"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)
I. Awareness
There is a line that haunts me ever time I hear it - "Naivety lost cannot be regained." My prayer this week has been the same - that there would be some bit of knowledge and understanding happen here today that would take away our naivety when it comes to this subject of racism.
I had someone last week give me a quick lesson. That was the shortest yet steepest learning curve I'd been on in a very long time..
The lesson was on white privilege - how most white people in Canada think that racism doesn't affect us because we are not people of color. We don't see our "whiteness" as a racial identity..So it's often easier for white people to look at the disadvantages of racism for people of color rather than to recognize the advantages of racism for white people. That last line - "The advantages of racism for white people," is what white privilege is all about..How we benefit from discrimination on a daily basis. Because I was born with blond hair and blue eyes and extremely white skin...to 2 white third generation Canadians - because I am male - and hold a position of leadership and influence..this society affords me some privileges..(as it does for many of you)..it affords me privileges that other people just don't get.
Now, hear this - This is nothing we intentionally do..but because of the structure of our society - white people benefit from discrimination every day. And it's everything from being able to easily find someone to cut my straight white hair - I never think about that..Would it be so easy to find a barber in Saskatoon who would know what to do with very tight curly black hair? Or if I'm being pulled over by the police it never even crosses my mind that it's anything other than speeding - Yet nearly every time someone of color gets pulled over - they think - justice doesn't always include colors. That's white privilege.
I gave you a handout today - let's just walk through it a bit...
#1 - I can turn on the television or open the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
#7 - I can go into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who knows how to cut my hair.
#12 - I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to 'the person in charge,' I will be facing a person of my skin color.
#17 - I can walk onto a bus, train, cafeteria, or school room and find it easy to sit next to someone of my race.
I can answer every one of those yes..because I'm white and live in Canada. But not everybody can..Peggy McIntosh put it like this.."White privilege is an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious.It is like a weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, code books, passports and bank cheques."
See, I've never walked into the mall and been the only one of a different color. I've never thought even once about not being able to get a loan because of the color of my skin and I've never felt people were looking at me..and staring because of my skin color. That's white privilege. And it kinda needs to soak in a little bit to really grasp it. Take that piece of paper home and over the next few days reflect on it. Ask some questions of yourself..
Now -- all that's pretty passive stuff - a pretty soft look at racism. Let's take it another step. Sometimes we need a reminder that racism isn't just something that some very bad people do out there..but it's in our lives as well. There's a teacher at Buena Vista School who works out at the same gym I do..and she's been on a very steep learning curve about racism as of late. Here's an exercise she told me about that profoundly influenced her.and me..Turn the paper over - write on the back: words that you have used and words that you've heard used that are derogatory to people of color. Come on - you know them. Start with Native folks - then Asians - then Black people..and write the words out.
Pretty brutal list when you look at it - especially when the list was so easily written by a whole bunch of very nice, passive non-racist Canadians. If I could I would take that exercise to a whole other level..and have you say the words out loud..because there is something incredibly damaging and yet embarrassing about using our mouths in such a destructive way...
Folks - the reality that in one way or another - most if not all of us, have been guilty of racism..We've jumped to conclusions - we've overly enjoyed the privilege of being white - we've actively spoken damaging words. We've excluded people of color from our lives - whether actively or passively. We have not loved as we should have..And folks, lack of love is sin - not actively living out our equality and oneness under Christ - is sin -- and sin isn't good. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)
You know, Jesus was pretty clear on what His call on our lives was to be.."Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul..and love your neighbor as yourself." Well my neighbors aren't all white folks living for 3-4 generations of privilege in Canada..So maybe I need to love them at a different level.
1 John 1:8 is a verse we quoted every week in the church I grew up in: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Folks, for me - racial awareness brought on by education - awareness brought on by listening - awareness brought on by reading and thinking and prayer -- in these past weeks, brought me not just to head knowledge of racism in my life..but it also brought me to heart knowledge of sin in my own life..And sin is damaging and destructive and sin is something I want no part of whatsoever. And it's something I have to deal with.
II. What Can I Do?
Here's a few suggestions..
CONFESS
Now there is a slice of good news under all this..I just read
1 John 1:8: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Now listen to the very next verse - "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong" (1 John 1:9).
This is the part of God that always amazes me..The number of things - the number of times He is willing to forgive our blunders as human beings. Next weekend - in preparation for the Christmas season - we'll be having communion -- moments of closeness. Feel the reality of God's acceptance and forgiveness.
Folks - confession is all about acknowledgment - when it comes to the sin of racism. Here are some of the acknowledgments I've been working through:
- Acknowledge your negative thoughts, feeling, attitudes and experiences to change (fear, anxieties, worries, anger, denial, guilt, etc.)
- Acknowledge your thoughts, feelings, attitudes and actions towards those who have different skin color than you.
- Acknowledge that there is a spiritual realm behind the physical and that there is a spirit of racism that we have allowed to rule. This spirit of racism not only influences individuals, but corporations, organizations and institutions, like the church, government, hospitals, schools.
- Acknowledge that white people are people of privilege. Having privilege doesn't make you a sinner nor does it condemn you.
- Acknowledge that you are pleased to be a person of white privilege because life is easier that way.
- Acknowledge that God's heart is grieved when we allow anything to come into our lives that separates us from one another.
You know, confession is a very healthy thing to do - because just walking through it as a person.as an individual.simply acknowledging those thoughts and then working them through with God - is a building, growing, cleansing experience.
After confession, I would suggest this as the next step..
ENGAGE
There is a stage of spiritual development that must take place if we ever want to truly be released from certain lines of thinking and action in our lives..This stage of spiritual development is also a necessary step if you ever want to change your actions in life..
Like to try and live in such a way as to change this country or the world's view of color and race..That step is what I call engaging God's power..
Acknowledgement -- Confession -- Engage faith -- Life change -- Action
Confession is not an end in itself. Life change is what we desire. Well the truth is, racism is a very dark thing in this world..A thing that clearly separates human beings from each other and from God..
And clearly we're not getting any better as humans dealing with it. Therefore, like any other darkness we must overcome in our lives - addictions or past or choices or abuse..We must overcome racism. We must infuse the power of God into the situation and into our lives..And it's about turning away from trying to solve it by myself and saying - "God teach me - build into me the wisdom and power and courage I need to really love other people like You do."
Now, sounds kinda hokey. Kinda like some preacher making light of a heavy situation. People I believe with all my heart that if we really went to God with this one - and with our entire life - and by faith asked for His power and love and grace and peace to be lived out in our lives..think about it.
What actions would come out of God being actively given reign in our hearts and lives? Jesus said - love God and then love other people. That's what the Christian life is about. Well, if we are infused with His power..what would He ask us to do?
ACTION
Well - He might point us in this direction..Here's a few things I am desiring to learn about in my white little world:
- Practice the discipline of service in areas where non-whites come together. But ensure that your service is directed by the Holy Spirit and by God's grace and calling on your life. To serve with humility and love without God is impossible. Do not serve out of guilt, curiosity or some human principle, value or interest.
2. Ask God what action is needed..and keep on asking until your prayers have been answered. Ask God for a pure heart. Ask Him to give you the mind and heart of Christ. Ask for the Christ-like desire to love those whom we have previously discarded, ignored and rejected. Ask Him to change your heart, to take away hatred, anger and fear deep within and to fill your heart with joy, peace and love. Ask Him to remove all aspects of indifference and callousness towards other people of color.
3. Learn from others. Begin a dialogue with those whom you feel understand racism in all its forms.
4. Begin a dialogue about white privilege in your sphere of influence. What does it mean to be a person of privilege? What would Jesus have me do as a person of white privilege?
5. Pray for racial healing in our city. God will hear our prayers and answer them.
6. Begin developing relationships with people of color.
Is this a God-given opportunity for us to be challenged and to grow into the people God wants us to become?
Here's what I know to be true..Overcoming racism in our society will not be easy or simple or quick - there is no easy fix -- But I do believe that we - the church - the people of God - must not ignore the realities of how people of color are treated in our society..And we must move to not only acknowledge with our heads that this must change - but with our hearts.
SONG - Jann Arden - It's Time For Mercy
Let me tell you a story of a man who made a difference - one life.
John Woolman was an American Quaker who lived in the 1700s. His journal is considered a literary treasure and is still studied in many English classes. His most memorable accomplishment, however, had to do with a process of deep change in a nation. During the eighteenth century, Quakers were wealthy, conservative slave owners in the U.S. And Woolman dedicated his adult life to eliminating the practice of slavery among his brethren.
Woolman pursued this effort by using the art of gentle persuasion. He spent more than twenty years visiting the Quakers along the East Coast. He did not criticize people, nor did he make them angry. He merely asked questions like, "What does it mean to be a moral person? What does it mean to own a slave? What does it mean to will a slave over to one's children?" Driven by his vision, he persisted, visiting farm after farm.
By 1770, a century before the Civil War, not one Quaker owned a slave. The Quakers were the first religious group to denounce and renounce slavery. In recounting this story, Robert Greenleaf points out:
"One wonders what would have been the result if there had been fifty John Woolmans, or even five, traveling the length and breadth of the Colonies in the eighteenth century. Persuading people, one by one, with a gentle non-judgmental argument that a wrong should be righted by individual voluntary action.
Perhaps we would not have had the war with its 600,000 casualties and the impoverishment of the South, and with the resultant vexing social problem that is at fever heat 100 years later with no end in sight. We know now, in the perspective of history, that just a slight alleviation of the tension in the 1850s might have avoided the war. A few John Woolmans, just a few, might have made the difference."
Woolman hated the idea of slavery and found it intolerable. He was determined to change the minds of his fellow Quakers. His vision, courage, and persistence transformed the church. |
