St. Mark's mission is to be a beacon of racial justice and compassion. We celebrate each of the heritage month and provide educational opportunities and activities to further our mission.
Learn more about how you can stand against racism below.
Monthly Devotional
A Prayer for Arab American Heritage Month 2026
O God of Compassion and Creator of All,
We lift up our hearts in this Arab American Heritage Month, seeking Your light in a time of darkness. As conflict continues and spreads throughout regions where many Arab Americans (and Iranian Americans) trace their family origins—or in many cases, current relatives and friends, we pray for the innocent children, families, and elderly caught in the devastation of war.
We recognize that this is only the most recent of other episodes of violence for which many Arab American communities bear deep scars and wounds, including unresolved historical traumas and injustice. Turn the hearts of leaders and those in power toward restraint and wisdom, ensuring that peace prevails over destruction. Give us all the gifts of perception and clarity in opening our eyes and recognizing often obscured cycles and structures of violence.
The Arab American community is diverse and includes many different nationalities as well as faith traditions, including a variety of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish traditions, as well as many others. Nonetheless, this community is often conflated with (and does overlap to an extent with) the Muslim American faith community, which has faced and continues to face dehumanization, hatred, bigotry, targeting, and calls for mass deportation.
We therefore also pray for softening of hearts towards and an embrace of those who, when fleeing brutal violence, are all too often met with closed doors and hardened hearts. Teach us to see one another as Christ saw us and taught us. Remind us that Jesus’ family fled political violence and sought asylum far from home.
Help us acknowledge the ways in which Arab Americans have been a blessing in our communities throughout history, as part of a fuller understanding of the story of America.
Amen.
Our initial focus as a church is deepening our understanding through education.
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Statement on Racial Justice from the United Methodist Church Constitution (Article V):
The United Methodist Church proclaims the value of each person as a unique child of God and commits itself to the healing and wholeness of all persons. The United Methodist Church recognizes that the sin of racism has been destructive to its unity throughout its history. Racism continues to cause painful division and marginalization. The United Methodist Church shall confront and seek to eliminate racism, whether in organizations or in individuals, in every facet of its life and in society at large. The United Methodist Church shall work collaboratively with others to address concerns that threaten the cause of racial justice at all times and in all places.