On Dec. 17, 2014, the Faculty of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary approved the following statement:
In recognition of the racial injustice still manifest in our nation and our community, and in sorrowful recognition of our complicity in that injustice by our silence, we the faculty of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary offer this prayer of lament and repentance and invite the full Seminary community to join us in prayer and response:
A Time for Lamentation and Repentance
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky. (Ps 85: 10-11)
O Lord our God, we long for the time when righteousness and peace will kiss, and when faithfulness will spring up from among your people and your righteousness will cover all the earth. In this Advent season, when we listen to the voice of one who calls us to prepare the way of the Lord through a season of repentance, we are especially drawn to consider our praying in view of the recent events which have brought before us deep and painful divisions over race and justice. John the Baptist’s cry was not only for personal repentance, but for the people of God to repent also for the nation, even to repent on behalf of the nation.
Our prayer is a cry from the heart over the divisions which roil us. We lament over the pain among us and around us, the bitter fruit of the history and present experience of abuse and exclusion of others, your children, because of their race. But we offer not only our cry of pain. We offer also, along with many, and on behalf of all, our prayer of repentance for the history and present experience of abuse and exclusion of others, your children, because of their race. When others cried out we were deaf; when others bled before us, we were blind; when others wanted our witness, we sat apart. Even our good intentions and well-meaning efforts have fallen short.
We long for healing within the nation and among its peoples, yet the task feels overwhelming. Nevertheless, we pray that in your good providence and grace, steadfast love and faithfulness will meet, and righteousness and peace will kiss. We ask that faithfulness will rise up among us, and that righteousness will look down upon us. O Lord, do a new thing within and among us that we may make faithful witness that indeed the shalom of the Kingdom of God has drawn near in Jesus Christ your beloved Son, our Savior, in whose blessed and sanctifying name we pray.
Amen.
In response to the racial injustice still manifest in our nation and our community, we will seek in our teaching, learning, worship, and life together as a seminary community to raise awareness of God’s central concern for justice (Ps 82) and for the crucial importance of caring for one another and the “least of these” (Matt 25). We intend and hope that all of us – students, staff, and faculty – will go forth as those who will work for justice and seek to participate in God’s healing work in our broken communities.
For students, staff, alums, and Board members who would like to join in offering this prayer, please send your name using the form below (scroll below the names). Note that names will be added once per day. Thank you for your patience.
Rebecca DePoe
Danielle Ramsay
Lisa L. Thompson
Jonathan Stewart
Alvina Smith
Christopher Brown
Allan Irizarry-Graves
D. Mark Blank
Ryan Lucas
Laura Bentley
Dr. James and Joy Durlesser
Bradley Rito
Keith Mcilwain
Cynthia Bloise
Heather Vacek
Darryl Lockie
Maggie Smith
Lee Scott
Myles W. MacDonald
Britney Vokish
Brett Dinger
Joe Moore
Susan Blank
Robb Starck
Clark R. Kerr
Kendra Buckwalter Smith
Jennifer Haddox
Matthew Morris
Susan Rothenberg
John C. Welch
Lynn Corbett
Terry Timm
Kimberly Gates Merrell
Maggie Foreman
Laurie Gourdet
Lisa Steimer
Scott Fuller
Catherine Brall
Debra Rogosky
Dan Emerick
Paula Cooper
Darlene M. Figgs
Nancy Lapp
Helen Blier
Joseph Hedden Jr.
Jill Terpstra
Lawrence Rush Jr.
Suzanne Good
Eric Vinsel
Kathy Anderson
Scott A. Pitz
Jean Smith
Paul Edwards
Patrice Fowler-Searcy
Peter de Vries
Sandy Smith
Mariam Sogoian
Charles Howell
Nancy Lowmaster
Don Dawson
Anne Malone
Robert Weingartner
Marvel Timm
John Haselton
Mary Louise Russell
Ben Rumbaugh
Linda Smith
Dr. Herbert V.R.P. Jones
Brian Lays
Margaret Shoeman
Michael Gehrling
Angel De La Cruz
Gary Hilton
Dana Gold
Jennifer Hipple
Lori Arnold
Elaine Loggi
Carrie Buckner
Damian Berry
Bill Saxman
Anna Parkinson
Deborah Ackley-Killian
Jim Downey
Jake Horner
KJ Norris
Richard Wingfield
Chunky Young
Gavin Walton
Shane Siciliano
Don and LindaJo McKim
Angela Hancock
Debbie Smith
Lisa Franklin-Robinson
Katie Galicic
Karl Travis
Deyja Underwood
Fred Majahawe
Margaret J. Park
Renee Mikell
Abraham J. Peterson
Eliza Smith Brown
Ela J. Robertson
Jim Davidson
Gina M. Noel-Brown
Martha Robbins
Judith E. Tobias
Carolyn Cranston
Brenda N. Henry
Dawn Sherwood
Britney Vokish
Rebecca Cole-Turner