My voice carries more than language. It carries stories, resilience, and identity.
Deepening Our Engagement
A 1-minute version of the video is available on YouTube. Consider linking to it from your church website, e-newsletter, or social media.
Prayer
God of All Peoples, you created us in your image—
diverse, beautiful, and beloved.
Yet, in our world and even in our churches,
racism distorts our vision,
divides our communities,
and diminishes your truth.
Forgive us for the ways we have been ignorant to the pain of others.
Open our hearts to stories that are not our own.
Give us courage to confront injustice,
even when it is uncomfortable or inconvenient.
We pray for those who carry the burden of discrimination.
We pray for those who have been told their voice doesn’t matter.
And we pray that we may be transformed into people of compassion, humility, and justice.
Let your Spirit move through us as we build a church where every language,
every story,
and every culture is celebrated—
not merely included, but embraced as sacred.
In the name of Jesus,
who broke down walls of division,
we pray.
Amen.
Congregational Responses
- Recent studies and surveys of people in the United Church (including the Pastoral Relations Equity Research Project) have continued to highlight how some people in the United Church struggle to understand some accents. While some people can generally understand accents from places like western Europe or Australia, the same people struggle to understand accents from countries in Africa or Asia. But, ears can be trained to listen and hear well! If your congregation is not already doing this, consider singing multiple songs in languages other than English, and offer readings—including readings of scripture—in many languages in worship.
- YongSeok talks about polite racism. He talks about who has to adjust, who has a sense of belonging, accents, and sense of home. How might “polite racism” show up in your community of faith? What might you do to challenge it?
Credits
- Prayer: YongSeok Baek
- Congregational responses: Adele Halliday
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