A big question for me this
year has been the question of repentance. What does that look like? If the
Kingdom of God is near by, what does that mean for us and the way we live our
lives? Particularly in a country where such great wrongs have been committed,
how do we continue to live and be in relationship? Repentance is about
preparing ourselves to be in intimate relationship with God and each other. If
I have learned anything this year, it is that the first step is often admitting you
are wrong.
A neighbor knocked on my
door today, furious. “Gabe, I’m
going to kill her. My wife stole 10 dollars!” I was a bit shocked, never having had anyone say anything like that to me before. Such an action also seemed out of character for his wife, and after a few minutes of fuming, he admitted that maybe he had
lost the 10 dollars (though to be honest, his story was pretty straight). But
even though he thought he was right, his willingness to admit he was wrong
created the space to make peace with his wife.
Many African Americans have
also put down the proverbial sword of vengeance and just want to be treated
with respect going forward. Very few demand an accounting back to the time of
Columbus. Others are angry about the past and present realities of racism. And they have
a right to be. But ultimately, it is not our African American brothers and sisters that we have to reckon with.
God is angry too. As a
nation, we have said through word and deed that African Americans are worth 3/5th's
of a person by denying voting rights, housing privileges, and legal protection.
America has taken
more than 10$ from African Americans and the poor. When
we have not paid workers their fair wages, when we have created laws that take
money from the poor, when we have created private systems that exclude public
benefit, when we fund systems to penalize and incarcerate rather than educate
and restore, God is not pleased.
It's not that God is
bitter. God does not get angry like we get angry. Our anger punishes and
destroys. God's anger purifies and restores. In his desire to restore us, he
challenges us to do right. He reminds us that our evil actions have no place in
a social order sustained by love. Just as a loving parent does not let a child
abuse his siblings, God does not tolerate us abusing one another.
In Crossroads Bible Church two Sundays ago, the pastor preached about forgiveness. To restore
relationships, we need to remain in conversation and we need to be open about
past wrongs. The pastor asked what might have been different if Adam and Eve
had immediately gone to God after eating the fruit rather than hiding. If we
are open with God about our failures to do right, he has always shown himself
quick to restore.
White Christians need to be open
about our past wrongs. God says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just and will cleanse us from all wickedness. First we must be open with him,
and reckon with him through the cross. Second, we must confess these sins
directly to each other within the body of Christ. Third, we must do all we can
to set right the harm caused by disenfranchisement, slavery, exclusion, and
incarceration so that no one outside of Christ can slander the Gospel. These
steps are similar to the 12 Step program
and are a practical way we can live out the gospel.
The path forward has been
clearly marked, though the price remains steep. Martin Luther King Jr. has
given us a vision of children growing up together as brother and sister. He taught us the path of loving one another by
being willing to suffer for one another. Our brother's cause for justice is our
cause, and we cannot be free until our sister is also free. Loving one
another will cost us, but it will also heal us.
John Perkins, the founder
of the Christian Community Development Association, taught us that some are
called to relocate to places abandoned by broader society and share the
struggles of the people as if they were our struggles. He taught us to identify
with one another, and to plant new churches where youth can grow up together in
shared space as one body.
How do we begin? One way is
to join in with the modern movements. Read Bryan Stevenson's book, Just Mercy, and get involved
with local efforts for prison reform and police reform. Read Jim Wallis' book, America's Original Sin: Racism,
White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America, and educate yourself on
what it will take to live as a minority in a country of all colors, when whites
are no longer the majority population. Visit a church from a different
background than your own, more than once, and submit to its leadership. Trust
that Christ is at work in all places.
Repentance will look
different for each person and institution, but until we admit that we have a
problem, we cannot move forward. My neighbor may not have made complete peace with his wife, but by being willing to admit he was wrong, he created the possibility for peace. He moved from anger and suspicion to willingness to dialogue. Only then can we begin to work out the nuts and bolts of living together. As Christians and people of truth, I hope we can develop the moral
capacity to admit failures.
If we trust God, he
will make our paths straight. When we busy ourselves doing right, he will be
quick to restore. "Then your light will break forth like the morning and
your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard," Isaiah 58:8.