By Jennifer Allen
I am a member of the Social Justice and International Policy Committee, and I served on the House of Deputy’s Special Committee on Sexual Harassment and Exploitation. The last several days have been affirming, in that the House of Deputies has been quite receptive to the resolutions presented by the special committee, and the House of Bishops held a moving Liturgy of Listening that included a lamentation.
I am excited that the House of Deputies held a special session on Racial Reconciliation, which filled our spirits with a fire to continue our work on listening, sharing and working toward reconciliation. We lifted our hearts and voices in prayer and song for the women detained at the Hutto Residential Detention Center, expressing our welcome to them in the face of the stark and unwelcoming reality of the Detention Center.
The house adopted Resolution D016, “Seeking Truth, Reconciliation and Restoration,” which will provide a Task Force to help the church engage in truth-telling, confession and reconciliation regarding gender-based discrimination, harassment and violence against women and girls in all their forms by those in power in the church. It goes before the House of Bishops on Wednesday.
While we have accomplished a great deal, there remains more work to ensure we are truly inclusive. People with disabilities have significant barriers to accessibility to the floor of the House, as well as the various meeting rooms in the many hotels surrounding the convention center. People with hearing loss are having difficulty accessing the supportive resources needed in order for them to fully engage in convention. Adults of a certain age are treated as lesser by constantly being labeled “young adults,” a term that implies a lack of experience, minimizes their contributions and invites paternalistic treatment of them.
I have observed and learned that, often, the “othering” we do is unintended and unnoticed by the person doing the “othering.” But, regardless of intent, there are consequences of othering. To become the beloved community, we must not only listen to the stories of those we have marginalized, but we must listen to our hearts to hear evidence of our own complicity in “othering.”
We are making great strides towards God’s kingdom. At the end of this convention, before we continue to dig into the hard work before us, it is appropriate to take a moment to lift our voices in thanksgiving for the progress made toward Becoming the Beloved Community.
I am a member of the Social Justice and International Policy Committee, and I served on the House of Deputy’s Special Committee on Sexual Harassment and Exploitation. The last several days have been affirming, in that the House of Deputies has been quite receptive to the resolutions presented by the special committee, and the House of Bishops held a moving Liturgy of Listening that included a lamentation.
I am excited that the House of Deputies held a special session on Racial Reconciliation, which filled our spirits with a fire to continue our work on listening, sharing and working toward reconciliation. We lifted our hearts and voices in prayer and song for the women detained at the Hutto Residential Detention Center, expressing our welcome to them in the face of the stark and unwelcoming reality of the Detention Center.
The house adopted Resolution D016, “Seeking Truth, Reconciliation and Restoration,” which will provide a Task Force to help the church engage in truth-telling, confession and reconciliation regarding gender-based discrimination, harassment and violence against women and girls in all their forms by those in power in the church. It goes before the House of Bishops on Wednesday.
While we have accomplished a great deal, there remains more work to ensure we are truly inclusive. People with disabilities have significant barriers to accessibility to the floor of the House, as well as the various meeting rooms in the many hotels surrounding the convention center. People with hearing loss are having difficulty accessing the supportive resources needed in order for them to fully engage in convention. Adults of a certain age are treated as lesser by constantly being labeled “young adults,” a term that implies a lack of experience, minimizes their contributions and invites paternalistic treatment of them.
I have observed and learned that, often, the “othering” we do is unintended and unnoticed by the person doing the “othering.” But, regardless of intent, there are consequences of othering. To become the beloved community, we must not only listen to the stories of those we have marginalized, but we must listen to our hearts to hear evidence of our own complicity in “othering.”
We are making great strides towards God’s kingdom. At the end of this convention, before we continue to dig into the hard work before us, it is appropriate to take a moment to lift our voices in thanksgiving for the progress made toward Becoming the Beloved Community.