CLICK HERE FOR YOUR THURSDAY THOUGHTS

April 22, 2021

Dear Congregation:

Tuesday afternoon, Derek Chauvin was found guilty for the murder of George Floyd.  While celebrations erupted about the country, for me, it was a sobering moment to acknowledge just how difficult and hard and steep is the climb for justice.  As one of my friends said, “I don’t think the verdict ought to be celebrated.  It is sad for all…. The fact that we even have to be talking about this as an issue is the saddest part for me.”

This verdict is one necessary step on the journey as we honor those in law enforcement who work so hard to serve our community with respect and for all citizens.  The verdict is one step on the journey to ensure that all our citizens, of every color and background, can live in safety.  There is still much more work in law enforcement as well as in our society to erase racial profiling and excessive force against persons of color.  There is still much work to be done in overcoming the effects of white privilege in discriminating persons of color in employment, housing, and medical care.

President Biden said the decision could be “a moment of significant change.”  It can be, if we continue to devote ourselves to this needed and necessary work of justice.  Donna Murch, an associate professor of history at Rutgers University, said, “The real victory here is not the incarceration of Derek Chauvin.  Putting another person in a cage is not how we change the world. But stopping the killings of Black people with complete impunity, saying that Black lives matter — this sends that signal.”

 

Worship Notes                                     Love in Truth and Action

John 10:11–18 “I know my own and my own know me.”

Jesus identifies himself in terms that people of his day and culture could understand – “I am the good shepherd.” Being a good shepherd is linked to knowing the sheep and laying down one’s life for the sheep.

In Acts 4: 5-12, we find Peter and John in prison.  Power to speak, power to act, power to be bold, power to follow, power to love: all are connected to a belief in the saving power of the name of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

Food for Thought:   

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”   (Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

 

Rev. Dr. Barbara Kershner Daniel, Senior Pastor

Evangelical Reformed Church, United Church of Christ

15 West Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701

301-662-2762

E-mail: bkdaniel@erucc.org