Dear Markey Church,
Like you, I've been paying close attention to the events in our society over the past three weeks, since the needless murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police, with deep sadness and deep ambivalence. The response to Floyd's murder by the public, in general, has been overwhelming to me.
I've been deeply troubled by the acts of rioting and looting at the hands of a small group of folks. I've been even more deeply troubled at the brutality of particular police departments toward overwhelmingly peaceful protestors. We live in a country of civil liberties, chiefly among them is the right to free speech, and to gather peacefully to raise our voices. Not only is this an American value, but our ecclesial heritage within the broader Baptist world holds these values deeply, and defends these values within our legal system, all the way up to the Supreme Court, through a variety of denominational organizations. Chiefly among them is the Baptist Joint Committee.
Race & Faith
Let me be clear: talking about race is really difficult. It's hard. We get defensive. We get easily overwhelmed. We don't know what to do or say sometimes. We often have to face our own complicity in systems and communities that have historically been unjust. It leaves us feeling full of shame to take an honest look at such things, so it's easier for us to look away, to disengage, or to convince ourselves that this is not our problem to solve.
But what I've said over and over again, is that here in America, we have a problem. And the first step to solving a problem is admitting we have one in the first place.
As a white man, a Jesus Follower, a husband, a father, and a citizen of this nation, I've been trying to do much more listening than talking over the past three weeks. Most of my talking has been one-on-one, or in some smaller groups, both with folks who call Markey Church home and with other friends, many of whom are pastors.
If you want to hear my thoughts in real-time on some of these issues, I wrote about the murder of Amhaud Arbery here, and I wrote about the murder of George Floyd here.
I'm writing to you today to invite you into the same posture I've been attempting to practice. That is, listening to the voices of folks in the Back community who have much to say and teach us right now.
Quick To Listen
If you're open to learning and listening, below you'll find a list of recommended people to pay attention to right now. These are all Black leaders in the braoder Church, or with roots in our tradition, who I've been learning from lately. These are all our sisters and brothers in Christ. Their voices matter at this moment now, more than ever. They've always mattered, but I'm realizing that I haven't listened with an intent to understand and be changed by their perspective. That's what I'm attempting to do right now, and I would encourage you to do the same.
I would invite you to pay attention to what they are posting online, what they are writing about, and what they have to say, many times more than paying attention to cable news channels, and your white friends on Facebook, or other social media platforms. Also, I would invite you to pay attention to faithful Christian leaders who resist political affiliation with a political party but look to faithfully align with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Kingdom of God, neither of which neatly falls into either of our dominant political parties in American politics. I would invite you to purchase their books, and read them, and listen to their podcasts, or other interviews they've done, which you can likely find online by searching on youtube, etc. They have much to teach us about following Jesus in the world, right now.
As I said in a sermon on May 24th, "Jesus Followers seek to understand the people with whom we disagree." If there was ever a time for us to listen - even if you disagree with their perspective - that time would be right now.
Summer Connect Group - Faith, Race, & Justice
We will have opportunities over Summer Connect to process some of this listening. I'll be hosting a Summer Connect group in my backyard on Monday evenings beginning June 29th, where we'll have discussions on Faith, Race, & Justice. We'll be reading Rev. Dr. Daniel Hill's phenomenal book White Awake: An Honest Look At What It Means To Be White, and I would encourage you to sign up for that group when that opportunity becomes available. White Awake is $4.99 on kindle, or you can purchase it in ebook format directly from the publisher. Like many books on race, it is hard to get a paperback copy at the moment. We have some ways to work with this, so don't let that discourage you from joining this Summer Connect Group. Space is limited, so if you're interested, please reach out to me ASAP.
But for now, I simply want to invite you to listen, prayerfully, with your whole attention. Listen for understanding, not to defend or argue with.
May Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, be with you as you listen.
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Rev. Dominique Gilliard - Pastor & leader in the Evangelical Covenant Church
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website
book - Rethinking Incarceration
Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil - Pastor at Quest Church in Seattle, Professor of Racial Reconciliation at Seattle Pacific University, & speaker/author on issues related to racial reconciliation.
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book - Roadmap To Reconciliation 2.0
Rev. Rich Villodas - Pastor of New Life Church, in Queens, New York (the church who gave birth to the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality course that we've used here at Markey Church).
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linktree
book - The Deeply Formed Life
Latasha Morrison - Founder of Be The Bridge, a Christian-based, racial reconciliation ministry, and host of the Be The Bridge podcast
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book - Be The Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart For Racial Reconciliation
Jemar Tisby - Ph.d Historian, and Pastor, president of The Witness: A Black Collective
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website
book - The Color of Compromise
video series - The Color of Comprise (free with Amazon Prime)
The Witness
Bryan Stevenson - Founder of The Equal Justice Initiative, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which honors the "more than 4400 African American men, women, and children were hanged, burned alive, shot, drowned, and beaten to death by white mobs between 1877 and 1950."
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book - Just Mercy
movie - Just Mercy (free to watch during the month of June)
Austin Channing Brown - Author, Activist, and Teacher around race in America
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website
book
web series
Lisa Sharon Harper - Author, Activists, and Founder of Freedom Road, an organization that through teaching and experiences attempts to change the narrative around race and justice in America
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website - person
books & articles
website - Freedom Road
David M. Bailey - president of Arrabon, a racial reconciliation ministry
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website
music
Rev. Dr. Esau McCaulley - New Testament professor at Wheaton College, Pastor in the Anglican Church in America
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recent Christianity Today article - Preaching Against Racism Is Not A Distraction From The Gospel
recent New York Times op-ed - What The Bible Has To Say About Black Anger
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These are 10 voices I've been paying attention to for a while now.
If you have space to pay attention to only one, I would recommend Latash Morrison, and Be The Bridge. If you have space for 1 or 2 more, I would recommend Rev. Dr. Esau McCaulley, and Bryan Stevenson, from Equal Justice Initiative.
All of these voices (and many more I'm sure) have so much to offer us right now and moving ahead into the future, around being people of God's peace and justice in a divided world. Some of the things they say may upset you. Be curious about that, and sit with it. It's ok to be upset. You don't have to agree with everything someone says in order to learn from them.
In all of this, my friends, my prayer is that by listening and learning together, we will make room for God's Spirit to transform us in ways we cannot expect, and cannot even know to ask or pray for at this moment.
Will you join me in the work of listening and learning? Will you commit to doing this as a Jesus Follower in 2020? Will you consider joining my Summer Connect Groups on Faith, Race, & Justice?
That's my invitation to you.
I'm praying for you Markey Church.
I love you.
May God's Spirit continue to guide us as we seek God's Kingdom here on earth just as it is in heaven.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor David
