Vigils for Racial Justice

• Christ Confronts Us
• The Spirit Empowers Us
• Response
• What Will Happen?
• Logistics in the Time of COVID-19
• What Should You Bring?
• Ideas? Comments? Questions?
• Antiracism and Social Justice Lending Library

Christ Confronts Us

We are witnessing and experiencing anguish over a long history of racial injustice and disparity, a history that continues in horrific episodes of violence fed by white supremacy. Christians often speak of how God meets us in our suffering. This is true. But God does more than comfort us. As the prophets of Israel repeated again and again, God is a God of justice with special concern for the “widow and the orphan,” for the enslaved and the oppressed. John the Baptist and Jesus also spoke of God’s justice, and we learn from Jesus’ teaching that Christ confronts us when we encounter others’ suffering and need (Matt. 25). Today, Christ confronts us when we encounter unjust systems. Even as Christ stands with all who suffer and are oppressed--many of whom are members of this congregation--Christ also confronts the church in the cries of those who seek breath and freedom. This confrontation is a call to act. Our action is an expression of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

The Spirit Empowers Us

Whenever God calls us to ministry, God’s Spirit empowers us for that ministry--and how abundantly has the Spirit blessed OPC! One gift we bear is our cultural, racial, economic, and generational diversity, which allows us to learn from one another and demonstrate the joy of a diverse community. Another gift is our physical property, which sits on a busy corner, allowing us to communicate to a larger public the good news of God’s loving concern for the vulnerable and oppressed. What is the Spirit empowering us to do with these gifts in this time?

Response

The Session of Overbrook Presbyterian Church has committed to holding a weekly public prayer vigil of faithful resistance and solidarity with all those who cry for racial justice. Each Thursday, from 3:00 PM to dusk, people from the OPC community will take thirty-minute to one-hour shifts to stand on the corner of City and Lancaster to signal our commitment to--and God’s concern for--racial justice. At the crossroads, we will pray, hold signs, educate ourselves, and communicate our conviction that Christ stands with the oppressed. This is an intergenerational event; children are welcome.

We believe this is a faithful response in this time when Christ confronts us and the Spirit sends us. It can also be a powerful response. The power of this vigil will come not from the first impression, but from the second, the third and the fifteenth. The apostle Paul wrote of a faith that endures, a commitment to the long journey together in which we are emboldened, equipped, and refreshed by the Spirit. For the sake of the oppressed and the broken--that is to say, for all those who are like Christ--we will create an enduring practice of witness to God’s concern for justice. While the church is called to witness to God’s love for justice in general, we will focus our message at this vigil on racial prejudice and justice.

What Will Happen?

A large posted sign reads, “Vigil for Racial Justice.” At the opening of the vigil each week, one of our leaders will read a portion of scripture and lead a prayer. The remainder of the time, participants will stand with signs to pray for justice, pray for the people in cars driving by, or talk with one another at a safe distance. We will close in prayer. As time goes by, we may add other elements, but for now we’re keeping it simple.

Logistics in the Time of COVID-19

This ongoing vigil is meant to be accessible to all who wish to participate, which means we must care for one another’s health as we do it. The following protocols will be observed until the Session determines it is safe to change them:

• Masks: Please wear a mask to protect others.
• Social Distancing: Please maintain at least six feet of distance from others and refrain from touching or hugging (as much as we want to!).
• Arriving and Leaving: Park in the parking lot. Walk to City Avenue so that you can approach the corner from the City Avenue entrance. When your shift ends, depart by walking toward the Lancaster Avenue entrance and returning to your car.
• Bathrooms are Available: The door to the church is typically locked but a member of the vigil team will have a key to let people in. Please wipe down surfaces after you are finished and continue to practice social distancing and safe PPE.

What Should You Bring?

• Water bottle filled with water for each person in your group. We will provide a few extra water bottles.
• Chair/Umbrella (optional): If standing is a struggle for your body, feel free to bring a chair. If the weather looks rainy, bring an umbrella.
• Signs (optional): A large sign will be on display, naming the Vigil for Racial Justice. You may also make your own sign or we have signs available for you to borrow. Please make these signs sensitive to the moment and specific to the vigil’s focus on racial justice. These might include the names of people of color whose lives and unjust deaths we must remember, or “Black Lives Matter.” In addition, Bible verses concerning justice are encouraged, as a way to demonstrate the centrality of this mission to the work of the church. These include:
  • “Let justice roll down like water…” (Amos 5:24)
  • “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and plead the widow's cause.” (Isaiah 1:17)
  • “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)
  • “The Lord is a God of justice.” (Isaiah 30:18)
  • “When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous.” (Proverbs 21:15)
  • “Blessed are they who observe justice!” (Psalm 106:3)
  • “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:3)
  • “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute….Defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9)
  • [Jesus said], “[God] has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4)
  • “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18)

Ideas? Comments? Questions?

The Vigil Leadership team is glad to hear your questions, ideas, and concerns. Please contact Adam Hearlson at adam@overbookpresb.org to get in touch with the Leadership team.