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Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

Member church of the Lutheran World Federation

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RJAC Communications

Black History Month 2024

Posted: January 24, 2024 | Filed Under: RJAC Communications, Spotlight

Additional Resources will be added as they become available

As we welcome Black History Month throughout the coming month of February, we have another opportunity to learn and reflect on important events and some of the important contributions made by our black siblings throughout the world and here in Canada, too.

For many of us, this month is also a reminder that we live in a diverse world and that the contributions to this world made by those of African descent  are not often captured in the annals of history or taught in our schools.

As a church, it is important that we learn to walk more boldly with our siblings of colour and become more pro-active in welcoming them to participate more fully into the leadership and service of our church.

That’s one reason that our synod’s Racial Justice Committee and our national church’s initiative and commitment to providing opportunities for learning more about racial justice issues are so very important. As these educational opportunities present themselves within your areas, I urge you to join these sessions and learn more about how you, too, can help encourage more diversity within our local churches. After all, as Martin Luther King Jr. said at his acceptance of the Nobel Peace prize in Oslo, Norway back in 1964:

“I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have 3 meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds and, dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.” May it be so.

On behalf of our Racial Justice Committee and the Mt. Zion Lutheran Church in Waterloo, I invite you to join me at their annual Black History month morning service which will be live streamed on Sunday, February 25th at 11 am. And then made available as a recording. https://www.youtube.com/@mountzionworship9606/streams

I wish you all abundant blessings this month as we learn and celebrate Black History Month. May we all have the audacity to believe we have the power to make the world better for all of God’s children! 

Week 1 – History

BHM 2024 – Harriet TubmanDownload
BHM 2024 – Tracing Harriet Tubman And The Freedom SeekersDownload
BHM 2024 – William Peyton HubbardDownload
BHM 2024 – Dr Sophia Bethena JonesDownload
BHM 2024 – Charles Vector RomanDownload
BHM 2024 – Alfred L. Cralle, Elijah McCoy & Other Black InventorsDownload
BHM 2024 – Alice Allison DunniganDownload
BHM 2024 – Ethel Lois PayneDownload
BHM 2024 – Bayard RustinDownload
BHM 2024 – Marie Van Brittan BrownDownload
BHM 2024 – Cataract Hotel: Secret Agents of the UndergroundDownload
BHM 2024 – Buxton National Historical Site & MuseumDownload

Week 2: Culture/Diversity

BHM 2024 – Diversity Creed (Rev. Rick Pryce)Download
BHM 2024 – Black Brilliance Club (Isla Miller Reflections)Download
BHM 2024 – Sylvia HamiltonDownload
BHM 2024 – Jessie MapleDownload
BHM 2024 – Sandra BrewsterDownload
BHM 2024 – Audrey DuBois HarrisDownload
BHM 2024 – Sir Willard White & Thomas WilkinsDownload
BHM 2024 – Black Canadian ChefsDownload
BHM 2024 – Tre SandersonDownload
BHM 2024 – Donovan Bailey Download
BHM 2024 – Sandra Douglass MorganDownload
BHM 2024 – Tiger WoodsDownload
BHM 2024 – LeBron JamesDownload

Nova Scotia Land & People Acknowledgements

Week 3: Arts & Entertainment

BHM 2024 – Nerene VirginDownload
BHM 2024 – Tracy MooreDownload
BHM 2024 – Gloria ReubenDownload
BHM 2024 – Joe SealyDownload
BHM 2024 – DrakeDownload
BHM 2024 – DeFord BaileyDownload
BHM 2024 – Leslie Odom JrDownload
BHM 2024 – Oprah WinfreyDownload
BHM 2024 – Whoopi GoldbergDownload
BHM 2024 – Tyler PerryDownload

Week 4: Resources

Lift Every Voice and Sing Video – The Wardlaw Brothers Tribute to Black History (youtube.com)

BHM-2024-Theme-1.docx-Resources-NYT-Feb-3-1Download
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-Desmond-ColeDownload
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-Dr.-Uche-Blackstone-non-fiction-book-videoDownload
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-Clay-Cane-Aja-WilsonDownload
BHM.docx-Resources-Theme-1Download
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-Isabel-Wilkerson-CasteDownload
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-joy-reid-medgar-myrlie-evans-1Download
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-soul-food-historyDownload
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-cookbooksDownload
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-Fiction-Alice-Walker-Yaa-GyasiDownload
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-fiction-leila-mottley.docx-Marlon-JamesDownload
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-Tami-Charles-Childrens-non-fictionDownload
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-IbramX-Nic-Stone-how-to-be-young-antiracistDownload
BARRACOON.docx-Book-for-youth-BHM-resourcesDownload
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-other-good-samaritan-sermon-1Download
BHM-2024-Theme.docx-Resources-invite-to-Feb-25th-serviceDownload

National Indigenous People’s Day 2021

Posted: May 26, 2021 | Filed Under: Circle for Reconciliation and Justice, RJAC Communications

Dear Friends in Christ,

National Indigenous People’s Day Resources – 2021Download

As we approach the 2021 National Indigenous People’s Day, we offer gratitude to the Creator for the gift of Mother Earth, and to the First Peoples of this land for the wisdom they offer us as we walk together in solidarity with creation and with those who suffer the effects of colonization, racism, ableism, ageism, and sexism in its various guises. 

Since the 2020 National Indigenous People’s Day, Turtle Island has witnessed a sobering sequence of injustices, injuries and inequities directly bearing upon First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people.  News reels have documented the outrageous treatment of Joyce Echaquan, the ongoing effects of land grabs in Caledonia and beyond, the unconscionable continuance of boil-water advisories across this land, the rampant racism levelled against the Mi’kmaq of Sipekne’katik First Nation for exercising their fishing rights, the ongoing inordinate incarceration of Indigenous people, and the repeated disappearance and death of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.  Unfortunately, what has been reported is but the tip of the iceberg of what is experienced.

Read more →

George Floyd Anniversary and Verdict

Posted: April 22, 2021 | Filed Under: RJAC Communications, Spotlight

It’s been a year.
It has been a year, and what has changed?
A year since a man begged for his life from an officer of the law. A year since a woman was shot in her bed. A year since national sports leagues boycotted games. A year since we saw #saytheirnames trending on social media.
It has been a year since George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Regis Korchinski-Paquet.

What has changed?

Read more →

SOLIDARITY WITH ASIAN-CANADIANS AGAINST ANTI-ASIAN PACIFIC ISLAND INCIDENTS

Posted: March 31, 2021 | Filed Under: RJAC Communications, Spotlight, Uncategorised

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matthew 37-39)

Dear Siblings in Christ,

We, the Eastern Synod, acknowledge and denounce the continued and increasing hateful, racist and targeted acts against the Asian-Canadian and Pacific Islander (ACPI) community. Specifically and especially, we denounce those actions that are perpetuated due to poisonous misinformation and anti-Asian rhetoric in relation to the COVID-19 virus, and its origin in China. Importantly, it is a matter of justice.

Read more →

Black History Month – We Challenge You!

Posted: February 2, 2021 | Filed Under: RJAC Communications, Uncategorised

Racial Justice Advisory Committee: Black History Month 2021 Challenge

Let us become agents of change.

February is a busy month in 2021: Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and we are right into the Season of Lent. In the midst of all those meaningfully designated moments and celebrations of relationships, community, and our mutual humanity and vulnerability, the Racial Justice Advisory Committee urges you to observe February also as a commemoration of Black History Month.

For the month of February, the members of the Racial Justice Advisory Committee are inviting you to a Synod-wide challenge. (Watch the video introduction to the right, and watch video responses below!)

1.     Visit our resources list at https://rjaceastern.wixsite.com/home/copy-of-workshops-resources.

2.     Pick something from the list. Invite a friend to do this together.

3.     Engage, make comments, ask questions, dialogue.

4.     Tell us how you did! Use our Contact Us page to email us, or tag us on social media and let us know how it went.

Each member of RJAC will check back through February with a “moment of revelation” as they engage their choice of book, article, podcast, or video. Check back on the RJAC website and social media  channels to see what we’re reading, listening to, watching, and discussing. In holding up our narratives, painful, celebratory, and everything in-between, we embrace our common humanity.

Our features, this month, include an update on the most recent achievement of Willie Eldon O’Ree, a former professional ice hockey player, best known for being the first Black player in the National Hockey League (NHL) and inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November, 2018. He was featured in the “Black History Month” section of the Eastern Synod 2020 Newsletter. Most recently, Mr. O’Ree was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (2020/2021). Read more about Mr. O’Ree and his achievements on our website.

Read more →

On the Murder of George Floyd

Posted: June 2, 2020 | Filed Under: RJAC Communications

If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. (1 Corinthians 12:26)

​With the death of George Floyd, we witnessed yet another senseless murder of a black man in the United States. We again see tears and anguish pounding through each step marched in resistance, struggle, and public protest; we feel deeply the brokenness and the separation between God’s vision for community and where the world sits at this moment in history.

​This is not simply an American problem. Canadians are not immune to prejudice and racial injustice. We join in with resounding force against the questionable circumstances surrounding the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto, and the desecration of a Jewish synagogue in Montreal. As the whole people of God called to manifest God’s mission in the world, we must not be complacent and silent in our status quo. The Spirit moves us to stand courageously, to advocate persistently, and to act compassionately as people of faith.

​We are not living out God’s vision for community.

​Furthermore, when we fail to speak out against acts of racism, we become silent perpetrators of injustice. In short, if we do not condemn racism, then we are guilty of it. It is our work, particularly as a community of faith, to speak out against acts of racism. It is our work to say loudly and clearly that we do not accept this reality. We must call out racism as sinful and deadly. That is only the beginning, for once we speak out against it, we must do the work of dismantling the systems that oppress.

​We, the committee that represents your Synod, feel called to use our pulpits and platforms to speak out against racism. To shine a light on the ways in which racism exists in our community, and to pledge to do the work to make changes. To stand in solidarity with all who live with racial injustice as a daily reality. We feel called to pray fervently, to write persistently, and to encourage one another to allow God to work in us and through us for equity, love and an end to all forms of discrimination and racism.

​June 21st is Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. Racism in our country often takes the form of discrimination against our Indigenous Peoples: the missing and murdered Indigenous women, dishonoring of historical treaties and present promises, and ignoring that the wisdoms of Indigenous Peoples teach us how to be caretakers of this land. We must interrogate the past, look clearly at the present, and let it motivate our work for justice to build a future for our common good.

​The preamble to the mission, vision and values statement of the Racial Justice Advisory Committee states, “We acknowledge that we each have different experiences of privilege and that in different settings, some of us experience more privilege and some experience less.” Each of us will experience the current events differently, depending on our life stories. Reach out to colleagues, parishioners, neighbours, and friends who might be feeling particularly vulnerable this week. Be present and listen when oppressed voices speak and stand with them.

We pray for courage as we do this work together, as allies. It is not easy, nor comfortable, but it is necessary. We are truly all in this together.

​In solidarity with our Siblings of Colour,
Your Racial Justice Advisory Committee

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