In the wake of the uprising in Baltimore City three a nd a half years ago which occurred within a stone's throw of two of our churches, I, as vice moderator, called a meeting of pastors and interested individuals in the presbytery to discuss what we could do to address the issues behind the uprising. That meeting spawned our ongoing focus on race, class and poverty.

Today's vote to mandate training to dismantle racism in this presbytery is a big step forward, one that we can be proud of. It shows how far we have come in three years. I recall addressing the presbytery gathering almost three years ago to the day where I answered critics who said race, class and poverty had everything to do with Baltimore City and nothing to do with the rest of the presbytery. Today, we declared that it affects the breadth of this presbytery.

If what we did today begins to bear fruit, we could be presenting ourselves as a model for the entire church at the 2020 General Assembly. As momentous as this is, let us not forget that this is just a step along a much longer journey.  That journey, I pray, will take us into issues we have rarely explored:

Tonight, a mother will grieve over the death of her child whether he dies in East Baltimore or Frostburg. A child with no food is just as hungry in Cumberland as she is in West Baltimore. A father in Columbia is just as distraught over his child's opioid addiction as a father in South Baltimore.

This presbytery has a unique God-given opportunity to explore even more deeply and intensely the issues of race, class and poverty and to act as a witness for Christ in our churches, communities and state. We have the leadership to go there. When has the presbytery had such a diversity of geographic leadership-Steering Cabinet chair from a city church, Moderator from the far West, Vice Moderator from the suburbs, a stated clerk from Hartford County and one of the few African American women General Presbyters in the country? Adrienne, Caroline, Guy, Jack and Jackie-you, in concert with the Apostles/In the Loop and the Dismantling Racism Committee, have the ability individually and collectively to help this presbytery bridge years of mistrust and move towards true reconciliation. I hope you will do so.

As I said in 2015, God is at work in this presbytery and I thank God for giving us the opportunity to serve in such a special cause.