Tag Archives: reconciliation

“What is your hand in this?”

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Commemorative concerts for America’s 250th anniversary will be dotting the musical landscape in 2026. An inventive program that may prove to be one of the most challenging for audiences has been launched by Davóne Tines and Ruckus, “a shapeshifting, collaborative, baroque ensemble with a visceral and playful approach to early music.” Sanders Theater hosted them on January 31, 2026, as part of their ten-cities tour.

Created by bass-baritone Davóne Tines, bassist Douglas Adam August Balliett, and Clay Zeller-Townson, founder of Ruckus, the program called “What is your hand in this?” recasts “Colonial and Revolutionary-era hymns, ballads, and Baroque compositions, on a musical journey that weaves through the pre-Civil War period, the Civil Rights era, and into the present day.” (Everyone 250 Continue reading →

The Fierce Urgency of Now

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On Monday, January 19th, 2026, the 56th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast will be held in Boston.

The MLK Breakfast Memorial Committee is comprised of representatives from St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church and Union United Methodist Church. The event is the longest-running celebration of its kind in the U.S.; scholarships are provided each year to students from nine Boston public high schools.

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Love & Justice: Quotes for the New Year

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We write today with two inspiring texts in mind, our reverend Pam’s Christmas Eve sermon, and Coretta Scott King’s words displayed in the 1965 Freedom Plaza surrounding our city’s Embrace statue.

From The Rev. Pam Werntz’ sermon, December 24, 2025, on light and darkness, grace and love, and the hope we need in our world:

The light doesn’t eliminate the darkness; it shines in the darkness. It offers orientation, direction, hope, and the possibility of seeing differently, of finding a way forward.…And this light not abstract or distant….This light has pitched a tent among us, has taken up residence in our neighborhoods, in our world, in our lives, in our hearts. Continue reading →

Virginia Theological Institute’s Reparations

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Our Racial Justice Working Group follows the news of ongoing reparations processes as they unfold in institutions of The Episcopal Church. One of TEC’s oldest seminaries, the Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), recently announced the next phase of its historical research and monetary reparations: “VTS breaks ground on reparations memorial honoring at least 557 African American laborers.” —Episcopal News Service, September 26, 2025 Continue reading →

Parish Meeting on Creating a Culture of Repair & Other Events

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We were delighted to have over 30 parishioners join in our October 5, 2025, parish meeting on creating a culture of repair at Emmanuel Church. The prompt for small-group discussion was: “What does it mean for Emmanuel Church to become a parish doing reparations?” A summary will be forthcoming from this Vestry-sponsored event. For now, we note that we are building on much good work done in our community in years past; and the work continues. Continue reading →

#DouglassWeek

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Fall has arrived and we are back to learning about and attending programs related to racial justice. As we write, Boston and other Massachusetts cities are hosting the annual celebration of #DouglassWeek.

Launched in 2021, the collaborative event series highlights Frederick Douglass’s time in Ireland in 1845. He spent about four months there in self-imposed exile after the publication of the first edition of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.

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King’s Chapel unveils ‘Unbound’.

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photo credit: WGBH Boston

On September 14, 2025, King’s Chapel unveiled its Memorial Sculpture, “Unbound,” by artist Harmonia Rosales.

Rosales’s work was stewarded by the MASS Design Group. It is a tribute to the 219 enslaved parishioners brought to church by their enslavers.

As many of you know, King’s Chapel has been actively engaged in studying and revealing many aspects of its racial history over recent years. A rich summary, including their plans for an ongoing project, is presented online via the page entitled King’s Chapel Memorial to Enslaved Persons.

September 22, 2025 –Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin.

What God Has Joined Together

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Proper 11C, July 21, 2025. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Amos 8:1-12. The end has come upon my people Israel.
  • Colossians 1:15-28. Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
  • Luke 10:38-42. She had a sister named Mary, who [ALSO] sat at the Lord’s feet.

O God of mercy, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Here we go again with another set of lectionary readings that have been used to advance truly regrettable theologies about women, work, contemplation versus action, and divine judgment. What a combination: the apocalyptic vision of Amos, the cosmic Christ of Colossians, and two sisters whose story has been weaponized for centuries to pit so-called “spiritual” people against those who engage in the messy work of hospitality and care. However, I see glimmers of hope in this collision of texts that seem to speak past each other at first glance. I invite you to hear these passages not as separate little moral lessons, but as a unified testimony written over the course of more than 800 years about divine priorities and what it means to lean into God’s realm. Continue reading →

Juneteenth Events in the Boston Area

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The local commemorations of Juneteenth included three events of note. Dio Mass held its Juneteenth service at St. Stephen’s Church, Lynn, with the Rev Bernadette Hickman-Maynard presiding. At Old South Church. The Reverend June Cooper, Theologian in the City of Boston and alum of the United Boston Sankofa Cohort, preached. Her reflection on the holiday, and the unfinished work of repair, appears in this blog post, Juneteenth, and the Unfinished Work of Freedom.

Juneteenth at Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters was held on June 22, 2025. The accompanying video, Who are my ancestors? highlights the reflections of the descendants of Cuba and Darby Vassall, who lived at the house. Continue reading →

Faith Communities in the Historic West End

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June 10, 2025

On our June 8th Chapel Camp tour of the Vilna Shul, we learned that the synagogue purchased the building occupied by the Twelfth Street Baptist Church in 1906. The Twelfth Street pews were kept at the site, 43-47 Phillips Street, and were used by the synagogue until 1919 when they moved to 18 Phillips Street. Services are still held once monthly and on the High Holydays and the building is now a center for Jewish Culture.

Twelfth Street Baptist Church was known as “The Fugitive Slave Church” — many of its congregants were abolitionists and self-emancipated slaves, Lewis and Harriet Hayden and Anthony Burns among them. The Reverend Edward Grimes, pastor from 1848 to 1874, led the congregation with vibrant advocacy and energetic activism. The church grew steadily, mobilized by Grimes to raise funds for those who sought freedom. A notable celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation was held January 1863. Frederick Douglasss attended and wrote glowingly about the event.

For more about the history of these communities of faith, see the West End Museum site: The Vilna Shul and Twelfth Street Baptist Church.

–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin