Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope

by Jasmine L. Holmes

Learning history has given me a long view of the world. It has taught me that heroes are not without complexity, that bias impacts how we paint victors, and that we all tend to gravitate toward the stories we feel revolve around us. As a minority in this country, you’ll find a lot of stories that don’t include you.

My son, here is an important detail that you must never forget: our primary goal in this life is not to bring about racial reconciliation in the church. In fact, our primary goal isn’t even to bring about justice here on earth. The ultimate justice has been dealt to Christ on the cross, accomplishing our reconciling in him.

Our ministry of reconciliation hinges on the truth Paul proclaims in this passage: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18-19).