Intro

We’ve been navigating this framework that Tisby created called ARC. It started with AWARENESS, understanding the concept of race and the history of the Black experience in America, as well as a little about the Bible’s view on race,

But as Tisby has said, the mere accumulation of facts is not enough. This week we transition to the R of the acronym: RELATIONSHIP. Tisby actually starts with this context on page 87:

[We consider] the concept of reconciliation from a theological perspective. I believe one of the key tools in fighting racism is understanding the spiritual dimension of race relations. There is a divine morality that compels us to build or restore relationships with one another, and many of the racial justice practices highlighted here focus on what churches in particular can do to bring about reconciliation.

This is a really interesting aspect of this topic. He starts with the corporate implications of race relations and then moves in chapter 6 to the personal side, with strategies to add color into your own circle of friends. But the corporate part is really an extension of the personal. The church is made up of individuals. So for this group I’d like to flip the chapters and start there with the personal, and then come back to chapter 5 and end with the corporate, since it sounds like we, at least for this small group, seem to struggle less with personal connection to racial tension and more in reconciling that tension with what we’re experiencing corporately.

Chapter 6: How to make friends

But first! It’s not like we don’t experience tension in our personal lives with issues of race. All of us I’m sure would like more diversity in our social circles and in our deep friendships.

A John moment?

On page 111, Tisby described this situation where a guy named John asked him to grab a beer. Tisby immediately felt objectified and took a risk that John was genuine, which thankfully he was.

Question #1: Describe a “John” moment in your life. It could have gone well, or really badly! How did you approach the person you were interested in befriending? How did they respond? What would you do the same? What would you do differently?

Strategies for making connections?

Sometimes it can be difficult to see the own barriers we may have intentionally or unintentionally placed around us. In the next section Tisby decribes how we can make changes in our routine to increase the likelihood that will cross racial or ethnic lines. He mentions things like choosing a more accessible place to exercise, like a community center, instead of a private gym. Or consider getting your hair cut at a Black barber. Or volunteer at events with a multi-ethnic focus.

Question #2: Similar to the last question, what have you changed about your routine to increase the chances of developing relationships with people that don’t look like you? When has it gone well or horribly wrong?

Chapter 5: How to do reconciliation right

On page 87, Tisby writes:

Reconciliation with other people is not simply a matter of strategy, practices, and logical choices. It is a spiritual matter. Reconciliation needs a transcendent framework to serve as a guide on the journey toward racial justice, love, and wholeness.

Correct diagnosis

And then on page 91, he continues:

But racial reconciliation as it is popularly understood and practiced in evangelical Christian circles suffers from three main shortcomings: it misdiagnoses the problem as “separation,” it does not properly address power dynamics, and it does not take gender into account.

Question #3: Do you agree with these categories? If you do, why are they helpful? If you don’t, why not?

Implications for worship

Tisby then moves into corporate practices the local church should consider.

  1. Incorporate lamentation into worship
  2. Confess the sin of racism corporately
  3. Acknowledge your church’s racial history

Question #4: How do you respond to these suggestions? Could you see yourself participating in any of them?

The (very local) church

In Jamar Tisby’s 2019 book, The Color of Compromise he described a conflict brewing in the 1800s in the Baptist General Convention (p. 77):

Baptists in the South suspected that their denomination had a bias toward abolition, and they wanted to expose it. […] The battle lines between northern and southern Baptists had been drawn, and in May 1845 almost three hundred Baptist leaders representing nearly 400,000 churchgoers from southern states gathered in Augusta, Georgia, to form a new church association, one inclusive of slaveholders, called the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The convention’s first president, William Bullein Johnson, explained the reason for the separation and the new convention. “These [northern] brethren, thus acted upon a sentiment they have failed to prove—That slavery is, in all circumstances sinful.” In light of this affront to the southern way of life and the assault on the institution of slavery, Southern Baptists viewed separation as their best option.

Now the question:

Question #5: Edgefield Baptist Church was founded in 1850, in cooperation with the newly formed Southern Baptist Convention a few years earlier. Based on Tisby’s framework, what could or should Edgefield do in response? What has Edgefield done in response in the past? Should Edgefield Church (the new entity) do anything specific?

Conclusion: Page 117-118

In the final sections of chapter 6, Tisby addresses resistance to racial justice. He writes on pg 117:

The root of resistance to racial justice is the heart… [which can only be changed] through prayer and patience.

He ties that into Ephesians 6 where Paul writes that the battle is against the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” But he doesn’t put the burden solely on the spiritual. Besides prayer, he also affirms the need for people of color to “find like-minded people who can affirm your dignity and encourage you on your journey.”

Question #6: As non-minorities, how true is this for us? How we decide between a) remaining in white spaces speaking to matters of justice, and b) joining our Black and Brown neighbors as allies in their spaces (if they’ll have us).