Gena L. Thomas
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The Lords Prayer & Racial justice

6/8/2020

1 Comment

 
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Dear white Christians,
I know that some of you might get angry that I am even distinguishing us as white, but it's necessary. You might ask why, and I'll answer, but not right now. Right now I want to remind us of the Lord's Prayer. Right now I want to say that if you are looking for a place to start untangling all that you may or may not understand that is happening in the world, start there, with the Lord's Prayer.

OUR FATHER
Yes, He is all of our Father. Notice Jesus does not say My Father. He says Our. Our is a collective possessive adjective here. We all get to be a part. Not just the sinless One; no, we are family.

YOUR KINGDOM COME & YOUR WILL BE DONE
This is not about our own kingdoms. This is not about my own family, my own house, my own financial wealth. This is about God's Kingdom Come. And His kingdom is a counter-cultural kingdom, it's an upside down kingdom, it's a shalom-embodied community where everyone is seen as neighbor and everyone flourishes in his/her own way. This is a kingdom where no one is higher on the "worth" scale than anyone else. Everyone is worthy. Everyone has value not because of his/her actions, but because he/she is a HUMAN BEING MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
This is a violent confrontation with the idol of scarcity (or the scarcity mindset) that says there's not enough. There's never enough. How does this play out in what's happening right now? It plays out in privilege. Our privilege mixed with our American Dream mentality tells us (just as Egypt tried to ingrain in the Israelite psyche) that your worth is found in how much you produce, how much you own, how much you hoard, how much you keep. This idol feeds off of individuality. And we feed it so very much. It's ingrained in our very psyches. And we must be reminded every day that God is our provider, that there is enough to go around, and that we can trust the Manna that comes from above. When the Israelites when into the desert, Manna was necessary not just for their physical nourishment but also for their souls. Like them, we have come to believe the lie that there's not enough, we're not enough, our resources aren't enough ... so we hoard. We hoard resources, we hoard privilege, we hoard and build up our own kingdoms rather than building that shalom-filled community.

FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES
Why is it so hard for us as white Christians to ask for forgiveness? Why is it so hard for us to start with confession? Is it because we think it makes us look weak? Is it because we know confessing our complicity in racism requires that we take a good look at the kingdoms we've built and realize we, just like our ancestors, built them on a foundation of oppression? Is it because it requires us to scrutinize the things we've accumulated, hoarded? Our "successes"? We have trespassed against our brothers and sisters of color and we have trespassed against God. We won't move forward in this fight if we don't confess, not fake confessions of "oh I'm sorry you feel this way" or "I'm sorry if I unintentionally offended you". Nope. Not base-level statements of racism is wrong. That's not true confession. True confession says I WAS WRONG. WE WERE WRONG. WE HAVE SINNED. Full stop. We've perpetuated a horrible theology that says that white lives are more important than other lives, and what's worse, we've used the Bible to do it! Oh no, we've never said *that* out loud, but we say it with our staff makeup, with our bookshelves that have mostly/all white authors, with our constant references to white theologians, with our pulpits and church staffs, with our constant elevation of white thinkers, with the schools we choose for our kids, with the neighborhoods we choose to live in, with our outreaches. WITH OUR VALUES. Let's confess that our values have not aligned with the values of the kingdom of God.
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It's the internal sins, the sins of omission, the sins of silence, the sins of refusing to scrutinize our own lives that will keep us yelling from the rooftops that we hate racism all the while we're fighting to perpetuate it.
Father, forgive us. We know exactly what we've done.
1 Comment
Sharon Ponds link
3/19/2021 10:16:36 am

Oh my dear Lord God Gena Thomas, I belong to a prayer and racially interactive group named New Manna. I apologize time will not permit me to go into a depth, written, response right now.

Our group is meeting over Zoom from 6:00 - 7:00 this evening (EST). I do realize it is extremely late to try to contact you with an invitation to join us on the call this evening. We are a multiracial group from two close "unneighboring" cities. However, we are truly, truly, truly blessed with a wonderful group.

I Must speed up and get the point, we are meeting this evening over Zoom, it will probably be a group of no more then 10 people age range will probably be from late 30's to 71.

Our topic for this evening is "The Lord's Prayer" in the context of racial bias and healing. I just ran across your blog The Lord's Prayer and racial justice and absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, SUPER LOVE IT!!!!!! When God placed this topic on my mind, He planted it in my heart and you touched on a lot of them and much, much more.

I am making you aware that I WILL be sharing your blog, with full disclosure (perhaps you'll get new readers. With this blog, you already have me.

I must go now, but I realistically and humbly ask that you call, or email me about the possibility you may join us this evening. I am not asking you present anything, or even share in the discussion. But, I am going to read your blog and it would be wonderful if you could be present. I would be very surprised if others then the 4 I am positive that would begin to read your blog does not.

I know this is scattered, but I MUST GO NOW!

My name is Sharon Ponds, I am a 67 year old Black woman (I live in Albion, Michigan) who realizes that we must go to God about all things, asking, praying, trusting and doing as He directs. You may contact me by email at Sharonponds7@gmail.com.

Thank you for all that you do. My husband seems to do similar work that you do.

Please respond no matter what your answer is.

May God continue to bless and guide in all of your efforts. New Manna may be a blessing to you as well as you to us.

Sharon Ponds

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