Dear Friends,

On July 6, I leave Mankato for a two-week vacation out East. I’ll spend a week disconnected from social media of all kinds, and another week visiting friends and family in Pittsburgh and Buffalo. It will be good to see familiar faces. We will miss long body hugs and holding hands. We will respect COVID-19 for the virulence that it manifests. I look forward to relaxing after a challenging church year.

On July 20, I begin a study leave until August 10. I will still be distant from the life of the Fellowship so that I can prepare for a new church year marked by the pandemic as a lasting part of our routine lives. This will be a time for me to create new ways of worshiping, of meeting for spiritual exploration, of offering learning opportunities of many kinds, of working for justice in a world crying out for it. Nearly all online, of course. This is the new normal, and I will offer ways for all of us to be more resilient and more of an engaged community, living life as it is in these times. I look forward to a new start in the fall. I look forward to your willingness to remain a community even though so much feels like loss. And we can do hard things together.

In the meantime, I invite you into a justice practice that I will engage while I am away. It is the 21-day Anti-Racism Challenge from the Bexley Anti-Racism Project. The challenge begins today and runs through July 21. You can find links to all the events here. The events for the next seven days are:
July 1: Watch the documentary 13th on Netflix
July 2: Read the blog post “Dear White People, This is What We Want You to Do”
July 3: Read/Watch the play Fences by August Wilson: Script or Movie
July 4: View book launch event and discussion with authors of Anti-Racist Baby (June 18th)
July 5: Read “So You Want to Learn About Juneteenth” in the New York Times
July 6: Listen to podcast The Daily: “The Case for Defunding the Police”
July 7: Read the blog post “Reflections From a Token Black Friend” by Ramesh A Nagarajah

Even if you don’t agree with all that you see, hear, and read, this is a chance for new learning. I’ll be learning along with you, as you remember today and every day that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may it be so.

Blessings, Rev. Rita