May 11, 2015 Volume XXV, No. 5 Nationalchurch.org
The Messenger
METROPOLITAN CHURCH
A MULTI-SITE UNITED METHODIST COMMUNITY
Pentecost 2015
Lord, make us one with you, one with one another, and one in ministry to all the world. This year two of our three church goals are oriented toward building unity, internally within our multi-site, multi-ethnic parish, and externally in terms of partnerships that address the social inequalities in our city and foster sustainability and reconciliation. In light of this, Judy Edstrom, Patrick Landau, David Hackney, Pam Rogers, and Pastor Kate Payton, traveled to Memphis, TN for a multi-ethnic church conference.
Spring Sermon Series May Deep Call to Deep: Studying Other Religions
Our spring series has been exploring the other major religious traditions of the world, the wondrous similarities across different faiths as well as the important differences. All of these sermons have been framed by the question, “Why does a Christian congregation need to engage other religions?” If you haven’t joined the discussion yet, there is still time. On Sunday, May 17 we’ll look at Hinduism/Sikhism and on May 24, Charlie Parker, Dottie Yunger, Janet Craswell, and Kate Payton will be completing our sermon series by talking about the diversity—and unity—of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions of Christianity. If you have missed any of the sermons in this enlightening series, you can listen to the audio version of the sermons on our website at nationalchurch.org/Praising/Sermons_Podcasts.
We came back to riots in Baltimore. The 6 miles between Roland Park and Hollins Market in Baltimore come with a difference of 20 years in life expectancy, a household income difference of $67,000, and in Baltimore black infants are almost 9 times more likely to die before age 1 than white infants. In DC, there are unemployment rates that differ by 11.1% east and west of the river. Intentionally or not, we are a part of systems of injustice and inequality. Dr. Michael Emerson, a leading scholar on race and religion with books United by Faith, Divided by Faith, Against All Odds, shared some of his statistical findings at the conference. In 1998, 7% of churches in the US were multi-ethnic, meaning there was at least 20% of one ethnic group in the community as that is the tipping point of moving from tokenism to inclusion in power structures. Upon further research, he and his team found that churches were on average 10 times more segregated than their communities, and 20 times more segregated than the public schools.1 What does this kind of segregation do? It reproduces inequality. Think of how as the church we care for one another—helping each other find jobs, for instance—yet some communities have access to a history of wealth slanted in their direction and others do not. Yet—thanks be to God—the opposite is also true. Multi-ethnic churches in simply being the church and caring for one another across boundaries of race and ethnicity can reduce inequality in our cities. In the months ahead we will be initiating studies to bring awareness to our own bias, dinner gatherings, times of prayerful listening, and joint service projects as a way to intentionally build unity within our own multi-site, multi-ethnic parish and within our city. If you are interested in learning more or participating in/leading this work, please see Pastors Kate Payton or Dottie Yunger. For all of us, on Sunday May 24th at 10am, we will be celebrating Pentecost in a joint service at Wesley. We will celebrate the miracle of Pentecost that did not have the crowds all understanding the language of the disciples but the disciples speaking in the many languages of the crowds. As the body of Christ, we will celebrate in worship and in communion the unity of our diversity, committing ourselves to our common baptism and common call to live the future reality of the kingdom of God here and now. It is a journey of not only sharing our story but hearing others, partnering with one another, fostering equality, and altering racial attitudes. Just as the early church overcame the divisions of Jew and Gentile, so may we re-build our cities and communities so that racism does not undo the equality, love, freedom, mutual submission, and radical grace of the gospel. Diamond, D. (2015, April 28). Why Baltimore Burned. Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2015/04/28/why-baltimore-burned 1
Baltimore Appeal
Through the month of May, we are collecting toiletries for people in Baltimore, partnering with a congregation in the heart of the riot area to distribute what we collect. This is a tangible way to help the disrupted lives of our brothers and sisters in Baltimore. Please bring toiletries of any kind to the church and put them in the collection bin in the foyer at Metropolitan. Want to contribute funds? Please make your check out to Metropolitan Church and put Baltimore Aid in the memo line, and our shoppers will turn your financial gifts into life-enhancing toiletries. Please give generously as we continue our efforts to build bridges between people and across our conference. And please continue to hold the people of Baltimore in your thoughts and prayers.