Does anybody really care about
Human Relations Day?
By Annette Bender
One of the six “Special Sundays” of the United Methodist Church, Human Relations Day is always observed on the Sunday before Martin Luther King Day. This year, Human Relations Day falls on Sunday, Jan. 19. Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday, falls on Monday, Jan. 20.
The other Special Sundays, which are always accompanied by special offerings, include One Great Hour of Sharing in March and World Communion Day in October.
But does anybody really care about Human Relations Day?
At many churches, Human Relations Day is secondary to celebrations of Martin Luther King Day. For other churches, Human Relations Day is not even on the radar screen.
For the four congregations comprising Hands Across the River Parish (HARP), Martin Luther King Day will be commemorated with a special theater and musical presentation in downtown Chattanooga. St. Luke, Wiley Memorial, Forrest Avenue and St. Mark United Methodist Churches will sponsor “Voices of Freedom” on Monday, Jan. 20. The Chattanooga State Jazz Ensemble and four actors will bring to life historical figures including Sojourner Truth and Viola Liuzzzo.
Held again this year at Wiley Memorial UMC, the event attracted media attention and at least 40 spectators in its 2002 debut, according to the Rev. Sherry Boles, pastor at St. Luke.
“We didn’t realize that it was going to be such a big deal,” Boles said. “But last year it was the only thing happening in downtown Chattanooga.”
On Human Relations Day, Jan. 19, pastors of the four HARP churches will exchange pulpits. Two of the four pastors are African-American – the Rev. Angela Hardy and the Rev. Alberta Clark – “which will mean that some pulpits will have the opportunity to hear from a pastor from a different ethnic background,” Boles said.
At John Wesley UMC in Abingdon District, the congregation will not observe Human Relations Day, but will hold a Martin Luther King community breakfast on Feb. 15. Now in its 14th year, the breakfast has attracted prominent speakers, according to breakfast co-organizer Alice Pace. This year’s speaker is the Rev. Walter McKelvey, president and dean of Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta.
Some pastors said they try to promote Special Sundays to their congregations, but Human Relations Day is not the most prominent of the six.
“I tend to prioritize them based on what is going on in the local church,” said the Rev. Jeff Wright, pastor at Allen Memorial UMC in Cleveland District. “The two our people seem to respond to the best are One Great Hour of Sharing and World Communion Sunday. Those two are the most familiar,” he said.
Allen Memorial does not plan to observe Human Relations Day on Jan. 19, according to Wright. “Our youth and many young adults will be in Gatlinburg [for Resurrection] and I will be out of town as well.”
In Big Stone Gap District, Gate City UMC also observes World Communion Day. “We choose this one not because the others are less important but because it is by tradition in this local congregation to observe this special day,” said the Rev. Dale Wyrick. “We do not participate in the other special days but have in the past supported these other valid ministries.”
At First Cleveland UMC in Cleveland District, the congregation will observe Martin Luther King Day during Sunday worship, and “I will make it a part of my sermon,” said the Rev. Rusty Taylor.
However, part of the problem with Special Sundays, Taylor notes, is “you could almost make every Sunday a special observance, when you consider all the other opportunities.” He cited offerings for conference programs, districts, camps, Asbury Centers, Holston Home for Children and other ministries that attempt to gain attention and funding through designated offerings.
Using money as an indication of church members’ commitment to Special Sundays, Human Relations Day is on the bottom rung along with Native American Ministries Day in May and Peace With Justice Day in June.
In 2002, the conference financial office collected a whopping $4,928 from Holston’s 931 local churches to support Human Relations Day. For Peace With Justice, church members gave $3,589; for Native American Ministries, $4,301. Compare that to $46,522 collected for One Great Hour of Sharing and $10,490 for World Communion Day.
“Human Relations Day is not a widely used offering,” said the Rev. Beverly Robinette, chair of Holston’s Outreach Advocacy Team. Congregations “pick and choose” the Special Sundays that they commemorate, and Human Relations Day “is not one of them.”
However, “in light of what’s happening in the world,” Holston members should probably “spend more time in conversations about human relations,” as well as supporting it through offerings, she said.
“We worship a relational God,” Robinette said. “We need to be in relationships with people who are different from us, rather than using differences as a boundary to separate us.”
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