Social Action at Our Redeemer
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
With this call, our community seeks to be Christ’s heart and hands in the world in partnership with people, organizations, and other religious communities. Our Social Action Committee and Racial Action Equity Group lead our community in this work.
Social Action Committee
Our experience has been that spiritual growth and outreach activities feed each other and that outreach builds our parish community. We have chosen to support organizations that our members are passionate about and to which they give their time and talent. Central themes of our outreach include the well-being of children, hunger, and homelessness.
Key Principles that guide our work:
We seek to be with others who are different from ourselves in mutual relationship. We seek to be in relationship with, and not just in service to, others.
As such, we seek to apply our anti-racism awareness to our relationships with our partners and intentionally engage with them to ensure we are meeting their needs, and not imposing our own.
Since we are not a large organization, we seek to partner with other organizations over many years to create sustainability, commitment, and relationship.
We focus our work on hunger and homelessness and the education and well being of children.
Our Partners
Bristol Lodge Soup Kitchen, Waltham, MA
Lex Eat Together, Lexington, MA
Lexington Food Pantry, Lexington, MA
The Grow Clinic, Boston, MA
Esperanza Academy, Lawrence, MA
Essex County Habitat for Humanity, Danvers, MA
Lexington Refugee Assistance Program (LexRAP), Lexington, MA
Racial Equity Action Group (REAG)
The Racial Equity Action Group is a separate but closely aligned initiative within Redeemer’s Social Action work. The group’s focus is to work to improve racial equity both within Our Redeemer and within the greater Lexington community. The group has coordinated and partnered with similar groups in the area to work together on shared goals. The work has included:
Working with the Association of Black Citizen of Lexington (ABCL) to review the Lexington Police manual
Leading the Dismantling Racism in Our Town course to encourage participants to be a change agent in their community
Organizing internal workshops for the Our Redeemer community focusing on racial equity topics