How would you fill those blanks in?
My good friend Sarah Bessey [slash i read her blog and she once tweetered me] has literally just released her latest book, ‘Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith’ which you can buy over here [and probably should!]
Today Sarah is hosting a synchroblog where she invited close personal friends [slash anyone who stumbled upon her blog] to write a post based on the above title.So i thought i would take her up on it:
i used to think the Race Conversation in South Africa was IMPORTANT and now i think it’s CRUCIAL
It took me three years living in Americaland [18 months in Kensington in Philly and 18 months in Downtown Oakland] and watching stories such as Trayvon Martin and Ferguson and others for me to wake up to the necessity of me being actively involved in the conversation and events in South Africa.
Now that we’ve been back here for over a year i see it more and more every day. The Matthew 25 telling of the story of the sheep of the goats where how we practically look after the marginalised and needy seems to be related to eternal salvation and the whole of the book of James which urges us to live out that which we say we believe.
The shift went from IMPORTANT which i think allows you to sit back and think ‘Someone should do something about this’ to CRUCIAL which forces me to believe ‘i need to be doing something about this’.
Just yesterday i read a blog post from someone who criticised my stance calling every pastor in the country to be having this conversation in front of and with their congregation. Any time i read someone trying to convince me using the Bible that God only wanted us to look after Christians i get really nervous – everything about Jesus continually reached out to those outside – women, children, lepers, Samaritans, drunkards and prostitutes, women caught in sin… inviting them in with messages of forgiveness coupled with “Go and sin no more” but never giving up on those outside of the church to be able to focus on those in it.
This is not a bonus for Christ followers. This is the kingdom, found in Isaiah 61, which Jesus points at Himself and then us:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
In verse 8 he continues with:
“For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
That seems to be quite explicit – if God HATES robbery and wrongdoing and LOVES Justice, doesn’t that suggest that we need to do the same, not as an optional extra, but as the very basis of a lived out faith.
Whenever the church stays in the building at the expense of what happens outside i think we have started to lose the plot. But when the people of God gather together to be informed and strengthened and encouraged and taught and built up as they worship together for the purpose of hitting the streets and being salt, light and the fragrance of Jesus, then i think we are a whole lot closer to achieving the mission he left for us to be a part of.
So i read up and i listen and i expand on my understanding of the history of my country and i have marched and i am using my money and continually trying to discern where and how i should get more involved.
The “Least of These” in South Africa are typically the poor which for the most part still means black people (although this is gradually changing) and so we HAVE to be involved somehow. Not with all the poor in every possible way. But each of us with some of the poor in the best of possible (sustainable, uplifting) ways so that long term difference can be achieved.
i used to think the Race Conversation in South Africa was IMPORTANT and now i think it’s CRUCIAL
good thoughts! 🙂
Love this! Have you read “Radical Reconciliation” by Curtis DeYoung and Allan Boesak? I’m reading it now and don’t exactly agree with everything they say, but there is so much good stuff in it (and very cool seeing it from an SA AND USA perspective!) One of the biggest things that jumped out at me in reading it was he points out that most of the time when the Bible talks about robbery, it’s used against RICH people. We think of crime as something poor people do— but in the Bible, it’s the rich people who are called out for robbing the poor. Mind. Blown. Also they have a great chapter on using Zaccheus (a corrupt tax collector colluding with the power structure) as an example of what it looks like when salvation comes to a house– he reconciles with God AND with his neighbors by paying them back what he stole, even though it hurts him financially a ton). Anyway, so appreciate your thoughts on this, and please keep writing about it! 🙂
Thanks Steph. I have not heard of that book but definitely sounds like one to look out for. Love the example of the story of Zacchaeus seen in that way!
Yes! You’ve really hit on something that we as the church need to be more awake and attune to. I love your challenge at the end: “Not with all the poor in every possible way. But each of us with some of the poor in the best of possible (sustainable, uplifting) ways so that long term difference can be achieved.”
Thanks Lizzie. i think there actually are a whole lot of people who are doing this around the world and some really well… but not everyone by a long shot and we can get so distracted by me and us things along the way…
“The shift went from IMPORTANT which i think allows you to sit back and think ‘Someone should do something about this’ to CRUCIAL which forces me to believe ‘i need to be doing something about this’.” Don’t we all tend to fall into this state? It is easier to lean back and push our fingers out at others when we should be the one doing something.
This is a good one and I think it is a crucial lesson not just in terms of racism but in putting forth all the changes we desire.
Thanks for stopping by and you are right in terms of this being far beyond just racism and we could do a whole lot better starting all conversations by staring deeply into the mirror.
Thanks for sharing this Brett – and totally stand with you on this. Thank you.
Thanks James! Appreciate the encouragement.
While I’m American and so can’t speak well to the history of South Africa, I think we can definitely agree that the race conversation in countries colonized primarily by white Europeans who were bent on using slave labor/slavery to build their nations is imperative. We can’t really move forward until we can admit the long-term impacts of how our nations were created, the tensions and genocide and subjugation that are really part of the bones that make up the body of our countries.
In America, we are trying (albeit, largely failing when it comes to politicians or actual laws being changed/affected) to reckon with it. The people who are living out the everyday are beginning to reckon with it/recognize it. I hope it continues, and we can begin to admit that the slate of history never totally wipes clean, that everything is affected by what came before.
Loved this blog as part of Sarah Bessey’s linkup. I’m trying to read through all of them after posting my own, and it’s going to be quite an undertaking. I’m excited to try, though, and glad that I found yours.
Thank you so much Katie. Being in Americaland for three years before returning here in August last year helped me build up the desire and realization of the crucial need to be involved back here. So have been watching your situation for a number of years. Very different story in some ways but so much overlap as well. Have shared a lot of American bloggers like Austin Channing thoughts to try and unpack white privilege and more to our country folks this side. Definitely a long term struggle and journey but so do worth it. Will try check out your blog when next i am at my computer. Thanks for stopping by and for commenting. If you get a chance check out the Taboo Topics tab I have as there are some powerful stories of rarely spoken about topics including race over there.
Love Brett fish
Brett, thanks for writing. I live in the southern United States, so racial reconciliation is on my mind often. You wrote, “Whenever the church stays in the building at the expense of what happens outside i think we have started to lose the plot.” I couldn’t agree more.
Thank you so much Megan. Appreciate your visit. Have been watching the situation over there with much interest since we lived over there for three years.
Brett, thanks for writing. I live in the southern United States, so racial reconciliation is on my mind often. You wrote, “Whenever the church stays in the building at the expense of what happens outside i think we have started to lose the plot.” I couldn’t agree more.
Bold and well-said, Brett! It gives me hope to see the global conversations around race reaching this point of crucial – I agree completely. Thanks for participating!
Thank you so much. Your book is flying to Americaland to us at the end of December as some friends bring it over for Christmas. Strength and love, b