My experience in blogging for inching up to twenty years is that racism deadens conversations. My experience also is that, while conversations are not easy to generate about race on my various postings, readers remain the same. Experience also informs me that people go silent because they are afraid to say the wrong thing.
YES. And I would add because it is a matter of discipleship. Our minds and hearts need transformation by the Holy Spirit so that we can see and honor all people as God’s image bearers, repent of the ways we’ve not done that, and seek to repair what sin has broken.
Yes, please keep talking about the issue of race. But it's not that easy to do. Twenty-five years ago a number of us worked together to create a racially-diverse church, only to be surprised by the issues that challenged us. Music was the first challenge. Our black members were uninspired by our white hymns and our white members didn't get Black music. A small detail? No, it's about the very nature of worship in most churches. And that's just the beginning of the challenges.
I’m sort of coming to the conclusion that the race issue is an American thing. In our church in Western Sydney, Australia, we have white Australians, other Europeans, Chinese, several African nations, Indian, Sri Lankan, Filipino, Arabic, - probably more nations, and we don’t tend to think anything of it. All serve and relate together. Not sure if this is unusual at all.
Yes, we need to talk about it, because it's a real issue for us.
At the same time, it wasn't the same kind of issue for the early Church, even though in Acts the Greek widows being overlooked needed to be corrected. That sort of ethnic snobbery got worked out as more gentiles came to faith in Christ, and everyone began to understand what it all meant in light of the Resurrection. For a very long time, Africans were not only accepted, they became notable saints (including at least one bishop from Africa who served in the heart of Europe in the 600s-700s - forgot his name at the moment but read about him recently). Skin color wasn't really an issue for centuries, especially in eastern Christianity. We have had problems for sure, but in terms of the actual teaching of EOrthodoxy, that has never been an issue.
Fr Stephen Freeman has written that the divide between the descendants of enslaved Africans and their Caucasian enslavers, and perpetuators of Jim Crow etc. (and also between the Native Americans and those who overran and stole their lands) can only be healed through penitence, expressed in and through Christian ritual. The problem is, how can Christians agree on such a ritual when we ourselves are so divided historically? There are so many Christians who eschew any sort of ritual (even though I can show you how they do it every week...) I applaud any Christians and churches who will do the work to get to know people, period. The barriers to simple friendship are not insurmountable. And... the whole situation is not simple - there are no cut-and-dried answers. Let us not lose hope, and do whatever we are able to do in Christ's love.
It is certainly worth writing about. Many agree that racism is wrong, or even a sin, but have little guidance on how to recognize it (especially in oneself), and how to eradicate it (especially in oneself). Please keep writing.
Amen and amen, Scot! The through line from Abraham to Revelation is both crucial and too-often ignored in Western individualized readings of the gospel. Write on!
YES. And I would add because it is a matter of discipleship. Our minds and hearts need transformation by the Holy Spirit so that we can see and honor all people as God’s image bearers, repent of the ways we’ve not done that, and seek to repair what sin has broken.
Yes, please keep talking about the issue of race. But it's not that easy to do. Twenty-five years ago a number of us worked together to create a racially-diverse church, only to be surprised by the issues that challenged us. Music was the first challenge. Our black members were uninspired by our white hymns and our white members didn't get Black music. A small detail? No, it's about the very nature of worship in most churches. And that's just the beginning of the challenges.
I’m sort of coming to the conclusion that the race issue is an American thing. In our church in Western Sydney, Australia, we have white Australians, other Europeans, Chinese, several African nations, Indian, Sri Lankan, Filipino, Arabic, - probably more nations, and we don’t tend to think anything of it. All serve and relate together. Not sure if this is unusual at all.
Yes, we need to talk about it, because it's a real issue for us.
At the same time, it wasn't the same kind of issue for the early Church, even though in Acts the Greek widows being overlooked needed to be corrected. That sort of ethnic snobbery got worked out as more gentiles came to faith in Christ, and everyone began to understand what it all meant in light of the Resurrection. For a very long time, Africans were not only accepted, they became notable saints (including at least one bishop from Africa who served in the heart of Europe in the 600s-700s - forgot his name at the moment but read about him recently). Skin color wasn't really an issue for centuries, especially in eastern Christianity. We have had problems for sure, but in terms of the actual teaching of EOrthodoxy, that has never been an issue.
Fr Stephen Freeman has written that the divide between the descendants of enslaved Africans and their Caucasian enslavers, and perpetuators of Jim Crow etc. (and also between the Native Americans and those who overran and stole their lands) can only be healed through penitence, expressed in and through Christian ritual. The problem is, how can Christians agree on such a ritual when we ourselves are so divided historically? There are so many Christians who eschew any sort of ritual (even though I can show you how they do it every week...) I applaud any Christians and churches who will do the work to get to know people, period. The barriers to simple friendship are not insurmountable. And... the whole situation is not simple - there are no cut-and-dried answers. Let us not lose hope, and do whatever we are able to do in Christ's love.
Dana
It is certainly worth writing about. Many agree that racism is wrong, or even a sin, but have little guidance on how to recognize it (especially in oneself), and how to eradicate it (especially in oneself). Please keep writing.
Dire need. It's about time.
Amen and amen, Scot! The through line from Abraham to Revelation is both crucial and too-often ignored in Western individualized readings of the gospel. Write on!