The Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Easton is committed to our Biblical calling to “do justice, love, kindness, and walk humbly with God”, as is outlined in Micah 6:8. As a church, our obligation is not just to speak about justice, loving kindness and humility, but also to live out these values. The death of George Floyd has awakened and/or fueled the desire to end the racial injustice which haunts our society. In order to explore how exactly we as a congregation can live into the faithful requirement, to do justice, we are launching a new initiative. Currently three actions related to this initiative are happening:

Leadership Team: A leadership group is being formed for this initiative and Deacon Mercy Barrows has agreed to be the team leader. Elder, Victoria Opthof-Cordaro will be the liaison to Session. Mercy and Pastor Stefanie will be inviting other church members to join this leadership team. Once assembled, this team will then invite the church as a whole to join sponsored events and actions to help us all address issues of racism specifically and injustice more generally, as we kindly and humbly learn and grow together.

Black Voices: We are a predominantly white congregation and denomination. The work of racial justice must be done by those of us in this “majority” category. But this is not an abstract endeavor. As a way to honor and listen to the experiences of people of color in our congregation, the Session would like to hear personal experiences of racism and would like to find a way to respectfully share those experiences with the congregation. Whether you are African American, black, Hispanic, Caribbean-American, mixed race, Latinx, or identify with more than one racial label – would you be willing to tell us your story? Our original thought was to create a space in our newsletter to share these reflections. Please contact either pastor Stefanie or Mercy Barrows if you would be willing to contribute.

Congregational Participation: The Presbyterian Church USA has resources for congregations and worshiping who wish to confront the harsh realities of racism. One good place for a congregation to start is by taking the 21-Day Racial Justice Challenge. In July we will be posting a challenge “action” twice a week on our Facebook page. The challenge invites us to do something every day to raise awareness about the perniciousness of racism and encourage action in response to that awareness. The PC (USA) worked with several nonprofits, organizations and school systems in adapting the challenge for use for congregations. You can find the entire challenge here: presbyterianmission.or