Dear Friends,

Yesterday, May 25, was the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, murdered by a police officer, Derek Chauvin, while three other officers watched. And the whole world saw it, and one small move toward justice was made, because a teenage girl unflinching filmed the encounter. May we remember the life of George Floyd and pray for his hurting family and community.

I know it makes some of us uncomfortable to say or read “murdered by a police officer.” White people in this country have many fewer negative encounters with police than do Black and Brown people. You might have no direct experience of state-sanctioned violence again you or your family or people you know. We look through our own lenses of knowledge and training, finding answers we can live with. It takes effort to get outside of our own experience, to live with empathy. But that is what our faith tradition and our siblings of color are calling us to do.

Fortunately, we are not alone in this effort. None of us in the Fellowship has to learn and grow alone. We are here to support each other as we confront and try to dismantle the racism destroying lives and poisoning the here-and-now of reality. We are here to help each other see what prejudices and blind spots affect us individually and our Fellowship collectively. This in uncomfortable and disquieting work. Yet if we are to live our principles fully, we have no other choice.

Fortunately, we have each other, and we are not alone as a religious community in Greater Mankato. On Sunday, May 23, local clergy of many faiths held together a vigil for justice, follow up to an advertisement we took out together in The Free Press last fall. In each of our communities, we are taking a hard look at how religion has fostered, or at least refused to battle, racism. And we clergy and churches are doing that together as well. You see here the members of our Fellowship who were able to make the public witness. We smile because it is joyful to work together for good in the world. Let us continue the work. May we enter the struggle, with hope and love, to truly be good neighbors as you remember, today and every day, that you are loved, you are worthy, we are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may it be so.

Blessings, Rev. Rita

 

Pictured: Tricia Nienow, Dick Nienow, Diane Dobitz, Penny Herickhoff, Rev. Rita, Dennis Cramblit, Caden Sjogren, Nancy Cramblit, Faye Mattison, and DeeAnn Nelson.