| Healing historic racial divide means taking Steps Toward Wholeness BY CHARLOTTE HENDEE  A historic service was held in the little bayside village of Galesville in October 2002. For the first time in Galesvilles 350 years, the two churches in town held a joint worship service to give thanks for the rich heritage of the village and the powerful witness to the Gospel the two churches have given for a very long time.
Galesville UMC and Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church sit within spittin distance of each other. People from both congregations have lived, worked and gone to school together for many years. Why then, had we not worshiped together? It wasnt that difficult to imagine. Our nation, our state and southern Anne Arundel County have lived with the walls built by racism for so long. It is true that in Galesville, as well as in most places, Sunday at 11 a.m. is the most segregated hour of the week. That is not just a clich. It is a sad truth. It is a reality in which we live. Yet it need not stay that way. When we came together for our 350th anniversary worship, people from both churches were deeply moved by the power of the Holy Spirit. We shared Holy Communion, sang, prayed, laughed and cried together. We shared the histories of our two congregations and it was a compelling witness to what God can do wherever two or three are gathered. We plan to do it again. Our hope is that this year our two congregations will come together to share the study, Steps Toward Wholeness: Learning and Repentance. It wont be easy, given the complications of two jam-packed church schedules.  Steps Toward Wholeness is a much-needed, well-designed study published by the Council of Bishops and the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns of The United Methodist Church. It will raise the hackles of some of our members and that is never comfortable. But Jesus did not call us to be comfortable; he called us to be faithful. If The United Methodist Church is to continue to be faithful to our Savior Jesus Christ, we just may have to squirm a bit over the issue of racism. We have not dealt with racism as genuinely as we should. Progress has been made, but, at the same time, the idea of repentance for the sins of the past is an idea that must be thrashed out if we are to be whole. It is important for United Methodists to be aware of the events in our history that have brought us to the situation we live in now, where the people called Methodist are divided into separate denominations because of racism and divided into African-American and Caucasian congregations within our own United Methodist Church. It must make the God of us all very sad to witness what we have done. Repentance for the acts of generations gone by is not popular among most white folks. The reality is that we are divided along racial lines. This is a sin. And for our sins we are called to repent. As the church of Jesus Christ, if we do not begin to address the thorny issue of racism past and present, we will continue to suffer by being less-than-effective witnesses to the transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead of mimicking society, we should be leading it in acts of repentance and reconciliation. My prayer is that every church in the Baltimore-Washington Conference will have the courage to study Steps Toward Wholeness. The Rev. Charlotte Hendee is pastor of Galesville UMC in Galesville. | 
Login/Register to leave comment