On behalf of Lumunos, I want to join the chorus of those decrying the murder of George Floyd and the culture of racism that leads us to this moment. God help us if we are doing this to be trendy or to jump on the latest news cycle. Rather, we believe that the moment calls for a critical mass of voices, and that maybe this is a time when enough people will say “Enough” so that real change might happen.

Our protest is done through the lens of Lumunos’ core values and mission.  For example, our mission states that “ Lumunos helps people live fuller, more authentic lives as they align their life choices and relationships with their sacred values.”  We need to acknowledge that even the phrase life choices is an example of the privilege some people enjoy and others don’t. If we want this for all people, we need to look at how we can create an environment where all can do this equally.
 
One of our core values is relational . Relationships require listening and a willingness to hear another’s story. Sometimes it means hearing anger. Always it means, as we describe this value, “respecting the dignity of the individual.” When this is not happening in a systemic way, we need to ask ourselves how it can begin to happen.
 
Another of our core values is faithful . Lumunos is grounded in the Christian tradition and open to the wisdom of other faith traditions. Every legitimate expression of religion includes the belief that we are created equal and calls us to create systems and cultures where that is lived out. Because our own tradition is Christian, we especially abhor the use of bibles and churches as political props. 
 
Because authenticity is another of our values, I need to confess the painful lack of diversity in our own organization. Honestly, I am not sure how to improve this. Modest efforts have been attempted and mostly failed in the past.  My hope is that those of you in our network have some ideas. So please communicate with us about how you can see Lumunos being part of addressing racism. I’m not talking about changing our mission. I’m talking about applying our mission and values to the needs of the current world situation. After all, another of our values is being adaptive . Our description of this value includes the statement “ Like the people we serve, we are a living organization that adapts to the realities that the world brings us. ” We have been doing that with the COVID crisis. Now we need to discern our call in relationship to racism. Please help us do that.

Sincerely,