About nine months ago I started listening to Upside Down Podcast. I can't quite remember how I found it, except that the Internet and social media are a tangled, mixed-up web, and one thing (or one blogger) leads to another :) I think the timing lined up with this past presidential election, a season of shock and disgust for me personally, and of tumult and unrest for our country overall. Sadly, it took that election and the immediate aftermath to snap me to attention.
The first few episodes of Upside Down Podcast hit me hard.
The hosts were discussing poverty and race and the Church in ways I had never considered, mostly because my own experience and education are rooted in my own privilege. Anyway, I listened. I prayed and I thought and I listened some more. I shared aloud with Joel a little, but mostly I tried hard to listen. And to listen well, with ears and a heart that were ready to be softened and convicted and challenged.
The last nine months, for me, have been a season of listening, and of coming to understand (a teeny, tiny bit) the reality of racism and poverty and marginalization in our country. The reality of the role I have as Christian, and as a parent of the next generation of Americans. Though I desperately want to change hearts, and actions, all over, I have the most influence on the heart attitudes of my own children and those within my personal community.
So. The time for me to speak up is now. I have listened and will continue to listen and learn.
But I know enough to be confident that I cannot be silent, and carry on as usual. I must speak to my children, and those within my sphere of influence, about God's word and what it says about people and how Jesus came live and die and rise again... to set them (us) all free. I must be honest about our country's history of prejudice, and I must expose my kids to the beauty of diversity as much as I can. I must tell them that racist acts and attitudes like we witnessed in Charlottesville this week are despicable in the eyes of the Lord. I must guide them toward seeking justice and looking out for the downtrodden of society, and for those in their lives who need an ally or an advocate or a friend.
There is so little I can do; one person in one family in one small, mostly white, suburban town.
But my children and my friends and my children's friends should see in me the love of Jesus.
They should see in me a heart that is open to hearing hard truth.
They should see in me a mind that is willing to confess my own sin and my own role in calling racism what it is, and in stopping the spread of hateful attitudes and acts toward people of color.
I've compiled a list of great resources below, particularly for Jesus followers who may be in the place I was nine months ago or the place I am in today.
These folks are clear and relevant. They've been incredibly helpful to me as I wrestle through the things I've learned, and especially following the events of this past weekend.
1. Upside Down Podcast (My favorite episode is their interview about "The Talk" that black people give their children, with Tyler Burns, which aired last December. Search for it right away. So eye opening!)
2. This sermon, given by a friend of mine who pastors a church in suburban New Jersey.
3. A poignant article by Jemar Tisby, a man I've recently started listening to (on another great podcast, Pass the Mic)
4. A personal, practical blog post (the author writes as a mother of black, and white, children)
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