I want White people to repent…
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
No…I am not the Lord! Yet, if this is His wish – His desire, how can I desire anything else? Anything less?
Yet in our culture – even amongst those of us who proclaim ourselves Christian, there is an aversion to repentance.
You can’t really talk about that word…
It’s too “Jonathan Edwards” for the Western Mind. And we have long abandoned any nothings of a Righteous God, Whose Righteousness requires Justice.
So even when we begrudgingly express the wrongness of our history and its contributions to the wrongness of our present, we are loathe to repent…
But I’ve been thinking about that a lot.
When doing workshops and small groups on racial reconciliation, I give this formula…
reconciliation = repentance + forgiveness
We are great-ish with the forgiveness part…
Reminding the ones who have been wronged of their Christian duty to forgive. In matters of race, it’s always expected that the people of Color will forgive Whites – in specific (i.e. Dylan Roof) and in general (i.e. a culture that gives sanctuary to White supremacy & supremacists).
And like clockwork it always happens…
And then it’s proclaimed to be a triumph of the Church that the darkies have made peace with injustice.
In Central Florida, where I have lived since 2013, we have the example of Trayvon Martin’s murder and Zimmerman’s acquittal. All throughout those series of events, people protested but at no time did any violence break out.
When speaking with one of my clergy brothers (who is White), he gave credit to the work of the Church.
He didn’t realize how incredibly offensive his statement was.
Now…not that I am saying that I wanted violence to break out. I did not. And, in a sense, I do thank God that no violence broke out, yet I also lament…
His statement seemed innocent on the surface – praiseworthy even! Why would I be offended by a comment, giving glory to God for preventing violence.
But, I’m from St. Louis and have lived outside Baltimore. I’m familiar with the both the Lou and Charm City. I have relationships in both of those cities, both within the Church and without the Church.
I know the Church was also working in both of those cities.
Yet, violence broke out…
Was he saying that the faith of the Churches in Central Florida is somehow more transcendent than the faith of the Churches in St. Louis and Baltimore?
I was offended because I saw things at a different level…through the lens of White Supremacy, in Florida – where its most insidious forms thrive.
And so I understood thatthe Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, and other Protestant sects united to keep the people calm. In the wake of no justice, they compelled the people to peace.
In the hugest – yes, hugest – testimony of this, someone who moved to Central Florida from Chicago around 2013 praised the work of Central Florida Churches saying: “I applaud you and encourage you as men of God. Preachers in Chicago don’t necessarily do this.“
I guess he somehow wasn’t aware of Chicago’s Fr. Michael Phleger…?
In Central Florida, encouraging acquiescence to injustice and vigilantism is an example of how the Church considers itself to be sharing the Gospel…
Not repentance for injustice…
For a system that is capable of such injustice…
Just a sense of “let’s move on, pretending to be one while noticeably separate.”
And, it is the same throughout the Country…
I pick on Central Florida because this is where I live. Yet, I could say the same of most regions in the Country.
People are supposed to be grateful for the privilege of having been abused and mistreated by White Power.
And the job of the Church is to encourage the people to “stay the course” by reassuring them that White supremacy is still the best option for global security and prosperity…
Or at least for national security and prosperity…
The Church is not about to encourage White power to repent of its heretical ideology and resultant contributions to the degradation of humanity.
More and more, people are reaching out to me…I guess because I’m a Member of Executive Council for the Episcopal Church, asking me why – as a Black man – the Presiding Bishop isn’t more vocal about White supremacy…
I’ve had to remind them: Bp. Curry may be a Black man. But he is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church…the Church of America. His job is to bless and sanction American Exceptionalism, and thereby White supremacy. To let us all know that the world is in good hands…”God is on the Throne,” and White Power is still in control.
But what if we – if he didn’t accept that reality and role? What if the power of Whiteness was removed as an intermediary between the Church and God?
Don’t you think God would have the Church compel Whiteness to repent?
But we don’t talk about repentance…
Because Babylon doesn’t want repentance…Babylon doesn’t want you to consider repentance.
Because if you repent, then you will leave Babylon and be about our Father’s business.
And that’s what I want for White people. I want you to leave Babylon and come along the true Way of the Kingdom…
Not my way…
No, no, no!
But the Way as prescribed by our Lord and passed down through the Apostles and Holy Ones of the Church Universal, onto us in the Now.
It is our forgotten medicine, as the Fathers would say. It is that thing we are missing, that if we avail ourselves of it, would indeed make us the Great Nation we could be and that we need to be.
And I so want America to be a great nation…
The type of nation that would point humanity to oneness…the type of nation that would invite humanity to oneness…welcome humanity into oneness…
From every nation and every creed…both at home and abroad.
I want America to be the nation that finally liberates humanity from the tyranny of the machine so that we can all bask in the Liberty won for us by Jesus Christ…
So that our posterity might have chance to know that Liberty…
I want America to be a Great Nation…the type of nation that is able to lead other nations in beating their swords into ploughshares, not fueling a global arms race that risks creation’s survival.
On June 30, 1936, before the League of Nations where the United States, France, Great Britain, et al had turned their backs on Ethiopia and sacrificed the Free and Christian nation to the fascist colonialist bloodlust of Italy, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God and Light of this World, His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I warned the Western Christian world: “it is us today, it will be you tomorrow.”
After the carnage of World War II, His Majesty returned to the successor of the League, i.e. the United Nations, where he reminded leaders of the World of his prophecy:
Twenty-seven years ago, as Emperor of Ethiopia, I mounted the rostrum in Geneva, Switzerland, to address the League of Nations and to appeal for relief from the destruction which had been unleashed against my defenseless nation, by the Fascist invader. I spoke then both to and for the conscience of the world. My words went unheeded, but history testifies to the accuracy of the warning that I gave in 1936.
In his concluding remarks on the equality of personhood & freedom of humanity, he said this words:
On the question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa Conference taught, to those who will learn, this further lesson:
that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned;
that until there are no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation;
that until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes;
that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race;
> that until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained. (emphasis mine)
I want America to be a Great Nation…
The type of great nation that at long last has a satisfactory answer on the question of racial discrimination…
And is able to present the world with the model of Beloved Community, where neither Jew nor Greek, Slave nor Free, rich nor poor, Black nor Brown nor White, male nor female, but all are one…as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are One.
The type of great nation that not only would draw immigrants like a moth to a flame, drawn by the fire (#MrsJacksonIf)…
But the type of great nation that would inspire other nations to stretch out their hands to God as well.
The type of great nation that – through Love – compels others to “Throw Down Your Arms and Come.”
What type of Nation do you want America to be?
How do you define American Greatness?
If you have a lofty idea of American Greatness, or if you want to explore your conception of American Greatness at a deeper level, I want to share an invitation with you…
For what’s a sermon without an invitation, right?! LOL #VirtualAltarCall
From time to time – as the Lord gives me a word, I come out from the wilderness to share my thoughts. I also work to build a Beloved Community of sisters and brothers who want to train for overcoming the spiritual warfare being made manifest in our present social realities.
So, #Won’tYouCome and join our virtual community? It will only cost you your email address and a commitment to be engaged with one another…
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May the definition you hold true be one that is praiseworthy and honoring of our God! May the Lord give you eyes to see the hope and peace in our midsts if you would repent! May He give you comfort and blessed assurance, knowing that true greatness awaits America if she would just repent!
I hope that we can share in this journey together…helping each other and one another to #WalkWorthy!
In peace,
Jabriel+