Capitol Hill UMC addresses history's legacy
Putting justice before tradition, the congregation of Capitol Hill UMC took a bold step on Sept. 29, removing a perceived stain of racism and nationalism that was casting a shadow over its wall-sized stained glass window. Their actions make them one of the first churches in the denomination to intentionally participate in the process of restorative history.
The church acted at the prompting of its middle and high school Sunday school class, who raised questions about the windows being dedicated to J. Edgar Hoover, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its predecessor agency from 1924 until his death in 1972.
Hoover, whose family owned property abutting the church parking lot, was touted as a model of Christian statesmanship. However, history revealed that much of his leadership was tinged with racism and white nationalism.
Historical reports indicate that Hoover spied on women’s and civil rights groups, collected incriminating evidence to sway Congress, and used recordings of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in compromising situations to try to induce him to commit suicide.
When the church’s window was dedicated to Hoover in 1966, at the height of the nation’s Civil Rights movement, in a racially segregated Methodist church, bishops at the worship service hailed his “dedication to Christian virtues." The window was christened “Statesmanship through Christian Virtues: The J. Edgar Hoover Window.”
After watching a video made by the youth, church members began to seriously wrestle with questions about the dedication plague, which hung on the wall of the sanctuary and what that plaque said about their identity. Then, they studied together. Then, they took action.
Capitol Hill’s Racial Justice and Ministry Band spent 18 months holding dialogues and offering opportunities for learning. Along the way, the window opened deeper conversations and reinforced the belief that “when we know better, we should do better.”
The harm and pain caused by the plaque differed for every person who engaged with its history. For some, it was as blatant as hanging up a sign in the sanctuary that said, “Whites only” allowed here. For others, it conjured up personal injuries caused by other instances of intolerance and racism. Some people shared that they actually felt the impact of the plaque in their bodies when they walked past it but felt compelled to remain silent.
The extended study of the plaque and its implication for Black, Indigenous, Pacific Islander, Asian and Latino people was not always easy. Some people resented the pain or discomfort the conversations raised, others worried the removal might just feel performative, and still others expressed weariness about not just moving on to new things.
It would have been easier, members admitted, to “just make the plaque disappear.” But it felt like an important spiritual moment and a teachable event. “The repentance part and the repair part needed to happen in the conversations,” church leaders said. “It felt important to pay close attention to and center the voices of those most impacted by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.”
In worship on Sept. 29, the youth formally removed the plaque from the sanctuary, and carried forward, down the length of the center aisle, a new sign that reflects the witness the church hopes their window will bring to the community. It’s the congregation’s hope that it “lifts up the voices of the silenced.”
The new plaque celebrates the symbolic words the congregation strives to live out, which are also cast in glass in the window. It says: “For the people of Capitol Hill United Methodist Church, who lean on Jesus and continually strive to practice the Christian virtues symbolized in this window: faith, love, justice, courage, temperance, hope and wisdom. Rededicated on September 29, 2024.
During the service, Bishop Héctor Antonio Burgos-Núñez, representing the denomination’s Commission on Religion and Race, along with the commission’s general secretary, the Rev. Giovanni Arroyo, led the congregation in a song in Spanish about faith that can move mountains.
Drawing on their faith to enable them to do hard things has been one of the foundational pieces leading up to the rededication of the windows, said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Stephanie Vader.
“The removal of this plaque and rededication of this window confronts a legacy of injustice that our church has perpetrated,” Vader said. “It serves as a testament of the people of Capitol Hill UMC to furthering God’s Kingdom of the beloved community where the division of race and color, separation and segregation exist no more.”
As the church set out to confront the injustice and create safe spaces for everyone to tell their story, they weren’t intentionally doing “restorative history.” But along the way they learned about this idea and work being done by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
According to the Smithsonian’s website, restorative history is “a theory, a method, and a practice” that addresses the needs of historically harmed communities by examining the past to understand the root causes of historical harms. It “works with these diverse voices to make public history a practical tool for justice that confronts the past and ongoing impacts of systemic harm.”
Its purpose, Vader said, is to lift up voices that have been ignored or silenced and confront legacies of injustice so that something new can be created that honors the worth of all people.
The journey toward the rededication of the windows was not always an easy one, Vader admitted. She remembers when she served at Emmanuel UMC in Scaggsville and the congregations went through the process of becoming a Reconciling Congregation. “In the middle of it all, the conversations were hard,” she said. “But I wouldn’t have changed doing that for the world. That’s where the stuff of life is; that’s where the Spirit is working and moving. The church has to figure out how to model talking about hard things. In the big picture, this is it. This is the work.”
To learn more:
- Watch a video with Capitol Hill UMC’s Racial Justice Band and a conversation with Dr. Lerone A. Martin
- See a video with the youth of Capitol Hill UMC about the window rededication
- Learn more about Capitol Hill UMC and Restorative History in a presentation by Dr. Kathy Franz
