GPS will meet next Sunday, January 13 at 9am with a new 3 week series: What does racism look like in Grand Rapids?

In this new year, the COS Antiracism and Reconciliation Team has invited Grand Rapids leaders to help us understand some of the inequities that are persistent in our City. Many concerned individuals and organizations are working to address inequities, yet Grand Rapids continues to struggle with serious problems like health disparities, infant mortality, and housing inequality. Why?

For three weeks in January, we will take a closer look at health and housing in Grand Rapids to better understand the real-life impact of racism in our city. We will learn. We will lament. We will emerge with a new awareness of why these inequities persist, and what we can do as God’s people to help bring about transformation. Please join us in the Cafe at 9am for GPS on January 13, 20, and 27.

With these classes, please also be mindful of some important community events this month:

Several upcoming MLKing Day events to note from the COS Anti-Racism and Reconciliation Team:

January 21: Two events with Dr. Willie Jennings, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University and author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (Yale, 2010), which won the American Academy of Religion Award of Excellence in the Study of Religion the year after it appeared and, in 2015, the Grawemeyer Award in Religion, the largest prize for a theological work in North America (and Calvin College alumnus).
○ January Series with Willie Jennings –12:30 pm, Calvin College Covenant Fine Arts Center: The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race
○ Stob Lecture Colloquium with Willie Jennings –4-5:15 pm, Calvin Theological Seminary Chapel: A Conversation hosted by Danjuma Gibson
January 21 –that same evening– “A STONE OF HOPE: A celebration of song, dance, and spoken word” to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speaker Dr. Christina Edmondson of Calvin College, 6:30 pm, Madison Square Church (1441 Madison Ave SE)