Forgiveness & Reconciliation

Posted by Susan Burton on February 15, 2013

  • Black History Month
  • Relationship Wellness Month

“Some truths have to be really pounded into the national psyche. And one of them is that history counts."
Roger Wilkins

This year with Ash Wednesday in February, we have the opportunity to consider how Black History Month and the Lenten season are related to each other. As we enter the Lenten season, we are mindful of Jesus' journey to the cross and the struggles of people throughout the world who are oppressed. Jesus regularly spoke about the difference between who God called us to be and how many in his day were practicing their faith. Consider Matthew 13: 13-16.

“Seeking reconciliation and peace involves a struggle within oneself. It does not mean taking the line of least resistance. Nothing lasting is created when things are too easy. The spirit of communion is not gullible. It causes the heart to become more encompassing; it is profound kindness; it does not listen to suspicions."
Brother Roger, Taizé Community, from "Unfinished Letter"

This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’[a ]
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

“We cannot celebrate racial progress if we remain silent about the attitudes and actions that precipitated the need for progress"
Rev. Gil Caldwell

If we entered into Lent without remembering all of Jesus' ministry, the meaning of the Resurrection would be very shallow and would not transform our hearts and minds, ears and eyes to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

So too if we only celebrate Black History Month in February. Black History Month was established to make visible the major area of United States and World History that was being left out of our education, political and theological teachings. As people of Faith who recognize that Jesus did not favor one faith or ethnicity over another, we must also recognize that the role of the church is to help society remember all of our history and how it shapes who we are today.

“In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed... It means facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you change that system."
Ella Baker

Black History is history that needs to be taught and celebrated every day. Peggy McIntosh once said in a training I attended that we "must lessen White Male military privilege...rather than recording horror, we must attribute dignity [to the people of whom we speak]". Black History doesn't start with slavery nor end with the Civil Rights Movement. If we relegate Black History to an obligatory month out of each year, we will be fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah.

Throughout this Seeking Justice calendar of resources, we have been using children's books to create resources for adults and young people because they are accessible for even the busiest of people. As Louise Derman-Sparks writes, "Children's books continue to be an invaluable source of information and values. They reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g. racial, ethnic, gender, economic class, sexual orientation and disability). The visual and verbal messages young children absorb from books (and other media) heavily influence their ideas about themselves and others, accurate (or misleading) information about people of various identities, and foster positive (or negative) attitudes about diversity. Children's books teach children about who is important, who matters, who is even visible."

“Building more prisons to address crime is like building more graveyards to address a fatal disease."
Robert Gangi

Look at the books in your house. Look at the books in your nursery and Sunday School classes. Look at the books on your assigned reading list for your classes. (You can examine magazines, videos, and all other media too.) Use the "Updated Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books"  as a tool to discover if you, your family and community are preparing yourself and those you serve to be blessed with the ability to see with their eyes and hear with their ears.

Peace for the journey,
Susan Burton

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility."
Ephesians 2: 13-16

Resources

Black History Month

Relationship Wellness

Valentine's Day

Mass Incarceration