A PBS documentary begins tonight, Monday, Jan. 12.

[1-12-04]

Bruce Gillette has provided helpful background information from the PBS website, along with numerous links to PC(USA) resources. You're encouraged to view this, and to encourage others as well.

On Monday, January 12th, national PBS-TV will present the first of a new, two-part documentary titled "Reconstruction: The Second Civil War." The sometimes sad history of our nation is closely intertwined with the history of Presbyterians. A visit to the fine educational web site for this PBS-TV "American Experience" program will find photographs and descriptions of four Presbyterian churches:

"First Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, Louisiana, Founded: 1818, Current Building: 1939

Dr. Benjamin Morgan, pro-slavery theologian and minister of First Presbyterian from 1856-1902, was instrumental in bringing about Louisiana's secession from the Union. Morgan believed, like many Southern Christians, that slavery was a "Christian institution" and that blacks could have no greater calamity "befall them than the loss of that protection enjoyed under the patriarchal system." http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/faith/sf_churches_05.html

First Scots Presbyterian Church, Charleston, North Carolina, Founded: 1731, Current Building: 1814. Like many Southern churches, First Scots held no services during the Civil War. The congregation donated the church bells to the Confederate Army to be melted down and re-made into cannons. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/faith/sf_churches_06.html

Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church, Lexington, Kentucky, Founded: 1785, Current Building: 1801/1880. Walnut Hill is the oldest Presbyterian church building in Kentucky. Established in 1785 as a pioneer church, the original stone structure was erected in 1801 and remodeled 79 years later. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/faith/sf_churches_19.html

New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C., Founded: 1803, Long associated with presidents including John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, the New York Avenue congregation welcomed Abraham Lincoln as a worshipper during his presidency. After the Civil War, members of the church became involved in local outreach missions to poor areas of the city.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/faith/sf_churches_21.html

We should encourage our church members to watch this TV program and then help them make connections between its history and today. We need to be informed by the past struggles for racial justice, sometimes as sources for inspiration and sometimes for repentance. Our PCUSA 213th (2001) General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky, adopted a resolution which called on our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to

· confess the corporate guilt the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) shares for the evils of slavery and request forgiveness from God and from all God''s children whose lives have been damaged by these sins, and

· pledge and promise to seek, through words and deeds, as individuals and as a denomination, to demonstrate our sorrow by committing ourselves to work with our African American brothers and sisters to overcome the vestiges of slavery that manifest themselves today in the church and society as racism.

The PCUSA 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study included this challenging reflection on the GA action by the Rev. Otis Turner [http://www.pcusa.org/missionyearbook/Feb/02.html]:

"What does it mean to apologize for the historic legacy of slavery? Does it mean to continue with business as usual or to move in a new direction? Amos 5:21--25 makes it unmistakably clear that God wants justice, not empty-hearted apologies, promises, and worship. The Assembly pledged to demonstrate in words and actions a renewed commitment to overcome vestiges of racism in church and society. This pledge indicates a desire to move in a radically new direction. Much of the outcome of this apology depends on what happens in congregations. Congregations can start on this journey of understanding by establishing education classes and dialogue on the relationship between slavery and contemporary racism. If the church of Jesus Christ is to overcome racism, it must first understand the historic context that gave rise to it and still nurtures it. For information on how this may be done, visit the PC(USA) Web page, Racial Ethnic Ministries, Racial Justice, or contact the Office for Racial Justice Policy Development." http://www.pcusa.org/racialethnic/

See as well Facing Racism: A Vision of the Beloved Community, the PCUSA 211th (1999) General Assembly document which describes how Presbyterians are committing themselves to end racism: http://horeb.pcusa.org/oga/racism/racism.htm and the second appendix in the current PCUSA Book of Order with the ecumenical statement "Call to Christian Commitment and Action to Combat Racism": http://horeb.pcusa.org/oga/amend99/statement.htm

Finally, racial justice is more than a concern for ecumenism and governing body statements; it is part of the gospel of reconciliation as stated in our Book of Confessions:

"God has created the peoples of the earth to be one universal family. In his reconciling love God overcomes the barriers between sisters and brothers and breaks down every form of discrimination based on racial or ethnic difference, real or imaginary. The church is called to bring all people to receive and uphold one another as persons in all relationships of life: in employment, housing, education, leisure, marriage, family, church, and the exercise of political rights. Therefore the church labors for the abolition of all racial discrimination and ministers to those injured by it. Congregations, individuals, or groups of Christians who exclude, dominate, or patronize others, however subtly, resist the Spirit of God and bring contempt on the faith which they profess." The Confession of 1967. http://www.pcusa.org/theologyandworship/confession/confess67.pdf

Grace and Peace,

Bruce Gillette
Co-Pastor
First Presbyterian Church in Pitman, NJ