A Month to Learn, and Celebrate
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth.
We’ve heard you are the salt of the earth before: in our culture we think of that as a kind of grounded goodness. Yet Jesus meant something more by that: he was telling the people of God that they had something special within them, a gift for the rest of the world that drew out goodness from everyone they met. Their God-given love and compassion were the spice, the salt, the distinct flavor that was a gift for the whole world.
This week our nation begins Black History Month, a season to celebrate and learn about unique gifts that people of African descent have brought to our culture and country. This is a month to celebrate, to explore, and to learn. The gift of Black History month is the epiphany that the experience and creativity and courage of Black Americans has made us all who we are, and that the stories we tell this month and throughout the year should deepen our awareness of our own complete history. This month we lay the foundation for greater equality and a deeper celebration of the gifts and contributions of Black Americans throughout history, and today.
We celebrate the past while seeing the challenges that endure to this day. This month at Trinity we’ll celebrate The Rt. Rev. Barbara Clementine Harris, the first woman ordained bishop in the Anglican Communion and a fierce advocate for civil rights, and the Rev. Absalom Jones, the first African American priest in The Episcopal Church. Later in the month we’ll learn about Project Noir, an initiative to reverse the patterns that have led Cleveland to be ranked last in the nation for outcomes for Black women.
There is work ahead, but there is also much to celebrate. May this be a time of learning and change, and may the work continue far beyond a single month of the year.