Faithful Acts of Reparation: How Did We Get Here?

Kim Hraca’s Sermon at Epworth UMC 2-15-26

Good morning Epworth.  You are probably surprised to see me here at the pulpit.  I have to tell you that I am surprised to be here.  I am usually at the lectern speaking to you about the Black Wealth Builder’s Fund.  And I will speak to you about the BWBF in a minute, but I want to tell a larger story today about how Epworth arrived in its third year of pairing our annual Stewardship Drive with the Black Wealth Builder’s Campaign.  How did we get here? I also want to tell you the story of Epworth’s anti-racism journey for the past 6 years. For what is a sermon if not a story?  And I want to tell you the story of how I have been changed personally as I walk this path of anti-racism discipleship and reparations.  One image that has been coming to me to illustrate this story is a tapestry, where different threads come together to make a beautiful whole.  

Bur first, let us pray.  This prayer is from the UMC Discipleship Ministry called “Praying for Change:  Daily Prayers for Anti-racism.”  I have been getting a daily prayer in my email box for years now, and let me tell you it does work on your consciousness to read an anti-racism prayer every single day. This one is written by Derek Weber from last month: I am frustrated, afraid, and uncertain. I see so much that is broken. But I do not see where I could bring any hope or change. I am drowning in the deluge of hatred and division.  

Give me courage, God who calls, to speak when speaking is needed. Give me wisdom to know when silence is the best response I can give. Give me discernment to know how I can proclaim, present, and advocate for your kingdom, your justice, your kin-dom in a world seemingly moving further and further away from that vision. I don’t always know what to do with my anger or my fear as I observe what is happening around us day by day. Show me what to let go of and what to kindle into action. Let me humbly use whatever power or privilege I might have not to benefit me, but to build on your vision for who we are created to be. Christ, have mercy. Amen.

It’s always hard to say when it all began, given how history both repeats itself and grows upon itself.  But I think about that day that George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis MN in May of 2020, and we bore witness to this racial violence collectively.  Several months later, Epworth launched a Truth & Racial Reckoning Group (of which I am a founding member).  Michael Martin and Greg Downs were the original leaders of the group.  At that time, there were also listening circles for African American elders, an anti-racism book group, and the "Beyond February" art installation organized by Dianne Rush Woods where members of Epworth created art pieces memorializing Black lives lost to police violence.  If you were part of any of that, please take a moment to remember your experience then.  If you weren’t, welcome to some of Epworth’s history, different threads of the tapestry.  They are part of how we got to where we are today.

The following year, 2021, the congregation engaged in a comprehensive "Holy Conversations on Race, Racism, and Racial Justice" series featuring presentations by 18 members and 90+ participants. And holy conversations they were, talking about race in a more open way than we usually do.  If you were part of those conversations, take a moment to remember what it was like for you. One outcome was the adoption of a formal Racial Justice Mission Statement. You can read this statement on our website under the racial justice ministry tab.  In fact, I invite you to take a look at the racial justice ministry webpage, which does a beautiful job of chronicling some of Epworth’s anti-racism history.  It’s another way to tell the story, to weave the tapestry.

But so much for the commercial during a sermon.

In 2022, the Truth and Racial Reckoning group transitioned into the Reparations Study Group using the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity Faith and Reparations Toolkit, spending 5 monthly meetings on Zoom studying reparations. I co-lead this group with Merrie Bunt.  Meanwhile, the Juneteenth Forum established multiple racial justice action pathways for the congregation, including a BIPOC Speaker’s Bureau and an internal DEI assessment  More threads of the tapestry.

In 2023, the newly minted Reparations Action Group moved from study to action by partnering with the Black Wealth Builder's Fund and taking the bold step of launching an innovative joint stewardship campaign that raised over $41,000 in its first months for reparative homeownership assistance.

Okay, for those of you who don’t know and as a refresher for those of you that do, the description of the The Black Wealth Builder’s Fund is in your bulletin.  

If you think about it, the neighborhood that surrounds Epworth was redlined until redlining was outlawed in1968 (although unofficially the redlining continued for many years after that.) Redlining is where people living in a certain area or neighborhood are not given the same access to loans on the basis of race, regardless of their ability to repay the loan.  Knowing this history, I don’t contribute to the BWBF out of charity or generosity.  I contribute to acknowledge the harm and the need to repair.

This brings me to reflect for a moment on my own journey.  I started leading the Truth and Racial Reckoning Group in late 2021 and I asked Merrie to join me as co-leader around the time we started the Reparations Study Group.  I had never led anything like this before, and what I began to discover is that Spirit was leading the way, but only showing me the next step on the path. I could never see farther down the road, but I began to trust that if I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, the next part of the path would be revealed. And so it was.

In 2024, Epworth's commitment to reparative action continued to flourish, raising an additional $64,000 for the Black Wealth Builder's Fund--far exceeding the congregation's initial goals.

One thing that became clear from this groundswell of support from the congregation is that this project was speaking to a deeper yearning to be part of this kind of repair. And through Epworth's sustained reparative action, Spirit seemed to be leading us into collaborations that went beyond Epworth.

For example, we sponsored a resolution at the Cal-Nev UMC Annual conference which encouraged congregations to study reparations, including the California Reparations Task Force Final Report.  In a similar vein, Epworth co-hosted a conference-wide Faith & Reparations study.  Merrie facilitated one of the white breakout groups.  Closer to home, folks from Epworth partnered with folks from Easter hill for a Just Faith series of conversations on race and justice.  Last May, we organized a multiracial Reparations Forum with Easter Hill and Buena Vista UMC's.  And last summer, we engaged in legislative advocacy for government-led reparations initiatives.  More threads of the tapestry.

So as you can hear, we’ve been busy, and we have been engaged.  So here we are now, in our third year of pairing our Stewardship Drive with the BWB Campaign. Okay, this is where I am going to give you the update and talk about numbers, so picture me at the lectern. 

A more comprehensive breakdown of the numbers is your bulletin, but I want to highlight a few things here. Since the start of the campaign in 2023, we have raised over $165,000, so nine Black families have been able to purchase their first home. For 2026, we have 59 pledges including 79 people for $52,511.  One of the numbers that is particularly meaningful to me is that 13 people are making contributions for the first time.  So you can see there is a groundswell of support from the congregation, the project is touching a cord for contributors and making a real difference in providing repair.

Now back to the pulpit and the part where Spirit is leading us beyond Epworth.  Merrie and I have been meeting with a clergy dominated reparations group for the past year, and we have learned from them that Epworth’s commitment to the BWBF is seen as a model for other churches. We are talking about ways to tell Epworth’s reparation story beyond our immediate community, and widening the tapestry.

I feel myself at that spot once again where I can see the next step in front of me, but not much beyond that.  But I trust the unfolding more and more deeply. One part of the unfolding is that this clergy dominated reparations group has been recently officially recognized as the Reparations Task Force of the UMC Cal-Nev Annual Conference, and I was asked to co-chair along with Pastor Myrna Bernadel-Huey.  Our hope is to inspire clergy and lay leaders to study anti-racism discipleship and reparations in churches throughout the Cal-Nev Annual Conference, and to encourage churches to support reparations legislation, and find their own way on this reparations path.

It’s kind of a lot to take in.  Some mornings I wake up and ask myself “How did I get here?”  I am an introverted psychotherapist who is more comfortable in intimate one-on-one conversations than in leading meetings and planning actions and events.  I wonder if Zacchaeus had his own moment of wondering “How did I get here?” when Jesus spoke to him and invited himself over to Zaccaeus’ house, and Zacchaeus found himself transformed and making reparations.  Here is what I do know.  I know is how strongly I feel about this anti-racism and reparations work.  I also know that I feel energized and buoyed when I focus my energy there. And I also know that I am stepping into leadership in ways I never could have imagined.  As I said at the beginning of my sermon, I am surprised to be here, not only in this moment speaking to you, but to be on this reparations journey and to be open to wherever it is taking me.  Sharing my story and Epworth’s anti-racism story helps me to articulate the answer to the question of how I got here and how we got here.

I have been thinking lately about how the world is in such a different moment now than after George Floyd was murdered.  There is so much division and backlash, and a dizzying amount of destruction of what we had built.  Sometimes it feels like this reparations work is a drop in the bucket.  But what I know more deeply is that we each need to find our way to respond to the blatant racism that’s happening and that our tapestry of resistance matters.  Last month, I met Debra Gore, who is the chair of the Alameda County Reparations Commission (did you know we had such a thing?) and she said “They have project 2025.  We have a movement of care and repair.”

I will end with another “Daily Prayer for Anti-Racism” by Derek Weber, this one from Sept 2024 

Holding on to the cause of anti-racism is hard, God of transformation and promise. And it is harder when there are those who claim it isn’t needed, that racism is a thing of the past, that oppression is only in the minds of those who want to play victim. Minds are not easy to change, and hearts are even more difficult. Movements designed to give dignity to all people are attacked as “woke” or somehow destructive to the status quo. Efforts to bring justice and equity to those historically marginalized or redlined are seen as excessive or pandering. Yet, you call us to hold on, to keep our hands on the plow until we can harvest a kin-dom of righteousness. So, help us, Lord of all that is good and grace-filled, keep on our knees and then rise to our feet with a word of hope and a song of peace. In Christ’s name and with Christ’s example, we pray, and we work. Amen.

This appeared in the accompanying bulletin

The Black Wealth Builder’s fund is intended to address the racial wealth gap and repair a small portion of the longstanding barriers to Black homeownership. The fund helps potential homebuyers with zero-interest loans up to $20,000 that don't have to be paid back unless the home is refinanced or sold. Without the restrictions that accompany other down payment assistance funding sources, these loans can be used to cover closing costs and other critical expenses—frequently providing the final push that helps families cross the finish line to homeownership. 

Since the start of the campaign in 2023, we have raised over $165,000.  Given that the average loan now is about $18,000 (it’s gone up as housing prices have increased), nine Black families have been able to purchase their first home. For 2026, we have 59 pledges including 79 people for $52,511 as compared to 50 pledges for $42,050 from last year. Since we began this project in late 2023, we’ve had 103 contributors as of 12-31-25, and we have 13 new contributors for 2026.  So far, the fund as a whole has dispersed $883,000 in 49 loans to 58 Black first-time homebuyers primarily in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. This truly is reparations in action.