Last Sunday night I had what I am hoping is a life changing experience.  My son Ryan said that he thought we should join the Boston March.  True confession…I have never been much of a protestor.  Turns out I have chosen the silent approach to controversy.  I love peace.  But that was all about to change on Sunday night as I joined 10,000 peaceful protestors marching to the State House.  

And there we were….we found ourselves right in front of the State House steps.  What I heard were cries of anguish….anger….frustrations….pain.  What I felt was deep empathy for an anguish, an anger, a frustration, a pain that I had never personally experienced.  And it broke my heart.

I asked myself, how could I have been so blind to have not seen this before?  Yes, I had read about the atrocities of slavery, the injustice of judicial system and the inequities embedded in our culture.  But hadn’t we made progress?  Weren’t we better than these past days? 

What the March opened my eyes to is that there has not been nearly enough progress in these areas. 

I have been on a pretty steep learning curve over the past 2 weeks.  Reading, researching, having conversations. 

• I have learned that Black people are 3 times more likely to be killed by police than white people
• I have learned that black wage earners receive only 73% of what white wage earners receive.
• I have learned that African Americans are 3x more likely to die from COVID-19.

 But the real question for me…and possibly for you….is not have I learned enough. It is what will I do with what I have learned.  Will I respond with emotion or action?

One action that I want to offer us at Grace Chapel is the opportunity to join a discussion Group to talk about these things.  We are calling these groups “Be The Bridge” and we will be using this excellent resource by that title. (hold up) This is a great place to start. 

 So if you are like me and you want to learn, grow, act….you want to learn how to work towards racial justice and reconciliation…I hope you will join one of these Groups. 

JOIN A CONVERSATION:  We are starting some virtual Groups called "Be The Bridge". If you are interested, pls TEXT the word "Bridge" to 781-460-6880