by The Rev. Jason Oden
On Sunday, June 30, at both the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. service, Pastor Jason and parishioner Larry James will be leading the day’s service with a focus on Becoming Beloved Community: the Episcopal Church’s long-term commitment to racial healing, justice, and reconciliation.
The work of Becoming Beloved Community is a direct response to General Convention Resolution C019 passed at the 78th General Convention in 2015 and has been encouraged in all Episcopal dioceses. Our diocese, Southern Ohio, is fully committed to this work, evidenced by all it has done recently to prepare and equip the diocese for this long-term commitment. In 2017, Amy Howton, from All Saints parish down the road in Pleasant Ridge, was hired to serve as the Becoming Beloved Community Coordinator to mobilize parish leaders (lay and clergy) to begin the conversation and the work of Becoming Beloved Community within all parishes diocesan-wide. And at our diocesan Convocation this past May, The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, currently serving as the canon to the presiding bishop for reconciliation and evangelism and leading the national church’s efforts in Becoming Beloved Community, served as the keynote speaker.
Larry James, who now serves as a Becoming Beloved Community Task-Force member in our diocese, and I (currently a Becoming Beloved Community Ambassador to St. Barnabas) want to personally invite you to come Sunday, June 30 to:
hear what we have learned from Amy Howton and Canon Spellers over this past year;
learn how we as a congregation can begin this work; and
specifically pray with us for justice, healing, and reconciliation in our world.