The House of Bishops, meeting in Detroit, MI has issued the following A Word to the Church for the World. Video is available in English and Spanish here. Text in Spanish is here.
"Greetings
from Detroit, a city determined to be revived. Greetings also from
the city of Flint, where we are reminded that the gift of water has for
many of our brothers and sisters become contaminated.
Here we have been exhorted to set our sights beyond ourselves and
to minister to the several nations where we serve and the wider world.
We lament the stark joylessness that marks our present time. We
decry angry political rhetoric which rages while fissures widen within
society along racial, economic, educational, religious, cultural and
generational lines. We refuse to look away as poverty, cruelty and war
force families to become migrants enduring statelessness and
demonization. We renounce the gun violence and drug addiction that
steal lives and crush souls while others succumb to fear and cynicism,
abandoning any sense of neighborliness.
Yet, in all this, "we do not despair" (2 Cor. 4:8.). We remember
that God in Christ entered our earthly neighborhood during a time of
political volatility and economic inequality. To this current crisis we
bring our faith in Jesus. By God's grace, we choose to see in this
moment an urgent opportunity to follow Jesus into our
fractured neighborhoods, the nation and the world.
Every member of the church has been "called for a time such as
this." (Esther 4:14) Let prophets tell the truth in love. Let
reconcilers move boldly into places of division and disagreement. Let
evangelists inspire us to tell the story of Jesus in new and compelling
ways. Let leaders lead with courage and joy.
In the hope of the Resurrection let us all pray for God to work
through our struggle and confusion to accomplish God's purposes on
earth."