Picture a liturgical process by which we confessed our sins and received forgiveness that sets us free to be God’s ambassadors of reconciliation. That begins with confession that we are no better than others, but it continues in a grace that heals. “Create in me a clean heart, o God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10.
For Christians to respond to the reality of racism in our lives and in our congregations, we must first move beyond denial. In classic Christian terminology, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” But such confession is done in hope. “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is often a hard truth for congregations to hear.
FAITH DISTORTED BY SIN
A congregation that desires to overcome the sin of racism that bogs down and distorts their experience of the faith must begin with confession. Such a confession, however, must be seen as a positive step. It is a significant step towards the healing of a major division among humanity.
For a White congregation to move to the step of confessing that they are racist is neither an easy step. nor does it, in itself, solve the problem of racism. To draw upon the truth discovered in Alcoholics Anonymous, White people and White congregations are always “recovering racists.” That is as much a given of our context as being an alcoholic is a given of their constitution. We did not create the history that shaped us, but we cannot escape it either.
A CRITICAL FIRST STEP
A critical step in our healing, however, is acknowledgment of the problem. In God’s economy, we are saved to community. We not only need to confess, but we need someone to isten to our confession. Picture the power of members of a White congregation taking the sin of racism so seriously that they are willing to sit before a Black congregation and speak of their own complicity in the sin of racism as well as listen intensely to the pain that their African American neighbors experience in their lives. “True forgiveness deals with the past, all of the past, to make the future possible.”
