Reflections on Diversity, Culture and Delicious Food
As February concludes, I wanted to share a conversation I had with a young journalism student who was documenting our Black History Month celebration. She had arrived on February 9th, the day of our Soul Food Pop-up and asked me about our church. “What do you like about this church?” She asked. I told her I’ve only been here a month (plus or minus a few weeks), but my initial response was that “This church loves to celebrate culture.”
I confess, this was the first time I’ve celebrated Black History month. In other churches, it was certainly mentioned, but never have I experienced a church so committed to honoring African American leaders, presenting art and poetry from the community and sharing family recipes with joy and generosity.
As I was planning worship, I had an idea: for my sermons during February, I would highlight prominent African American figures in United Methodist History - this was I would share a bit of the history of the United Methodist Church’s history with slavery and segregation and also about our ancestors who fought for inclusion and equity.
We discussed Harry Hosier, the first black preacher to a white congregation; Susan Angeline Collins, the first African American missionary to Angola; Richard Allen, who - in 1794 - founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a denomination in which free black people could worship without racial oppression and enslaved people could find a measure of dignity; and Bishop Leontine Kelley, ordained the first African American female bishop in the United Methodist Church in 1984. During worship, the planning group presented art from Elijah Pierce and photos from the 1963 March on Washington taken by D. Dean Givens, a speech called “Ain't I A Woman” by Sojourner Truth and a poem called “Black is Beautiful” by Sharon D. Brown- Rodgers. One of the highlights, of course, was our Soul Food pop-up featuring delicious family recipes and a lot of love.
The month ended with our joint venture with the Wesley School, the Annual Multicultural Festival, during which our “Love Thy Neighbor” Missions Team presented the goodie bags made by the congregation and each child was delighted to receive the treats. As I looked around at the festival, booths featuring foods and crafts from all over the world including a booth to celebrate Hip Hop culture in LA and a booth to celebrate LGBTQIA culture and I realized: We are a community that celebrates culture in all its forms. And that is the way of the Kingdom of God.
May we continue to celebrate our diversity and honor the God who created us.
Pastor Krista