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As part of this year’s "Come to the Table: Let’s Talk series," we continue the invitation to gather, not only around physical tables where real conversations happen, but also at the tables of our hearts, where memory, truth, faith, and grace meet. In that spirit, this Black History Month reflection calls us back to these two tables, inviting us to remember faithfully, to listen deeply, and to live responsibly in the present.

Black History Month is not simply a celebration of where we’ve been, but a call to live wisely in light of what’s been given to us. We remember names and moments, yes, but more importantly, we remember the faith, courage, and steady work that kept hope alive when everything around seemed to deny it. Their legacy reminds us that strength is not only found in survival but in transformation, turning adversity into testimony and endurance into progress. I stand in this story as a Black man, a believer, and a witness to both the weight of our history and the quiet strength that still holds us today.

Our story as a people holds both pain and promise. We’ve known the weight of injustice, yet we have learned the deeper power of persistence. The generations before us didn’t just endure hardship; they built community while enduring it. They taught us that freedom isn’t given, it’s protected, cultivated, and handed down with purpose. That calling still rests on us today: to preserve the dignity of our story and to nurture the future with faith and integrity.

Faith was, and remains, the backbone of that endurance. The songs sung in fields, the prayers whispered in secret, the sermons preached in one-room churches, they all pointed to a hope stronger than fear. Yet that same faith must now live beyond our memories. It belongs in how we raise our children, how we work with one another, how we choose empathy over ego, and how we carry ourselves when the world tempts us to quit. Through it all, we trust that the same God who walked with our ancestors walks with us now, still writing hope into a story the world once tried to erase.

But history also asks us to act. Reflection means little without participation. To honor our ancestors, we must invest where we stand, mentoring the next generation, strengthening families, and choosing justice that heals rather than divides. Maybe for you, honoring this legacy starts with one simple step this month: having an honest conversation at your table, listening to a story you’ve never really heard before, and letting it shape how you see and love your neighbor.

So as we celebrate this month, let’s live as people who remember forward. Black History Month may be a page on the calendar, but the lives, lessons, and faith it highlights are for every season. Our calling is not just to remember in February, but to live awake all year long. We walk in the footsteps of those who believed their story had sacred worth, and now we hold that same trust in our own hands. Their courage brought us here; our faith and love will carry us further. That is how we honor them, and that is how we continue the strength that brought us here.