May 18, 2008

• The Sacred Day of Dialogue and Discussion

  B"H

  In a few hours I will join with the Pastor of a local ELCA congregation (Grace Evanston) and the pending head of their church council for a dialogue on race.

   

  b) ELCA NEWS SERVICE

   

  April 18, 2008

   

  ELCA Council Acts on Resolution on Racism, Other Proposals

  08-048-MRC/FI/JB

   

       CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a resolution on racism, … and acted on several other proposals.

       The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between assemblies.  The council met here April 11-13.  Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 17-23, 2009, in Minneapolis.

       The council's actions and discussions included:    

       + Racism: In response to "amplified conversations about racism" and the 15th anniversary of the ELCA social statement, "Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture," the council adopted a resolution on this topic. The resolution noted that the National Council of Churches USA issued a call to observe May 18 as a "Sacred Day of Dialogue and Discussion." The council said it seeks God's forgiveness "for our complicity in perpetuating individual, cultural and institutional racism," and reaffirmed its commitment to become increasingly antiracist.  It invited ELCA members to join the commitment and engage in sustained dialogue.  The council asked churchwide staff, in consultation with the Office of the Presiding Bishop, to develop discussion materials that would use the social statement to help guide ELCA members in their conversations about racism."

   

  This, local Lutheran Pastor, is none other than my upstairs neighbor and new-found friend, Rev. Daniel Ruen. I have made mention of Pastor Dan and his wonderful wife, Clare, here several times. They moved here to Evanston in April of 2007 and over the course of the past 12 months we have had many fun celebrations and deep spiritual conversations. Most recently, the issue of race and the potential fallout from the comments of Rev. Wright, were a topic of discussion. Somewhere in the midst of it all, Pastor Dan mentioned that he would be leading a dialogue on race as suggested by his denomination, the ELCA, and the NCC (National Council of Churches) this Sunday, May 18^th. Stemming from several conversations that we have had, Pastor Dan asked if I would be interested in joining in on this dialogue. Being that race relations within the Body of Believers is one of my top priorities, how could I say no?

   

  Anne Laurence, the soon-to-be President of the Grace Evanston church council, recently attended an anti-racism workshop run by Crossroads Anti-racism Training and Organizing. She felt that this workshop was very enlightening, but ”…I agree that it would be amazing to frame this in the Christian context of confession, forgiveness and empowerment.” I have shared this same type of response on many occasions. I appreciate and agree with the social critique offered, but find the proposed forward action lacking at best. (I want to add at this point that I understand that Crossroads is primarily focused on identifying and dismantling institutional and systemic racism, whereas I have mostly emphasized the individual application of “the New Birth.” I don’t believe it’s possible to build a brave new world without first finding ‘new’ or transformed people for the project.)

   

  After a nice lunch with Anne and Pastor Dan this past Wednesday, we formulated a program that we hope will be helpful to the members of Grace Evanston, and any present visitors, in this on-going dialogue on race. I am giving the readers of this blog, few though you be, a sneak preview of the thoughts that I will be sharing.

   

  1.   The Fallacy of Color Blindness – Allowing our vision of the future to function as a guide for the present. Rev 7:9-10

  2.   The Distinction Between Individual Racism and Institutional (Systemic) Racism – We’re all in this together, but our experiences are not the same.

  3.   Moving Beyond ‘blame and shame’ – Recognizing our true enemy and the nature of the war we are waging. Eph 6: 12 “… not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers …”

   

  Hopefully, this evening when I go to work, I will post more of the specifics about this event and some of the immediate reactions to our program. I am greatly honored to be invited to participate in this event and I hope it is only the first of several such dialogues. I ask for the prayers of the brethren.

   

  Blessings,

   

  Shlomo

   

  • 6:26 am
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