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Almost There, But Not Quite Yet – Part 2

In a culture filled with chaos and confusion, faithful and committed Christian communication is needed more than ever. Disruption is the new normal and the Church is called to lead on demonstrating to a watching world “unity in Christ.”

 

Unfortunately, politics, racism, and religion have replaced the Word of God in guiding some people’s beliefs, habits, attitudes, and actions. Thoughts, feelings and emotions that are believed to be at odds with ones integrity can cause people to lash out at others. Even if that integrity has been built on a false narrative. But even though “the flowers fade, and the grass will wither, the Word of God lasts forever.”

 

Most of us remain trapped in the narrow framework of the dominant liberal and conservative views of race in America, which with its worn-out vocabulary leaves us intellectually debilitated, morally disempowered, and personally depressed.

 

The Barna Group validated what we presented in Part 1. Their research uncovered, what every person of color already knew – “Church’s efforts toward unity in recent decades seem to be insufficient in helping to understand or rectify the challenges experienced by worshippers of color, especially Black individuals, for whom issues of race in the U.S. are front and center.”

 

“Our truncated public discussions of race fail to confront the complexity of the issue candidly and critically. The predictable pitting of liberals against conservatives, Great Society Democrats against self-help Republicans, reinforces intellectual parochialism and political paralysis.

 

We confine discussion about race in America to the ‘problems’ Black people pose Whites rather than consider what this way of viewing Black people reveals about us as a nation.

 

This paralyzing framework encourages liberals to relieve their guilty consciences by supporting public funds directed at ‘the problems’; but at the same time, reluctant to exercise principled criticism of Black people, liberals deny them the freedom to err. Similarly, conservatives blame the ‘problems’ on Black people themselves and thereby render Black society misery invisible or unworthy of public attention.

 

Hence, for liberals, Black people are to be ‘included’ and ‘integrated’ into ‘our’ society and culture, while for conservatives, they are to be ‘well behaved’ and ‘worthy of acceptance’ by ‘our’ way of life. Both fail to see that the presence and predicaments of Black people are neither additions to nor defections from American life, but rather constitutive elements of that life.” This description provided by Princeton Professor Cornell West highlights the need for a new conversation. A non-political and biblical conversation that emphasizes that we must always prefer people over any pleasures that might bring us joy.
These conversations must be grounded in equity. Not equity from the Republican perspective of identity politics or the Democratic perspective of diversity, but from the Kingdom party perspective of the Imago Dei. The Bible teaches about the value of work and the value of equal opportunity. The most productive and progressive society is one in which every member has full and unencumbered access.

 

Equity is not a program or initiative; it is a belief, a habit of mind. As I have stated many times: What you believe about someone determines how you label them. Those labels dictate how you (and others) choose to engage or disengage with them. Achieving true equity must be a moral imperative, and it serves as a central and essential component of any attempt to achieve the unity Jesus speaks of in the Bible.

 

Equity is not a guarantee that everyone will succeed. Instead, it assures that everyone will have the opportunity and support necessary to succeed. In an equitable system, the barriers that inhibit progress are removed.

 

From the balcony, solutions exist, and we are almost there, but not yet.
As believers, we are actively taking part in the kingdom of God, although the kingdom will not reach its full expression until sometime in the future. Jesus’ parables of the kingdom picture it as yeast in dough. In other words, the kingdom is slowly working toward ultimate fulfillment. It is not sporadically “breaking through” to bring us comfort in this world. Therefore, our efforts will need to be continuous and not a point-in-time solution.

 

It starts with forming or enhancing relationships with outgroup members; not pushing away from them.

 

“Forming relationships with outgroup members can have
myriad individual benefits, helping individuals widen their social circles, feel less stress and anxiety in intergroup contexts, and reduce their prejudices. But to benefit from the consequences of outgroup relationships, individuals must first build them.”

 

The believer is in a lifelong struggle with the flesh (Romans 8:13). Likewise, the church is a fellowship of persons who are both new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and still imperfect sinners. As we await our glorification and the destruction of our sinful natures, we must continue our process of sanctification, the daily process of growing into the very image of Christ. We accomplish this by “exercise yourself to godliness” (1Tim 4:7) – demonstrating love one to another, activating the fruits of the spirit, engaging in conversations and actions to unify, and being God’s witness here on earth for the world to see a better way. In effect, you’re saying to Him, Father, don’t let me waste this difficult time the country faces. Use it for my long-term benefit and to enhance Your glory through my life.

 

In the meantime, stay prayerful, God is up to something. We’re almost there, but not quite yet . . .
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Is This An Aberration or Manifestation?

“A leader is a person who must take special responsibility
for what’s going on inside him or herself,
inside his or her consciousness,
lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.”  
– Parker Palmer

 

The insurrection attempt on January 6, 2021, demonstrates how a leader’s strongholds can affect other people’s beliefs, attitudes, and actions. It’s been compared to Kristallnacht, the 1938 assault by Nazis in Germany. Many say, “This doesn’t represent who we are” or “This is not who America is.” It may not be who we want to be or desire to be. Still, these thoughts ignore the patterns of behavior that define the long history of this country. I am not engaging in political conversation but addressing the strongholds of self-interest, superiority, self-absorption, and sense of entitlement that led to more harm than good. The unwillingness to recognize another’s meritorious worth or hard-earned success indicates how often we think with our beliefs rather than about them. In this, we lose our truth and ignore Biblical principles.

 

I am not referring to Ted Cruz, who, seeking to raise his notoriety, challenged election results and even voted to reject the Electoral College certification hours after the riot. I’m not referring to Giuliani, who said, “let’s have trial by combat.” I’m not referring to Eric Trump, who said, “this is the party of Donald Trump, and we’re coming for you.” Nor am I referring to Ivanka Trump who called the rioters patriots. I’m not even referring to the President who incited violence through weeks of the rhetoric of a stolen election. Then encouraged supporters to “Be there, it will be wild!” and at the rally shortly before the would-be rioters descended on the capital said, “we’re going to walk down to the capital, fight like hell and take back our country.” Afterwards he said his speech was “totally appropriate.” And even on Monday suggested that “danger could follow the Democrats’ decision to impeach him a second time.”

 

I am referring to Christians who were used to take full advantage of Christianity, the brand. Those who explicitly or implicitly endorsed – character, integrity and divisiveness don’t matter as much as policies that support self-interest. In Parker’s words, those who demonstrated that they had not taken special responsibility for what was going on inside them and how it could create more harm than good. Religious leaders used pulpits to create and justify a movement, a belief system about the “other”, and a responsibility to take action against perceived lost freedoms. Christians in Congress through their rhetoric normalized political violence. An investigation is underway looking at “potential members of Congress” who gave tours to rioters prior to the insurrection. It’s no wonder so many of those rioters at the Capitol openly stated they were Christians. Some carried “Jesus saves” signs, some carried crosses, others said it was their God-given duty to do this for the President and the country. Faith leaders have to be accountable for what’s done for present gain without regard for future costs or consequences. The Gospel requires it.

 

What is behind this undying support that sacrifices the gospel for the partisan politics of someone that doesn’t even respect them? Support that leads to beating police with a blue lives matter flag. To post on Twitter that everyone in the Capitol “is a treasonous traitor” and that “death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.” To defecate inside the Capital building and track their feces in several hallways. That using violence as a means of achieving their desires is ok. The theologian Wayne Grudem speaking on behalf of religious leaders, summarized conservative Christian support as, “Conclusions drawn by a hostile interpreter of words that a sympathetic listener would understand in a positive way. I’m not sure [the President] ever intentionally affirmed something he knows to be false, which is how I define a lie.” Many conservative Christian leaders tell their congregation the president is “God’s chosen one” which carries a different connotation than “chosen by God.” Yet McKay Coppins wrote, “Former aides told me they’ve heard Trump ridicule conservative religious leaders, dismiss various faith groups with cartoonish stereotypes, and deride certain rites and doctrines held sacred. Trump speaking about a group of religious leaders who came to pray over him, told aides: Can you believe that bullshit?” Self-interest is a stronghold that can blind leaders causing them to overlook bad behavior and personal ridicule to advance their beliefs and cause.

 

In 2 Timothy 3:2 – 4, we are provided a list of attributes that characterize the leaders of dangerous seasons. Leaders whose outward appearance or form of Christianity and virtue makes them all the more dangerous. Let’s assure we are not those of whom scripture speaks. We can do better; we can be better. We are the representatives of Christ, and our witness carries significant influence. Be it positive or negative.

 

I am not here to curse the darkness. I am here to light a candle.

 

Insurrectionist carried stun guns, batons, knives, bulletproof vests, nooses, and pepper spray as they searched out members of congress. A retired Air Force officer carried zip ties, A retired firefighter threw a fire extinguisher at officers. Nooses, unambiguous symbols of mob mentality and racial terror, were strung up on the Capitol grounds to remind everyone exactly what the rioters stood for, who they stood against, and what their intent was.

 

This scene was eerily similar to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898. America’s first and only successful coup d’etat. Erin E. Evans recaps in a HuffPost article: “During the Reconstruction era, biracial governments came to power in cities across the South. Southern Democrats often retaliated against this new power structure. On Nov. 10, 1898, a mob of white men marched on City Hall in Wilmington with their pistols and rifles to overthrow the local government and remove black political leaders from their posts. They were successful. White supremacists took over. The mob destroyed Black-owned businesses, including the town’s Black newspaper. Dozens of Black residents ended up dead.” There was a belief that Black votes were inherently illegitimate. That was the basis of electoral fraud claims back then, and it is effectively the same claim that’s being made now.

 

History reports that from his pulpit at First Presbyterian Church, The Rev. Peyton Hoge triumphantly defended the 1898 racial violence. “Since we last met in these walls, we have taken a city. . . It has been redeemed for civilization, redeemed for law and redeemed for decency and respectability. . . For these things, let us give God the glory.” Several other white Wilmington pastors also lent their voices to uphold the violent acts.

 

To understand why churches were involved in the 1898 Race Riot, it helps to know that the biblical justification of slavery and segregation hailed from many Protestant churches’ pulpits in the South in the 1800s. Pastors in the South were preaching sermons saying that slavery was indeed God’s plan for the universe. Many of the pastors misinterpreted the Pauline view in Ephesians 6:5 that “slaves, obey your earthly master with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.” They argued that slavery was not condemned in the scriptures. And used stories from the Bible to buttress their argument, such as the story in Genesis about the Hamite curse. Noah cursed his son, Ham, after the son saw his father lying naked in his tent. They preached that the descendants of Ham were Africans and should be the servants of the white race.

 

For the pastors in Wilmington during 1898, the author added, “the surprising thing would have been if they had actually stood up and said, ‘Hey this is wrong.’ That would have been shocking and unexpected. For them to have done as they did was par for the course because their beliefs agreed with the white supremacist society.” Unfortunately, history is repeating itself and the explicit or implicit acts of faith leader are creating more harm than good.

 

When we strays from the radical love of Jesus into hateful partisan faith, we see the worst. The way to a more perfect union, to a nation where equality before the law and before God is more universal, is the way of Jesus. People of faith are called again and again and again to return to the foot of the cross. It’s a terrifying place to stand. But that is where the story Christians profess begins. It is a story about love, not loathing; generosity, not greed. In our time, the will for power has all too often overwhelmed the Words of Jesus.

 

SOURCE: Star News Online, 1898 riots still resonate with Wilmington’s black churches, Amanda Greene, Nov 6, 2008. The Atlantic, The Lost History of an American Coup D’État, Adrienne Lafrance and Vann R. Newkirk II, August 2017. NYT, Jon Meacham is the author of “The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross. Baptistnews.com, Faith leaders make a case for Trump to the delight of some and dismay of others, Mark Wingfield, October 2020.

 

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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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The Contours of Culture

Dr. I. David Byrd

 

After watching the Democratic and Republican convention’s over the last 2 weeks, it is clear that America is in a cold, political civil war. She has commodified hate for political gain, and now attack people, not problems. Some want to turn hate into an asset. Both sides are impermeable to each other and have their own set of facts and realities. This existential crisis across America is baked, and neither is listening to each other. Each paints the worse picture of the other side. We even witnessed them invoking God for the purpose of political agenda. This sin of self-interest has dominated humankind’s thinking and risk the world’s belief of our witness. Given this current state of America, I felt it best we have a single focus today.

 

As believer’s in a fallen world, we can’t be neutral or negative about our love of neighbor, or our dialogue and actions, or our choices that show the world who Jesus is. Problems and behaviors based on what we believe is needed to meet our own personal desires is not in line with God’s Word. Jesus came to serve and not be served. His love is kind, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own . . . but rejoices in truth, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

 

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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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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.