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.
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.
It's that time of year. The Pumpkin Spice Latte returns to Starbucks and suddenly pumpkin spice products are popping up everywhere you turn. This year, you can even find Pumpkin Spice Mac & Cheese. Last year at this time, my son Erik was attending Confirmation Class at BelPres. His favorite week was when Anthony Ballard came to talk to the group about justice. Anthony was sharing that racial reconciliation is a popular term and it feels really good, but a lot of people don't really understand all that it involves. We tend to want to jump ahead to the part at the end where we all get along and skip all the work it takes to get there. At which point Erik coined the term "Pumpkin Spice Reconciliation." It's ubiquitous and it makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but it's fleeting and there's not a lot of substance.
King 5 is currently airing a series called "Facing Race" on Sunday evenings at 9:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to learn more and see connections to our local community. You can use these episodes as a springboard to have conversations with your family, friends, and neighbors. Here's the description from King 5 along with some links to the episodes that have already aired.
"As America grapples with racial injustice and inequity, we're talking about race. In the series 'Facing Race,' we are having brutally honest conversations and answering questions you may be too embarrassed to ask. In episode 1, we examine how we arrived at this point in American history and explain why race and white privilege matter. 'Facing Race' is a 13-week series that airs on Sundays at 9:30 p.m. Pacific on KING 5 in Seattle. See more coverage here: Facing Race on KING5
By Patricia Barnes-Cannon
When you make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ you never know where He will guide you. Many years ago, I worked as a Juvenile Probation officer in Maricopa County, AZ. On the Justice team, I began to hear His call to serve the King County Youth Chaplaincy association after the study of the book Just Mercy and the Equal Justice Initiative. I began to learn more of His mercy and grace and His purpose for me. I thank you, Jesus Christ, the Justice Team, and BelPres Church where He placed me to be a member of the body to serve you and our community.
Since 2009, King County Youth Chaplaincy has been ministering in the King County Juvenile Detention Center through chapel services, one-on-one chaplaincy with youth in the center and supporting young people through their journey in the justice process.
by Heather Hedlund
Has this ever happened to you? You wake up early in the morning and realize that you made a mistake on some work you've submitted, and it's too late to change it. That's what happened to me the morning our last J&RR newsletter went out. As I was thinking about the blog I wrote on Talking about Race, I realized that I made a classic white person mistake. In social justice terminology, it's called "centering whiteness" but here's what it means in plain English. In the United States, whiteness is considered normal. It's the default. If a writer or speaker hasn't explicitly mentioned a person's race, we generally picture the character as white. I wrote that whole article on talking about race without ever noticing that I was only talking about and for white people. Yes, I see the irony. I should have noted that as a white person I was raised to be colorblind and that it feels awkward for white people to talk about race because we're out of practice. Families who aren't white usually talk about race a lot, not because they necessarily want to, but because they have to. I apologize for writing about my experience as though it's universal, when it certainly is not.
by Heather Hedlund
Do you find it awkward or difficult to talk about race? It may be that you haven't had much practice. Many of us were raised in an environment that aspired to be "colorblind." We thought that the best way to end racism was to be colorblind: to not take race into consideration at all. We tried to not even notice race. While this concept was well-intentioned, it turned out to be not possible, not helpful, and most importantly, not biblical. One of the outcomes of the colorblind philosophy was that we avoided talking about race at all. Since we weren't supposed to notice it, we didn't mention it. Now it feels uncomfortable to talk about race because we're out of practice.
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