When we gather across the intersections of faith, art, and communal life on September 26, 2026, we are called to do something far deeper than host a festival. Our coming together through Rhythms & Roots (I had the distinct privilege to preview Noé Jacinto’s work at an exhibition at the Mexican Consulate) in shared labor with La Casa de Todos and Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, is a deliberate, visible act of sacred sanctuary.

It is never enough for our collective merely to consume culture as spectacle or applaud artistry from a comfortable distance. When we encounter visual and musical languages rooted in ancestral endurance—such as the vibrant geometries and living memories carried by artists like Noé Jacinto—we are confronted by the lived breath of our neighbors. Reflecting on this profound connection to his homeland, Jacinto has noted that his collections are deeply meaningful because they speak directly about “Mexico, about Oaxaca my state and also about my town.” Our prophetic responsibility is not merely to celebrate culture, but to consecrate the peoples themselves as holy, endowed with inviolable human dignity, and worthy of radical divine protection.

To be truly Metropolitan, we must more radically explore the Liberation of all those around us and with us, or what we achieve is shallow and narrow in its impact. A faith community should not claim universal love, if it remains insulated from the economic, social, and spiritual struggles of the diaspora sharing its soil. Liberation cannot be an abstract theology; it must be a physical, communal practice where cultural preservation and human advocacy are inseparable.

I urge every corner of our collective not simply to show up on the schedule, but to deeply take in what we are building together. Walk onto the grounds prepared to bear witness, to let the rhythmic cadence of our neighbors’ testimonies reshape our shared imagination, and to honor the sacred presence in every voice. Let us gather not as passive spectators, but as co-conspirators in justice, recognizing that when we consecrate our neighbors’ dignity, we expand the boundaries of the beloved community.

Rev. George Oliver

PastorOliver@ResurrectionMCC.org

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