“Build a Church, then Build a School.” Chief among the instructions for John Wesley’s itinerant ministers was this directive about education. Methodists are not the only faith group to grasp the importance of education for the flourishing of God’s people. Nearly all unite an emphasis on faith formation with a call for quality education. This remains true and is why people of faith should care about May 16, 2018, Public Education Advocacy Day at the NC General Assembly. Education nearly always traces its roots back to faith communities, but in…
Jennifer Copeland, Executive Director
Politics of Eating
Sermon originally delivered at the Jack Crum Conference at Highlands United Methodist Church in Raleigh on Saturday, April 21. The primary text was Isaiah 55:1-9. My parents have an amazing garden. Besides the fact that it’s huge, it’s also bountiful. Its bounty comes from the gardeners who know how to get the most from their soil. My father understands the chemistry of soil—he knows which nutrients are lacking and puts them in; and he has a pond close at hand to help him out when the weather doesn’t cooperate with…
Partner Congregations Provide Sanctuary for Woman in Chapel Hill
Remarks delivered by Executive Director Jennifer Copeland at a March 17 press conference in Chapel Hill on the Sanctuary Movement. At the North Carolina Council of Churches, we don’t pretend to be objective; we don’t pretend to represent a variety of opinions. We refract the issues of the day through the lens of faith, the faith as heard through the prophetic voice of the Old Testament and the gospel proclamation of the New Testament. As one baptized and confirmed into the Christian faith, my allegiance is first and foremost to…
The Second Commandment
When the news broke about the North Carolina Council of Churches billboard suggesting a connection between guns and idolatry, responses ran from, “Thank you for naming the truth,” to “How dare you claim owning a gun means worshiping an idol.” And everything in between, not always in language you would print where children might see it… I read the 2nd Commandment to mean there are a lot of distractions that keep us from focusing on the God who promises us abundant life. Clearly, God recognized this potential when Commanding us…
Council Posts Billboard about Gun Violence
On your drive along I-85/40 outside of Mebane, look for our billboard on the side of the road. It will go up this week and stay in place for the next four weeks, another crucial message for all of us while gun violence continues to erupt all around. While amendments and policies related to gun control dominate the airwaves, the North Carolina Council of Churches is pointing to a different directive to guide the conversation about guns and safety in our country—The Second Commandment. Right after God commands God’s people…
Soul of Appalachia
Remarks originally delivered March 23 at The State of the Soul of Appalachia conference in Pipestem State Park in West Virginia. The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, which…
It’s Only 40 Days
Sermon delivered by Jennifer Copeland yesterday, Sunday, February 18 at Millford Hills United Methodist Church in Salisbury, NC. The lectionary texts were Genesis 9:8-17 and Mark 1:9-15. 40 days–rain! 40 days–wilderness! Noah and rainbows; Jesus and temptation. 40 is an important number in our faith tradition. There were 40 years in the wilderness for Moses and the Hebrew slaves who fled Egypt and 40 years of exile in Babylon for the people of Judah. Today, of course, we’re talking days and not years. What can happen in only 40 days?…
Lenten Guide: Ash Wednesday
Excerpted from the NC Council of Churches Lenten Guide, “Journey to Justice” We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now…
Be Reconciled
Black History month is North Carolina Council of Churches’ history starting in 1935 because our history is founded on the black experience as seen through the eyes of the white church. Fortunately, those white church leaders early on recognized their need to ground black history in the black experience and not merely on black history as told by white narrators. Gatherings of our House of Delegates (the earliest governing body for the Council) in the late 1930s were some of the first places in the south where black church leaders…
Medicare for All
Remarks originally delivered at the Medicare for All Rally held in Durham on Saturday, January 13. We are the fortunate ones. We are here. We are able to be here. It is safe for us to be here. Many people are not here because they are not well, they are not safe, and they are not able to join us. They may have unmet healthcare needs that keep them homebound; they may fear for their personal safety. For those whose voices cannot be heard today for reasons not of their…
Words Make a World
The words we hear form what we think. The words we say form what we do. And when powerful people use words, the words have even more power. And so it is that the person who holds the highest office in the land, an office that has been described as the “leader of the free world,” though that moniker is draining away, should choose words carefully. Words make a world. The words our president uses are beyond embarrassing. We passed that milestone months ago as my friends from other countries…
That Resolution
We all do it and well we should–start the new year resolving to do better. Maybe it’s eat better, exercise more, or work less. The resolution itself quickly takes a back seat to the resolve it takes from us to follow it through. This might happen because our resolutions are too ambitious. For instance, few of us can go from couch potato to marathon runner, and resolving to run a marathon before Easter might not be the best plan for hopping off the couch. There might be another reason, however,…
Christ’s Mass
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of an only child, full of grace and truth (John 1:1, 14). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For centuries, Christians have heard these words on Christmas Eve, probably dating back to the 4th century when we began celebrating Christ’s birth in December. For all the mystery about why Christians logged December 25 as Christ’s Mass, now commonly known the…
Congress: Hands Off New Rule Protecting Families from Payday Lenders
Originally appeared in the Durham Herald and signed by both Larry Hall, Secretary of the NC Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and Jennifer Copeland, Executive Director of the NC Council of Churches. Ignoring the voices of families and communities who have worked for many years for relief from the harms of predatory payday lending, a handful of members of Congress have introduced legislation that would nullify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s national rule to rein in payday lending abuses. Their legislation uses Congressional Review Act authority to repeal the…
Advent Guide: First Sunday, December 3
Excerpted from A Season of Hope. An Advent Guide for Lectionary Year B from the North Carolina Council of Churches. “But in those days, following that distress, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of…