As I sat in the circle of chairs, I was incredibly nervous for the response to my question, “Why did you join this study?”
In the summer of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, I sat with 12 congregation members on the front lawn of the church I was serving at the time, getting ready to do a book study about racial justice. Our work was prompted by the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests and actions that followed. On top of that, the community we were in claimed the top spot on USA Today’s list “Worst Cities for Black Americans to Live In.”
No one doubted we had work to do, but I wasn’t sure how it would be received.
It was clear that the group was uncomfortable and felt uneasy. But they still engaged. The answers to my question varied: “I just want to understand why folks feel the way they feel.” “Some of my closest loved ones are Black, and I feel like I owe it to them.” “I dunno, just seems like the right thing to do.”
We had to face some truly uncomfortable truths. Uncomfortable truths about the history of our community. Uncomfortable truths about how microaggressions often go unnoticed. Uncomfortable truths about the pain racism still causes today.
I’ll never forget the prayer that one of those study members shared on our last day. A gruff, 80-year-old Iowan, praying earnestly, “Lord, help us see the sin of racism in our everyday lives, and forgive us for it, so that we may make this world a better place for everyone.”
Sometimes, we face uncomfortable truths. But when we open ourselves to understanding one another, and work together in community to build God’s kingdom on earth, the transformation that can occur is worth chasing after.
Our Education and Advocacy team is helping our own church do some of that work this Sunday. At the same time, I encourage you to find those opportunities for unity in your own lives. I invite you to open yourself up to different perspectives. I invite you to do the work of building community and wholeness for all.
We may be divided as a society. But as the late great Maya Angelou wrote, “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
May God make it so.
Bryce
