The House is on Fire
We never know what kind of conversations we’re going to get into when it comes to racial reconciliation, and this particular one was a bit tense. I was on a pastor’s retreat with a diverse group of pastors from around the country and the topic of the white church’s journey into understanding racism was the topic of the conversation. We had just finished meeting with a pastor who was black who leads a diverse congregation and was giving us tips on how to walk with white people around reconciliation. He said that for the first time white people are learning to talk and wrestle with race.
This didn’t sit well with the 8 pastors who were black and this led into an interesting hour long conversation. One pastor who was black made a statement that’s been resonating with me ever since he said it, “You want us to be patient with white people? The house is on fire and black people are dying and you are saying we need to be patient?”
And therein lies the problem in the church. A traumatized black and brown church are constantly dealing with racism, migro-aggressions, discrimination, etc., and an ignorant, somewhat prideful, and at times arrogant white church looks on wondering what’s going on?
It sounds eerily similar to the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he stated; “We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know we will win, but I have come to believe that we are integrating into a burning house.”
I’ve observed something so interesting since leading people in the OneRace Southern Justice Experience. Over two days we journey from Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery to know the story of race and racism. For people of color it’s traumatizing to see everything their ancestors (one generation removed mind you), and for white people it’s an awakening that they’ve come from a group of people who did such things.
This is why it’s important for white people to do their work in understanding the depth of the issue if they want to become one with their brothers and sisters of color. If my wife has trauma from her childhood and when we get married that trauma will affect our relationship. It’s important she gets the emotional healing she needs and it’s so important for me to do my own work to understand her trauma and to begin to walk with her towards healing. If I want to love my wife well with the love of Christ, I will do everything I can to understand her pain, her experience, and slowly and gently walk with her through healing.
It reminded me of the first time I was exposed to the sin of racism in our country. I had just heard Pastor Marvin Williams, a black pastor from Lansing, MI speak to our all white mega church in the suburbs of Grand Rapids, MI from Isaiah 58 and God’s heart to loosen the chains of injustice. In the sermon he talked about race in America, the church’s complicity, and his own experience of racism as an older white man called him “boy” at a restaurant while he was eating breakfast. It was in this moment that I sensed the Holy Spirit say that this is what you were going to give your life to.
Pastor Marvin was gracious enough to have breakfast with me a few weeks after this event and he encouraged me to read book after book to catch up on the deep pain that exists in the black churches experience in this country. That set me on a journey that I’m still on today as I continue to pray, study scripture, read books, visit Civil Rights places, and more than anything listen to the Holy Spirit to help me understand the fire in the house.
Below are five steps for white people to understand that the house is on fire;
Christ alone is the reconciler. It’s his work and the Holy Spirit is the driver. God longs for his church to be reconciled much more than us. Stay in the game, particularly when things get hard and learn to take the long arc of reconciliation. But have a sense of urgency to it, because a sense of urgency creates time.
Do your own work and understanding. We’re playing catch up to hundreds of years of oppression. Don’t expect people of color who are traumatized by white supremacy to help educate you unless they are willing to do so. Racial reconciliation is not about you and your feelings! You come from the culture that’s done this. Listen, lament, stay in the game when things get hard. This is why your identity in Christ is so important.
Let Reconciliation become something you are, not something you do. Don’t just do diversity for diversity's sake. Our BIPOC brothers and sisters feel this and know this and get exhausted having to constantly fit in white spaces. If you’re in a majority white space, work hard on changing the culture of the church or organization so that BIPOC feel safe, seen, and heard.
In the work of reconciliation, I’ve repeatedly heard majority culture people say, “I’m not a racist” and get defensive over it. This quote by Thomas Merton from 1967 summarizes well the point; “When I criticize a system, they think I criticize them–and that is of course because they fully accept the system and identify themselves with it.”
The reality is that the system of whiteness that was created by the sin of racism from the early part of this country has benefited one group of people over another. This is just historical fact.
And, just like the fall of Adam and Even has tainted us all, we’ve all been conditioned by the sinful and wicked system of racism.
White people are a part of a hypocritical culture and they are not aware of it. They separate themselves based on ignorance and blindness. (Tasha)
So, rather than getting defensive, allow the Holy Spirit to do the deep work of sanctification, understand all of our sinful prejudices and how culture has shaped us all, and trust Christ to move us away from racism and into the new humanity of Ephesians 2, and to the end goal of Revelation 7.
Understand how deceptive and disgusting whiteness is and how it shapes how we view everything.
Conditioned by white supremacy, just in different ways. The oppressed and the oppressor have different experiences. We’ve been conditioned, just in different ways. White men have been conditioned to have power and control, and to find identity in what we do.
Shared trauma from a different perspective. Both the offender and offended are involved in a shared event, both have been experienced. (expand upon this)
Learn to decenter yourself from the conversation. Racial reconciliation is not about you and what you have to say. We come from the oppressor group that benefited the most from this evil and wicked system.
Now is not our time. It’s been our time for 400 years as culture has naturally made life about us.
“The house is burning.” So many times in this conversation of racial reconciliation, we center white people and their feelings, while the black and brown church are in a burning house of white supremacy. This is not our time to center ourselves and our feelings.
This is why Philippians 2 is so important. If you are rooted in Christ, then you can seek the interests of others more than your own.
“We create and bolster a self through the exclusion of the Other. But if our identity is in Christ, “I am loved not because of what I have done, but because of his love for me when I did all the wrong things.” We can now move outwards towards those we disagree with or don’t see things the way we see them because of our identity being rooted and grounded in Christ.” (Tim Keller)
“If you need to spend time owning the floor, you ain’t ready for this.” (Josh Clemons)