Mar 29, 2009
An Open Discussion on Racism
I’m excited to be hosting my first open discussion with a Sunday School class from High Point Church regarding my Contemporary Issues Study Guide that goes with Coffeehouse Theology. Dietrich Gruen is involved in leading the class and has sent some material for me to review as a springboard for the discussion. I welcome comments from those in the class and those just following along online.
Here we go…
Jin S. Kim is founding pastor of Church of All Nations, and he delivered an address titled “Walking Humbly,” at the 218th General Assembly of the PCUSA on June 24, 2008. I have pulled a few key quotes from the sermon, but I encourage you to read the whole thing if you have ten minutes. I’ll begin with some highlights and then move on to personal and biblical reflection.
WALKING HUMBLY
Kim begins with hopeful stories from Church of All Nations that serve as an appropriate foil for the status quo approach to race in America:
“Today, we all seem to be caught up in a virtuous cycle of lifting up and valuing other individuals and cultures, to “consider others better than oneself.” The culture of public confession, corporate repentance, joyful celebration and vulnerable relationality that we have cultivated at Church of All Nations is key to understanding the dynamism and eschatological hope evident in our life together.”
He goes on to address the larger problem of racism in American particularly.
“How do we justify oppression, slavery, the theft of land, theft of labor, genocide, rape and exploitation of every kind done unto non-European peoples? How do these Christians break every one of the Ten Commandments, violate the Beatitudes, and defy every teaching of Jesus in perpetrating a global holocaust on to non-white peoples around the world? How do Christian nations do that? It’s really simple. Invent racism.”
He follows this with a particularly powerful diagnosis of the origin and function of racism in America—points that Christians cannot afford to ignore:
“It’s clear that racism is a philosophical construct, one invented by Christian nations to absolve themselves of the atrocities of empire, to do what every power-hungry nation has done to another, and still call themselves Christian. It’s one of the biggest self-deceptions ever invented in human history, and that self-deception continues to undergird American life.”
Kim’s sermon ends with a powerful confession:
“On behalf of all Korean immigrants in this country, I apologize to you, my African American sisters and brothers, and ask your forgiveness. On behalf of all Korean immigrants, I also apologize to our Native American sisters and brothers for benefitting from the land that was stolen from you. And on behalf of all Korean Americans, I apologize to my white American sisters and brothers, for when we as Asians gladly exploit the “model minority” myth for our own advantage, we are complicit in perpetuating racial divisions and the dehumanization of us all. I humbly ask all of you: Please forgive me and my people, by the grace of God.”
RACE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
You cannot avoid race in scripture—at least you should not be able to avoid race. The latter New Testament (40-90 AD) is forged in the midst of racial tension, oppression, and unity. There are a wide variety of parties and nations struggling for superiority. First of all, there are the broad categories of Jews and Gentiles, but there were sub groups such as Romans, Greeks, North Africans, etc. Each nation and people group had conflicting aspirations, and in the pages of the New Testament we run into some of them.
The early Christians comprised a seemingly impossible blend of people. It would have been hard enough for the Jewish converts to Christianity in Galilee to partner with the Jews in Jerusalem (remember, nothing good can come out of Nazareth), to say nothing of the Jews in Gentile territories as far afield as Rome. Throw into the mix Gentile converts to Judaism, Samaritans, and Gentiles such as Roman officials, and you have a number of competing national, religious, and racial narratives.
The story of Stephen (Acts 6:8-15) illustrates the racial/national tensions present in the New Testament. Luke notes the Jews who leveled charges against Stephen immigrated from Cyrene, Asia, and other Mediterranean lands. Many commentators believe this handing over of Stephen was an attempt to gain status with the local Jews.
Pentecost settled the matter. In one of the earliest confrontations with the Jew/Gentile unity issue, Peter visits a Gentile household and witnesses the power of God’s Spirit poured out on Gentiles. What began on Pentecost continued to be shared without limits to all who believed. Though Peter later wavered in this matter among the Gentiles, Paul consistently argued for the equality of all races and peoples before God. The unmistakable mark of the Holy Spirit carried the day.
SOME REFLECTIONS ON CHRISTIANS AND RACE
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most qualified person to deal with matters of racial reconciliation. Various life circumstances have placed me in fairly homogenous settings, though I probably could have done a better job of seeking out diversity on many occasions. I remember an East Indian student who used to lead a racial awareness group in my predominantly white high school, and to my shame I failed to take the least bit of interest.
I’ve been on a continually steep learning curve in this area.
However, online interaction has made it possible to have greater dialogue across racial lines. I have learned a tremendous amount from the writings of theologians from Latin American and Asian backgrounds. I’ve been making some steps forward, but they do not absolve me from taking part in the hard work that still must be done.
A few blogs that I have found worth reading as I seek to learn from those coming from a perspective different from my own include:
First a point or two or three of irony, as we extend this talk about race, outside of class.
This sermon on racism by Jin S. Kim, entitled “Walk Humbly,” is by the one who pastors a church in NE Mpls, MN, where I once preached when I was on staff with IVCF in the Twin Cities in the 1970s/80′s, back when the church was small, all-white, struggling, very much in decline, and then known as Shiloh Bethany Presbyterian Church, and located just a few blocks from my home back then.
Today it is still a mainline church of the Presbyterian Church (USA) persuasion, but reborn as a relatively new church plant (re-organized in 2004) with evangelical zeal. It is a vibrant case study in how the Gospel has made a multi-cultural impact with 250+ believers and growing. The Church of all Nations is currently (as of 2008) 32% Asian, 37% white, 20% black, and 10% Latino, with over 20 nations represented in its membership, plus even even more denominational diversity than ethnic diversity, as they draw as many Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans as
Pentecostals, Baptists and Evangelical Free).
How ironic and interesting to me for 2nd reason: This church is now a national a case study in dealing with “racism,” THE hot topic you will recall that Barack Obama addressed during his Campaign in April of 2008. But in the sermon link the Ed reerences, the message given by the Rev Jin S. Kim is even more eloquent and gripping than Obama, when delivered from this Korean pastor’s perspective, with univeral appeal and personal application. I had never heard such a sermon on this topic, delivered with such prophetic passion, historical insight, obvious credibility and humility, and from the Korean perspective.
How ironic and interesting to me for 3rd reason: my son Eric now attends this multi-racial church. As he said, “holy crap, i just read it and was really floored. i’m excited to go there. nobody talks like that. obama doesn’t talk like that…. it was just this kind of thing, the things people don’t say out loud, cause we don’t want to think about them. kudos for forwarding this around to your crew.”
I am humbled by this message, and my/our white complicity in racism. This sermon, preached in its orginal context, has unapologetically stirred up controversy in my
denomination, the PC(USA), but it should be read and interacted by churches at all levels, in all denominations, by people of all races. And by people who do not go to church.