Community Response to Racism

My Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We may not think about it much, but we are all a part of a cross-racial, cross-cultural church family. With this comes unique blessings and opportunities. For one, we get to benefit from people who are different from us in ways that can broaden our horizons on how we think and help us to grow. It also can bless us through the unique things that people from different cultures expose us to, maybe with different food, music, different ways of experiencing experiencing God, and more. This kind of special community also provides opportunities to pay attention to our thoughts and feelings when things don’t quite set right with us and become curious about why we feel the way we do. Such questioning can help us to forge healthy relationships. In cross-racial, cross-cultural church contexts, things may feel simple for us or very complicated at times. We may feel offended, misunderstood, or have a surprising sense of freedom to be ourselves. We may exist in peace or have anxiety in our togetherness. We may have to make extra effort to see others as equally as valuable as we are, take more time to understand, or explain things to help others understand where we are coming from. Often, things that seem obvious to us, or that we value highly, are not the norm for others and require conversation. All of this can be a blessing and help us to live into the fullness of what it means to be a part of God's beloved people of every nation  through Jesus Christ. As the United Methodist Church has updated its vision to Loving Boldly, Serving Joyfully, and Leading Courageously, considering how we love, serve, and lead with sensitivity to ourselves and others is a part of that work. 

I am including a link to the August 2026 newsletter from GCORR (the General Commission on Religion and Race) to expose you to a part of our connection that you have access to, that focuses on helping us to consider how God is leading us to respond with faith and in truth around race and differences. I am also including this information because I want to acknowledge and validate what you may be feeling but have not had the words to name. I am including it so that we can have compassion for ourselves and others and be on a journey of discovery and authentic Christian love. The information that you will see below is an invitation to all of us into deeper levels of self-awareness, others-awareness, healing, and wholeness. As we consider being an intentionally multi-ethnic and multicultural community, it is an invitation for us to consider where forgiveness and reconciliation may be appropriate in our lives around these issues, and an invitation to extend forgiveness and pursue reconciliation. This information is also an invitation to better self-care.

Loving our neighbors as ourselves (the 2nd of the greatest commandments) and going and making disciples of all nations of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world requires that we venture outside of our comfort zones, cultures, and preferences to get to know others and care for them as Christ does and allow them to do the same with us. I want to encourage us to be neighborly and develop relationships with everyone God leads us to in Jesus’ name. There is a cost to following Jesus. Love costs. It can cost time, old attitudes, taking on new beliefs, reaching out to new people in new ways, and more. It cost Jesus having to leave His divine culture to cross the cosmos and enter into the limitations of humanity so that He could have the greatest kind of cross-cultural relationship between God and humanity out of love. He listened to people and heard their stories through the limits of human intellect and cultural expressions. He lived among the people around Nazareth, worked with them, worshipped with them, and shared the good news with them. Love cost Him everything, so that we could have everything, including a reconciled relationship with God and one another.

Let's acknowledge our cross-racial, cross-cultural community as a part of the blessing of being a part of the human family that God intentionally created. And let us love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously so that the good news of God in Jesus Christ can be experienced by all in Him and through us.

For the Sake of Christ and His Kingdom Come,

Pastor Comer