Against Racial Injustice
Youth Speak Out
Debbie Matheson
July 11, 2020
In response to recent events in Canada and the United States, and a long history of tragedies related to racial injustice, El & Sophia Noetzel, Duncan & Euan Wilson, and Graeme & Norah Mix felt that they wanted to speak out. They have created a lawn sign campaign for us to stand up as a church community against racial injustice and to provoke thought in the viewer. The signs are available on the porch by Saturday, July 11. Come to St Philip's to choose one for your lawn or a friend’s. The images on the first lawn signs are here for you to see, with further images in the works. Thanks to El, Graeme, Norah, Duncan and Euan for their input, and to Sophia Noetzel for her graphic artist expertise.
As Archbishop Melissa Skelton wrote to us in her Pastoral Message Regarding Racism (read it here in News, June 3):
'Racism is a Christian issue because we know that from the beginning our Creator delighted in variety and created a world of astonishing diversity. Racism is a Christian issue because our faith tells us that we are all created in the image of God and as such deserve lives of safety, dignity and possibility. Racism is a Christian issue because “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Racism is a Christian issue because at our baptism we renounced “all powers which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God” and we pledged “to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”'
'And my prayer is that we also stand here with a new resolve.'
'And we must, we must, wherever possible, stand up for and stand with our siblings in Christ who look different from us, who sound different from us, who practise different cultures from the cultures we grew up with and who suffer in ways that we must always be open, with humility, to learn more about.'
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