Becoming Beloved Community Blog

This archives a series of articles written by Betsy Adams originally published in the Crosstown.

What is Becoming Beloved Community?

In the spring of 2018 a member of St. Peters Christian Formation Committee called the group’s attention to an initiative of the Episcopal known as “Becoming Beloved Community”. Many of us on the committee were unfamiliar with this initiative and found ourselves eager to learn more.

Commitment to Becoming Beloved Community arose at the 2015 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in acknowledgement of a church-wide stirring in many dioceses, seminaries and networks. Responding to troubling concerns in our country such as human trafficking, detention of children, mass incarceration and gun violence, the church has discerned a fresh commitment and call to racial justice, reconciliation and healing.

As a response to this calling, St. Peters Christian Formation Committee tasked a small group (BBC Team) with discovering, through study and prayer, ways in which we might honor the call to Becoming Beloved Community. Over the past year the BBC team has been meeting, studying, gathering resources, attending lectures, and reporting back to the Formation Committee. Here is some of what we have learned so far:

• Becoming Beloved Community is the practical image of the world for which we pray when we say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. It is the dream of a community where all people experience dignity and abundant life and see themselves as beloved children of God. Beloved community is nothing new. It is a renewed commitment, in our time and context, to the call from Jesus to usher in the kingdom of God on earth.

• Becoming Beloved Community is not just another program, but a journey. It is a set of commitments around which we may organize our efforts to respond to racial injustice and grow a community of reconcilers, justice makers, and healers.

• In Becoming Beloved Community we cultivate the fruits of the Spirit and grow to recognize our kinship as people who love God and God’s image in our neighbors (no exceptions), in ourselves and in creation. Beloved Community provides a positive, theologically and biblically based ideal towards which we can grow rather than the negative framework of what we are against.

• There is a deep need for Becoming Beloved Community within our nation and local communities. One only has to turn on the news to see that there is an urgent need for this reconciling and healing work. As we attended meetings and lectures throughout the local area, BBC team members we astounded to discover the ways in which racism and social injustice persist in our own back yard.

A New Beginning on Sacred Ground

The first gathering of the Sacred Ground Dialogue Group met at St. Peters for an introductory session. Five area Episcopal churches were represented at this initial gathering of 24 people. We began our day at City Hall for the raising of the Carter G. Woodson Museum flag to mark the beginning of Black History month. We spent some time getting to know one another, discussing group norms, and reviewing session materials. We then watched our first video , a documentary, American Creed. Sacred Ground is a film and readings based dialogue series on race, grounded in faith. This group will continue to meet monthly for ten sessions.

Celebrating the Life and Ministry of Absalom Jones

On Sunday February 16th St. Peters celebrated the life and ministry of Reverend Absalom Jones, the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church (1802). We heard the propers for his feast day, sang both traditional African American spirituals and works by modern day African American composers, and experienced a stirring sermon about how all of us who would follow Jesus are called to lay down our lives for our friends. Following the worship service we continued the celebration in Harvard Hall with a soul food tasting. We enjoyed delicious ham, black-eyed peas, greens and cornbread catered by Heavy’s Food Truck. We were also able to collect money to support our brothers and sisters at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in their Sunday Breakfast Ministry.

Reaching Out Into the Community

As we continue to read, research and learn about racial justice and systemic racism, we are also reaching out to the area community in search of ways that God may be calling us to action. On February 18th, several members of the Becoming Beloved Community Team attended a public conversation entitled, “Beyond the Green Bench, Where Do We Go From Here?” One of our members attended an offering presented by The League of Women Voters. Another member has been attending gatherings of Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg. Be watching this space as we share all that we are learning about opportunities for racial healing and justice in our own community.

Our feet are on the path. We’re taking steps along The Way. Let’s all continue to move forward toward becoming Beloved Community… toward the Kingdom of God.

Promises Made in Baptism

As we continue on the journey to Becoming Beloved Community it is helpful to hold the image of a labyrinth before us. As we are ever moving towards reconciliation we move around corners, doubling back often touching places we have traveled before, yet each time discovering something new and fresh to carry forward. As the we travel this labyrinth we are continually touching four practices that lead to becoming beloved community.

We are continuously examining ourselves as individuals and as a community of faith, to see how we might fulfill this call:

As we move forward we must turn back to our roots: The Baptismal Covenant, those promises we made to become agents of the Kingdom of God. The ministry of reconciliation is a ministry of all who have been baptized into the Body of Christ.

The desire to form beloved community comes from the first of the five promises:

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers?

Telling the truth about our Church’s historic and present story as well as examining our personal story around race- who we are and what we’ve done- is how we begin to fulfill then second promise:

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and when you fall into sin, repent and return to the lord?

Naming the dream in a particular place and committing to the work necessary to live into it are directly related to the third promise:

Will you proclaim, by word an example, the Good News of God in Christ?

The fourth promise is taken up as we practice the way of love. We listen for the voice of God in the voice of the other. We honor the presence of Christ in all those we meet

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

As we expand the circle of God’s love and take responsibility for repairing the brokenness in our community, and the world, we affirm the fifth promise:

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

There is no single path for every person or every community of faith. All of us are needed to share our gifts and perspectives in Becoming Beloved Community. As the Kenyan proverb states, “we will walk further together than we could apart.”

Return to our Roots

As we move forward on our journey towards Becoming Beloved Community, we must, simultaneously, turn back to our roots. Our lives in Christ are always rooted in our Baptismal Covenant, those promises we made to become agents of the Kingdom of God. The ministry of reconciliation is a ministry of all who have been baptized into the Body of Christ.

The desire to form beloved community comes from the first of the five promises:

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers?

Telling the truth about our Church’s historic and present story as well as examining our personal story around race- who we are and what we’ve done- is how we begin to fulfill then second promise:

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and when you fall into sin, repent and return to the lord?

Naming the dream in a particular place and committing to the work necessary to live into it are directly related to the third promise:

Will you proclaim, by word an example, the Good News of God in Christ?

The fourth promise is taken up as we practice the way of love. We listen for the voice of God in the voice of the other. We honor the presence of Christ in all those we meet:

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

As we expand the circle of God’s love and take responsibility for repairing the brokenness in our community, and the world, we affirm the fifth promise:

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

Let’s examine the first of these promises. As Christians we are called to community. We are called to worship together, break bread together, study God’s Word together, and go out into the world to love and serve the Lord together. As we engage in these intentional acts of faith, there arises in us a longing for the Kingdom of God. Our call to Becoming Beloved Community is the expression of this longing. We dream of a community where all people experience dignity and abundant life and see themselves as beloved children of God. We come to learn that this is God’s desire for his children. To begin this movement towards Becoming Beloved Community we ask ourselves a core question, What does the kingdom of God look like in our context?

During the month of July, the BBC Team asks that we all consider this question, “What does the kingdom of God look like at St. Peters Cathedral in St. Petersburg Florida?”