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Almost There, But Not Quite Yet – Part 1

What it seems like from the outside isn’t always what it’s like on the inside. Most conversational breakdown comes from a person’s own struggle. People from all walks of life struggle. Most don’t want to admit it. But when you are struggling internally, it’s hard to even attempt to understand the other sides perspective.

 

Over the past two months, our conversation on racism has intensified. As a country, we have been dealing with this issue for over 50 years. By now, we should know better. Compassion should cause us to do better, and faith should compel us to be better. “People often define racism as disliking or mistreating others based on race. That definition is wrong,” said Stephen Roberts, Professor at Stanford. “Racism is a system of advantage based on race. It is a hierarchy.”

 

It’s 2021; we’ve made some progress, but we’re not there yet. Reasonable people can see things differently, yet we seem to be devoid of the Holy Spirit’s animating movement in and through us in this hour. America is forced to face a reality and conversation some would prefer to ignore – that racism is not only alive and well, but that it is widespread. Bishop Reverdy Ransom wrote that, “despite being faithful Christians and loyal Americans, Blacks have never gotten much justice out of White Christian America. Not even Jesus has been able to break the color line.”

 

Pastors are in a prime position from which to shape how their congregation view race because there isn’t a Black heaven and a White heaven. A proper church will one day eschew the label of Black or White Church and be a Universal Church. The dark, divisive nature of politics perpetuates the socialization process by which some pastors transmit their beliefs about race to their congregation, through implicit,explicit, intentional, or accidental means. They can minimize the humanization of people by focusing on protest, policing, property, prosperity, polls, and the most insidious passivism.

 

Passivism is overlooking or denying the existence of racism to obscure reality, encouraging others to do the same and allowing racism to fester and persist; exploiting and widening the fissures that might separate us. As Phyllis Katz states, “They tend to adopt a colorblind ideology (i.e., believing that race does not matter and that conversations about race should be avoided), which leaves the observations and myths learned from the broader society unchallenged and reinforces the legitimacy of racial hierarchy.”

 

 

A large part of White America views racism as “your problem, not mine. I don’t have to deal with it if I don’t want to. Stop trying to make it my problem.”
We hear,

 

  • “At this point, the whole race thing is over. We’ve transcended it. We had a Black president, so clearly, we are not a racist country.
  • “All that stuff is ancient history; things have changed.”
  • “It’s time to get past this race thing and move on. We need to talk about more important things like the Gospel.”
For Black Americans, faith and racial justice have long intersected and as long as there is racism, there will be a need for the Black Church.
We hear,
  • “Polarization of national politics in recent years has led Black people who previously worshipped at multiracial churches to decide they belong in predominantly Black churches.”
  • “As long as the country continues to, on the one hand, say: ‘There’s no such thing as race and we’re all one,’ but on the other hand effectively live as if that is not the case, as if it doesn’t matter, then we will always seek out a separate faith-based place to express who we are.”
  • “Some are leaving those churches because they’re disillusioned with the fact that those leaders either avoid altogether or don’t speak adequately to the issues with their congregations.”

 

According to Glenn Singleton, these conversations are difficult because people have very different communication styles and desired outcomes. For many people of color, a productive conversation about race is, in and of itself, healing, whereas for many White people, the conversation is often viewed as threatening, especially when it appears to have no concrete resolution, focused action, or determined result. And especially if it requires personal accountability to a solution.

 

The country has become split into camps that don’t just disagree on politics, policing, polls, policy, and treatment of people; they see each other as immoral and threatening. They dangerously will kill or attack members of another group, focusing less on triumphs of ideas than dominating the opposing party’s abhorrent supporters.

 

Social tribalism playing out in our political affiliations, religion, place of residence, and social status. As humans, we have an evolutionary drive to form cohesive social groups, self-identify, then stick to those groups. Most times, staying in your own group or area, hardens perceptions, preferences, and beliefs through the denial of intergroup contact.

 

This sense of tribalism affects our social health and adds to growing divisiveness among Christians. Eliminating any effort to talk to people outside your bubble; people who don’t look like you or worship like you or watch the same news channel as you as a way to bridge the divide.

 

“Groups have become bonded by faith that their side is morally superior to the other — echoing the ties that sometimes bind the religiously faithful,” according to Federal government communications strategist Clark Merrefield. Something has happened in this country that has fostered a zero-tolerance for meaningful distinctions turning minor disagreements into a cause for demonization.

 

The enemy understands our weak spots and patterns of behavior. He gets that human things will sway humans. Division based on racial differences are easy targets. Even though race is a social construct not a biological difference.

 

So, how do you engage in a conversation that is viewed as a “problem”? A conversation in which engagement is optional at best, some are reluctant to developing an understanding, and in the words of Oprah Winfred, “racism is the day-the-day wearing down of the spirit.”

 

In the next issue, we will go to the balcony to see how we can make progress through better understanding the contextual influences, psychological processes, and developmental mechanisms that can facilitate courageous cultural conversations.

 

In the meantime, stay prayerful, God is up to something. We’re almost there, but not quite yet . . .
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A Surrendered Soul – Part 3

In Part 1, we defined Critical Race Theory (CRT), a secular academic theory, which is used to refute people of color’s experiences within many Evangelical Churches.

 

In Part 2, we went to the balcony to review the tenents of fellowship within a faith community which is the locus for change and transformation in society.

 

Today, in Part 3, we put the eight preached CRT assumptions to the Universalism of the Gospel test.

 

As a reminder, God created and gave humankind the gift of free will — the gift of choice.
Our beliefs determine how we label people and situations. Labels most always are the opposite of reality, serve to cement certain beliefs and dictate how we (and our community) choose to engage or disengage with people. The result obscures and distracts from a serious critique about the division currently splitting American society.

 

Theology sets in the mind of people a particular psychological view of life. In other words, how you see God determines how you see people. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus teaches, what we say is a reflection of what’s inside us.
As we discuss each assumption, we will step back to see how the Bible views these assumptions.

 

Assumption 1 – CRT is at the center of addressing this culture’s racial issues in the church. 
The central problem is the Imago Dei. Seeing people as God sees them. Not respecting a person’s values, selfhood, ideas, experience, and expertise. Then, challenging or dismissing their lived experiences within your faith community. True inclusion requires that you truly see a person and respect them enough to make room for all the good they have to give.

 

Assumption 2 – People of color are the poor, widow, foreigner, deaf, marginalized, and blind spoken of in the Bible, and we do acts of service for them. 
This assumption automatically sets up a class-based “us” versus “them” mindset of superiority. The categories mentioned are not limited to People of Color. Many believe prosperity is a sign of favor from God. But in the Bible, wealth is no indication of God’s favor. Neither is poverty an indication of God’s punishment. “God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).

 

Assumption 3 – The Love taught in the Bible is demonstrated by small “acts of service” (McDonald’s gift certificates, mission trip overseas, feed the hungry, etc.)  
In this view, Christian love is primarily a charitable condescension. Love given without personal self-sacrifice and Christ-centered otherness is antithetical to Scripture. Sacrificial love is what we celebrated on Good Friday in Jesus’s death on the cross; emphasizing both the degree and manner in which God expressed the greatness of love.

 

Assumption 4 – Opportunity exists for everyone who wants it. People of color are not taking full advantage and are trying to take what we have.
This scarcity mentality assumes life is a zero-sum game and focuses on materialistic stuff rather than on relationships. People don’t want your stuff; they want the opportunity to provide for their families. Access to capital, opportunities, jobs, contracts, promotions, etc., tend to go to those one feels “remind them of themself.” Those decisions have always produced skewed outcomes. But God instructs us “treat the stranger as a native among you. . .” (Lev. 19:33-34)

 

 

Assumption 5 – If you doubt or disagree with what a Person of Color says, your racist.
Both sides suffer from misperceptions about motives. Feelings of defensiveness are common responses, but ultimately, they’re counterproductive. Different lived experiences led to very different understandings of life.

 

One side thinks you shouldn’t be tagged as racist unless you subscribe to racial supremacist doctrine and are part of some conspiracy to keep people of color down; otherwise, it is making a virtue of victimhood. The other side, who feel if you disregard, dismiss, or demean their experience, you are engaging in amoral, narcissistic manipulative display of racist attitudes.

 

The more we spend time with each other in spaces we normally don’t (backyard barbeque, Church small groups, home gatherings), the better we can see none of us is a monolith, and we likely have more compassion, and in common, than we thought. Engage, as Jesus did, in the practice of presence.

 

Assumption 6 – I’m really sick of Cancel Culture, they want to rewrite our history as if something is wrong with it.
The label “Cancel Culture” serves mostly to gesture away from what actually happened in a given scenario. Usually, a normal, benign or unexceptional event that did not break in favor of conservative interests and toward a generalized sense of what is viewed as a right-wing grievance. Canceling has spread as a term and phenomenon in the public consciousness mostly about issues of discrimination and racism. This argument is akin to declaring an epidemic of people having opinions.

 

When you love like Christ does, you release your fears of others in the congregation instead of doing what is being complained about, canceling them. One could say that Saul sought to “cancel” David when he called upon his son and servants to kill his perceived rival (1 Samuel 19:1).

 

Holding someone accountable for how they are treated in their house of worship isn’t cancel culture. There are too many people who haven’t acknowledged mistakes, reconciled for them, nor have they gone on to make amends. They are using the label “cancel culture” to shield them from accountability.

 

Assumption 7 – We rebut the notion that White privilege augments our lives. Perhaps you are being lifted by a race-based privilege but surely it is not I. 
The two-word term packs a double whammy that inspires pushback. 1) The word white creates discomfort among those who are not used to being defined by race. And 2) the word privilege sounds like a word that doesn’t belong to those who have struggled. White privilege is not the suggestion that people have never struggled, or everything accomplished is unearned.

 

The best metaphoric description I have heard is that “privilege feels like people of color are trying to cut ahead in line, meaning America is now trying to cater to others before you. The line-cutting angers you, although you never question why you should occupy the first position. That implicit assumption — I should be tended to before all others encapsulate how privilege is viewed as natural, invisible, and a whites-on-top racial hierarchy.”

 

Assumption 8 – Juxtaposing Biblical Justice to Social Justice, Systemic Racism and being Oppressed. 
Biblical references to the word “justice” mean “to make right.” Justice is, first and foremost, a relational term — people living in right relationship with God, one another, and the natural creation. Biblical Justice means loving our neighbor as we love ourselves and is rooted in God’s character and nature.

 

Biblical Justice is a penetrating analysis of using power unjustly to affect the human condition and stems from social, individual, environmental, and spiritual causes. The fear leading to the parsing of the experiential definitions is that if authority and power are given up, People of Color will use the power in the same ways as has been used on them. But the congregants of color understand an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.

 

Biblical Justice is based on the character of God and gives us a model for changing how power is used in this world. As Christians, the building blocks of social justice lie in human dignity, human flourishing, and the sacredness of life. The source of justice is God’s perfect righteousness and radical love for all.

 

One writer explains the misrepresentations this way, “Just as I may consider myself a patriot, yet disagree with aspects of the Patriot Act, in the same respect we should be able to have objective conversations about specific policies or behaviors without chastising those raising concerns as though they broadly do not think lives of Black people matter.”

 

“God values perseverance in community more than visible success;
and faithfulness in calling more than felt comfort in community.”

 

If your instinct is telling you, it’s more comfortable to retreat or reassure yourself that you are correct, think instead, what actions can I take to surrender to God’s perspective instead of my own?

 

From the balcony, the solution, while challenging, can be accomplished. Jesus engaged in dialogue with people, others felt he shouldn’t, to demonstrate love. Think about what your Christian example of love might do to heal some of the fissures in America. We want to love God, live like Him, and demonstrate Him to a watching world.

 

In this case, we will work to arrive at solutions built on biblical virtues of contentment (Philippians 4:11–12), unity (John 17:21), and humility(Colossians 3:12).
Solutions that demonstrate a surrendered soul to the Will of God.
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Writing Our History In The Present

They Called For Change

 

Black thinkers and activists, from the poorest of the poor to those with great power and means, have been critical in challenging America to do the right thing.

 

Their voices mattered. Their words — some reflected here — express deep outrage and suffering but also tremendous love and hope for their community and their country. Some of their calls for justice have been answered through legislation or litigation; other demands remain painfully timely. Together, they offer a powerful opportunity to honor the past while working together to create a better, more just future for all.

 

 

SOURCE: From Harriet Tubman to John Lewis, they called for change by Kim Gallon (research) and Tre’ Seals (portraits), AARP, October 7, 2020
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The Toxic Source Of Inconsistency

Dr. I. David Byrd

 

An expected result of teaching God’s Word is demonstrating, distinguishing, and defending what we teach. In other words, live what we teach and teach what we live. 1 Corinthians 11:1 says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” The great commission’s high calling is for believers to serve as a Godly example by living out our walk with God.

 

As the world “waxes worse and worse”, we must ponder – is our witness is losing its impact. If people listen more to what we do than what we say, the central question becomes, what are we doing that is driving the world away from the Church? Research shows people are leaving the Church in record numbers. What are they saying to us. Could they be telling us that they are not interested in being a part of what they see from the Church? What attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, or patterns of behavior are we projecting that have become our strongholds and turns people away? Once separated, the enemy has the opportunity to plant all kinds of false truths in their minds.

 

Some believe coercive force is to be used to restrain other people’s activities. Jesus demonstrated that proximity and the Word’s power are more than enough to change humankind’s hearts. Three examples of this:

 

In John 4:4-26, Jesus brought the Samaritan woman at the well to repentance using the Word and demonstrating to those ready to stone her that they too were sinners in need of grace.

 

In Mark 7:24-30, when the Syrophoenician came to speak to Jesus, the disciples dismissed her, labeled her, and advised Jesus to send her away. Yet, Jesus took the time to talk with her. And because of her faith, her daughter was healed.

 

In Luke 24, Jesus responded on the road to Emmaus by using scripture – “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” The Bible says they responded, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

 

The Word is enough to transform hearts and minds on its own. It doesn’t need our coercion, legislation, force, dominance, or judgment to help it. The only help it needs from us is to tell people about it and let them see us living it. Besides, we can’t put anyone in heaven or hell anyway. Only God can provide saving grace. When we come to this knowledge and understanding, our personnel theology will be an example of Christ to this wayward world.

 

I still believe the Church can be the example of Christ.

 

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Is Your Commitment To Capitalism or Christ?

Dr. I. David Byrd

 

“What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb,
but the darkness of the womb?”   Valarie Kaur

 

 

If capitalism works, more people would have achieved economic security as the stock market continues to go up. Capitalism’s premise is that wealth will trickle down to make life better for everyone. The U.S. reports the lowest unemployment in 50 years, rising incomes across all races and job levels, a stock market that continues to reach historic highs (even with the recent volatility sparked by the spread of the coronavirus), the low-interest rates, and a GDP that has been expanding.

 

Juxtapose that against a possibility of a terrible second or third coronavirus wave. A delay in the discovery of a vaccine, a potential constitutional crisis in the election in November, runaway inflation, the prospect of higher taxes to pay for the stimulus, a more significant trade war with China, social unrest, or the dozens of other risks that seem to be bubbling just below. In July, CNBC reports that 32% of Americans couldn’t even pay their rent or mortgage. And according to Newsweek, U.S. billionaires got $583 billion richer since mid-March. Over 30 million Americans can’t find a job despite efforts to become gainfully employed.

 

Was that a political rant? No, that was showing you our need for the dependence on Jesus and not humans’ idols. No ideology is going to last; only the Word of God is eternal.

 

If our history tells us that economic scarcity can lead to violence, then let’s create a system in which more people can access economic success. I read an article from Anand Giridharadas about his interview with Senator Chris Murphy.  They concluded, “America does have a law-and-order problem, but it’s nothing new. And the nature of that law-and-order problem is being the most violent country in the rich world. And the genesis of that violence isn’t Black and brown communities rising up against friendly, overwhelmingly white suburbs of Minneapolis. It’s America, from the founding days of the republic, committing to an economic and political model that made violence a daily, systemic necessity. In short, those fighting to make America less racist are not our law-and-order problem. America’s real law-and-order problem is and always has been racism. The conversation continued with Senator Murphy stating, “This reckoning we’re having with our past is necessary, but it also comes with real consequences for one of the few threads of fabric that unites the country. As we all retreat to our corners, as we all get our information from different sources with different spins, our founding ideals and founding mythology are among the few things that we have left in common. Now, we’re not even sure what that mythology is.”

 

America has destroyed all nuances around American racism. It is now there, in the open, for everyone to see. The result has been to draw a lot of other people out into the open. Unfortunately, even dialogue by religious leaders is coarser and more hateful than ever before. This is antithetical to the Word of God and promotes the sin of self-interest and not the mission of the gospel.

 

Choose ye this day who you will serve. “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

 

 

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Feeble Evangelical Efforts at Educating Away Racism

Guest Writer: Dr. David D. Daniels

The silence about institutionalized racism from White Evangelicals is deafening and deadly. These pro-life followers of Christ would seemingly be at the forefront of the protest against racial injustice and the campaigns to eradicate racism, but they aren’t. For the most part, they stun us with their silence.
In “Untangling the White Evangelical Mind,” Mark Matlock identifies “ignorance” about race as the reason for the silence around race among these conservative Christians. According to him, “this ignorance entails whites believing they know more than they do about Black people’s plight and the United States’ racial realities. Therefore, their ignorance hinders them from critically hearing the topic of racism.”
So, is white ignorance about racism why, for nearly 45 long years, the White Evangelical movement has vociferously and vigilantly campaigned against the senseless killing of innocent unborn and yet been deafening silence on the senseless killing of innocent Black people? So, is white ignorance about racism why the senseless killing of innocent Black people warrants no righteous indignation or even quick mention in the prayers or sermons of White Evangelicals? So, is white ignorance about racism why their pro-life movement skips over the senseless killing of innocent Black people as a topic worthy of denouncement and efforts to end this injustice? In practice, does the silence of the White Evangelical movement implicitly legitimate pro-death policies targeting Black lives?
When Black Evangelicals and other conservative Black Christians explain to White Evangelicals the contradiction of being pro-life about the unborn and pro-death about Black lives, white ignorance is the cause of their inconsistency being incomprehensible? When White Evangelicals are told how race mars and kills Black people, are they, then, incapable of recognizing how race defines, privileges, and benefits them because of their ignorance about how race serves them? Is white ignorance or the lack of education regarding racism really the problem? For those who advocate the “education solution” to racism, it is.
For “education solution” proponents, reading books about race, racism, anti-racism, and white supremacy dispels ignorance. For them, White Evangelicals can read their way out of their complicity with racism into being in solidarity with anti-racism. Book sales related to publications on race shot up exponentially in June of 2020. Yet, the percentage of White Evangelicals committed to struggling against systemic racism has not. Reading alone is insufficient in confronting racism.
Others in the “education solution” camp propose interracial “friendships.” Like Matlock, they believe that interracial relationships will foster changes in attitudes about race where debates about the travesty of racism fail. While interracial relationships might change micro-aggressive anti-black behavior in some converts to the reality of racism, do these converts join the ranks of those engaging in the dismantling of racial structures and erecting structures of racial justice? If not, interracial relationships alone are inadequate in confronting racism.
What role can Christian education offer pastors and principals, you may ask? It can do a lot it appears. Christian education can introduce congregations to the “sin of racism.” Racism is more than a violation of the civil rights laws, a drain on the economy, a waste of human talents, and a crime against humanity; racism is a sin against God. For Christians who take the Bible and their faith seriously, this should shock them out of complacency about and complicity with racism. Anti-Black micro- and macro-aggression is to be denounced publicly from trafficking in racial stereotypes to racial bias in policing and hiring to racial disparities because racism is understood as a sin. White Evangelicals are known for denouncing sin, except, historically, the sin of racism. Unfortunately, they do not denounce racism today in any substantive terms.
So, why has the “education solution” proven to be ineffective? Most likely, it is because “education alone” must be joined with other approaches. For Christians to depend on education in reading about race, hearing about race through interracial relationships, or learning about racism as sin from sermons or Sunday School underestimates racism’s gravity and pervasiveness. Racism being sin shows that sin fails to be educated away. It is a heresy to teach that the sin of racism can be educated away.
Just recall for a moment that the police killing of George Floyd on 25 May, 2020 ignited the current outrage about racism. A best-selling book, an award-winning televised interview, a mesmerizing viral sermon, a paradigm-shifting set of congressional hearings, or a renowned educational curriculum on race was the cause. A death sparked these current protests. The death of George Floyd sparked this particular national reckoning about race. Along with Breonna Taylor and others’ death, his death opened many eyes about the American racial reality. Black people had to be killed before some White Evangelicals “realized” that racial injustice existed in the United States.
Since this is the case, the “education solution” is obviously inadequate. Yet, it is immoral for White Evangelicals only to begin to realize that the system of racism is deadly after police blatantly kill Black people. For the sake of the gospel, White Evangelicals must find a better way to break their silence about structural racism and enter into solidarity with anti-racism without needing the shedding of more Black blood. Education can not be their sole strategy. So, which multi-facet and multi-dimensional approaches might they borrow or develop to break the silence about race, dismantle the system racism, and institutionalize racial justice?
We welcome solution based responses from you, the reader, that can begin to move the country forward in a positive way.

 

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Who Is Part of Your American Story?

Addressing the issues happening across the communities of America is a nuanced and complicated situation. The violence is no longer contained to those communities labeled “disadvantaged”, so the concern is now front and center with everyone. People who don’t live in certain communities bringing narratives to the community that doesn’t match reality.  Please take a moment a look at the picture below and tell me what you see.

 

 

Some see two older people looking at each other. Others see a man seranading a woman with a banjos. The same view can yield different perceptions and understandings. If you are willing to engage in critical and conscious conversation, the topic dares us to remember the history of struggle, understand how much distance has been covered, and how much more distance remains. To pretend you do not notice something, because you should do something about it, but you do not want to does not dismiss its reality. American heritage isn’t so much anti-Black, as it has passed over us without giving us due attention. Some are even skeptical about our contributions. I’m reminded of the implications of the story where Jesus fed the multitudes.  In John 6, He multiplied the food to feed about 20 thousand. Wait, wasn’t it 5,000? You didn’t count the women and the children. The Bible says, “besides,” which means not counting. In the same way, American history works through the people you don’t even count, the people you don’t notice, the people you don’t think are worthy of including in the story.
Schools don’t teach about the inventors, scientists, moral arbiters, the domain of towering thinkers, activists, and freedom fighters who are our foremothers and forefathers, our forebears in the historical Black struggle. Statues aren’t erected around the country to recognize Black people’s contributions to the American narrative. One example is Mary Pickersgill, credited with sewing the Star-Spangled Banner, which flew over Fort McHenry in Maryland and inspired Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem. Less known is that Grace Wisher, an African American girl at just 13 years old, sewed a significant amount of the flag. It’s another testament to the deeply rooted, yet often unmentioned, African Americans’ contributions to the very core of this country.
The violence and criminal activity we are witnessing – those tearing down statues that don’t represent them and destroying businesses not available to them is analogous to a glass teapot on the stove with no one paying attention to it. It’s glass, and you can see what’s happening to the water inside if you care to pay attention. It’s just a teapot, and the teapot’s systemic structure is to contain the water and to boil the water within the pot. It’s the tea or coffee that defines the drink. Tea consist of many different leaves and coffee from different types of beans. There is little to no discussion of the contribution of the water. The unattended water will reach a specific temperature and begin to signal it has reached its boiling point. When ignored, the only option the water has is to interact with the pot to enable it to escape its situation. When the pot explodes, we reason that we don’t understand why the water had to do so much damage. Maybe the pot was defective. That brand of teapot doesn’t boil properly.  We neglect looking inward to acknowledge that we ignored the signs and signals the water and the teapot were sending us. The steam’s whistle sent up as proof that the water had experienced all it could take—the loud cry for relief. Theologian Howard Thurman says, “In this world, the socially disadvantaged is constantly given a negative answer to the most important personal questions upon which mental health depends: ‘Who am I? What am I?’” The answer provided by society is no longer acceptable. People are saying, “If the structures don’t care about them, then they don’t care about the structures.”
The teapot has exploded. The water has damaged the cabinets, the floor, and everything within its reach. We can now live with a damaged kitchen, or we can begin to repair the kitchen to its original intent. If we repair and continue to ignore the teapot, we will experience the same thing again. In the words of Rev. Dr. Eboni Marshall Thurman, “The fact of the matter is, if you’ve been fighting for your freedom for over 400 years, you’d be mad too. And you’d want someone to hear that your life matters, too. It’s definitely not an apologetic, but it is a story that has to be told in defense of our lives. We have to tell [our] story because our lives depend on it.”
Sustained unjust and inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities has led to terrible, unacceptable violence. In addressing the violence, residents are stating that “in order for us to deal with the disorder, we have to address all of the other inequities that face our community, it’s something that happens perpetually in our community. It is unacceptable that you close our schools. It is unacceptable that jobs are not available, and you say we don’t want to work. It is unacceptable that you displace our residents at [the Housing Authority] and not work with them to make sure they have sound housing.”
I am in no way condoning the lawlessness that is taking place, but no matter where you fall on the political or religious spectrum, we are called to respond first with love. We have to show grace, empathy, and patience. I’ll walk a mile in your shoes if I might see the world the way you do. It doesn’t mean I’ll agree with everything you think or do. But this enables us to communicate and understand each other’s worldview and situation honorably. We can then make informed decisions and take actions to cure the situation based on facts, not hyperbole or assumptions. Morality and love can only emanate, if we believe Revelations 9:7 and that the American dream is everyone’s dream.

 

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Reflections On Being A White Male In A Time Of Racial Unrest 

Guest Writer:  Mark Matlock

 

White guys are under attack, or at least it feels that way. I’ve been reflecting on what this means and what I’ve learned and continue to learn about myself.

 

1. I can’t help that I am a white guy. It’s who I am, but I recognize that this does not excuse me from hurting other people knowingly or unknowingly. In fact, I may have added responsibility for undoing the wrong being done.

 

2. The “unknowingly hurting people” aspect is what I struggle with most. I don’t like to be considered ignorant and I don’t like being blamed for doing something I don’t think I did. Yet, I’m coming to realize more and more that I am part of a problem even though I’m not consciously participating. This is white privilege, I don’t like that word, because it sure doesn’t feel like privilege, but the world I live in was built by white men for the benefit of white men. Does a fish understand water? Only when they leave it.  I am the fish.

 

3. If I engage the conversation, I will eventually say the wrong thing. That’s okay. I need to learn from that. Better to engage and stumble than remain in my ignorance.

 

4. I unknowingly hurt people of color because of systemic racism. Systemic Racism really exists, my use of the dictionary definition of “racism”  to prove it doesn’t is, in fact, an example of systemic racism.

 

5. This thing called white fragility is real. I don’t like it because I’m not fragile, or maybe its because a woman wrote the book (“she has an agenda,” “she doesn’t know me,” “I’m not fragile you’re trying to make me that way”… wait is this my racism coming out?)

 

6. … but I read the book and wow… for the most part it captures my experience and what I observe in my other white guy friends. I’m tired of talking about race, being aware of myself as a white person all the time. It’s exhausting… oh wait everything I just wrote about being white is almost exactly what my friends of color have been saying for years. Hmmm.

 

7. What I consider to be healthy, vibrant conversations about race are often seen by people of color as a display of my white supremacy. Has my whiteness shaped the way I interact and discuss this topic?… it appears that might be the case.

 

8. I like to have an opinion about everything, I argue and move on, but these issues are deeply felt to affected people and they can’t move on. I need to treat this discussion with the  respect and weight it deserves.

 

9. I hide behind reason, logic and rational thought as superior tools,  forgetting this is a conversation about relationships, and that requires some other tools in the toolkit I don’t use as often like humility, submission, empathy, and love.

 

10. I like to be funny, my humor on this issue doesn’t reveal my cleverness, it often hurts people and gets me in trouble.

 

11. I’m not as curious about people as I give myself credit for. I need to ask more questions to learn why “I don’t get it.”

 

12. I want my friends of color to rescue me, to give me props, to validate me as one who gets it. They are true friends when they don’t but rather confront me.

 

13. White guys will most likely never be woke. There’s a moment you might think you are, then you realize you aren’t. It’s not about being “woke”, it’s about people experiencing equality, understanding is what is important.

 

14. Time… straight white cisgender men want to solve problems and move on (don’t believe me ask your spouse) … reconciliation is a relationship word. It’s not all in the head, this isn’t an easy fix.

 

15. Re-read your first point.

 

Mark Matlock has been working with the parents, ministers and non profits for nearly three decades and he’s spoken live to more than 1 million teenagers. He is the principal at WisdomWorks, a consulting firm that helps Christian leaders leverage the transforming power of wisdom to accomplish their mission. Mark is the former executive director of Youth Specialties and the creator of PlanetWisdom Student Conferences. In all his free time, he has written more than twenty books for teens and their parents including Faith For Exiles with David Kinnaman, President Barna Research.
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Creating Space for Grace

 

“If you make yourself the main character in the story,

then you’ll evaluate everything that happens by its effect on you

not the affected.”

 

As Christians grapples with the issue of race, it has become apparent that many don’t perceive reality the same. Most are operating under different beliefs and stimuli which come from experiences, something heard, or something read. Facts and truth have differing definitions.  When we interpret through the lens of our self-centered view, the actions of others often make no sense, and frustrate, hurt or infuriate us. But can you see that it can cause problems, inhibit understanding and empathy. 

What you believe about a person or event will determine how you label them. The labels you use will allow you to project valence and dictate your actions to engage or disengage.

As used in psychology, valence means the intrinsic attractiveness (positive valence) or averseness (negative valence) of an event, object, or situation. It is typically easier to use the “other” as a projective object. Efforts, by Blacks, to change their conditions are labeled as social justice, Marxism, critical race theory, cancel culture, or progressive Christianity. Push back or disagreement by Whites is labeled as fragility, racism, privilege, or conservatism. Somehow, Christianity has settled into cultural norms rather than setting the standards for cultural norms based on God’s Word.  We abandon Kingdom conversation of unity for cultural dialogue that divides. America is becoming more and more multiracial, warranting a broader recognition of those who do not fit into a society’s clear-cut notions of race.

Language matters and there is a confusion of the slogan Black Lives Matter – a plea to secure the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans, especially historically wronged Blacks, with the organization called Black Lives Matter – which has a specific and stated agenda. Maybe a new slogan should be created to separate the movement from the organization. These three words are dissected ad nauseum. We have to unravel the narratives taught in some churches today that assume this movement of Biblical justice being worked out within society is about property and jealousy. Those that oppose the movement use “Thou shall not steal or covet” as the defense to ignore reality. Let’s be clear, the movement is about how you got it, not that you have it. Others say using the word “Black” as the presupposition ignores the transcendent God-ordained meaning of life – The Imago Dei. Some pastors are asking to whom and in what way does it matter? I’ve even heard pastors say that the phrase assigns guilt based on ethnicity which isn’t Biblical. We are all imperfect sinner who moves in faith.  These are brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s stop throwing other Christians under the bus from the pulpit. A mist in the pulpit can become a fog in the pews. Let’s not forget Sunday’s became and still is the most segregated day of the week.

These pastors cap off their messaging by labeling it ALL as Communism or Marxism. Using the old playbook, going back to the ’50’s and ’60’s, labeling any principle that attempts to obtain a level playing field for all. M.L. King was viewed as a Communist for calling out the situation people faced. The reality was that King’s view of Communism was that it was fundamentally incompatible with Christianity. The central issue King was calling out was the defense of the gulf between superfluous wealth and abject poverty.

As Christians, we cannot ignore or excuse the past sins. We must confront them, repent for them, and find ways to correct the actions that may allow them to continue. If you see God’s image in you as more valuable than the image of God in those different from you, you have lifted yourself to be better than the other person. That is about “have no other idols before God” and “thou shall not bear false witness”.  God’s summarized the commandments because we tend to prioritize to fit our needs – “Love God and to Love your neighbor.” One cannot say “I love God” but hates their neighbor or has nothing to do with their neighbor. Because God is love, we are able to love. Love pleases the Lord and makes one worthy of the Lord’s saving grace. From God’s love, mercy and compassion follow.

My prayer is that when our strength is fading in a world of moral decline, self-interest, and cultural confusion that integrity will shine as a light upon a hill.  Only by coming together across geography, race, class, denomination, age, across all the differences that really do NOT matter, will we be able to listen to each other. It’s only by embracing one another in a spirit of love and collaboration that we create space to grow in grace together.

 

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Untangling The White Evangelical Mind

Mark Matlock
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34 NIV
I’m often asked to explain white evangelicals by my friends of color as they try to untangle why their white Christians brothers and sisters behave as they do.
For decades I have identified as an evangelical. For me, this has always meant declaring basic orthodox Christian beliefs, a firm commitment to the authority of scripture, but also a belief that I have a purpose in the world to share the good news of Jesus in word and deed.
Today, some 45 years after Jesus saved me and I began to follow Him, I struggle to identify as an evangelical, even though I have never wavered from the basic tenets mentioned above.
Those who study church history tell me that “evangelicalism” was formed to separate from the term “fundamentalism” which had meant being committed to the fundamentals of the Christian faith, but had since become tarnished and no longer seemed to represent the spark of Christian living in the world. A “rebranding” was needed.
Today when most people hear the term evangelical they think of conservative Republicans that are white, support Trump, are anti-gay, pro-life, and anti-science.
Evangelicalism has become something else. Slightly over 80% of Americans self identity as Christians, only 20% identify as evangelicals.  In fact, at Barna, a research group studying the intersection of faith and culture, a person must identify 9 basic tenets of evangelicalism to be labelled as an “evangelical”… only about 5% of Americans meet those 9 requirements.  So as I speak about the white evangelical mind, consider that I am no longer certain of all that means, and I do not speak for everyone.
While there are many topics to explore, I want to focus on the white evangelical mind as it comes to racial injustice and reconciliation.
I began this reflection with the words of Jesus on the cross. Scripture records few words from Jesus while on the Cross, but what we have is powerful.
In this prayer of forgiveness, Jesus recognizes the ignorance of the people. And if I were to summarize the perception of white evangelicals in this moment, whether or not true, it is that we are ignorant people. But not just ignorant in the naïve innocent way, but in the sense that we believe we know more than we do. And that is an important reality I have had to come to grips with in my life, in some ways my evangelical beliefs make me falsely confident in my ability to know and understand what is true.
Tangle 1. The first tangle to recognize is that white people think little about “race.” We don’t think much about “ethnicity” either unless we are choosing what to eat for dinner… “You want to do Mexican or Chinese Tonight? Neither? Italian would be better?” In fact, we often see race and ethnicity as the same thing, so that is often a good place to start.
We were raised in the narrative of America as a melting pot, so our ethnic identity is seen as something from our past. We see American identity asking its citizens to lose some of that moving forward as you “melt.” It also means, for white Americans, that co-opting other cultures is okay too, because we are all in that same pot. Many immigrants gladly acculturate to the American way of life, my great grandmother did, which is a very different journey than that of African American slaves who were sold and shipped against there will to the US. White people have rarely thought about this experience.
I didn’t like Robin DiAngelo’s concept of “White Fragility” when I first learned about it, but now I understand it as a very real part of my own experience and what I see in other white people. As I began to be confronted about race, it was disorienting, I was indeed “fragile” because as a white person I’d never had to think about what it meant to be “white.”
If you want to engage the white evangelical in racial reconciliation, it will require patience. We just haven’t had to think about race as long as minority groups and we are the weaker brother when it comes to this topic. The patterns of our white experience are predictable, and each person goes on almost an identical journey. Having conversations about race with a white person is like playing the same song over and over again, the first few times is great, and then it time to move on. I’m glad my friends of color didn’t abandon me even when I was worthy of being given up on. To this day they endure my ignorance as I seek to learn more.  I know too that it can be exhausting, but when you give the gift of friendship in this area to a white person, it is priceless.
Tangle 2. White evangelicals value theology as concepts, not as relational dynamics.
Here’s what is hard, white evangelicals do not want to be viewed as racist. Our core theology recognizes the image of God in every person and desires for all to know him. There is great compassion too for meeting people’s needs, but we think of these things as concepts and programs instead of how those concepts transform interpersonal relationships.
We were taught to debate ideas, to see things through a rational lens. Theological terms then became definitions and theological concepts thesis statements rather than guides for interpersonal transformation. Conversations about race in these forums rarely lead to transformation. But over time, they can move into more personal areas.
When engaging the white evangelical on matters of race, its best done in the context of relationship rather than as a topical matter when possible.
Tangle 3. American White Evangelicals have a strange relationship with power. A significant part of the white Christian identity is the belief that America is a Christian nation and that we are losing the culture war. This has created a false pursuit of cultural power through political means rather than on the power of doing community good. Jesus was persecuted for doing good, unlike the White Christians in America who feel persecuted for being judgemental.
This has given evangelicals the sense that they too are marginalized and in a fight for not just their “white” heritage, but its strange infusion with Christian values. This means that we are often ignorant to how we are participating in institutional or systemic racism, because we have a strange history with power, Christianity, and liberty.
Because we feel we are losing the Christian ideals, this country was based upon, we are trying to protect something we feel we are losing, rather than recognizing that perhaps we need to be living into those ideals more fully. Exposing white evangelicals to the truth of American history that has been sanitized is key to helping us grasp the horror of slavery and its aftermath in Jim Crow and beyond. Help us grasp the current racial injustice that is invisible to us as part of the dominant white culture. MLK realized it was hard for whites to see. His non-violent tactics provoked the racism that was hidden to whites so it could be seen. Camera footage, research of racial injustice experiences, sharing of stories all help us to see.
There is quite a bit to untangle in the white Christian mind, it’s not simple. If you can tolerate our ignorance, you can make great progress with those that are willing to continue the journey.  It isn’t the duty of persons of color to educate white people and help them transform. We need to be doing the work ourselves, but because our own attempts are messy, even hurtful, I am grateful for the investment you make in helping us become better people. While an element of white evangelicalism are indeed bad actors, there’s hope that something new can emerge as we engage these issues together in brotherly love.
Until that glorious day, Father, forgive us for our ignorance.
Mark Matlock has been working with the parents, ministers and non profits for nearly three decades and he’s spoken live to more than 1 million teenagers. He is the principal at WisdomWorks, a consulting firm that helps Christian leaders leverage the transforming power of wisdom to accomplish their mission. Mark is the former executive director of Youth Specialties and the creator of PlanetWisdom Student Conferences. In all his free time, he has written more than twenty books for teens and their parents including Faith For Exiles with David Kinnaman, President Barna Research.