My Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,

Thank you for three hundred and sixty- five days of support through likes and comments, sharing my words with friends and family, colleagues, associates and your followers on your social media platforms.  Thank you for three hundred and sixty- five days of affirmation and encouragement, your personal reflections and recollections as I have shared my story about race, your questions and answers as we talk about the conviction that the Church will not tow the color line. Thank you for three hundred and sixty- five days of resisting how the world identifies you and resting in who God calls you by name.  Children of God and not children of color, I look forward to next year and the abundance of wisdom that God will share with us regarding our human being and belonging without the sociopolitical construct of race.

I offer words of prayer from Ted Loder’s Guerrillas of Grace as my hope and expectation in the year to come:

O Eternal One 

it would be easier for me to pray

if I were clear

and of a single mind and pure heart,

if I could be done hiding from myself

and from you, even in my prayers.

But I am who I am

mixture of motives and excuses,

blur of memories,

quiver of hopes,

knot of fear,

tangle of confusion,

and restless with love

for love… 

Come, find me, Lord.

Be with me exactly as I am.

Help me find me, Lord.

Help me accept what I am

so I can begin to be yours.

Amen,