On Saturday, October 30, the Fellowship of South Carolina Bishops and the University of South Carolina’s Center for Civil Rights History and Research hosted a presentation by Bishop Michael Curry. The title of his riveting presentation was “Love Is the Way: The Cost of Beloved Community.” Bishop Curry is the presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the US. He became widely known when he preached at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meaghan Markle.
Bishop Curry’s message focused on the urgency of healing our world by attending to the needs of the poor, the demands of justice, confronting hatred and prejudice, and healing the planet. As Bishop Andrew Waldo introduced Bishop Curry, he spoke of a time they were together in Ghana at the site of the buildings which held people before they were transported to America to be sold into slavery. Bishop Waldo said that he confessed to Bishop Curry his distress over the fact that his ancestors had made their livelihood by having slaves. Bishop Curry responded to this truth of his family history, “Don’t wallow in it. Redeem it.”
Bishop Curry challenged all of us to widen our circles of friendship and collaboration to build on our shared values. That exhibits the redemptive power of love. Among those present were people representing many faith traditions and academia, including our Bishop Guglielmone, and, from the state, the new Lutheran bishop, 2 Episcopalian bishops, the United Methodist bishop, and also the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) bishop (who had traveled from Connecticut), representatives of the African Methodist Episopal church, along with other pastors and devoted laity. It was good to see so many faith leaders together.
We also heard presentations by Dr. Linda Bell (known for her health care updates during COVID), along with the principal of a public school In Richland 1 (a district with a high population of racial minority students) Dr. Robin Coltrain, and Mr. Aulize Fields, who dedicates himself, through a group called Turning Leaf, to providing support and transformational counseling to former convicts when they return home.
They spoke of human needs and statewide possibilities.
On the drive home, on back roads, I reflected that building on our shared values and working together on projects for the common good was something we did at the registration desk. I was positioned there between Rev. Mary Finklea, the Lutheran minister who oversees a camp and a retreat center that our Catholic diocese often uses, and Rev. Dr. Doris Hicks, a CME minister noted for her work for racial justice. I see Rev. Hicks often with the board of the South Carolina Christian Action Council. Every step, even the smallest, matters when we widen our circles.
And then I passed fields of cotton on US 21. We need to remember our history and redeem it—in Jesus’ name.
Amen
Redemption is "paying it forward". Jesus redeemed us. "Pay it forward" in His holy name.
Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." Matthew 28: 18-20
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