Yesterday I received a call from an excited parishioner who had just seen Oprah's heralded episode featuring 178 Freedom Riders, and who wanted to know how we might share this amazing true story of courage and justice at Lutheran Church of the Savior. She suggested starting with the upcoming Freedom Riders documentary, which will air on PBS on Monday, May 16th at 9/8c.
As a pastor, I am heartened whenever someone recognizes work for racial justice (and for those of us who are white, against white privilege) as part of our call to follow Jesus and to share God's love with the world. I am lucky to have leaders of my Synod's Anti-Racism team as members of my congregation and resources to facilitate this kind of conversation. I am also honored to be Vice President of the European-American Lutheran Association, the nascent-but-promising official organization of the ELCA for white people to organize around anti-racism and anti-white-privilege work. As white people in an overwhelmingly-white section of the body of Christ, we have a lot of work to do, and you'll be hearing much more about this as EALA steps out into the public sphere in the coming year.
Watch the PBS documentary on the 16th, and look for more information about how we can continue this conversation as followers of Jesus living in America in these times.
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