Read her words below:

Council members, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, and Madame Mayor, I am Rev. Heather Rodrigues, Lead Pastor at Duke Memorial United Methodist Church, located directly across the street from the 505 site.
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I have a question: How many of you have children, nieces and nephews or friends who will dress up this year for Halloween?

A pastor I know wrote this: “Halloween is a day when we get it right. Strangers come to us, beautiful, ugly, odd, or scary and we accept them without question, compliment them, treat them kindly and give them good things. Why don’t we live like that?”It’s a beautiful invitation, isn’t it? To live like Halloween, to live in ways that treat people kindly and create ways for them to get good things.

Today I speak on behalf of the the Clergy Caucus of Durham CAN, representing thousands of Durham citizens, and on behalf of six organizations who have come together over the last 3 months: Durham CAN, Duke Memorial, the Coalition on Affordable Housing and Transit, the Durham Committee, People’s Alliance, and the Durham Chapter of the NAACP.

Together, we’ve asked: How might the last significant publicly owned piece of property in downtown be used for good things for all Durham people?

We endorsed a vision statement that we’ve shared with you and City Staff and are excited that many of you share our vision for 505! We’re disappointed that the draft RFP does not reflect this shared vision. It calls for more of the same: a hotel and high end office space….when what we really need is housing and in particular AS MUCH AFFORDABLE HOUSING AS POSSIBLE. Our organizations and constituencies feel strongly that the City does not need – and we should NOT use publicly-owned property for a high end hotel, or more Class A office or lab space.
 
YES, 505 should include some retail space. But the NEED is for a reasonably priced grocery store and local businesses that serve ALL of Durham, not just those with high income. What we need is affordable office space for service organizations, non-profits, and even small businesses, who struggle to find affordable office space.

Today we ask you to direct city staff to rework the 505 RFP, to Halloween it (so to speak) so that it might be used for good things for all of Durham’s people. The RFP should make it clear that developers who maximize the number of affordable housing units – not just meet a minimum of 80 units – will be scored higher. And developers that address the need for affordable retail and office space will also be scored higher.

Let’s use this publicly owned land for good things for all of our people. Let’s Halloween this thing.

Thank you.
 
Heather Rodrigues
Lead Pastor, Duke Memorial UMC
Durham, NC | 919-218-2129 | heather@dukememorial.org

In a historic vote for the NC Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, the closed Executive Clergy Session approved eight candidates for ordination, including a first-ever candidate in a same-gender civil marriage. Of these candidates, two are deacons, six are elders, five are female, and three are male. The average age is 38.
The Rev. Dr. Sangwoo Kim, chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry, said, "The Board of Ordained Ministry is responsible for guiding, preparing, evaluating, and presenting gifted, Spirit-filled candidates for licensed, commissioned, and ordained ministry. The Board took this charge seriously as it faithfully followed its deep discernment process, interviewing candidates, reading their written work, and engaging in conversations with the candidates' local church community. The Board found these candidates highly qualified for full connection and ordination as clergy in the NC Annual Conference."

Following the Clergy Session, Bishop Connie Mitchell Shelton shared, "The beauty and complexity of our denomination's checks and balances make The United Methodist Church incredibly unique and strong if we understand who we are."

During their process, the paragraphs from the denomination's law and policy book, The Book of Discipline, related to same-gender relationships were orally read to the Board of Ordained Ministry and Executive Clergy Session. The Board of Ordained Ministry must approve by a 3/4 majority vote to recommend a candidate to the Executive Clergy Session. The Clergy Session must achieve the same 3/4 majority vote to approve someone for full connection and ordination but cannot engage in judicial processes.
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Shelton continued, "I recently met this amazing class of ordinands to hear their call stories and reflect on the historic questions. John Wesley developed nineteen questions to probe the hearts and motives of potential Methodist preachers to agree on how we will live into this ministry life. Wesley was looking for fruitful, unshakeable followers of Jesus willing to give their all to this Methodist way. We, too, are looking for the same here in the NC Annual Conference."

​What do saints do? Saints, Catholic or otherwise, have stories attached to them. These stories share and reinforce Christ's teachings serving as a witness and a testimony of God's faithful work in the world. They are an important part of modern day faith because they aim to inspire and teach morals, theological ideas, and to provide faithful examples of what it means to be a follower of God. 

As United Methodists we celebrate the saints on an annual basis after Halloween. For the most part, John Wesley cautioned against the celebration of the saints in fear that the saints would be too highly regarded and become idols. And yet, All Saints day was Wesley's favorite holiday! Wesley understood All Saints as an opportunity to give thanks for all those who have gone before us. It is a time for us, as a community of faith, to celebrate our history, our tradition. We are a part of a long history that goes back through John Wesley, to the early days of the church, the apostles, and all the faithful before them. When we celebrate the tradition of the church through sermons, prayers, books, music, and past Christian lives, we understand that each of those sources have understood the work of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in their lives and expressions. 

Who makes the cut as a saint? Alongside Paul, Martin Luther,and the Wesley brothers, Saints are family members, pastors, Sunday School teachers, and youth leaders who may have first introduced us to Christ or extended a kind gesture in love.Our Saints are those, both the living and who have passed on, who inspire us. They are who is reflected in our welcome statement, those of every race, faith, nation, gender identity, sexuality, socioeconomic background, and mental and physical ability. Join us over the next four Sundays as we celebrate the Saints in our lives.

​The Anti-racism Task Force was appointed by Church Council in August 2020 to identify ways in which DMUMC contributes to systems of racism and anti-racism and share with Church Council ways we can become an anti-racist church.

But why does becoming an anti-racist church matter? “Love the Lord your God....(it says in Luke 11:25-29)....with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And we hear from Amos 5 that to love is to fight for justice- justice that rolls on like a river. As Christians, we believe the work of anti-racism is the work of mercy and justice as we seek to love our neighbor as ourselves.

And we’re not the only ones doing the work! The United Methodist Church has undertaken the work of anti-racism for years through the General Commission on Religion and Race founded in 1968. The North Carolina Conference under the leadership of Bishop Ward has also been promoting anti-racism work. And we join several other churches here in Durham on this journey as well.

In 2016, following the death of Michael Brown, Duke Memorial began to pray, preach, teach, and discern what it means to be an anti-racist congregation. Most recently, in 2020, new investments and commitments were made, the Anti-Racism Task Force being one of those.

So far, the Task Force has spent time together learning about the history of our city and our church, and discussing what we believe are important ideas to become an anti-racist congregation. We asked church leaders to complete an inventory on racial equity with their committees, allowing them to reflect on how their work may contribute to or hinder racial justice. And we realized that, to do this work well, we needed professional expertise.

We are excited to announce that, with approval from Church Council, we have hired local consultant Alicia Crosby to guide us in our work!

Alicia’s consultation with us will include a congregation survey, meetings with the ART Force, and listening sessions with the congregation. The work of the Task Force will conclude in November in a final report with recommendations for next steps to become an anti-racist church. The report will then be given to the Church Council, who will decide on the next steps.

From you, friends, we ask for participation in the process - sign up for a listening session, complete a survey*, pray for the journey, and offer grace: Grace for ourselves, and grace from each other in order to do this important and difficult work well. We will mess up, most certainly, and from our mistakes will learn a better way even as we will be amazed again, through the difficult work ahead, just how mighty God is when we step out in faith in the name of justice, hope and love.

Rev. Heather Rodrigues
Lead Pastor
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Caleb Parker
Chair, Anti-racism Task Force

*Information coming soon about upcoming listening sessions and survey opportunities.

The book “White Awake” was pulled this past week from our spiritual formation offerings due to the anti-LGBTQ+ stance of both the publishing company and the author. In our journey towards full inclusion, we recognize the intersectionality of justice and welcome for all: To seek to create equity and justice for People of Color without also doing the same for all oppressed people including LGBTQ+ persons is to undercut Jesus’ call to love our neighbor as ourselves.

We are grateful for those who brought this to our attention even as we grieve having made a decision that necessitated such a response.

The work of creating God’s kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven is a journey full of praise and pain, celebration and grief. Even as we give thanks for Duke Memorial’s commitment to the work of full inclusion for all of God’s children, we lament the ways our work has, at times, caused further pain and trauma to the very ones we seek to love. Even though our intent in offering this study was good and lovely, we name and lament that the impact caused harm. 

To that end, we will replace “White Awake” with a study that explores the journey of anti-racism within the context of our Christian faith, written and published by those who seek the same justice for LGBTQ+ persons. As well, we will re-evaluate our Anti-Racism Formation Guide and remove any resources from authors or organizations that do not align with our welcome statement.

Grace and Peace,
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Rev. Heather Rodrigues
Rev. Jennifer Ingold Asbill
Minister Garrett Rocha ​

​The Anti-Racism Task Force is Duke Memorial's team appointed by Church Council in August 2020 to (1) identify ways in which DMUMC contributes to systems of racism and anti-racism, and (2) to share with Church Council ways we can become an anti-racist church. Our work has been evolving, and we have been meeting since August to explore terms and ideas. We are now at the stage to hear from church members, and we explain more about that in a later section.

​Racism--a worldview that is established in our political, economic, cultural, and social systems, where one race is viewed as being more important than another--is a powerful and omnipresent oppressive force against Black People, Indigenous People, and People of Color. We acknowledge that racism is a system, meaning that the power that white people have collectively goes beyond the individual actor. We recognize that the contributors to racism come from many levels, and that to dismantle racism in our communities and at Duke Memorial, we must address all of these contributors appropriately who benefit from racism in the form of white privilege: us as individuals, the corporate institution of Duke Memorial, and the greater UMC.

We are doing the work of anti-racism because it is part of our Christian calling. We know from Luke 11:25-29, that we are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And we know from Amos 5:24, that we are called to do justice: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” We believe the work of anti-racism is the work of love and justice.

​We are not alone in doing this work. The United Methodist Church has undertaken the work of anti-racism for years through the General Commission on Religion and Race founded in 1968. The North Carolina Conference under the leadership of Bishop Ward has also been promoting anti-racism work. More recently in the wake of anti-Black violence and the Black Lives Matter response of 2020, Duke Memorial decided to seriously invest energy in our own anti-racism work, and creating this task force would build off the important and intense work of the Full Inclusion Task Force. Duke Memorial has assembled some content already and was put on the website over the summer.

​In the months of April and May, the ART Force will host several Listening Sessions, where you can offer your thoughts about the work of anti-racism. The sessions will be about one-hour long, structured with questions and moderated so each person can respond. Your thoughts and ideas will help shape how we move forward to become an anti-racist church. Please contact Caleb Parker (wcp0622@gmail.com) if you would like to be a part of this. More details on the sessions will be shared in the coming weeks.

​Grace. We ask grace for ourselves, and grace from each other to do this important and difficult work well. We will mess up on our path of good intentions, and we will learn from them to do better. We have found just how difficult and complex this work is, and know that to become an anti-racist church will require all of us working together with purpose and grace for our lifetime.

​Caleb Parker, Jack Carroll, Jennifer Shingleton, Kerry Averette, Craige Summers, Fuller Sasser, Haven Biddix, Ginny Ghezzo, and Angie Hong. 

​January 8, 2021

We the pastors and Church Council of Duke Memorial United Methodist Church in Durham, NC, appreciate the commitment to duty and courage of the legislators who, on Wednesday evening, conducted the business of the nation in the face of violence  and endorsed the votes of all Americans in the election of our next president. We thank the law enforcement, Secret Service, and military personnel who placed themselves in danger to protect others. We pray for those killed, injured, or terrorized by the violence, and for those who feel unheard and unsupported. 

At the same time, we denounce those who invoked the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus, during their violent assault on the United States Congress. Jesus calls us to reconciliation with God and with each other. When Jesus’ own disciples took up arms against Roman oppressors seeking to remove him and kill him, Jesus stopped the violence and healed the injured Roman. Jesus embodied self-sacrificing service for the sake of others, a willingness to die rather than violently insist on his own agenda. We are saved by Jesus, not by our violence. 

As a church, we again commit to stand up and speak out against evil, oppression and injustice in whatever forms they present themselves as we seek to love as Jesus loved: not in ways sentimental but in ways that lead to justice, mercy, forgiveness and grace for all. 

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Hebrews 12:14-15)

Signed:
2021 Church Council, Duke Memorial UMC 
Rev. Heather Rodrigues, Lead Pastor
Rev. Jennifer Ingold Asbill, Minister of Children and Pastoral Care