God and RaceSýnishorn

Before we run off and talk about all the ways we can change the world as a church or as a community, we first need to look inwardly as individuals. The journey to open-handed conversations about God and race begins in your heart. But we can’t always do this journey on our own. Most times we need the presence and the accountability of a friend. One who’s willing to tell us when we have food stuck between our front teeth, literally and figuratively. A friend who is willing to point out when we’ve excluded people who look different than us for more of the same—around our dinner tables, in our leadership circles, and in our board rooms. Learning to not only stand up against racism but represent real unified diversity in our lives will be a process for many of us, but we can do it because of the people who have come before us to pave the way. And we can do it because of friends who are willing to walk with us along the way.

Take Wayne and John for example. On the outside, it might look odd to see a young black guy and a middle-aged white guy partnering together to pastor the same church in different places—and they’ve received their fair share of challenges from concerned friends for doing so. But they are united in purpose to do something great, something God-ordained in a racially fragmented nation, together. This is called spiritual friendship. When two friends intentionally choose to connect at the soul-level the way John and Wayne have decided to collaborate. Not only are they standing up against racism together, but they are elevating the conversation about God and race in their respective church communities, and for us, too.

The real power in the fight against racism comes when we open our hands together. It comes when, side-by-side, we unclench our black fists and white knuckles and have open-handed conversations without muting our diversity or compromising our integrity.

Reflect:

Who are the soul-level friends who choose to love you the way you are and yet challenge you to change?

How have you changed your point of view regarding race or faith as a result of a spiritual friendship?

In John 15, Jesus gives several reasons as to why he calls the disciples his friends. What are those reasons, and what do they reveal about Jesus and his perspective on the disciples?

Jesus illustrates yet again how he views his disciples as friends by appearing to them three times after his death. On the third time, as written in John 21, we see and hear how deeply connected Jesus was to his disciples by the way he interacts with Peter and by the way he talks about John. What are the signs of soul-level spiritual friendship displayed by Jesus in this passage? What challenge does Jesus give Peter, and how has that challenge changed the trajectory of the church as we know it today?

Pray:

Talk to God about your current friendships as you embrace the conversation on racial reconciliation with open hands. Ask God to show you the friends who are willing to stand up with you in the fight against racism, or if needed, ask God to bring new soul-level friends into your life who will stand up to racism with you in this season.