“Dear Father, I recall visiting a black parishioner, a few weeks after preaching a “Patriotic” sermon, on Sunday, July 4. I had said we were all immigrants, except Native Americans. John mentioned that he and other parishioners had discussed my sermon, and thought I needed to know that not all were “willing” immigrants.

Lord, I was left speechless, standing there beside his hospital bed. How could I have been so insensitive? Even after almost a year as the white Interim in an African American Parish, I had a long way to go, when it came to understanding what “they” and their ancestors had been through.

Dear Lord, give me compassion to better put myself in the place of others, whether they are white like me, or a person of color. Help me to “walk in their moccasins,” as you have walked in mine. Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, I pray. Amen."