Dear friends,
We are living in challenging, troubled times. Worldwide almost 400,000 people are confirmed to have died from Covid19, and in the U.S we are struggling with difficult issues of racial equality, justice, and the role of law enforcement in our society. This last week has been filled with so much pain.
At Five Talents we keep politics, both national and church, out of our work and communications. Our mission is to alleviate poverty through economic empowerment, and we stay focused on that mission. I have been inspired, however, by many people this week who have written eloquently about their thoughts on our current times. So, I hope you will appreciate my sharing with you here some excerpts from their powerful words. Today’s message is much longer than usual, but I believe you will find important ideas in their writings.
A Letter Endorsed by Archbishop Foley Beach, ACNA
George Floyd was made in the image of God and as such is a person of utmost value. This is not true because a few Anglican bishops issue a letter. This conviction arises from our reading of Scripture.
What happened to George is an affront to God because George’s status as an image bearer was not respected. He was treated in a way that denied his basic humanity. Our lament is real. But our lament is not limited to George and his family. We mourn alongside the wider Black community for whom this tragedy awakens memories of their own traumas and the larger history of systemic oppression that still plagues this country.
George’s death is not merely the most recent evidence that proves racism exists against Black people in this country. But it is a vivid manifestation of the ongoing devaluation of black life. The racism we lament is not just interpersonal. It exists in the implicit and explicit customs and attitudes that do disproportionate harm to ethnic minorities in our country. In other words, too often racial bias has been combined with political power to create inequalities that still need to be eradicated.
We confess that too often ethnic minorities have felt that contending for biblical justice is a burden they bear alone. We commit to educating ourselves and the churches under our charge within a Biblical and theological frame to face the problems of our day. We likewise commit to partnering with likeminded churches in the work of justice and reconciliation.
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, head of the Episcopal denomination
The prophet Micah taught that the Lord requires us to ‘do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. For the sake of George Floyd, for all who have wrongly suffered, and for the sake of us all, we need leaders to help us to be ‘one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.’
Cherie Harder, President, The Trinity Forum
The book of Proverbs reminds us that “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Americans need a shared vision of justice and flourishing for all of its citizens that extends beyond our tribes, parties, ideological bedfellows, and includes the marginalized, struggling, and overlooked. Christians are called to loving our neighbor as ourselves. Such love requires equal justice, rights, and protections, but it also calls for listening, attending to the experience of others, and valuing them as we might our own being.
In a fallen and unjust world, we love imperfectly, and see through a glass darkly, our vision obscured by our own biases, filters, and scars. But the call to love our neighbor is not optional, but a summons to partake in God’s work. May it be said that they will know we are Christians by our love.
Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Transitions and changes are often painful, sometimes frightening. Often the most troubled lives are those most unyielding to change. When we become so committed to stability that we cannot flow with the never- ending river of life, we wither and die spiritually. Every one of us has changes moving within our lives. Some changes are beneath the surface and we only vaguely sense them. Others are obvious and we are dealing with their effects. When we see change only as a problem or as pain, we have a harder time getting on with our lives. Looking back, we can see changes we would never have chosen or planned for ourselves. We can see now that we grew with them.
Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO, Yelp
There can be no going back to ‘business as usual’ when the protests, tweets, and news cycles die down. We all have to do our part to get educated, and we must use our voices, votes and whatever power and platform we have to reject racism in all its forms, until we put an end to this oppression that has plagued our country for centuries. We have a lot of work to do, and it’s on all of us to do that work.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
King was known as a champion of civil rights, but during his final years, he also focused much of his attention on the plight of the poor. This was a major theme of his Nobel Peace Prize address, in which he shared, that in addition to racial injustice, "a second evil which plagues the modern world is that of poverty. Like a monstrous octopus, it projects it's nagging, prehensile tentacles in lands and villages all over the world. Almost two thirds of the peoples of the world go to bed hungry at night. Most of these poverty-stricken children of God have never seen a physician or a dentist. Poverty is one of the most urgent items on the agenda of modern life."
In Closing:
So, as we each make personal decisions about how to do our part during these difficult times, Five Talents will stay focused on our mission to eliminate poverty in ‘lands and villages all over the world.’ I hope that will help to bring about greater justice for those in extreme poverty.
Until next Monday morning,
Dale Stanton-Hoyle
Executive Director,
Five Talents USA
P.S. You are invited to a Five Talents Town Hall Meeting focused on Burundi on Wednesday, June 24th at 12:00pm EST. To register and for more information on this virtual gathering, please click here.