The following is a pastoral word offered to the congregation I serve in Ferguson, Missouri, in response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11-12, 2017. The Ferguson community is very familiar with protests, violence, and death. Perhaps your own community is, also. May there be something in these words for us all.
My beloved faith community:
Nearly every Sunday we gather for worship, we have ended our time with an affirmation of the Divine Presence within ourselves (I am a child of God) or within others 
(YOU are a child of God). This serves as an important reminder that the Divine transcends all people and circumstances – that indeed all persons are created in Divine image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). But what do we do, how do we respond when those among us deny that Sacred and Holy within others and within themselves? How are God’s people called to respond?
What we have witnessed in the barbaric, racist acts of hatred, violence, and death in Charlottesville, Virginia within the context of a white nationalist rally, must be acknowledged and called out for what it truly is. This rally, which began as a march on the University of Virginia campus, is not only contrary to who we claim to be as a nation, but more importantly violates the very nature of our Christian faith, and the teaching of Jesus who proclaimed shalom, justice, love, and hospitality.
The University of Virginia was founded by Thomas Jefferson who famously wrote:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all [people] are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights …”
The events of last night and today are blasphemy against the very fabric of country and faith. Yet there are in our midst, those who insist upon hatred, bigotry, and violence. In those acts and attitudes, they reject the Divine, even when that Divine is within and among them. So what do we do?
We pray. Please join me in prayer for those who are injured and for the family of the one who was violently killed. Pray that they might know God’s comfort and peace, and healing. Pray for those who have chosen evil over good. Pray that somehow they may be transformed. Pray for those who have remained passive when injustice is around them. Pray for those who are complicit by word, deed, or even inaction.
We repent. We are all a part of God’s Sacred Creation; we are all a part of God’s Sacred Community. In some way, either by action or inaction, we have enabled injustice in some form around us. These are not always intentional acts, yet they can often have deep repercussions. We must confess and turn ourselves back towards that which is good and just and loving and Holy. We must turn ourselves towards God.
We respond. This will look differently for different people. You may feel you are hindered by age or physical limitations. You may feel you do not have time or energy or even “skin in the game.” I can assure you, we all have skin in the game. We all have the same time in each day, the question is one of stewardship. Even small gestures can be transformed and used by God for great things.
We worship. We have such an opportunity tomorrow as we gather at 9am to sing and pray and hear testimony to God’s grace. Tomorrow we shall continue our “Unexpected Grace” mini-series by reading the text of Joseph’s brothers jealousy, their plotting to kill him, and selling him into slavery. As I have wrestled with the events of the day, I have felt this text and these events of Joseph’s life to be pertinent to what we are facing and perhaps feeling as a community of people. You may wonder where grace is to be found in a story of violence, pettiness, and betrayal, just as you may wonder if grace is present in the midst of today’s events. I assure you grace is there, if for no other reason that because God is there. Where there is God, there is grace.
Please join me in prayer. Please join me in repentance. Please join me in discerning a response. Please join me in worship. For these things truly represent who we are: people of faith and children of God.
With love,
Pastor Patrick
PastorPDC.com 