WILLIAMSBURG WINDOWS WITH PASTOR DAVE - COVENANT WITH REV. HELEN CASEY-RUTLAND
CALL TO PRAYER, REFLECTION & ACTION
From Our Pastors
"williamsburg windows" with pastor dave
What's going on at Williamsburg UMC? More than any one person can know, probably. But twice each week, Pastor Dave will provide a video update as to how God is moving in our community. Stop by any time and peer through these Williamsburg Windows!
A Statement of Covenant
with rev. Helen Casey-Rutland
When Rev. Helen Casey-Rutland decided to take a sabbatical, it was thought that a written covenant would be helpful to guide the new relationship between Helen and WUMC - especially in the first year of the sabbatical. That decision was based on the fact that, while stepping down from her clergy responsibilities, Helen and her family plan to remain active members of the WUMC congregation. The Staff Parish Relations Committee has worked with Helen to develop the agreement that will now guide her interactions with the WUMC family.
To view the covenant statement, click here.
CALL TO PRAYER, REFLECTION & ACTION
June 2, 2020
Dear Members and Friends of Williamsburg United Methodist Church,
We recently surpassed the grim count of now over 100,000 deaths to COVID-19 in the United States; we grieve the unfathomable loss with brothers and sisters around the world. We also lament the pandemic evil of racism which continues to cut off persons of color from the fullness of life God dreams for each one of God’s children.
In the United Methodist tradition, any who profess faith in Christ have promised "to renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world and repent of our sin. We accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves," including white supremacy and racism. At baptism, "we confess Jesus Christ as our Savior, put our whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as our Lord in union with the Church which Christ has opened to prior of all ages, nations and races." (The United Methodist Baptismal Covenant I). This is God's hope for the world and our faith to be lived out.
Our United Methodist Social Principles state, "Racism includes both personal and institutional racism. Personal racism is manifested through the individual expressions, attitudes, and/or behaviors that accept the assumptions of a racist value system and that maintain the benefits of this system. Institutional racism is the established social pattern that supports implicitly or explicitly the racist value system. Racism, manifested as sin, plagues and hinders our relationship with Christ, inasmuch as it is antithetical to the gospel itself."
We confess before God where we have been complicit in personal or systemic racism, and even as we name how we have done harm and failed to do good, we work to reconcile ourselves to God and one another in order to once again be a part of God's work healing, love and justice.
There are many ways to respond, and these are just a few. We call your attention to Bishop Sharma Lewis' May 29 letter. Please read, pray and consider how you can be a part of the holy work. Virginia Conference UM Churches Woodlake UMC and Floris UMC are offering mid-week services of lament and action online; you can find these on their websites and social media platforms. We encourage your participation. Pastor Meghan has been offering weekly time of praise and prayer on Wednesdays at 7AM on Facebook Live (@williamsburgumc) and will use that brief time of worship to lament, reflect on the Word and respond to God's call. Also, this Sunday, June 7 at 2PM, African American leaders in the Williamsburg community will meet at the front of the Capitol in Colonial Williamsburg to hold a peaceful and collaborative community rally to mark a renewal of the Community Covenant with the James City County and Williamsburg Policy departments. It will be live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube. If you choose to participate in person, wear your masks, honor CDC guidelines, stay safe and join in solidarity, support and peaceful participation.
For more educational and action resources, please visit the United Methodist General Commission on Race and Religion website: https://www.gcorr.org. GCORR's mission is "to challenge and equip leaders in the United Methodist Church and beyond in the work of dismantling racial discrimination in all its forms."
Friends, today, let us reflect on how God desires free and full lives for all God’s children, and how we are called to be a part of dismantling anything that prevents God’s children from such freedom and fullness of life.
In Christ,
Bill Jones, Senior Pastor
Meghan Roth Clayton, Associate Pastor
Helen Casey-Rutland, Minister of Congregational Care
Betsy Harrison, Church Council Chair
Anne Hardister, Lay Leader
Virginia Morgan, Lay Leader