To further our Lenten theme, Love At The Center, we invite you on a journey toward racial justice. Each week we will provide readings, videos, podcasts and prayers to help you explore your feelings, understandings and knowledge about your role in moving toward racial justice in our church community and beyond. Please choose which resources you feel are most helpful to you. Each devotional begins with "Words to Ponder" and ends with a prayer. We hope each weekly reflection provides a depth of rich resources for you to choose from.
Today’s Words to Ponder:
“The beautiful thing about the piano is that you got white keys and you got black keys. And the only way to make the most beautiful, magnificent, and poetic noise is with both sets of keys working in tandem. You can’t just play all white keys, because you won’t maximize what the instrument has to offer. You can’t just play all black keys, because you won’t maximize what the instrument has to offer. But integrate the white and black keys together, and that is when the piano makes a joyful noise.”
― Emmanuel Acho,
Emmanuel Acho grew up in Dallas and played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns and the Philadelphia Eagles. Since leaving football in 2016, he has worked for ESPN and Fox Sports. In 2020, he created the video series, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man. In his quest to bring the discussion of race and racism into the forefront of our lives, he answers questions and speaks with others about these in candid and frank conversations.
We encourage you to view more of his videos, if time permits.
Mr. Acho has also written 2 books, Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man and Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Boy. In an interview with Texas Monthly, he was quoted as saying, “Ending racism is not a finish line that we will cross. It’s a road we will travel.” He goes on to explain, using a sports analogy; “I want people to act. My book is hopefully going to be the play that is called in a huddle. At a sporting event, at a football game, before the offense goes out and runs a play, they huddle. And in the huddle, they talk about the play that is about to be run. My book is that figurative huddle. We’ve huddled together around these words—and different chapters will mean different things to different people—but hopefully you now can digest the play and go execute.”
Our intent with these Lenten devotionals has been to offer you food for thought about racial justice and racism. We are all in different places in our journey to learn and understand this complicated issue, but it is our hope that you took time to think about some of this information, talked about it with others, asked questions of yourself and others, and used the power of God to bring you to a place of action and determination.
Our Daily Prayer:
Dear God, As we work to understand and love each other, regardless of our differences, may we remember the words of Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:
"Love is patient; love is kind;
love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends."
Amen.
