Second Sunday of Lent

For Lent 2022, members of CTA’s Anti-Racism Team are sharing weekly reflections. As they are published, their pieces will be posted here.

Unfortunately, many go about in a way which shows them to be enemies of the cross of Christ. I have often said this to you before; this time I say it with tears.

Philippians 3:18, The Inclusive Bible, the First Egalitarian Translation

Prayer

Good and gracious God, as we prepare ourselves to share in the joy of Easter, open our hearts and minds. Help us to see what we would rather not see, especially the suffering caused by the injustice of systemic racism. Help us reflect on these painful realities and see them for what they are. Help us to avoid despair and to move from reflection to action, galvanized by your Spirit. Grant us the courage to speak out and the clarity to cooperate with your grace in building the world anew. Amen. -NETWORK Prayer to Move from Reflection to Action

Reflection

During Lent we are called to reflect, and I am sure we can all think of those we consider enemies of the cross of Christ. We especially should weep if those who profess to follow Jesus actually are acting as an enemy to his work.

Robert P. Jones, author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, writes,

…For more than two decades, I've studied the attitudes of religiously affiliated Americans across the country. And year over year, in question after question in public opinion polls, a clear pattern has emerged: White Christians are consistently more likely than whites who are religiously unaffiliated to deny the existence of structural racism.

He also writes, 

…While it may seem obvious to mainstream white Christians today that slavery, segregation and overt declarations of white supremacy are antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, such a conviction is, in fact, a recent development for most white American Christians and churches, both Protestant and Catholic.
The unsettling truth is that, for nearly all of American history, the light-skinned Jesus conjured up by most white congregations was not merely indifferent to the status quo of racial inequality; he demanded its defense and preservation as part of the natural, divinely ordained order of things.

…The plain testimony of history is that, alongside what good white Christians have done, white Christian theology and institutions have also declared the blessings of God on the enslavement of millions of African Americans, the construction of a brutal system of racial segregation enforced by law and lynchings, the resistance to the civil rights movement and the mass incarceration of millions of African Americans. When the patterns in the current public opinion data are seen in this light, they seem unsurprising and, indeed, inevitable.

In being willing to face the truth, we need to recognize that the dominant Christianity of our society has been and still is an “enemy to the cross of Christ.” The hypocrisy of professing to follow Jesus and supporting structures of oppression, knowingly or unknowingly, is sad.

How do we begin to do our part to change this? 

First, we need to look inward, as we read in last week's reflection: “We must search our own hearts and minds for any contamination or residue of racism, or any other dehumanizing prejudice, and sweep our houses clean.”

Then we need to join with others and find actions that we can assist in to start making the changes required. We cannot do this alone.

One tool you might want to consider during this Lent is to join the “Network Lenten Journey: Facing and Dismantling Systemic Racism, From Reflection to Action.”

Questions for Reflection

• How do we react to the truth that the “White Christian Church” assisted in developing and supports systemic racist structures?

• What are we willing to do individually and with others to dismantle these structures?

Suggestions for Almsgiving

Consider donating to a local justice organization or to Call To Action.