07/11/2016
FIRST CHURCH OF GOD
Rochester, New York
VIOLENCE IN AMERuICA
BIBLE-BASED COURAGE
Sunday July 10, 2016
FACEBOOK FCOG - ARTICLE
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.com
https://www.facebook.com/RevDrdfowler1FCOGRochNY/posts/1634567033525468
ROCHESTER-AREA RESIDENTS TURN TO FAITH AFTER PAINFUL WEEK
by Brian Sharp, , Reporter;
Shawn Dowd/
/Staff Photographer
Article Website Links below (2):
http://on.rocne.ws/29txb7Q
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2016/07/10/turning-faith-after-painful-week/86919076/
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FULL NEWS ARTICLE
(with photos)
Pastors took to pulpits, congregations to song and confession.
They offered prayer. They sat in silence.
After a painful week of violence and death, of fear and protest across the nation, Sunday morning brought the faithful and the those seeking comfort to churches across Rochester.
In two such congregations, one white, the other black, on opposite sides of town, of differing denominations but shared faith, the message was courage.
The Rev. Dr. Dwight Fowler delivers his sermon at the First Church of God in Rochester Sunday, July 10, 2016. "Courage is what must be 'used' in the "midst of fear," he said.
"If we are going to be vocal representatives of a man named Jesus, we have to have boldness — which means we have to have courage," the Rev. Dwight Fowler told congregants of the First Church of God on Clarissa Street. "Courage is what must be done in the midst of the fear."
Dr. Fowler preached of the courage of the church, decried the senseless deaths of those killed by police and that those lost are disproportionately black, and he condemned the actions of the Dallas sniper as an excessive, extreme and misguided response. "There is a war going on," he said, not between flesh and blood but with sin and evil.
A member at Dr. Fowler's church, Joseph Whitt, Sr. prayed with other churchgoers, saying: "Some things of this life, we will never understand why. ... This violence has been going on for so long. This racism has been going on for so long. This is nothing new, Lord." The marches and protests are needed, Whitt said after the service, because nothing changes when people are silent. But he thinks it is the church that must lead to achieve real change. When he prayed with his fellow church members — more than 20 on this Sunday, with others in the tent outside, working the grill for their FCOG Annual Corn Hill Fundraiser,
as crowds swelled for the final day of the Corn Hill Arts Festival — Whitt told them: "I believe in my heart that it can be resolved; that we can walk in peace."
Dr. Fowler encouraged the congregation to use their faith as their armor and God's word as their guide. "We cannot afford to pay attention to the loud shouting of the earthly voices," he said, adding: "In spite of what happens in the world, in spite of what you encounter, you must still go on."
PHOTOS:
The Rev. Dr. Dwight Fowler
Senior Pastor
First Church of God
First Vice President
United Christian Leadership Ministry (UCLM)
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At the Artisan Church on South Clinton Avenue, Pastor Scott Austin began a special prayer service called in response to events of last week by reciting the names. Alton Sterling. Philandro Castile. Brent Thompson. Michael Krol. Patrick Zamarripa. Michael Smith. Lorne Ahrens.
An emotional Pastor Scott Austin leads
a special service of prayer and lament at more "Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you," reads the Bible passage above the chapel doors at Artisan Church, "and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."
"These were not only news stories. They were human beings ... beloved children of God," Austin said of the black men slain by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, and of the white police officers killed in apparent retaliation in Dallas. "Our eyes," he said later in prayer, "grow weak with sorrow." But there was also anger. Confusion. Frustration, including with the confrontation between local police and protesters over the weekend in the East End that resulted in more than 70 arrests.
During a period of confession sought by Austin, people spoke of wanting to better understand different races and cultures, about needing to find the courage to show ignorance and ask questions; of having been more comfortable staying silent, assuming non-white friends would "assume I'm a good person" — but realizing that position of comfort was an expression of privilege.
During the prayer service, Austin had told the nearly 40 people who gathered that it was important to "recognize the problem of hatred and racism and violence lie with us." He spoke of "the insidious complicity that comes with inaction," and of the need to love our neighbors as ourselves.
"Grant us courage when called upon to stand for the rights of others," he prayed. "Oh Lord, may these words not be empty promises this time."
"I think it's important to talk about things," said Katie Gootee, 30, of Rochester. "It's easy as a majority white congregation to turn our eyes and say it doesn't exist. But it does, and it's happening in our backyard."
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Later in the day, police officers joined a "Can I Live" march called by and for kids, walking through downtown from the Liberty Pole to City Hall.
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See PHOTOS
Pastors took to pulpits, congregations to song and confession. They offered prayer. They sat in silence.
