A Response to the Election in the Words of a Teaching Elder
Below is a letter that was sent to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church by Pastor Rufus Smith of City of Refuge Church in Houston, TX. It is moving. It is poignant. It is something that we need hear and consider. November 6, 2008To: My Fellow Followers of “That Way”From: Rufus Smith, Pastor, City of Refuge Church (Houston, TX)As Chairman of the EPC’s Urban Ministry Network and the only black senior pastor in the Central South, may I ask you to consider pausing this Sunday or next to openly recognize the historic American election this past Tuesday? The question is not whether you or I voted for President-Elect Obama or not, but the issue is the potential capacity of his election to expedite the erasing of the stain, stigma and stereotype in the collective soul and psyche of an indigenous ethnic group and a nation.Whether you agree with the election results or not, on Tuesday, something happened in the minds and hearts of...