“There are different walls that keep us from moving toward reconciliation with one another and often the ability to repent or the name sin is just one of those big barriers. And I think that in that, there’s a lot of shame and guilt and things that keep us from naming our sins.”
“When we’re talking about reconciliation…we [need to] really understand and allow God to have a depth of healing in our view of God, our view of sin, confession, what depths God’s mercy and love really have.”
“Ignoring [racial injustice] doesn’t actually heal it. It might make the room inside feel more peaceful, but it’s not truly getting underneath and resolving the problem.”
“There is also this reality we can’t just ignore, but we also don’t just talk about it to talk about it. There is a way in which we posture towards one another, our tone, our long-suffering, our bearing with each other, there are certain practices that the Scripture gives us that have to be part of our relational dynamic so that we can also move through it.”
“It’s not just disagreeing on a topic. I think sometimes that sometimes that’s what’s difficult when we bring people together who have not had those experiences with people who have…Part of the invitation to healing is to say, ‘I’m choosing, I’m allowing these things to keep me blind [to my role in perpetuating injustices].’”
“Reconciliation is a very intimate act. If you’ve had a breach in a relationship with your spouse, with a coworker, or a teammate, or a kid, that’s very painful, it’s emotionally distressing and then the healing of it, typically when you experience those breakthroughs of reconciliation, usually it makes the relationship far more intimate and trustworthy. And I think we are trying to pursue something very intimate with all of our weapons still out.”
“You can’t just move to the intimate act of reconciliation in the midst of a severe fight…We have to have ways to help remind each other to be still. ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ To let him lead us by still waters and restore our soul.”
“To be an oppressor, to be harming God’s image bearers, that’s a serious deal, and there is something sad there that we can lament. And I think that helps us then move out of frustration.”
“If you are majority white and have very little diversity in your congregation, the best way to move forward right now is to find another sister church that is very diverse, African-American or Latino, that are leaders in your city…and walk with them for a few years.”
“How we treat a lot of times in my experience our Spanish-speaking pastors and congregations, we would never treat a church across the street from our own culture that way. I think we’d actually be really embarrassed if some of the conversations we have in board meetings were publicly exposed.”
“What I’ve been really encouraged by this last year is that there seems to be a lot more solidarity among Latino, Asian, and African American leaders…That gives me hope that we’re beginning to come together in really important ways.”
Mentioned in the Show by Dennae Pierre
City to City North America
“Healing Prayers & Meditations to Resist a Violent World” by Dennae Pierre
Surge Network
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