercy." For all who suffer the wounds that racism and violence infect we pray, "Christ, have mercy." For our turning God's gift of diversity into cause for distrust and division we plead, "Lord, have mercy." Who is more equipped to lament such agony, rather than deny it, than a people of the cross who trust that ultimately the power of God's love will reign?
May the sorrow and anger surrounding Trayvon's death move us to ask searching questions. How much longer shall any young person live in fear (and be feared) because of the color of their skin? Are we who are white ready to confront and lay down our power and privilege for the sake of a more just and inclusive society? Are we as a nation ready to reform our criminal justice system which "the cumulative effects of bias in the system as a whole have led to intolerably harmful effects on minority communities" ("ELCA Draft Social Statement on Criminal Justice").
Trayvon's death has emboldened the movement for racial justice. It calls for commitment from us. Now is the time for us as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to live up to the commitments we made in the social statement, "Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture" (1993). We said we will "model an honest engagement with issues of race, ethnicity and culture, by being a community of mutual conversation, mutual correction, and mutual consolation" and further that we will "participate in identifying the demands of justice, and work with others who would have justice for all."
Trayvon's death calls us to act courageously and to work tirelessly for racial justice. Such courage comes from the confidence of faith trusting that "he [Christ Jesus] is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us" (Ephesians 2:14 NRSV).
Let us together courageously engage in God’s work of restoring and reconciling communities. Let us together pursue justice and work for peace no matter how long the journey or wide the chasm. Let us tear down the walls we erect to divide us and turn those walls into tables of conversation and reconciliation.
In this season of Lent, let us repent and be turned by God toward our neighbor. Let us humbly confess that racism, both blatant and subtle, denies the reconciling work of the cross. Let us trust in God’s promise of forgiveness that frees us from the enslavement of racism. Let us live in the power and promise of Christ’s resurrection.
In God's grace,
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson Presiding Bishop Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Hanson is one of the most evil men in history.
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Keep a Good Lent!
Racial Justice? Does that have anything to do with Justice Justice?
Racism is a travesty. NO ONE should die due to racist attitudes, NO ONE should die because they are in the wrong gang or group, and NO ONE should die due because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I am thankful, however, that I am NOT a member of the ELCA. They are as bad as the rest in only seeing one side of the story and pushing it.
He spouts this
With all who mourn Trayvon’s death we cry, “Lord, have mercy.” For all who suffer the wounds that racism and violence infect we pray, “Christ, have mercy.”
while the black panthers are putting out bounties.
http://www.alpb.org/forum/index.php?topic=4409.msg258698#msg258698
March 21 – Ramon Salgado, a 22 year old white male, caused by a gunshot in South Lawndale.
March 21 – Deon Freeman, a 26 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in West Englewood.
March 21 – Ricky Brown, a 30 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Englewood.
March 20 – Michael Gillespie, a 24 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Washington Heights.
March 19 – Andre Pierce, a 34 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Near West Side.
March 18 – George Marrero, a 27 year old white male, caused by a gunshot in Humboldt Park.
March 18 – Celestino Nuevo, a 58 year old white male, caused by a assault in Albany Park.
March 18 – Bert Lindsey, a 36 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Auburn Gresham.
March 18 – Equilla Coleman, a 24 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in New City.
March 17 – Aliyah Shell, a 6 year old white female, caused by a gunshot in South Lawndale.
March 17 – Jeremy Anthony, a 24 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Woodlawn.
March 17 – Vincent Fitts, a 22 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Greater Grand Crossing.
March 17 – Adrian Cruz, a 24 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Chicago Lawn.
March 16 – Joel Sanroman, a 42 year old white male, caused by a gunshot in Gage Park.
March 16 – Anthony Scott, a 19 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in West Ridge.
March 14 – Gustavo Reyes, a 19 year old white male, caused by a gunshot in West Lawn.
March 14 – Ronald Guidry, a 26 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in South Chicago.
March 14 – Johnny Vargas, a 19 year old white male, caused by a gunshot in South Lawndale.
And the Presiding Bishop said?
{{Crickets}}
This wolf does not have Christ in him. He is leading lambs to the slaughter.
Emerging facts about this case are rendering the Presiding Bishop’s comments nearly as irrelavent as the ELCA itself.
I’d like to know where I can get some of that “power and privilege” I am supposed to have.
Viagra?
LOL, not that kind of power, that everyone can get.
I mean the kind that I, as a white American, am supposed to “lay aside” for justice.
Since, I don’t have any power or privilege, I thought maybe there was some place I was supposed to go and get it and non one told me where it is.
Mass guilt is a marxist, collectivist, communistic concept. The Left wallows in it....and uses it as a destructive weapon (as Hanson did in the above statement) against normal people going about their own businesses and lives.
He spreads the gospel of collective guilt which blames capitalism, Western civilization and "unjust political, social and economic conditions" for everything that goes wrong (in his opinion) from gas prices to the death of a Florida teen. He and his ilk explain all black problems as the "legacy of slavery".
He is what Lenin termed "a useful idiot."
Leni
Strange thing is, accused gunman Zimmerman is 1/2 Hispanic. I suppose he is only 50% tainted, then.
The whiteness of a mixed race person is dependent on which side of the coin you are looking at.
Obama is good, therefore his whiteness is of no importance.
Zimmerman is bad, therefore his whiteness is of ALL importance.
Show me an evil, lying commie with a cleric’s collar on and I’ll show you an evil, lying commie.
The Presiding Bishop's comments are not irrelevant. They are evil. Evil is never irrelevant, least of all when emanating from a Presiding Bishop.
“NO ONE should die due to racist attitudes, NO ONE should die because they are in the wrong gang or group, and NO ONE should die due because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
I’m gonna go ahead and extend that to no one should die at the hands of another, unless the other is justified by self-defense.
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