MAY 2021
COMMUNICATION BRIEFINGS
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FEATURED ARTICLE
• "WOE" by Rev. Dr. Irie L. Session
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UPCOMING EVENTS
• DC4PW Online Spring Event (5/5)
• Let Us Pray (Second Tuesday, 5/11)
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CELEBRATION
• Mother's Day (5/9)
• Pentecost Day (5/23)
• Special Offering (5/16 & 5/23)
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NEWS & RESOURCES
• Brookvale champions honored 50yrs later: Celebrating Rev. Dr. Bill Lee
• Pension Fund Special Apportionment
• Disciples Women Seeks New Director
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BOOK SPOTLIGHT
• Journey Towards Wholeness
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CONNECTIONS
• 2022 It's Real (Save-the-Date)
• Stay Connected
• Visit Our Website
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The vision of the National Convocation is to be a leaven in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) under One God as One Church with One Mission in the world, as a voice promoting pertinent issues related to the African American Church, carrying out the biblical mandate to transform lives.
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SELAH will feature the vital ministries of worship, education, justice, advocacy, fellowship, and discipleship that abound throughout our congregations as well as ministry resources; and Convocation events that are crucial for discerning future ministry and leadership of the National Convocation. There is strength in community. Please send congregational updates, ministry concerns, and prayer needs here.
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WOE!
In her book titled, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury & Healing, Dr. Degruy wrestles with the consequences of scars left on the souls of Black folk inflicted by the ravages of enslavement. She engages in this work not as a sadistic voyeur, but with the goal of offering hope and healing for Black people living in America. Degruy explains how Blacks in America, though never having personally experienced chattel slavery, can today, be affected by events that happened over 400 years ago:
…hundreds of years of protracted slavery guarantee the prosperity and privilege of the South’s white progeny while correspondingly relegating its black progeny to a legacy of debt and suffering. It doesn’t really matter today if any of us, black or white, directly experienced or participated in slavery. What does matter is that African Americans have experienced a legacy of trauma.
We see the remnants of Black enslavement today in the policing of Black bodies; we see it in the wage gap; we see it in State-sanctioned murders of Black and Brown bodies; we even see it in our denomination. Thus, the need for a Merger Agreement as a safeguard to equity and fair treatment for Black Disciples of the Christian Church.
This is why the prophet’s words in Isaiah 5 verse 20, though harsh, may also be a source of hope. Isaiah declared a day of leveling would come. A transformation of unjust systems was forthcoming for those leaders who ascribed to and lived out, this kind of ideological fallacy and social injustice. The prophet makes clear, one day, a woe would come. In the context of Isaiah 5, the term woe is an assurance that God will mete out adverse consequences to those leaders who perpetuated social injustice among God’s own people. Woe signals a shift; woe suggests change is forthcoming.
Today, in the 21st Century church, widespread systemic change seems way off in the distance. However, Isaiah’s prophetic utterance seems appropriate as he cries, “the wound of my people is treated carelessly.” Even so, the prophet declares, “woe is on the way.” I confess, this text gives me a 21st Century hope. It lets me know God sees injustice and takes it in hand. The writer of Ecclesiastes 3:17 attests, “there’s a time for every matter and every deed.” We don’t know when and we don’t know how, but there is a woe for the lie of white supremacy. Why? Because evil is not good and good is not evil; because white bodies are not superior to all other bodies, and black bodies are not inferior to white bodies.
What is superior, is the Way of Jesus as laid out in scripture. Beloved, Jesus showed us a more excellent way. A way of living with and among one another in truth and love - where the first shall be last and the last shall be first – so that all can live into the fullness of their humanity and divinity. The National Convocation is committed to the Way of Jesus. We seek to be instruments of God’s love and justice in the church and in the world. So that God’s reign on earth is made manifest to all.
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Rev. Dr. Irie L. Session
President of the
Board of Trustees for the National Convocation
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PRAYER LEADERS BY CONVENTION
MAY 11 | Kentucky Christian Missionary Convention
& Ohio African-American Convention
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MOTHER'S DAY
Mother’s Day can bring a mix of emotions for many women. There are those anticipating the birth of their first child, step-moms wondering what their place is, those who have lost their mother and are faced with grieving on Mother’s Day, there are moms who encounter feelings of hurt because of strained relationships and estrangement, and those overwhelmed with pain from the loss of a child.
No matter what you face this Mother’s Day, you can turn to God and experience peace and healing through prayer.
Here is a prayer that can apply to your journey of motherhood. It is our hope that it will encourage your soul and speak life into your calling as a mom.
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MOTHER'S DAY PRAYER
Good and Gentle God,
Today we pray for all the Mothers, given and chosen, who serve as a wonderful example of what it means to nurture and live out love for those around them. We pray for the Moms who are filled with radiant joy, and for those that are struggling.
We pray for the Moms who are remembering children who have died, and pregnancies that miscarried. We pray for those experiencing frustration or desperation in infertility. We pray for the Moms who have adopted kids and love them fiercely.
We pray for those remembering Moms no longer with us. We pray for the peace of your presence to cover their minds and thoughts, as you comfort them and remind them, that we are kept safe in your presence forever, whether in life or in death.
We pray for single Moms. Shield them with your wings. Prosper them in whatever they do, water their seeds, and continue to allow them to flourish. Allow them to take refuge in you.
We thank you for creating each Mom with a unique combination of gifts and talents. We thank you for the gift of time Moms give for their kids, whether it’s stay-at-home Moms, working Moms, and Moms who have some combination of the two. We thank you for the flexibility of Moms, for their tirelessness, their perseverance, and their devotion. Bless the village, the partners, family, friends, and strangers that extend care, love, and support for them. Most of all, Lord, may our hearts overflow with gratitude and actions of appreciation for all they do. Amen.
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BE BOLD + BE COURAGEOUS + BE GENEROUS + BE THE NEW CHURCH
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BE THE NEW CHURCH
For the past thirteen months, many of us have stayed away from our places of worship to keep ourselves and our faith communities safe.
How have new church leaders responded?
By spreading the word about Disciples through DoorDash, meeting with folks struggling with anxiety on Zoom, and addressing returning citizens’ needs.
Chaplains, pastors, and others have answered the call to be the new church. To support them, contribute to the Pentecost Offering on May 16 and 23.
Half of the gifts go to regions to support new church development. The other half goes to New Church Ministry, which trains, equips, assists, and multiplies new church leaders.
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Let’s all
be the
new church,
together.
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You can give online HERE.
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Brookvale high school baseball champions honored 50 yrs later: Celebrating Rev. Dr. Bill Lee
Rev. Dr. William "Bill" Lee was featured in the Washington Post article, “A Black high school baseball team won a championship in 1969. Their hometown waited 50 years to celebrate.” He is Pastor Emeritus of Loudon Avenue Christian Church, Roanoke, Virginia, where he served for 39 years; serves on the Administrative Committee of the General Board; and as Director of Black Ministries, Disciples Home Missions, among other roles.
Dr. Lee was a star pitcher on the Brookvale High School baseball team. He joined former Brookvale High School 1969 baseball team members for a ceremony to honor their championship season at Dream Fields in Kilmarnock, Virginia, on April 17. When they played more than half a century ago, Black people were not legally allowed through the gates of Dream Fields.
“Brookvale was more like family for us, the teachers looked after us, we felt they loved us, knew us. Lancaster High was a whole different environment. It felt like being a visitor, but in many ways an unwanted visitor, in somebody else’s house,” reflects Rev. Dr. Bill Lee. Click here to read the full Washington Post article.
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Pension Fund Board Approves Record Special Apportionment
Pension Fund’s Board of Directors met virtually April 21-25, 2021. In addition to receiving updates on the decentralized operation of the fund and continued plans for risk mitigation, the board awarded the largest total dollar Special Apportionment in the organization’s history. The nearly $187.3 million fully funded Special Apportionment will be applied to all US and Puerto Rico pension and annuity accounts based on Dec. 31, 2020 credit balances. Retirees will see a 10.5% gross increase in their July 1, 2021 pension payment.
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Disciples Women
begins the search for a new
Executive Director
Disciples Women’s Ministries is a conduit for diverse connections empowering each woman to find her voice and live out her call. (Micah 6:8)
As part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Disciples Women welcomes all to the table as Christ has welcomed us. The ministries of Disciples Women are part of the movement for wholeness in a fragmented world by providing opportunities for spiritual growth, enrichment, education, and creative ministries to enable women to develop a sense of personal responsibility for the whole mission of the church. Disciples Women's Ministry seeks to be a network of women committed to the justice-seeking, compassion-focused mission of Jesus Christ with no membership requirements or conditions.
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TO APPLY FOR THIS POSITION:
Please send both a letter of interest and an updated resume to:
Please include information regarding both your professional work and church life (paid and volunteer).
DEADLINE:
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26th
Send any questions to the above email address, as well.
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Journey Toward Wholeness
by Brenda M. Cardwell and
William K. Fox, Sr.
From Convention to Convocation:
No longer "Objects of" Mission but
"Partners In" the Work
With roots stretching to before the Civil War, the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) today serves as the connection between African Americans and the Stone-Campbell Movement. Founders of the African American Convention movement were visionaries, coordinating the opposition to slavery, forced relocation of free African Americans to Africa, and a multitude of social ills. Journey toward Wholeness: A History of Black Disciples of Christ in the Mission of the Christian Church chronicles the predecessors of the National Convocation and the movement's roots and growth through almost three centuries.
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SAVE THE DATES: JULY 20-23, 2022
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