Dear Friends,

Your ABCNJ staff and I continue to be honored to serve in an energetic, multi-cultural, multi- ethnic, Christ-centered Region characterized by covenant, friendship, mutual respect, and collaboration in mission. As such, we believe it is important for everyone to understand that all human beings are created equal in God's sight.

Today we find ourselves engaged in many conversations about racial justice and human equality. As we engage in these conversations, I want to encourage each one of us not to forget Jesus’ conversations. On several occasions, Jesus engaged in conversations about what constituted the greatest commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:28-34); Again, Jesus makes clear his commands in John 15:10, 12, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” In each instance, Jesus affirmed that the love of God and love of neighbor are the most basic of God’s requirements of humans. Clearly, whatever else is involved in loving God, the following is certain: one cannot love God, who they have not seen, without at the same time loving your brother and sister—those who are made in the image of God. (1 John 4:20-21).

Love of neighbor involves loving fellow believers, as the use of “brother and sister” and “each other” suggests in the texts, but it does not end there. Jesus makes it clear that obedience to this word is costly and demanding.

Confronting racism in our society are opportunities for us to turn people around. Transformation is an act of supreme love, especially when we allow ourselves to move beyond old boundaries, habits, traditions and seek to experience the love of God and the love of neighbor in a new way. It is hard to turn others around when we continue to reject people because of the color of their skin.

Whenever "race" is mentioned in Scripture, it refers to a competition between runners to see who is the fastest in covering a set course. According to the Bible, all human beings are of “one blood,” (Acts 17:26). In a news segment titled We're All the Same, ABC-TV News reported:

“More and more scientists find that the differences that set us apart are cultural, not racial. Some even say that the word race should be abandoned because it’s meaningless... We accept the idea of race because it’s a convenient way of putting people into broad categories, frequently to suppress them... Racial prejudice remains common throughout the world.” (We’re All the Same, ABC News, September 10, 1998)

Since 1619, "race" has been a divisive, debilitating, defining social construct in America. Today, the world is experiencing a Black Lives Matter Multi-Cultural Awakening, where people are joining hands across ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic lines to call for an end to the injustices faced by Black people.

As a diverse, Christ-centered Region, we are called to the work of racial justice and human equality. ABCNJ, let us:
• Examine ourselves and the role we have played in American "race relations”;
• Educate ourselves, our churches, and our communities on the issue of racial justice and human equality;
• Engage in the transformative work of changing our world.

In this e-newsletter, we have provided some resources to help us understand the history and ongoing effects of racialized identity. I invite you to engage them on your own, with
your congregation, and in your community.

God, through Christ, is reconciling all things to himself, and this work involves people being reconciled not only to God but also to one another and the rest of creation.“The United States continues to be a racially charged society that seems largely unwilling to face both its history and its present realities.” (Separate No More, Norman Peart). Love God, love others is the greatest command and it is the message of reconciliation. In our loving God and loving others, we are called to be ministers of reconciliation. May it be so.

Working together for Love and Justice,

Rev. Miriam Méndez
Executive Minister and Senior Regional Pastor

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Originally published in our e-newsletter on July 16, 2020.