Attending Synod Assembly as a voting member from Bay Shore was a privilege. There is always an amount of tedious business that takes place at these assemblies, and there was, but there were a number of moments that were particularly powerful and impactful.
During the Eucharist on Friday evening, we confessed in a Rite of Repentance the sins that we White, cis-gender, and heterosexual members of the body of Christ have done to our siblings in Christ who are people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and other marginalized communities. Sins of racism. Sins of discrimination. Sins of violence. This was followed by a sermon by Rev. Kenneth Wheeler that followed similar and necessary themes of the repentance liturgy that might be the first sermon I’ve seen get a standing ovation. That all this was happening a couple hundred feet from Pride Fest added to the powerful feeling stirred up in me.
Throughout the assembly, we also heard and saw stories from people in our synod telling times when they felt either excluded or included from a group or event. This reminded me of our mission to share God’s love with all (and all means all!). It’s wonderful to be part of a community where we’re working to become a more and more welcoming place — not just a place that tolerates difference!
We have some work to do as part of the next steps of the synod’s authentic diversity audit. And Pastor Sarah will certainly have some work to do as the newly elected secretary of the synod council. She’s an excellent person for the job!
Sara Bitner
PS…. (from Pastor Sarah) Sara is quite modest! She was also Chair of our Resolutions and Memorials Synod Committe for the Assembly and led our assembly in the adoption of 5 new resolutions!