DON’T BE PARALYZED BY GUILT
Third, Redemptive Theology also assumes the holiness of God. God is a God of justice who cannot simply overlook the sins of humanity as if they were unimportant in God’s larger plan. God has created a moral universe in which humanity must be held accountable for its behavior. However, God is also accountable for the creatures that God has created and cannot allow them to be destroyed by the sinful possibilities of their nature. Therefore, racism within God’s church cannot be ignored, but it also needs to be acknowledged in a manner that does not simply paralyze the human participants with guilt. In most White congregations, racism is a reality that is not talked about or even acknowledged. In those who do take it seriously, there is often a tendency to become paralyzed with an overwhelming sense of guilt that results in what is often referred to as “white bashing.” Neither response is especially helpful in moving towards a healthier future.
WE DON’T EDUCATE OURSELVES TO SALVATION
Fourth, Redemptive Theology acknowledges the inability of humanity to save itself. While we may educate ourselves to the dimensions of sin, such as racism, and may draw upon the techniques of behavioral psychology to alter behavior and attitudes, Christian hope does not depend upon human progress for salvation with respect to this or any sin. One does not have to read much about the history of racism within our society to recognize the insidious ability that racism has to infuse every aspect of our personal and corporate lives and to repeatedly morph into new forms in defiance of our attempts to eradicate it. One of those forms is the continual effort of the dominant culture to assert that we are progressively triumphing over the effects of racism and that we need not make any significant sacrifices in our lives in order to achieve this progress towards a society free of racism.
TRUST THAT GOD TRANSFORMS
Fifth, Redemptive Theology places its trust in the creative power of God who not only is not defeated by evil but also is able to take even the worst of evils and transform it into a redemptive possibility. With respect to racism, this means that while it is an evil scourge on our churches, in the hands of God it can be transformed into a redemptive possibility.
Sixth, Redemptive Theology is rooted in an affirmation of God’s intention for creation. Whether it be in creation itself or in the separation of the androgynous creature into sexually specific male and female, life is the result of division that leaves a yearning for reconciliation. God also yearns for that reconciliation. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Godself…” Such reconciliation is not the homogenization of our differences but a celebration of the richness of our differences that enrich the whole. For Christians, this is most clearly depicted in the economy of the Trinity. God, Christ, and the Spirit live in relationship to each other in perfect harmony and yet with appreciation of the distinctiveness of each. The variety within our creation, including races, was part of God’s intention in preparation for the full reconciliation with the divine. Our inability to relate to each other with appreciation and respect for our differences demonstrates our distance from God who is utterly different from any of us. It is only as we learn to live in the midst of the diversity of creation with rejoicing in the otherness of those who are different from us that we can grow closer to God. Full reconciliation in a world that can celebrate the beauty of our diversity prepares us to gaze upon the beauty of God.
SAVED TO COMMUNITY
In God’s economy, we are saved to community. We not only need to confess, but we need someone to listen to our confession. Picture the power of members of a White congregation taking the sin of racism so seriously that they are willing to sit before a Black congregation and speak of their own complicity in the sin of racism as well as listen intensely to the pain that their African-American neighbors experience in their lives. “True forgiveness deals with the past, all of the past, to make the future possible.”
Such confession is not a single act but a process. We continue to need the dialogue made available through community. While individual congregations may be of predominantly one race, the Body of Christ is diverse. Thus, God’s gift of the church to humanity is to provide humanity with that community of faith that transcends human divisions and provides it a context for such a dialogue.
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. The Scriptures continually report that God is full of surprises from a human perspective. 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.
RECOGNIZE THE CHURCH’S SCANDAL
For Christians to respond to the reality of racism in our lives and in our congregations, we must first move beyond denial. In classic Christian terminology, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” But such confession is done in hope. “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” A congregation that desires to overcome the sin of racism that bogs down and distorts their experience of the faith must begin with confession. Such a confession can be seen as a positive step. It is a significant step towards the healing of a major division among humanity.
GET OUT OF PRISON
Of course, just because you confess, forgiveness by the victimized humans is not inevitable. Desmond Tutu relates a story of the cost to the victim that will not forgive. “A recent issue of the journal Spirituality and Health had on its front cover a picture of three U.S. ex-servicemen standing in front of the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C. One asks, ‘Have you forgiven those who held you prisoner of war?’ ‘I will never forgive them,’ replies the other. His mate says: ‘Then it seems they still have you in prison, don’t they?’”
LISTENING TO THE STORY
Tutu continues, “In forgiving, people are not being asked to forget. On the contrary, it is important to remember, so that we should not let such atrocities happen again. Forgiveness does not mean condoning what has been done. It means taking what happened seriously and not minimizing it; drawing out the sting in the memory that threatens to poison our entire existence.” One of the powerful discoveries in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa was the power of truth-telling. There was healing in the victims finally having someone listen to their story of suffering and honoring their pain. Desmond Tutu notes, “It may be, for instance, that race relations in the United States will not improve significantly until Native Americans and African Americans get the opportunity to tell their stories and reveal the pain that sits in the pit of their stomachs as a baneful legacy of dispossession and slavery.”
RECOVERING RACISTS
For a White congregation to move to the step of confessing that they are racist is neither an easy step nor does it, in itself, solve the problem of racism. To draw upon the truth discovered in Alcoholics Anonymous, White people and White congregations are always “recovering racists.” That is as much a given of our context as being an alcoholic is a given of their constitution. We did not create the history that shaped us, but we cannot escape it either. A critical step in our healing, however, is acknowledgment of the problem.
SAVED TO COMMUNITY
In God’s economy, we are saved to community. We not only need to confess, but we need someone to listen to our confession. Picture the power of members of a White congregation taking the sin of racism so seriously that they are willing to sit before a Black congregation and speak of their own complicity in the sin of racism as well as listen intensely to the pain that their African-American neighbors experience in their lives. “True forgiveness deals with the past, all of the past, to make the future possible.”
Such confession is not a single act but a process. We continue to need the dialogue made available through community. While individual congregations may be of predominantly one race, the Body of Christ is diverse. Thus, God’s gift of the church to humanity is to provide humanity with that community of faith that transcends human divisions and provides it a context for such a dialogue.
Consider what it means to worship as a community and not just a gathering of individuals.