Many Thanks to FBC’s Youth
“Our hope is the song that makes faith possible. Our hope is the dance between the Persons of the Trinity: our God, our Christ, and the Holy Spirit. That hope is the breath, the ‘ruach’—which is a feminine term, by the way—that gives life to these dry bones. Hope is the one seed rooted deeply beneath the frozen ground.”
~ Kara Suggs
“Hope is the fuel of our faith. There would be no faith without hope. Hope gives us the strength to persevere when the suffering arises…[strength] to not fall into cynical thinking, believing nothing can be done.”
~ Wells Thomason
I can’t stop thinking of FBC’s youth and young adults and of how they led us in worship on Sunday. What a blessing it was to experience worship from the vantage point of middle schoolers, high schoolers and college students and grads. FBC’s youth are vital members of this body of Christ, each with a unique role to play.
Thank you, Grace, Jackson, Jance, Rosemary, Kara, Wells, and Kevin! And many thanks to Jennifer and Eric for planning Sunday’s worship service and for encouraging these amazing young ones on their path of faith.
Welcoming Strangers…Loving Neighbors
After months of anticipation, the seven members of the Qasimi family will arrive soon from Afghanistan and settle into an apartment in Alexandria furnished from top to bottom by First Baptist Church. If you can help with moving furniture and/or setting up the apartment on Saturday, June 25, Susan Lucas susan.lucas10@gmail.com and Linda Salmon lfsalmon@verizon.net will be thrilled to include you.
At the heart of FBCDC’s mission are the values of hospitality, compassion, justice, and generosity. Why? Because God cares about these expressions of love and calls us to embody them in the world. The sacred texts from many faith traditions—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Bahai, Native American and others—hold in common the shared value of demonstrating compassion and care for those whom Jesus called the “least” of these, or the most vulnerable of these.
Today, over 100 million human beings throughout the world are “displaced.” This is more than double the number from 10 years ago. While not many of us know the anguish of having to flee our homeland, leaving family, familiar culture, “heart language” and sense of belonging behind, we can exercise the God-given muscles of empathy and compassion to say, “Welcome, friends. How may we serve you?”
Finally…
Vulnerable people live and work all around us, often unseen or unnoticed. This morning I am joining other faith leaders in testifying before the District of Columbia’s Committee on Labor and Workforce Development on behalf of more than 9,000 Domestic Workers—nannies, house cleaners, in-home care workers and others—who are the only group of workers still excluded from DC’s Human Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination on the job.
It’s not a stretch to make the claim that domestic workers, who are mostly women of color, immigrants, and older workers, are among the most vulnerable in our society. Because their work is isolated in private homes, they are susceptible to many kinds of discrimination, including sexual harassment and unsafe work environments. Under DC’s current law, domestic workers have no legal recourse if they experience any of these.
Together we will urge the Committee to pass the Domestic Worker Employment Rights Amendment Act of 2022.
In the Great Love,
