Seeking Social Justice

Dr. Keiser talked about several Clark Elementary School initiatives when she addressed the congregation November 6. When interviewing candidates for teaching positions they put the person in an actual class to observe. They had instituted co-teachers for the third grade and hoped to add them for other grades. Many after-school activities were offered four weekdays such as cooking, drawing and newspaper work. Because of a 21^st Community Learning Center Grant, tutoring and outdoor recreation were offered four weekdays. This had a health and food component to teach healthy living as well as service learning in the community. To focus on the importance of college, one day a month, faculty wore something from their college and had conversations with students about setting goals. Clark had strong volunteer support from PVCC, JABA and UVa’s Madison House. She welcomed Sojourners as volunteers and asked for our prayers for her as she led the school with which she had already fallen in love.

In addition to registering Giant grocery cards so percentages of sales go to the school we’ve begun collecting Box Tops for Education. A church neighbor had asked us to participate along with other area churches. Last year over $300 was raised simply by the efforts of the school families.

Our next Social Justice Sunday is November 6. Dr. Daphne Keiser, the new principal at Clark Elementary School, will deliver our Social Justice Moment outlining for us additional ways we can connect with the school. At the beginning of the school year we donated supplies, specifically focusing on the classroom of a Clark teacher with Sojourner ties. We’ve recently started gathering sign-ups for Giant Food’s program to channel percentages of store purchases to designated schools.

On October 23rd Sojourners PMSJ group led the annual service focusing on people who are incarcerated. This year several members of the group shared their personal experiences. Here’s one from Sojourner, Warren Brecht.                   

CHERRY

I met Cherry through Barbara.  She had visited him in a prison group setting in upstate New York once a month for several years.  When released, he called us and invited us to lunch at his apartment which he shared with his wife Thelma whom he had married while in prison.  Thelma was an RN.

During his 25 years in prison, he had completed his GED, Associates, Bachelors and Masters degrees. He was also certified as an HIV counselor.  He came out of prison with hardly any clothes and I cleaned out my closet to provide him with shirts, khakis, and shoes etc.

When we arrived at their apartment, I was greeted by a very warm, kind man. Cherry was very easy to be with, and we were both Yankee fans. He was intelligent and articulate. He had just been out for two days and you can imagine how strange the world was to him. He couldn’t tell one car from another or how to get on a bus or subway. 

We were about the same size and we went into the bedroom to try on the clothes I had brought.  He came across to me as someone who clearly wanted to grow intellectually, improve himself and contribute to society.  I asked him what he had been in prison for and he said murder. Cherry was not my idea of what a murderer should act like. 

I found that knowing Cherry was a positive experience and not what I had anticipated.  It made me wonder what other young men who had committed serious crimes in their youth were like as they aged.  I would like to thank Cherry for opening my eyes.

Sojourners will celebrate Pride Sunday June 26 when we honor those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and their families. The service of Acceptance and Affirmation will feature a speaker and music by the Sojourners Band. Our Open & Affirming Social Justice Group facilitates this annual service.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of Sojourners Social Justice Groups is July 10 after worship. These groups are open to anyone who would like to participate. If you’re new to the church or simply haven’t decided on a group yet, feel free to drop in on one or more of the meetings to find out what’s happening.

The Eco-Justice Outreach group is delighted to announce that the sale of organic tulip bulbs exceeded our goal by almost 30%, raising a grand total of $330 to give in support of the children’s programs at Charlottesville’s QCC Farms!  The funds will enrich children’s lives and strengthen their connections to the Earth by helping pay for organic gardening activities, healthy snacks, outings, and 4-H camping.

Heartfelt thanks to all who participated, and especially to M.N. for providing a display of informational photos, a bouquet from the QCC garden, and beautiful hand-painted gift cards.

For many years at Christmas, Sojourners has participated in an in-gathering of hygiene items as well as Christmas and all-occasion cards for inmates of the Fluvanna County Correctional Center for Women.  We join with many other churches and organizations in this collection. This year we began the drive in May and will collect items throughout the remainder of the year in order to meet the large demand.  A list of needed items is available at the church. This initiative is spearheaded by the Prison Ministry Social Justice Group.  

The next regularly scheduled meeting of Sojourners Social Justice Groups is September 12 worship. These groups are open to anyone who would like to participate. If you’re new to the church or simply haven’t decided on a group yet, feel free to drop in on one or more of the meetings to find out what’s happening. This summer for Social Justice Sundays, we began inviting directors of various local agencies or organizations which we fund through our Service & Missions grants to join us for worship and to briefly address the congregation. We look forward to welcoming our second speaker in this series, Drene DeGood, Executive Director of the Alliance for Interfaith Ministries (AIM). All speakers are invited to stay for fellowship and the meetings after worship so that we can share more information about our respective social justice work.

On Pride Sunday, June 27, Sojourners Open & Affirming group facilitated the worship service and several members of the congregation offered the following remarks.

Too often, religious groups misuse a few passages from the Bible to justify the oppression of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Too often, we do not know how to respond to these texts or know what they really mean. As a result, dialog with these religious groups–be it in person or in society—has the potential to make LGBTQ people feel badly about themselves.

We would like to speak about each of these so-called “clobber passages” in the Bible, in detail, removing the fear they can sometimes instill. There will be a different reader for each passage, and this presentation will take the place of the sermon. There is much information to be shared, and many of you may be hearing this for the first time. After each reader speaks, we will pause for a minute or two to give you time to reflect.

Genesis 19:5 “Where are the men who came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.”

Sodom and Gomorrah is a story in the Bible of two cities, whose inhabitants are said to be wicked, and God has decided to destroy them. Two angels visit Abraham’s brother Lot, who lives there, and give him the news and a means of escape. The men of S&G hear that Lot has visitors and they all march to his dwelling, aiming to do bodily harm to the angels. Lot tries to satisfy the men with offering them his daughters(!), but their anger was not appeased, and as they tried to break Lot’s door down, the angels blinded all the men outside the door.

I was taught that the grave sin of S&G was homosexuality, but if you look at this scripture objectively, it is a difficult case to make. God’s Rule of Living for Genesis is hospitality. If you weren’t friendly to your enemies, you could lose your life. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah showed zero tolerance for anyone different than themselves, and instead, are gang-raping folks to subdue and humiliate them. It’s not just a few bad apples—every man in the city—young and old the Bible says–comes out to defy Lot and demand his visitors be turned out. Do you suppose that every man in the city is gay? Hmmmm . . . not even in San Francisco. And if they were all gay, then why did Lot offer them his daughters . . .

For those of you that know me, know I love seeing the irony in life. So, here’s some irony: Suppose we are right about Sodom & Gomorrah’s sin being that of inhospitality—or intolerance—to word it a bit differently. These religious groups today would be guilty of that very same grievous sin . . .

Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman.”

The book of Leviticus is a code of ethics, and includes 769 rules or codes that were only meant for the Jewish men who were from the tribe of Levi who were going to be priests during the Old Testament. Some of these rules include:

Don’t eat shellfish.

Only wear clothes made of one type of fiber.

Burn the witches.

Only grow one crop at a time.

Please also remember that this was the time when God was growing the Jewish nation. It was not acceptable to ‘waste the seed’. Two men could not procreate, so sex between folks of the same sex was frowned upon during this time, as was masturbation. These Jewish laws for the priests of Levi do not apply to us.

Romans 1:26&27 “Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another.”

What was natural? Paul wrote the books of Romans and Corinthians, for Christians at a time when the Greeks were exploring the humanities, which certainly fostered a more open view of sex. Unfortunately, they were going overboard, and STDs were pretty common. Heterosexual folks were finding sexual partners of all persuasions. In other words, Paul was saying if you are heterosexual, then having homosexual sex is not natural for you. It is highly likely that Paul is speaking out against promiscuity and advocating for moderation—which happens to be the theme of Romans, Corinthians, and I Timothy!

Corinthians 6:9, 10 “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind . . .shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

And I Timothy 1:9, 10. “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, . . . for them that defile themselves with mankind, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine . . .”

“The Greek word used in both these passages are the same and literally mean ‘the male who has many beds’. Thus, the entire phrase means a male with multiple bed-partners; a promiscuous man. Everywhere that the word koitais is used in the plural in the Bible denotes promiscuity. The English word ‘homosexual’ was not coined or created until 1868. If you see the word ‘homosexual’ in the Bible, it has been inserted.

Perhaps you are wondering if Jesus had anything to say about homosexuality? He did not. Thank you for taking the time to listen with an open mind and receive the Word of God.

Dr. Rosa Atkins, Superintendent of the Charlottesville Public Schools and Dr. Pamela Moran, Superintendent of Albemarle County School Division spoke to an enthusiastic group after the morning worship service on Sunday, May 16th, sponsored by the Racial Justice Social Action Group. This was a return engagement for both superintendents, a practice that has been in existence for a number of years. At least once each year, they have come to update Sojourners on what is happening in each school system.

They each talked about the impact of the budget cuts on their systems. It seems that Albemarle will be “hit harder” than the city of Charlottesville resulting in lost of some teachers and some programs. Classroom sizes will increase by one child in grades above 4th in the county.

Both Drs. Atkins and Moran spoke about the impact of technology on the world of education today. We must be able to expose students to the rapidly changing pace of technology and prepare them to explore and advance in “out of the box” thinking. Advances have been made in narrowing the much talked about achievement gap between black and white students. The importance of early childhood education, starting with classes for three years olds was felt to be the most important step that can be taken to change achievement gap statistics.

To the question about what can we, as citizens and Sojourners, do to support the school systems, the need for a strong consistent and constant education advocacy group was promulgated. The importance of public education needs to be frequently at the forefront of discussions in the community and regular support at times other than budget hearings or teacher cut-backs. The Education Action Group resulting from the Dialogue on Race was mentioned as a possible beginning of an advocacy group.

We thank Drs Atkins and Moran for their willingness to come to us on a Sunday morning and look forward to hearing from them again next year or before.