This is a season for listening to one another, especially in the Church. Listening can be difficult, especially when it draws our attention to things we are reluctant to hear.
On Pentecost Sunday, I focused on the coming of the Holy Spirit, gifting new life and skills to the Church. The Spirit of God is always at work, but especially as we consider Acts 2:1-21 during this season of life and ministry in America, how is God equipping us with a new language of heart, mind, and lips?
On the heels of my reflection, I was grateful to receive this email from one of our families, this week:
Thanks to you or whoever has organized the upcoming racial discussion series. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to participate, as my daughter is not yet aware of these kinds of issues and we’re always together these days…
I did want to mention something that I’ve observed once before (maybe when there was another race-related initiative maybe a year or two ago?), which is sometimes communicating with the congregation as if everyone in it is white.
I noticed this in reading the last couple of emails, mentioning ‘our whiteness.’ [Lord of Life] is obviously a vast majority white congregation, but I feel that assuming the whiteness of the reader/listener actually excludes the people of color who are part of the congregation (or would like to be).
If my daughter were just a couple years older, I could imagine her getting confused and asking if she was allowed to participate in such a discussion because she is (self-identified) brown, or even wondering if she were as much a part of the congregation because it sounded like they said everyone is white but she is brown.
I’m of course speaking from my own perspective/interpretation and have no idea how the few other non-white families might feel, but did want to raise the observation, as it came up once before for me as well some time ago.
Just some thoughts on working towards an even more inclusive language and approach that both acknowledges many of us likely sharing structural privilege of race, while maintaining equal space for those of different races/who have different race-related experiences. Not an easy balance! But I would want to be sure the racism discussion is relevant for and involves/invites the perspectives and experiences of whoever feels so called.
This caring and attentive mom is absolutely correct. I reached out to say that I am sorry for using language that in any way would exclude her daughter from the life of our congregation. I also would like to apologize for language or behavior that would seemingly deny or exclude others. This is never my intent.
As hard as we try, the Lord of Life staff and leadership often can’t see our own blind spots. As you can imagine, we give extensive time and attention to choosing our words and images for worship, social media, and otherwise. On occasion, that still isn’t enough.
Pastor Lenny Duncan, author of Dear Church, says, “Grace is free. But loving the neighbor has a high cost…We are called to make sure that we create conditions that are conducive to grace and not hatred.”
Thank you for being involved in ministry at Lord of Life and for being intentional about sharing words of encouragement, challenge, and correction. Together, we are able to clarify our mission and communicate more effectively to the world about a love that brings resurrection.
In faith and hope,
Pastor Lowell
In addition to many other fantastic resources, the ELCA has some information on their Racial Justice Ministries.