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January 20 - February 5, 2021
The thing about a good question is that it not only makes you look within; it also makes you look around.
If we don’t grapple with those issues, then we face the real possibility of losing our credibility because the church and Christians will no longer be important in a culture that is asking different and more pressing questions of those who follow Jesus.
have come to realize that over the years, I was used by white-dominant culture, probably not maliciously or intentionally, but unconsciously, to make the conversation about racial reconciliation more palatable, understandable, and acceptable to them.
And there are circumstances that arrange and present themselves in the lives of individuals to create unique leadership opportunities. I consider this to be the appointed time. The appointed time can perhaps best be understood as a time when the circumstances of life are so mammoth as to be beyond the control of the individual yet are sufficiently intimate to require or even demand a response from the individual, one that only he or she can provide.
But I would argue that, as Christians, whether we feel ready or qualified, we are all called to be activists.
I would encourage you by saying that the task before you, however monumental it may seem in your eyes, is not too big for God. I would go even further and assert that you have been uniquely prepared to take on this new leadership responsibility, whatever it is. I would tell you that your history, your education (formal or informal), and your experience are all coming together in this moment to enable you to accomplish what is being asked of you. You were made for this moment. You are on this earth, in this moment, in your community, to be a voice, a beacon, a light for such a time as this.
people who believe themselves to be white . . . have created a social system that assumes everything belongs to them and they have a right to do anything. This has led to catastrophic consequences for people all over the world because as James Baldwin said, ‘[They] have brought humanity to the edge of oblivion: because they think they are white.’”2
Whiteness is a human construction, created for and by white people. Being white is not a sin in and of itself. But “whiteness”—the elevation and valuation of those who are white above all other racial groups, and the systems and structures that support this elevation—is evil.
we have spent too much time centering our attention on winning the hearts and minds of white people rather than focusing on our own communities.
the reconciliation movement was rooted in the precept that as long as we had multicultural and multiethnic churches, we had achieved the goal of reconciliation. She challenged the long-held belief that reconciliation in the church simply means celebrating everyone’s culture.
By asking “What called you forth?” they are really interested in knowing, Why did God cause you to be born at this time in history? Do you know your purpose for being on the planet? What is happening in the world today that called you forth?
Is there anything happening in the world around you that may be calling you forth? What type of leadership is needed in the social and political climate in which you find yourself? These are the kinds of questions we must ask ourselves as we seek to accurately discern the times in which we live. As we move forward on the journey to becoming socially active Christians, may we be like the leaders referenced in 1 Chronicles 12:32: “The tribe of Issachar supplied 200 leaders, along with all of their relatives under their command. They kept up-to-date in their understanding of the times and knew
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AS AN African American woman, I’m acutely aware that many of us bear the weight of reconciliation in our bodies. This is not some social experiment for us. The call to reconciliation takes a toll on us.
This is one reason why women of color are dying earlier than our white counterparts are. Usually the story is one of institutional racism, of bearing the stress burdens of resistance—the outcome of our generosity. Yes, we are dying of generosity, of the generous gift of offering ourselves—our bodies, our emotions, our spirits—to people who don’t really want it or deserve it and who are often hostile to it.
this doesn’t lessen the fact that assimilation is painful. It is a truly terrible thing to have to erase essential elements of who you are in order to fit in and survive in a new culture.
He explained that double consciousness forces black people not only to view themselves from their own unique perspective but also to view themselves as they might be perceived by the outside white world.
However, we will not be able to be God’s agents of reconciliation if we stay secluded in worlds that keep us from the reality of what is happening around us.
“Prejudice [is] an emotional commitment to ignorance.”
there is a real danger for those of us who stand as reconcilers in the palaces of white evangelical spaces.
If we’re not intentional, we can all be in danger of becoming palace people. It’s easy to isolate and insulate ourselves. We do it without even trying. We listen to just one news source. We read the same paper every day. We hang out with the same people. We stay busy all day, every day.
We eat food that is familiar and walk on streets that others have deemed safe. We surround ourselves with people and things and comforts that further enforce who we already are and how we already think. It’s truly the easiest way to live. But is it the best way?
In order to counteract this cycle of isolation, insulation, and ignorance, we need to examine three things: our position, our privilege, and our power.
This is what lament looks like. It’s sackcloth and ashes. It’s weeping and wailing and crying out for justice. By sending back the clothes, he is making a prophetic and political statement. He is saying, I will not let you silence me. I will not let you placate me. I will not go away quietly. I refuse to be pacified. I will not allow you to shut me up or force me to compose myself because I make you feel uncomfortable. No!
lament challenges our proclivity for speed, distance, and innocence, which is so prevalent in the world today.
Lament is a voice that refuses to be consoled and calls us into a journey that will change and transform us at deeply fundamental levels. It is a protest against the brokenness of the world. It causes us to come face-to-face with hurting people and places that desperately need the healing presence of God. Lament forces us to come close enough to see the horror of what is really going on around us. It also allows us to tell the truth and to name the crisis for what it really is.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
This combination of prejudice plus power makes a person or group truly dangerous on a large, community-sized scale. It is this kind of evil that we must resist.
But Stevenson argues that the first step in fighting injustice is to get proximate to injustice. This means showing up and seeing things with our own eyes. It means staying proximate to people experiencing real pain in the communities around us.
“When we get close, we hear things that can’t be heard from afar. We see things that can’t be seen. And sometimes that makes the difference between acting justly and unjustly. . . . When you get close to injustice, you will get broken, too. But I’m here as a living witness that being broken is what makes you human.”8
“The poor and oppressed often live with the affliction of despair (a lack of hope), while the rich often live with the affliction of self-indulgence (a lack of faith). The poor can learn a lot from the rich about hope; the rich can learn a lot from the poor about faith. Both, of course, can teach each other a lot about love.”
In her novel Small Great Things, Jodi Picoult—a white woman—tackles the notion of allyship in her author’s notes, writing, Most of us think the word “racism” is synonymous with the word “prejudice.” But racism is more than just discrimination based on skin color. It’s also about who has institutional power. Just as racism creates disadvantages for people of color that make success harder to achieve, it also gives advantages to white people that make success easier to achieve. It’s hard to see those advantages, much less own up to them. And that, I realized, was why I had to write this book.
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Silence is not an option! Silence has the potential to do unbelievable damage. Silence can be violent. Silence isn’t passive. Silence is active, and it carries with it the power, in the case of Esther and so many others, to fuel atrocity and unthinkable hatred.
So, Esther, don’t go fight for them. Go fight with them, knowing that your destiny is tied to their destiny. Your well-being is tied to their well-being. Your flourishing is tied to their ability to flourish.
But every Christian is called to step out for the least of these, as though we were stepping out and speaking out for Jesus himself. We all have power and we all have influence. Issues of injustice are all around us, and we cannot keep silent in the face of them.
Well, if it is dangerous to teach my students to love their neighbors, to think and rethink constructively and ethically about who their neighbors are, and how they have been taught to see themselves as disconnected and neoliberal subjects, then, yes, I am dangerous, and what I teach is dangerous.4
The battle is to keep these together. In the church tradition I know best, we would prefer to rush past the matter of God’s holiness to the question of human justice. In other contexts, the contrary danger may be evident. Without the holiness of God, the justice of neighbor becomes a crusade. So we must hold these together.1
When we pray, we affirm that justice and shalom begin with God and not with us. Prayer helps us reaffirm that the justice we seek starts with God’s heart for justice and not our own. We might want to fix things faster and quicker, but prayer reminds us that we must trust God for everything and in all things as we move forward.
Ultimately, the issues we are fighting against are spiritual—they are evil—and we cannot fight evil in our own strength. We need prayer.
Mordecai makes it clear to Esther and to us that God’s kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven—with or without our help. The only question is whether we will have the privilege of being a part of what God is doing.
Courage, I believe, is fear that has said its prayers and moves forward anyway!
We are called to work with those who seek liberty and justice for all. God’s kingdom is coming on earth, and we’ve been invited to get involved.
Give us grace, O God, to dare to do the deed which we well know cries to be done. Let us not hesitate because of ease, or the words of men’s mouths, or our own lives. Mighty causes are calling us—the freeing of women, the training of children, the putting down of hate and murder and poverty—all these and more. But they call with voices that mean work and sacrifice and death. Mercifully grant us, O God, the spirit of Esther, that we say: I will go unto the King and if I perish, I perish.4
In the modern era, tikkun olam has come to connote social action, community service, and social justice. It suggests that Jews bear responsibility not only for their own moral, spiritual, and material welfare but also for the welfare of society. It
Eating together is a practice that humanizes people by acknowledging and affirming that we all hunger for the same things.
Ubuntu conveys that “I cannot fully become who God created me to be unless you become who God created and intended you to be.” In other words, God created us to need each other to survive. We are meant to be nurtured in communities characterized by mutually affirming, interdependent relationships.
is impossible to exploit or brutalize another human being without deadening something within one’s self. Dr.
Reconciliation must always hold out hope for transformation to occur and provide the opportunity for people to repent. This is what is uniquely different about how we engage the work for justice and reconciliation from a Christian perspective.
As followers of Christ, we believe that every person reflects the image of God and that our God is able to bring life out of death. This means that in our work for justice, there must always be a pathway to transformation for everyone.
As reconcilers, we cannot separate our concern for people from the policies that affect their lives, like immigration reform. Policies are rules or principles that guide decisions that affect people.
I will not hide behind the mask of niceness or pretend not to be angry in an effort to make White people feel more comfortable with my ministry of reconciliation.
