Our local Presbyterian body of churches–called a presbytery–has been focus
ing our work and ministry around five essential themes found in one of Jesus’ sayings: Matthew 25. The saying contains a list of compassionate actions which those who seek to emulate Jesus ought to do.
In 2006, the Presbytery of the Western Reserve (PWR) lifted up the hunger ministries our churches support, as well as offering a resource guide for folks wanting to do more.
In 2007, we have turned our attention to “welcoming the stranger,” and decided to concentrate our efforts on how that act of compassion invites us to wrestle with the beast known as American Racism and White Privilege.
The legacy of chattel slavery has caused residents of the United States to be strangers of one another. While hosts of civil rights have been accomplished in our nation, the fact is that there is still a great lack of empathy between races and cultures.
In the context of this year of welcoming the stranger, I thought I had a pretty good handle on who constituted “the stranger.” Since African-Americans are the targets of racism, bigotry, and cultural injustice, in my mind they are automatically the stranger. And–again in my mind–Jesus is admonishing us to be more welcoming to Blacks.
Say what?? I’ve been in a couple of excellent conversations which have helped me see a little clearer. Who exactly is “us”? And who gives the power of this “us” to define who the “stranger” is? One particularly well-spoken prophet (a black woman) said to me, “I don’t feel like a stranger.” And yet in my well-meaning compassionate libralism, I was going to bend over backward to make sure I welcomed her, and people of the similar skin color as her’s.
Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Save me Jesus. Lord, I want to see. The only way I’m going to be able to welcome my sister, is to start realizing we are all strangers of one another, and we have a lot of work to do to see and know one another as people.
In the meantime, I’ve got a lot of racist deprogramming to do; I’ve got to be able to name when and where white privilege grants me advantages, call it out, and exorcize it; and, practice, wherever I have some influence and willing partnerships in working towards reconciliation.
The following documentary has been a helpful guide along the way, to remind us just how insideous racism is; how it works to get into the minds and hearts of children at a very early age.
