REPARATIONS
One aspect of God’s reconciling work may involve the issue of reparation. Desmond Tutu, in speaking about the struggle to overcome racism in South Africa, speaks of the challenge of reparations. To “put the past behind us” and act as if an act of confession clears the tables of justice and allows us to “get on with life” is to trivialize the pain of the past. Part of the (USA) painful past is the fact that our constitution clearly states that our ancestors were fully aware of the economic value of slave labor in building a prosperous country. Historically, both Native Americans and African Americans paid a heavy price for the economic prosperity of this country. There is no way that one could calculate the value to African Americans in the lives and wealth that racism has cost their ancestors. It would not be feasible to actually restore to a current generation that which has been taken from their ancestors. However, if we fully explored the various dimensions of that cost together, could God use our confession of sins redemptively in raising our awareness as to how to respond to the challenge posed by the new wave of immigration in our country?
PSYCHIC COST OF SLAVERY
There is also no clear way to calculate the psychic cost passed down through generations of African Americans with respect to the heritage of slavery that was imposed on them. The issue of the disproportionate incarceration of African-American males in our society might well be the result of a combination of the current prejudice of courts, police, and others and the historic psychic cost in which victims begin to accept the judgment of the dominant society. If Black and White congregations were willing to explore that reality together, perhaps another form of reparation might be the focus of energy on the redemption of those who are in prison in our society. It would be a way that the Body of Christ could embody Jesus’ statement about his own ministry, “He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
GOD’S HISTORY OF SURPRISES
To approach the problem of racism from the perspective of a redemptive God is to both acknowledge our sins and be open to God’s saving activity. Redemptive Theology anticipates the exciting possibility that God might use the very troubling experience we have had with racism as an opportunity to advance the reconciling possibilities in our world. In taking this path, we are learning to live with the diversity of God’s creation in a way that enhances all of its parts. Our model is the Trinity. Each part is distinctive, all are equal, and each contributes to the good of the whole. As we evolve in our capacity to live in the rich diversity of the world, we prepare ourselves to experience communion with the God who created all of us and calls us home.