Recent Vestry Notes

Vestry Notes

Vestry Notes (week of 1-18-26)

Reconciliation Season came into being in 2000 when the racial dialogue group came to the worship committee saying, “racism is alive and well in the United States and what is Redeemer going to do about it?”  With that, the Worship Committee looked at the work of Bishop Desmond Tutu and Nelsen Mandela as they created the peace and reconciliation process that was to define the healing to take place in South Africa following the collapse of apartheid.  We created an entire liturgy to name and define the reality of a world that did not live in equality, respect and love for every human being.  The initial focus was on black/white racial issues, but the season came to be so much more as we named the inequities of society within the Hispanic community, the Native American community, the people who do not worship as we do nor look like we do.

We intentionally name, “In a world where prejudice and power have joined hands to elevate one people at the expense of another, in a world where the heritage of slavery is still active in people’s lives,

In a world where unequal access to health care disproportionally endangers the lives of those who have been marginalized because of race or ethnicity. In a world where the evils of hatred and fear infect both public discourse and private thought, in a world where women and girls live with overt and subtle violence at the hands of others and the vulnerable are left in danger, In a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and gender non-conforming people are denied the freedom to live, to love, to work and to create a family, In a world where we see only disability, and the person remains invisible,  In a world where it is too easy to look away from those who may be homeless, undocumented or refugees, In a world where people, just because they are different, evoke fear and contempt,  We pray for reconciliation.”

In today’s America this season matters more than ever.  We are called to stand with all those named above.  This year, the worship committee chose to invite leaders from other faith traditions and action groups to empower us to see the world through their eyes and open our hearts to hope and action.    Father Willie will lead off the season with a celebration of Martin Luther King Sunday.  In turn, Ayse Ozdemir and Kurba Karaqoz from Peace Islands Institute (PII) will join us.  You may have joined them at Iftar last year.  PII “envisions a world becoming an island of peace in the ocean of our universe; a community in which people from all walks of life interact with each other and cooperate to serve their communities.”  Rabbi Deb Smith will join us one week.  Rabbi Deb has worked extensively in the interfaith community over the past decade or more and is a former co- chair of the Morris County Chapter of the Sisterhood of Salaam-Shalom.   Rosie Grant of this diocese advocates for restorative justice, interfaith programs, and personal healing for prisoners, their families, and communities.  She will share her perspectives with us.

Colleen Hintz for the Vestry

Read on, if you like, for a very brief tour of the season’s vestments created based on The Secret Quilt Code of the Underground Railroad which led slaves to hope and freedom.  I would posit the story and images within, could lead us today to a world of hope and freedom if we would just follow the code. Read more >>>Epistle1-18-26 Quilt Code.

Brian Malcolm, Paulette Bellew, Wardens
Vestry Members: Melissa Allman, Paul Cecala, Agnes Clyne, Leslie Harden, Colleen Hintz, Chuck Johnson, and Barbara Shannon.