Friends,
We need you in Ferguson, Missouri.
 FOR national staff and grassroots leadership will be on the ground there beginning on Friday for the Weekend of Resistance. FOR's representative in Ferguson, Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, will be joined this weekend by FOR-USA Chief Operating Officer Dr. Hillary Gaston, Training Coordinator Gretchen Honnold, and Mid-Missouri FOR leader Jeff Stack.
Can't be in Ferguson? Organize a Hands Up Worship solidarity event in your area.
More than six weeks ago, when Ferguson called, we were there. Ferguson is calling again, and we will be there again. In spirit and person, we want you to stand with the youth, clergy and community leaders of Ferguson in their demand for justice in the wake of the killing of Michael Brown.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once declared, we too are "convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good."
Join with us this weekend, Oct. 10-13, as we continue this good work for healing and justice in Ferguson.
FOR, the PICO network, Sojourners, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference and other faith partners have again been invited by the young people and clergy of Ferguson, in this case through the Weekend of Resistance.
How you can be a part of this weekend
Wherever you are: Participate in the Hands Up Sabbath
 Hands Up Sabbath is an opportunity to link our civic engagement to the moral crisis that Ferguson represents for so many of our communities.
Through our observance of the Hands Up Sabbath, we will declare together across the country that we are working, praying and voting to create a nation that will no longer tolerate the violence, systemic injustice and marginalization suffered by poor people and people of color in our communities. The PICO network has developed a toolkit resource, including readings and litanies for worship.
Sign up today to indicate your plans to join us by leading your congregation in Hands Up Sabbath activities.
Join us in Missouri for the Faith in Ferguson march
 We will build on our prophetic work of standing in solidarity and support of youth and clergy in Ferguson for the past six weeks. If you have the means, we invite clergy to fly into St. Louis on Sunday afternoon and join us for the march on Monday morning, in clergy collars and vestments, demonstrating our collective moral and spiritual voice.
Some clergy will participate in civil disobedience as part of this march and demonstration. We are working with partners, including Dr. William Barber of the Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina (a 2014 FOR Peace Prize recipient), to provide training over the weekend and Monday morning for clergy interested in participating in civil disobedience. There will be jail support and release working around the clock to support those who may be arrested during the march.
Please sign up if you plan to join us for the Faith in Ferguson march.
Organize for racial justice
Please spread the word and share this invitation with your clergy networks, especially those in the St. Louis area.
If you believe this kind of work is important, please consider donating to the Fellowship of Reconciliation so we can continue to fund the work of FOR Freeman Fellow Rev. Osagyefo Sekou and other organizers for racial justice.
Blessings and peace,
|
Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews
Director of Clergy Organizing
PICO National Network
|
Bishop Dwayne Royster
Executive Director
Philadelphians Organized to Witness Empower & Rebuild (POWER)
|
Rev. Michael McBride
Director of Urban Strategies and Lifelines to Healing Campaign
PICO National Network
|
|
Rev. Alvin Herring
Deputy Director of Faith and Formation / Director of Training
PICO National Network
|
Rev. Nelson Jerome Pierce Jr.
Director of Training
Ohio Organizing Collaborative
|
Rev. Deth Im
Assistant Director of Training & Development
PICO National Network
|
|
Rev. Osagyefo Sekou
Freeman Fellow
Fellowship of Reconciliation
|
Dr. Leroy Barber
Executive Director
Word Made Flesh & CCDA Board Member
|
Dr. Iva Carruthers
General Secretary
Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Inc.
|
Image credits: FergusonOctober.com; Occupy Riverwest, Milwaukee, WI, Aug. 17, 2014. |
