By Heather Hedlund
Paul often compared the Christian life to running a race. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 he says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." As we've learned in the last few months, God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. This is the race he has assigned us to run, and it's not a sprint, it's a life-long relay.
Have you ever had someone apologize to you, but you weren't sure they really meant it? Was that apology healing for you, or did it leave you angry and confused? I think John the Baptist may have felt this way when the crowds came out to be baptized by him. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming, he said, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" (Luke 3:7-8) I think he was skeptical of the sincerity of their repentance. He challenged them to follow up their statement of repentance with actions that proved they meant what they said. We show the sincerity of our repentance when we work to fix what's broken.
by Heather Hedlund
I don't know about you, but I was really happy to say goodbye to 2020 and ring in a brand-new year. So many things in 2020 felt off-course, and the new year brings a chance to set a new course, a new trajectory. The next step in our exploration of racial reconciliation is all about changing course.
We've been using the acronym GAPS as a framework for the important elements of racial reconciliation. The G stands for "Go to the person you're in conflict with," and we talked about the importance of having relationships with people of races or ethnicities different from our own. The A stands for "Admit your part of the conflict," and we looked at the importance of telling the truth about our history. The P stands for "Pray," and we've spent a lot of time on this section.
As we head into the Christmas break, we thought it would be fun to share some of the resources that members of our J&RR team have found the most helpful this year. If you're looking for Christmas gift ideas, something to enjoy over your vacation, or maybe inspiration for a New Year's resolution to learn more, we've got you covered. You shouldn't assume that we agree with everything in these resources, but they've increased our knowledge and understanding in some way and helped us to listen and understand different viewpoints.
- Coming Clean – On Oct. 18, Pastor Scott Dudley preached an excellent sermon on confession. I highly recommend that you watch the sermon again or read the transcript and think about it through the lens of racial reconciliation.
- Daniel Hill Interview – Pastor Daniel Hill along with other Chicago area pastors participated in a prayer vigil following the shooting of Laquan McDonald. His prayer of corporate confession and repentance was played on CNN followed by an interview where Hill explains the importance of confession and repentance.
- Daniel Hill Sermon - In this session from the Formed for Justice Conference at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Pastor Daniel Hill explains the sick/healthy metaphor used in the blog. The whole session is valuable, but the relevant section begins about 11 minutes in.
In my journey to understand and try to live out racial reconciliation, there has been one step that I think was key to my progress: admitting my own racism. I remember vividly the moment it became personal. For several years, my understanding of the persistence of racism had been growing through personal relationships with people of color, through news reports, and through magazine articles and books, and I was starting to recognize that racism was a real thing that people of color were experiencing regularly. But I hadn't yet implicated myself.
- Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times by Dr. Soong-Chan Rah
A prophetic exposition of the book of Lamentations that provides a biblical and theological lens for examining the church's relationship with a suffering world. - Weep with Me: How Lament Opens a Door for Racial Reconciliation by Mark Vroegop
Vroegop invites us to mourn with him over the brokenness that has caused division and to use lament to begin the journey toward a diverse and united church.
Don't have time to read a book? Check out these articles instead:
- How Lament is a Path to Praise - Mark Vroegop will introduce you to the biblical practice of lament and teach you how to start practicing it yourself.
- Pursuing Racial Justice Requires More Than Lament, but Never Less – In this interview, Vroegop explains how he was led to bring together the topics of lament and racial justice in his book Weep with Me.
"How long, O Lord, how long?" is the opening refrain of many Psalms. This is the heart cry of lament. We've been exploring the steps to racial reconciliation using the helpful acronym GAPS, and today we're looking at the P, which stands for Pray. Prayer is at the core of racial reconciliation, and the first type of prayer we'll consider is the prayer of lament.
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