Juneteenth

Renée Antrosio – June 18, 2024 1 Comment

Is $1000 a lot, or a little, for a kid’s education savings account? Is $20,000 a lot, or a little, for a small, independent church? 

The Reparations Pilot Project has created twenty education investment accounts (529s) for African-American children of our NCF family with a $1000 initial deposit, and hope to add $500 each year thereafter. I get the privilege of meeting with the mothers, grandmothers, and aunties to hear the stories, see the photos, and personally connect with them. 

“I can’t tell you how much I support this project 100%! Thanks again for all you’re doing.”

“A step in the right direction. We are all in. Thanks!”

“Anything that would help my grandkids, of course I’d do.”

“Who knows what this will mean in 3 generations? My family is 3 generations from slavery, and look how far we’ve come!“

“Thank you so much for being willing to work with us!”

“$1000? I didn’t realize that. Great!”

“Thank you so much for thinking about us and having us in your heart. It really means a lot.”

College is so expensive and debt can be crushing; these savings accounts plant seeds of hope and investment to grow for the future. They are a small, hopeful step that will benefit real people whom we know and love. 

I drove to Clarksdale, Mississippi after church to spend Monday morning with our Spring Initiative family. The scope of their work is almost too much for me to fathom. Cohorts of 16 kids, starting at 4th & 5th grade with Mini Spring, and the promise to work with them all the way through college to their careers. Amazing stories of lives transformed. Incredible investments of time, energy, prayer, and money to fund intensive interventions.

How much does it cost to renovate a donated Safeway grocery store and a downtown brick building into educational facilities for wrap-around student support? “We will get that 10 million,” Board Director Mary says, “Somehow.” I get the privilege of meeting with Spring staff, bringing them cards, and encouraging them with prayer and presence. 

Looking up, Jesus saw rich people throwing their gifts into the collection box for the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow throw in two small copper coins worth a penny. Luke 21:1-2 (CEB)

There are problems with the system. Some have excess, out of which we can give. Some don’t have enough to live on, but still have to pay to participate. Jesus critiqued systems, while truly seeing each individual counting the cost. 

Sometimes, kingdom work seems like the long game. Justice, mercy, and the poor inheriting the earth. Jesus preached the kingdom among us, exposed systemic injustices, and healed/fed/revived those right in front of him. Jesus lived and ministered and worked and taught in the Now and Not Yet, meeting immediate needs while planting seeds for the future. We are called to follow in his footsteps. 

It’s hard to take the first step
When I don’t know the way
Each turn is so uncertain
I learn to walk by faith 
(Lead Me, Lord)

In my uncertainty, my nervousness about proclaiming on Juneteenth that we have begun, I was unexpectedly encouraged by a message from some five hundred years back.

It is true that I might stumble for trying to do too much too soon, but it is also certain that I will never succeed if I hope for too little, or out of fear of failing, start not at all. Do not hope for too little. (Let Nothing Disturb You, 30 Days with Teresa of Avila, p. 72)

And so we press on in hope, faith, and love. For the greatest of these, is love. -Renée Antrosio, NCF Pastor

Gifts to the Pilot Project 529s can be addressed to New Covenant Fellowship, 124 W. White St, Champaign, Il 61820 or PayPal with Reparations in the memo line. For donations to Spring Initiative, click here.