Why Do We Think This is Necessary?
ASSUMPTIONS:
God is the creator of all people and demonstrates a love for diversity that releases the full beauty of the rainbow of humanity.
Fear has historically resulted in structures that enable those with power to dominate those who are different and then absorbed prejudices that justify the advantages that they have established.
In the US this resulted in slavery, Jim Crow laws, systemic and personal prejudices, and a rigid defensiveness in addressing racism.
Most Christians and Jews accept basic tenants of faith that challenge racism but have either ignored the implications of these anti-racism tenants or twisted them into justifying the racist structures of their society.
Probably a majority of spiritual leaders accept that :
racism is contradicted by their faith,
Are ashamed of certain racist chapters in their faith community history,
Don’t have a clear vision of ways to avoid major conflict within their membership in confronting racism among their membership and religious institutions,
Would be energized if they were confident there was a creative way to guide their people to address racism in a way that also led to membership spiritual growth.
I propose making use of the increased IT comfort brought on by the current pandemic restrictions to engage their membership in a bottom-up, congregation wide, conversation.
This conversation would make use of surveys questionnaires
to lead the membership in first reaffirming their basic beliefs and then
exploring their implications for anti-racist witness.
Based on their increased attention to basic beliefs that they affirm, the congregation would:
Share their faith affirmations with other similar congregations:
First in basic graph forms
Then in assemblies that made use of the discipline of Active Listening.
Explore :
The prejudicial structures of their local and national society
Identify gifts and talents among membership that can address them
Begin as a team of religious institutions to heal the racism in our society.
Do you ever wonder what could happen if churches of different races but the same Gospel not only believed but demonstrated that races working together and supporting each other could release the full beauty of God’s creation?
I know that there is plenty of stress in your ministry. I also know that like the Israelites who walked through the wilderness, there is no easy solution that will magically relieve you of that stress. Yet, consider how having a positive vision of hope to offer your congregation could affect your own spirits as well as energize your church and offer a beacon of hope for those in the larger society.
Since the shooting of George Floyd and other recent police shootings, the nation’s cognitive eye again has been opened to one of America’s greatest sins–racism. We have not been able to “love our brothers and sisters as ourselves.” Yet at our deepest level, we know that this is the witness to which we are called as humanity.
As I depict in the Power Point presentation, Step by Step Guide to Anti-Racism Ministry
we have some significant advantages that can enable us to make a healing impact on our world.
- We already have formed communities that are connected to other Christian communities that contain every ethnic identity in the world.
- We have a shared faith in God who invites us to be part of that healing force that God intends.
- Our shared Scriptures tell our story of imperfect people like us who have learned the power of forgiveness to heal mistakes and give visions of a more perfect world. We draw our inspiration from a God who took a “no people” and made them into “God’s people,” leading them across a hostile wilderness to a Promised Land. For Christians, this same God demonstrated in the person of Jesus, who was born in an insignificant village in a third-rate colony of the Roman Empire, how God can start small and will not be defeated even when the world does its worst.
- We can adapt the Truth and Reconciliation process from South Africa to enable the whole church to hear Black Christians tell the stories of the impact of racism, both personal and institutional on their lives.
- Confession and forgiveness are part of our continued ritual. We rehearse the stories of how confession of imperfection can liberate to healing possibilities in both the Hebrew Scriptures (e.g., David) and the New Testament (e.g, the disciples). White members are invited to discover the healing power of confession with the possibility of forgiveness that can lead to a renewed commitment to being a healing force in society.
- Together we can begin to rewrite the story of our church and society inspired by a vision of hope that can lead us across our own wilderness of racism towards a Promised land of healing and hope.
Be an Ambassador of Reconciliation: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
STEPS TO TAKE IN FUTURE BLOGS–HAVE QUESTIONS OR SUGGESTIONS, CONTACT ME AT SPMCCUTCHAN@OUTLOOK.COM