One Pastor’s response to Ferguson…What are your communities saying?
November 25, 2014
Dear Church Family,
The judgment is in, there will be no trial for the officer who shot and killed unarmed eighteen-year-old Michael Brown. The streets of Ferguson erupted with the flames of anger moments after the news broke. This is a recurring nightmare of violence from which our nation cannot seem to awaken. Our hearts are broken and we are filled with anger at a system that is profoundly broken.
Perhaps you share my sense of despair and sinking hope; how can we be people who speak of hope and reconciliation, justice and community, when we live in a world that is so troubled and brutal?
I want to remind us all that it is in just these moments of deep despair that we need each other the most. We need the courage and conviction of our faith and of our church community to remember that the…
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The Faculty Blog 
From the pastoral leadership team at Calvary Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.:
http://www.facebook.com/CalvaryDC/posts/10152618361088579
CALL TO PRAYER
In light of last night’s failure of a grand jury in Missouri to bring an indictment in the case of the shooting death of Michael Brown, and acknowledging that justice is often denied to victims of violence in America because of their black or brown skin, we, the pastoral staff of Calvary Baptist Church, call all members and friends of our community to prayer.
While we all feel compelled to pray for peace in the wake of these events, we also are wary of misguided prayers that soothe our own pain or anxiety, but leave unaddressed the root causes of violence and oppression. We do not want to be among those who pronounce peace “where there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14; Ezekiel 13:10).
We therefore call the Calvary community to pray for peace with justice – for the family of Michael Brown, for the people of Ferguson, Missouri, and for our nation and the world.
“Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer)
Your Pastors,
Allyson, Edgar, Elijah, Erica, & Joe