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June 6 - June 23, 2020
If we are going to move forward in this country, if we’re going to make things right, it’s time to go beyond simply raising awareness.
After all, reparations aren’t a modern construct. Repairing what’s broken is a distinctly biblical concept, which is why as people of faith we should be leading the way into redemption, restoration, and reconciliation.
But why should this generation make reparations for things that happened decades or even centuries ago?
So reparations and repentance are inextricably intertwined, and those who’ve inherited the power and benefits of past wrongs should work to make it right for those who’ve inherited the burdens and oppression of the past.
specific instructions regarding making amends are woven throughout the Mosaic civil laws,
Take Numbers 5:7, for example,
Perhaps the best-known New Testament example of reparation is found in the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector.
Have I made things right?
might also take the form of
It might look like
It might look like
Maybe it looks like
Or it might look like
Reparation is not about punishing anyone.
Reparation is about repaying or returning those things so as to restore equity.
Why would the United States government round up somewhere in the neighborhood of only 5,300 descendants of European enemy nations11 while interning more than twenty times that many Japanese Americans?12 Could there be any explanation other than white supremacy?
“It’s the legacy we’re handing down to them and to the nation to say that, ‘You can make this mistake, but you also have to correct it—and by correcting it, hopefully not repeat it again.’
The school served as the model for roughly 150 more schools, each of which forbade Native American children from using their own languages and names or practicing their own religion. They were given English names, clothes, and haircuts and were instructed to abandon their way of life, which was derided as inferior to the ways of the White people.
I suggest that they take a hard look at their own lives, to see the areas where they’ve been given systemic advantage, such as better schools, better access to health care, and better treatment by the police and other authorities.
inviting Black leadership into their churches.
Righting the wrong isn’t always as complicated as we want to make it.
She understood there were larger issues, that the situation in Ferguson was about more than one event. It was the spark that set off the powder keg of accumulated resentment due to racial biases and oppression.
Elizabeth’s commitment releases people of color from doing all the explaining, all the deconstructing work that
Elizabeth understands that making wrongs right requires sacrifice.
The answer is different for each individual,
You don’t have to do it all, of course. But you can identify racial wrongs in the world around you and take one step toward making them right. That’s the work of reparation. That’s the work of the gospel.
Despite all my work in the field of racial reconciliation, my dad knew something I hadn’t yet learned. He knew that restorative reconciliation is always possible.
That’s when it hit me: their motivation for restorative reconciliation, for making peace and working together, was their love for me.
The aim of reconciliation, whether marital or racial, is the restoration of relationship.
But it’s also worth noting that Thomas’s friends played a role in that restoration. They didn’t kick Thomas out of the group because of his doubt.
Jesus didn’t just come to restore individual people; he came to break down systems of oppression, to provide a way for his kingdom to appear on earth as it is in heaven. He came so that we, his followers, could partner with him in restoring integrity and justice to broken systems, broken governments, and ultimately, broken relationships.
just because we don’t know how to right the wrongs doesn’t mean we give up.
His education, his network, and the inherent value of his degree had all been made possible by the sale of those 272 slaves.
Cellini’s individual effort to bring some kind of restorative reconciliation? That’s the point. He’s done it by building a bridge between the oppressed and the oppressors.
We don’t necessarily need to have the answer when we’re engaged in the process of bridge building. We don’t always need to know how every wrong will be righted and every system fixed. In fact, we’ll often find that the process goes more smoothly when we confess we don’t have the answers but are willing to seek them together.
When we realize we’ve settled for comfort instead of following conviction, we have to be willing to shake things up, even if stepping into our calling leads us into deep pain and discomfort.
And this brings us to the final biblical mandate for bridge builders: to reproduce.
don’t forget to invite others into the work.
After all, if something has been transformational for you, why wouldn’t you want to share your experiences, perspectives, and life with others?
reconciliation work is difficult. It’s challenging. It’s painful. That is why so few sign up for it, why so many people of color remain silent, and why our White friends hold back instead of coming alongside us. It’s messy. It requires vulnerability, humility, and courage.
If this book serves to highlight just one truth, I hope it’s that real beauty can come from the ashes of our country’s history with racism.
In the kingdom of God, all are children. In the kingdom of God, all are invited to the table. In the kingdom of God, all are invited to receive healing. And it’s these glimpses of kingdom around the table—the moments of kingdom healing, kingdom wholeness, kingdom multiplication—that make all the pain and sacrifice worth it.
I needed people in my life to help me filter out the fear and walk through it.
I began to realize that my life breathed privilege and comfort like oxygen, while I had remained utterly unaware of the contrasting reality my friends faced daily.
