Dear Sunday School Sisters, et al: For those who missed class Sunday, we had Christmas Cookies to celebrate the last class of 2014!! And we agreed to continue our 365 Day Consecration for Peace, Justice and Economic Discipline. Ours is a quintessential grass roots movement, it’s long term and our progress seems incremental but as Mandela famously stated “It always seems impossible until it is done.”
Almost 18 months ago on Sunday, July 14, 2013, we were angry and heartsick in the wake of the Zimmerman “Not Guilty” verdict in the Trayvon Martin murder case. Prayerfully we began devising a strategy standing on Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression.” Here’s a link to the rest of that first discussion, A Sunday School Sisters’ Strategy, Part 1 http://bit.ly/13Iccey
We then developed the spiritual components of our strategy, namely Bible study, Prayer and Fasting standing on Mark 9:29 “ This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” Here’s a link to A Sunday School Sisters’ Strategy, Part 2 http://bit.ly/1JSLGjE
Not surprisingly, fulfilling the commitments of the first three elements of our 365 Day Consecration for Peace, Justice and Economic Discipline were fairly easy-daily Bible study, daily Prayer and weekly Fasting…We are Sunday School Sisters after all;) No, our big challenge was and continues to be Economic Discipline. So we ran the numbers and looked at our car notes, our cell phone bills and our cable bills. We looked at our entertainment budget and the dollars we spend on fast food, hair care, clothes and (gasp!) shoes. It wasn’t an actual intervention and we didn’t commit to a 100% cessation of shopping. Instead we calculated the impact of reducing our discretionary spending by 50% -which amounted to $6,248.00! and then we projected the economic impact if other black women joined us. “According to the latest U.S. Census there are 17.8 million African-American women in the U.S….if all of those black women …each withdrew $6,248.00 annually from the U.S. economy. The total amount would be ***** drumroll please***** $111,214,400,000.00” If you’re interested in how we ran all the numbers, here’s the link to A Sunday School Sisters’ Strategy, Part 3 http://bit.ly/1xSyyHD
We knew this Economic Discipline piece would continue to be our greatest challenge, and not just because we love shopping for shoes. We knew the Economic Discipline piece would be our greatest challenge because while it had the potential to create the greatest long-term impact, it would require the greatest individual commitment and could generate the greatest collective resistance. But we continued undeterred, standing on 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” Here’s the link to A Sunday School Sisters’ Strategy, Economic Discipline http://bit.ly/1wprz28
2014 was a difficult year for our class. We our dear Sis. Eleanor Miller died, but not before we had the chance to visit with her during her recovery. And not before she led the way by being the first of us to report on her 50% reduction of discretionary spending. Sis. Miller was the eldest sister in the class, and one of the funniest and most candid, but she was serious about her commitment to our 365 Day Consecration for Peace, Justice and Economic Discipline. It is partly in her honor that we remain steadfast and vigilant in our efforts, standing on Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
We are committed to our 365 Day Consecration for Peace, Justice and Economic Discipline because we are committed to our families and our communities. We are not “anti” protests or even “anti” police, but we are “anti” militarized policing in our communities. We will continue to support voter registration drives; we will continue to exercise our civic responsibility and right to vote in every election; and we will continue to support those who organize peaceful protests and marches; but we Sunday School Sisters will also continue our 365 Day Consecration for Peace, Justice and Economic Discipline.
These adorable young boys, some of our Sunday School “gleaners” who come and delightfully eat up all the leftovers, they and their sisters, they are our children and they are the reason we cannot and will not relent.
We would love to hear your thoughts and read your comments, but most of all we would love you to join us for this next segment, this second year of our 365 Day Consecration for Peace, Justice and Economic Discipline.