After the First United Church of Oak Park placed signs on its lawn in March stating the church was “fasting from whiteness” during Lent, some media organizations generated national coverage, which aroused controversy.
In the past week, Rev. John Edgerton both traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with other pastors to reinforce what they describe as their anti-racism message, and experienced an angry caller change his mind.
The church canceled its in-person Palm Sunday service on April 10 after it got an April 8 voicemail from an anonymous caller who threatened to disrupt the service, said Edgerton, First United Church of Oak Park’s lead pastor. The church instead held an online-only service.
He said the caller used profanity and stated he was “coming to the service with a bunch of friends and that ‘we should have real good time together.”‘
“I believed it,” Edgerton said. “That is why we moved our Palm Sunday service online.”
Angry man changed mind, apologized, sent lily
But in what Edgerton called an “interesting plot twist,” the church’s voicemail system noted the caller’s phone number and police called and spoke to him. Edgerton also phoned the caller and left a voicemail message, he said. On Thursday, the caller sent the church an Easter lily and a note apologizing for his actions.
The note read, “To The Office Staff. Sorry For The Inappropriate Voicemail Last Week. God Bless.” It was signed with a name, which Edgerton declined to disclose.
“We’re not interested in pursuing charges,” said Edgerton.
In the days after certain media organizations picked up the story of the church’s “fasting from whiteness” initiative, Edgerton said the response was overwhelming and that at the height of the controversy the church was receiving five voicemails per minute and hundreds of emails, some in support of the “fasting from whiteness” initiative and others that were “simply vulgarity.”
On April 13, Edgerton went to Washington, D.C. to join a group of religious leaders who held an online press conference to talk about what the “fasting from whiteness” initiative meant and discuss how to best move forward.
“We have always tried to publicize our church programming and this is the only time that our carefully planned, lovingly crafted church programming for our members has gained national and international attention,” said Edgerton during the presentation. “We take away from this that we have touched upon a wound and it is our prayer for healing and we will work to do what we can to heal that.”
Not a ban; a chance to showcase new composers
The “fasting from whiteness” phrase appeared on lawn signs outside the church on March 2 and shortly after that attracted the national spotlight when some television crews began reporting that First United Church had banned music written by white composers during Lent, the 40-day period on the Christian calendar leading up to Easter Sunday, which this year falls on April 17.
But during an online press conference hosted this week by the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington D.C., Edgerton said the focus of the initiative was not to ban music written by white composers but instead was intended to showcase music by Black and brown composers and to create a space to discuss racism.
“I am here to tell you exactly why we did this in the holy season of Lent,” he said. “As Christians we are ‘fasting from whiteness’ in order to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ.”
“The good news of Jesus Christ is released to the captives in a nation that is obsessed with locking up Black and brown men,” he added. “The good news is recovery of sight to those who say they are color blind, those who claim they cannot see race in a nation where racism is killing Black and brown people every day.”
He said church organizers decided to imbue their Lenten programming with an anti-racism theme, including music selections that utilize gospel music, South African freedom songs, Spanish songs and others.
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“Our commitment is deep and it is for that reason that we are in full support of the ‘fasting from whiteness’ that the Oak Park United Church is doing,” said Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard, Presbyterian executive for the Presbytery of Chicago. Howard was one of six panelists who took part in the press conference, and the First United Church of Oak Park is a member of the Presbytery of Chicago.
“I will tell you that being committed we are learning some very difficult lessons about trying to become an antiracism community and antiracism presbytery,” he said.
“What we’re finding out is that for some reason people are not overjoyed when there’s a ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign put on the front of their church. It’s often being met with vandalism and hate mail. People are not overjoyed when they’re asked to go to anti-racism training to learn how to be…a more loving society. There’s just something about when you throw in the word white that kind of drives people crazy.”
Edgerton said, “There are two choices for white people in this country. You can either have honest conversations about race and racism and be uncomfortable, or you can be silent. As a Christian leader, I will not be silent on this. I will make mistakes. I will be uncomfortable and I treasure those conversations in which we can receive criticism.”