On August 24, 2014, Old South Church's Youth Leader, seminarian Kate Rogers, traveled to Missouri to hand deliver 1000 peace cranes to our our sister UCC congregation near Ferguson which has been ministering so amazingly in the midst of chaos, tensions, and grief. The cranes were given to Old South Church last year by Newtown Congregational Church following the Marathon tragedies. As of August, they have traveled over 2200 miles over the last two years.
Dear Pastor Traci and the Saints of Christ the King:
On behalf of Old South Church in Boston: greetings, grace and peace to you in the name of our Friend and Savior, Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace.
Please know that you and your congregation — and all the people of Ferguson and Florissant — are on our hearts and in our prayers. Your tears are our tears, your dismay is our dismay ... for when one part of the body suffers, all suffer with it.
While Old South Church in Boston was located at “Ground Zero” with respect to the Boston Marathon bombings, we are painfully aware that the violence of those twin blasts pale in comparison to the invidious violence with which young men of color are subject every day in this country. While Old South Church experienced terrorism at the hands of two radicals (both of whom have since been rendered harmless), you are located at the “Ground Zero” of a more wretched, pervasive, systemic and indirect terrorism: the daily terrorism of prejudice and racial profiling. God help us all.
Thank you, Pastor Traci, for your own strong and gentle voice for peace with justice: a voice that has reached to Boston and beyond.
These 1000 Peace Cranes seem a frail gesture at this moment, but they do bear with them our real love for you, our real pain at your heartache, our real prayers for the family of Michael Brown … and all the families and communities represented by his violent and untimely death. In addition, these cranes represent Old South Church’s commitment to engaging and eradicating the terror of racism in Boston.
We are wrapping you in prayers. You are not alone.
Rev. Nancy S. Taylor