"Running Free"

Written by Rev. Keith Turman

 

I went for a long run today in the

Early morning—a new day pushing back the moon

My heart fully alive

I feel so free when I’m running free

The dawn ripe with possibility

 

It’s not my neighborhood—I run through it anyway

People mowing their yards

Walking their dogs

Playing tennis on the clubhouse lawn

They all watch me run fearless

 

A stranger in the neighborhood

No need to lock the door

No need to grab the gun

No need to call the police

It’s a free country

 

My freedom for a long run today

Is not lost on me

I know Ahmaud’s story—a familiar one

Glynn County, Georgia

Not everyone is free to run

 

We sing our anthem—‘the land of the free’

We pledge our flag—‘with liberty and justice for all’

But it’s not really

Not every free citizen can actually live free

Not every American actually knows justice

 

I went for a long run today in the

Early morning—a new day pushing back the moon

The dawn ripe with possibility

My heart not fully alive—not until everyone is

Running free

 

An invitation from Pastor Keith: I hope you will all join me for the series on race relations described below. We are in unprecedented times, and we need unprecedented courage to enter into genuine conversations with our neighbors. Lasting change can result from opportunities like this. These conversations matter. Please contact the church office for more information and to register.

 

Struggling with Race, Remembrance, and Reparations: THE FUMC Reconciling Conversations Group, in collaboration with the Education Committee of the Haywood County chapter of the NAACP, will offer a Fall educational series to help us grapple with the complex and searing issues of racism in our nation and our communities.

 

In ten sessions we will have opportunities to read and discuss White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo; The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander; Between the World and Me and “The Case for Reparations,” by Ta-Nehesi Coates.

 

Circle conversations will deal with personal, interpersonal, and systemic dimensions of racism as well as the meaning of forgiveness and reparations. Finally, we will hear about efforts to rightly remember the scars of racism in our community and move toward greater community.