In Harmony and Peace

Exploring Multicultural Community

St. Paul’s – and each one of us – is blessed to be part of a community rich in diversity.

The most recent demographic numbers that I’ve seen say that Waukegan is 57 percent Hispanic, 16 percent Black, 18 percent White and 6 percent Asian.

You might say that’s a glimpse of the “Peaceful Kingdom” to come envisioned by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah Chapter 11). It’s also a challenge. Intercultural understanding is not something we come by easily.

That’s why we’re offering a community reading of The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb by the Rev. Dr. Eric Law.  We’ll discuss it across several weeks in a series called In Harmony and Peace: Exploring Multicultural Community.

The goal is to begin to understand the role of culture as a challenge – and an opportunity – to bring together people from diverse backgrounds. 

We will become aware of the learned or cultural behaviors of ourselves and others.

We will learn how the elements of culture – ethnicity, race, religion, economic status, language, age, gender identity and other factors – can interfere with understanding each other and hinder creating an authentic and loving multicultural community. 

We will listen to each other. We will not argue about politics. We will not dwell in the past or look to the future but instead seek to understand how to improve intercultural understanding now.

You do not have to be a member of St. Paul’s or be a Lutheran or a Christian to participate. Just bring your curiosity and a desire to understand what divides us so that we may come together in harmony and peace.

The hourlong discussion sessions will be offered Tuesday mornings at 10:00am (in the church library and online); Wednesday evenings at 7:00pm and at 8:00am Thursday mornings at the Sunset House restaurant in Waukegan.

Because of some scheduling issues, the series will begin the week of September 14 with an introduction and distribution of books. Participants will have the next three weeks to read the book on their own and then the weekly discussion sessions will begin the week of October 12. We'll complete the series the week of November 23 just before Advent begins.

Please sign up here to participate.  We will order a copy of the book for you or you can obtain one from your favorite bookseller. If you can and would like to, you may contribute $20 to cover the cost.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Mark