By: Jeremy Ng and Rev. David McCleary
HEY PASTOR DAVID…
I have been wanting to continue this conversation but I know I’m not an expert. Even though anti-racism and anti-oppression is part of what I studied at school and is part of my life as a social worker, there’s so much I don’t know. I’m glad we can do some back and forth here to keep this conversation going. Here are some thoughts I’ve been having:
As I have been listening to individuals talk and share, I have been encouraged by the willingness of those who want to do something, who see the injustice happening, and want to be a positive force for change. For some, the escalating events all around us makes us realize that this cannot be ignored any longer.
Except there’s no easy way to do this. There’s no easy button. There’s no way to engage in racial justice or challenge systemic racism without taking any risk. If it was easy, it would have been done by now.
When I think of what’s been helpful for me to try and understand my role in engaging in this work, a lot of it has started with listening. Reading books written by black authors, getting educated on the history of racist systems and policies, listening to podcasts and paying attention to solutions that are offered. Even though I don’t love social media, expanding my world on twitter and following a variety of voices has been both a huge challenge and incredibly refreshing. Even as we have this conversation, I know I have to pause instead of reacting to how I feel. Even though this is my work, I have to be willing to admit and acknowledge that maybe I don’t know as much as I think I do.
I think my challenge to those who want to start is to do the hard work of understanding what the issues really are. We need to understand our own privilege and how we participate in a system that exists to benefit the powerful. My hope is that we do this as a community, because it’s going to take more than one person to create change, it will take all of us.
PASTOR DAVID. As you start seeing folks jump on in a more meaningful way, what are your thoughts? Where do you want people to start doing this work?
HEY JEREMY:
It is an interesting moment in all of our lives. It seems that all the world is in upheaval from the pandemic to the ever increasing cycle of protest spreading like a rash across the face of the globe. Most recently it is the killing of George Floyd at the hands, rather the knees, of police that has set alight the smouldering rage that has been just below the surface for Black people and other marginalised communities who continue to be held down by ongoing years of of harmful, discriminatory treatment at the hands of white society.
As a result of all this unrest, we find ourselves in a unique moment in human history. For a very long time many Canadian Christians have taken shelter in two assumptions. The first being that our faith is a private matter. The second is that because we are Canadians, the smiling, friendlier and kinder neighbours of the United States, that we don’t have a problem with racism or unfair, prejudiced systems in Canada – and that as Christian people we are not participants or benefit from those unjust systems either.
As a result of the nearly daily happenings we are bearing witness to we are forced to reevaluate our lives individually and collectively. We are being pressed on every side by the issues of our day. Moment by moment we are being asked to decide what we will do and how we will move forward, as people, as a country, as a world. Are we on the side of justice or not? This is all the more true for us as a church family.
At the top of mind these days for many are the protests in response to the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the police. If we are honest with ourselves, we can clearly see that there are systems in place in society that benefit some people more than others. But many of us are still a little frightened to say that “Black Lives Matter” or BLM because it seems to imply that other lives matter less or that Black Lives are more important. Looking at the way society is constituted and the demands of the group shows this is not so. BLM is simply asking for people to respect that Black Lives Matter TOO. It is an affirmation that Black lives are as valuable to us as any other group in society.
This is consistent with the teachings of Jesus and the faithful witness of Scripture. And it is certainly in keeping with the fundamental Christian principle that we are all made in the image of God, and that Jesus died to make us all right with God forever. With George Floyd’s death, we see the difference in treatment through the lens of the policing of Black people. Before that we were seeing that Black people in the United States and Canada are disproportionately suffering more in the healthcare system, and suffering more devastating effects as a result of the pandemic. It has been reported that Black people are two times more likely to contract and die from COVID-19 than white people. Here in Toronto, we recently had the case of Leonard Rodriques, a Black personal support worker who was sent home from the hospital despite debilitating COVID-19 symptoms; he died at home two days later. We are seeing more clearly day by day that there is an underlying problem that is not at all in keeping with God’s revealed plans for His world. This unrepented of sin, of racism, of othering, of disregarding the image of God in another, if allowed to persist, will continue to slowly choke the life from the witness of the Gospel message, stealing the life from the affirming and living Word of God given to us and for us. If we continue to allow this systematic sin to dictate our lives we will continue to see a deficient, diminished and damnable reality lived by God’s people, and we will live lives far less than God means for us to live.
And you’re right Jeremy, many of us have had the privilege of being able to ignore all this stuff for a very long time. But I am guessing not so much anymore. So this all begs the question, do we want to be a part of the existing problematic systems or do we want to be a part of the new kingdom that God is showing us how to build through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? As Christians, and as the family of God in this place, we certainly can’t afford to keep on doing what we have always done. We certainly can’t keep ignoring what it is happening in the world, all around us, or in some cases happening to us. And whether that is outright racism that we are seeing or experiencing, or realising that we have a part to play in making it better for everyone, as Christians our job is to love God with everything we have and to love our neighbours as ourselves (no matter what our neighbour looks like). So by all means do your homework, consult the resources listed for you above, talk to your Black friends and other non white people you know, or other marginalised community members to hear what they have to say.
For me, the answer is obvious, though the solutions may not be. We have work to do on a number of fronts, all of us, together and individually:
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Our Baptist roots demand a separation of church and state, but this does not mean that we are exempt from commenting on or critiquing the state or actively working to remake the world according to Jesus’ ideals (see Matthew 5 for refreshers!).
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We need to abandon the idea that we can somehow separate our salvation from acting in good faith to help God’s kingdom come, as we do His will. And just like the disciples had different ideas about what that kingdom should look like and what Jesus was talking about, we as Christians need to align our ideals and actions with the way Jesus envisioned the world (see Luke 10:25-37 for reference).
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I am persuaded more and more as I read Scripture, in seeing how Jesus deals with different people, situations and issues, that He means for us to be in the world in a completely different way than we have been living. He means for us to do church and life differently. (see John 10:10: A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.) Jesus means for us to live our best lives through Him and through our ministrations to the world. That is the ministry of reconciliation that God invites us to through Christ Jesus. Clearly this is not fully realised in the world….yet! But with God’s help and guidance, with God’s love we can make this world a better place for all His people.
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My prayer is that God will speak to all our hearts about how we can make real and give us His life so that we can live out the truth of the first prayer Jesus taught us, so that His kingdom would come and that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven….
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For a way to listen, read, and to start doing the work, here is a fantastic list of resources from an Anglican anti-racist group I am part of:
* A quick note about community. I’m used to writing blogs on my own and I was planning to write another follow up one to last week. Even in my desire to rush through and put something out there, Tim reminded me to make sure we hear David’s voice. So, in speaking with David, we changed our approach to make this more conversational.