Andy Crouch claims “When evangelicals think about solving social problems like the legacy of slavery and racism in the United States, they think almost exclusively in terms of personal one-on-one relationships—which is why so many white evangelicals can imagine the problem of racism is solved if they simply have a handful of friends of other races. To think of race this way is to miss the fact that race and racism are institutional realities built on a complex set of artifacts, arenas, rules and roles.”

None of us stands so clean we have escaped the stain of the deep-seated issues of racism. None. God has given us a ministry of reconciliation. We cannot walk with God when our hearts are enflamed with hatred. We cannot reflect God’s love by choosing to express love in the narrow confines of our ideas. We must learn the language of the hearts of one another. Such knowledge requires as individuals, as communities, and as a nation to hit the pause button. Let us take an honest look at our past and our present as we seek to put our hands and hearts together to build a future worth passing on to a generation battered by diverse voices. Loving reconciliation is more about listening to the pain of one another than pointing accusing fingers at one another. Can we own our roles? Will the church give leadership?

Love does not rejoice in wrong, but in right. And, at this point, we need to do much cross-cultural listening to discover how to spell R-I-G-H-T without demanding our favorite colors for the letters.”