Second Sunday in Lent - "Naming"
March 8, 2020
As we work to resist racism in our lives and our world, our practice today is Naming . Among people of faith, those who exercise the practice of naming are called prophets. Prophets were not those who could see the future; they weren’t clairvoyant. Instead, they simply looked around at their lives and the lives of the society in which they lived, and they named the truth about what they saw. Then they named the divine truth about the inevitable consequences of such actions. We have such prophets in our time, too, who speak truthfully about what is happening in the world, and who bring God’s truth to bear on it. But each of us is called to some measure of such prophetic speech. We are called to speak aloud what we see—to identify racism at work in the world, and to name it as such. Robin D’Angelo writes, “Not naming the groups that face barriers only serves those who have access; the assumption is that the access enjoyed by the controlling group is universal.” Naming is an act of resisting evil and oppression in our midst.

―  Pastor Taylor Fuerst
How is God inviting you to respond? 

Prayer
Loving God, we have all sinned. We come to You to name and repent of the sin of racism. God, raise the consciousness of those whites in power who benefit from racism in the world. Transform all of us in this struggle without being defensive. Once minds are opened to sin and forgiveness, may we be reconciled one to another. Amen.
Share your reflections on our Facebook Group .
We provide these daily Interruptions to you for each day of Lent, as we journey together in the Spiritual Work of Resisting Racism. Believing that God is active through a variety of voices and media, we trust the Holy Spirit to aid our reflection and transformation. If you’d like to share these reflections and experiences with others, please do so on our private Facebook group . If you’d like to reflect further with a pastor, please email us at taylor@fumcaustin.org or cathy@fumcaustin.org .
First United Methodist Church
1201 Lavaca St.
Austin, TX 78731