Wednesday, November 24, 2021
A Message from the CMM Community
Reflecting on Newton's Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Thinking Ahead

Maxine Lyons' reflections beautifully caught the happy mood and colorful tenor of the day at Albemarle Park in Newton last October 11. I loved her observation that, for this Indigenous Peoples Day anyway, we were “in step” with each other – natives and non-natives together. To dance together! Now that is a step in the right direction, please excuse the pun.

I was there, too, and I felt humbled to be welcomed into their spirit so generously.  What a precious education to be made privy to the religious customs and rituals of the first nation. Most different to me was the freedom from words, from the usual verbiage of western religion, and to be invited into the vibrations of the moment.

We are now approaching a different sort of day, “Thanksgiving Day” erstwhile to white people, the “Day of Mourning” to native Americans since 1970. White people will need all our spiritual strength to meet the challenge of reckoning with our history, the colonization and the extermination we perpetrated upon the indigenous peoples. However, it is imperative that we become intimately acquainted with our history, get it right and own it. A daunting task emotionally, I admit, to be undertaken in the hope of new relationships and new history.

We are committed to realizing this hope through education programs at Eliot Church directed to this neighborhood and this region. We begin by humbly acknowledging that our buildings and property are situated on indigenous land. In fact, the church stands on a corner ½ mile from the site where the Rev. John Eliot, known as the “Apostle to the Indians,” first preached his gospel to Waban, his kin and tribe. Because he is our namesake, we have initiated a “Quest for the Historical John Eliot.” Progress can be followed on our website: www.eliotchurch.org.

We also intend to offer events in the spring, bringing representatives from the native communities into conversation with us and the wider public. Ultimately, I would wish for this church to be a destination where people can turn for inspiration and interaction about correcting the vast and incalculable losses for which our forebears are responsible.


Rev. Richard Chrisman
Interim Pastor of Eliot Church in Newton
CMM Co-Vice Chair
CMM and NDC Volunteers Securing 400+ Turkey Baskets Last Sunday for Families in Need
Upcoming Community Events
Data Science for Racial Equity

November 30, 2021, 4 - 6pm
Kilachand Center Colloquium Room (101), 610 Commonweath Ave

There is a pressing and ongoing need for research that exposes racial disparities in public policy and informs policymakers and the public on antiracist alternatives. Data science can be an invaluable window for identifying racism, by helping us to understand historical patterns and uncover racial inequity. Data science can also be the door to the policies and practices that will allow us to build an antiracist future. 

At this Research on Tap, attendees will hear from BU data scientists engaged in research that uncovers racial inequity in a variety of contexts and provides a data-driven pathway to an equitable society. 

Faculty hosts:
Recapturing the Prophetic Tradition: A Challenge for Interreligious Dialogue

December 6, 2021, 7 - 8:30pm
Goucher College and Live Stream

Over the last half century, interreligious dialogue has made tremendous strides and compiled a laudable record of achievements. What was once considered extraordinary is now in many circles commonplace: we read and study one another’s scriptures, learn our respective histories and engage one another on a deep, personal level. But has our dialogue grown stale and repetitive? Dr. Susannah Heschel offers a friendly critique and challenge, drawing on the legacy of her father, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, whose work and writings on the prophetic tradition offer a model to sharpen future dialogue and inspire us to move beyond the comfort of our own traditions, viewpoints, and assumptions.
BE LOVE VIRTUAL TRAINING

December 13, 14, 15, 2021, 6pm

Join The King Center for a special 3-Part Nonviolence365® BE LOVE virtual training series. This interactive and paradigm shifting series will provide participants with a perspective on the transformative power of love as well as practical strategies on how to apply "love-force” to create a more just, humane,
equitable, and peaceful world.
Shoulder-to-Shoulder Virtual Town Hall Community Meeting

December 14, 2021, 8:22pm

This special invite-only end-of-year gathering to be an hour-long engaging and participant-driven program to gather and reflect on our shared work of connecting, equipping, and mobilizing faith communities to counter and prevent anti-Muslim discrimination in the U.S. in order to build a more inclusive society where all people, no matter their faith or background, are treated with dignity.
"A Call to Repair: From Here to Equality" Online Webinar

January 12, 2022, 4 - 5:30pm

Racism and discrimination have choked economic opportunity for African Americans at nearly every turn. At several historical moments, the trajectory of racial inequality could have been altered dramatically. Perhaps no moment was more opportune than the early days of Reconstruction when the U.S. government temporarily implemented a major redistribution of land from former slaveholders to the newly emancipated enslaved. But neither Reconstruction nor the New Deal nor the civil rights struggle led to an economically just and fair nation. Today, systematic inequality persists in housing discrimination, unequal education, police brutality, mass incarceration, employment discrimination, and massive wealth and opportunity gaps. Economic data indicates that for every dollar the average white household holds in wealth, the average black household possesses a mere ten cents.” In their book, From Here to Equality, William "Sandy" Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen confront these injustices head-on and makes the most comprehensive case to date for economic reparations for U.S. descendants of slavery.