Photo by Josh Calabrese on Unsplash
One of the best descriptions of parenting I ever heard was the following (though I don’t recall the source):
The parents’ job for the first two years is to make sure their child knows they are the center of the universe.
Their job for the next sixteen is to make sure their child knows they are not.
The first sentence is not a bad description of the way white people see themselves: as the center of the universe.
The problem is, we haven’t learned the second sentence: that we are not.
The sins of the parents have been passed down to the children.
The blind have been leading the blind.
White people are formed with the perspective that they are the center—and don’t know what it’s like not to be:
There are simply more white people, comprising 76.5%* of the US. In most places around the country, it’s likely we’ll see more white people in our schools, grocery stores, and churches than people of color.
Hollywood continues to hand awards and roles disproportionately to white people (while people of color are more often portrayed in a negative light).
STEM fields are skewed white especially among advanced degrees, so when we see a “professional,” we may be more likely to see a white person wearing the lab coat.
White people hold more positions of power and authority. For example, there are only four CEOs who are men of color among all Fortune 500 companies.** A look at any photograph of the current president’s cabinet reflects the imbalance.
A quick glance at many beauty magazines or clothing catalogues reveals far more white models.
Protagonists in children’s books and fairy tales are nearly always white (remember the recent uproar when the London stage version of Harry Potter cast a black actress as Hermione Granger?).
White people don’t use skin color to describe another person unless the person isn’t white; it’s assumed they’re white unless otherwise noted.
Prevalence in U.S. culture, it should go without saying, does not mean white people are exceptional among the races, nor do they in any way specially illuminate the essence of God.
White preachers like me need to appreciate we are blinded to our self-centeredness.
We don’t see the world through rose-colored glasses; we see it through white-colored ones.
As do, I’m guessing, most white listeners.
It will take time, courage, truth-telling, and compassion to take those glasses off.
Understanding the stages of Transformation
Even if preachers are “enlightened” enough to have scooted their white-colored glasses further down their noses, it can feel bewildering when listeners keep shoving their own back up if they slip even a fraction.
Below is a Facebook post by Melissa Vine, a mental health counselor at Integrative Counseling Solutions, who gave me permission to quote her.
Her post provides a brief synopsis of a study by Prochaska and DiClemente, originally applied to substance abuse, recovery, and relapse, to help us understand there are stages of transformation.
I used to work with about a dozen colleges in order to reduce sexual assault and dating violence on their campuses. One of the colleges was far more advanced than the others in its approach to prevention and response. Another college told me, "We have increased our campus lighting and encouraged women to travel in groups." In other words, they didn't get it.
My approach was entirely different when working with these two colleges, one of which was in the pre-contemplation stage and one of which was in the action stage.
Pre-contemplation: It's not really a big issue/I don't get it/I don't want to think about it.
Contemplation: Maybe it's an issue. Some things are leading me to ask hard questions.
Preparation: Okay, this is an issue. What can I do?
Action: I am taking steps to make changes.
MESSAGING MATTERS. Address your audience according to the stage they are in. If I provide action steps to a pre-contemplative audience, they will only dig their heels deeper into "this is not really a big issue."
When it comes to racism, misogyny, homophobia, and other types of oppression, I tend to address the pre-contemplative group the most, because that was once me. Some of you are most gifted at taking the preparation group and leading them to action.
People do not move from pre-contemplation to action from one social media post or one conversation. Focus on helping people move from one step to the next. Pace yourself. We can all work together on this.
Any of this sound familiar?
Our listeners are going to be on this spectrum, just as we are, which means we need to shift our preaching to meet folks where they are and move them from one stage to the next—to wipe off another smudge of blindness.
How do we do this?
Preaching Matters
As preachers, we are fortunate to be in a position where people have already consented to receive our insights. In general, they’ve accepted a common text from which we can learn: the Bible.
As a result, we can rely on Scripture texts to do some of the heavy lifting for us. The Bible hasn’t always been preached that way, particularly in white contexts, but Scripture and Jesus are devoted to naming, protecting, lifting up, and creating justice for marginalized groups.
So which Scriptures might engage folks at different stages to help them move from one to the next?
From Pre-Contemplation to Contemplation
Jesus’s parables are helpful since we know people are more receptive to story than lectures.
The story of the Good Samaritan, of course, was intended to shock the religious authorities from seeing themselves as the pinnacle of God’s regard.
We have the parable of The Good Samaritan rather than The Good Neighbor because Jesus wanted us to know Samaritans mattered. Not because he believed only Samaritans were good but because he needed his audience to see Samaritans were good too. And to remind the Pharisees they were not exceptionally righteous.
Help listeners see how Jesus elevated marginalized groups, challenged the cultural status quo, and subverted religiosity to elevate humanity.
It’s probably best to avoid peppering your sermon with politicized language. Avoid soapboxes, and let the scripture do the heavy lifting.
Trust the Spirit to keep nurturing the seed you’ve planted.
From Contemplation to Preparation
Empathy. It’s all about Jesus’ empathy.
Jesus was moved by compassion when he saw lepers in need of healing; hungry people who needed food; a friend who had died; and outcasts like “unclean” women and prostitutes and tax collectors.
His compassion for those typically ostracized revealed flaws within the default culture. And his willingness to associate with and elevate those on the margins upset those living comfortably within the existing structures.
When we grow up on Bible stories, we can forget how counter-cultural Jesus’s acts were in their context.
Help folks see the subtext.
As listeners become aware of their own discomfort or blind spots, invite them to learn more.
Here are additional resources for taking off the white-colored glasses:
Peggy McIntosh’s "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack": https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf
White Awake: An honest look at what it means to be white: Daniel Hill
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
From Preparation to Action
Becoming aware of the problem is a start.
But Black people want more than just acknowledgement of their struggle. They want change.
Action must follow awareness to actually dismantle racist systems.
Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs to go into the towns, share the Gospel, and heal as they went. The young Church in Acts figured it out as they went, but they figured it out together.
We do not do this work alone.
In fact, it would be arrogant to think folks new to this awareness must figure it out from scratch or, worse, lead the movement.
Many have gone before and have been doing the work for years. We can follow, listen, learn, and support the work already in progress.
We can expect we won’t do it perfectly. But making a start is better than sitting it out for fear of failure.
One of the most important things we can do is not let this moment slide.
There’s an openness and desire to learn across a broader swath of the U.S. population than ever seen before—as evidenced by the fact that physical copies of most of these books are sold out across the country.
Church, let’s do our part.
Here are some helpful resources for engaging this work:
In general: How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
For the church specifically: I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Where two or three are gathered who are willing to learn and act with the love and courage of Christ, the wisdom of God will be offered.
Let’s do the work.
*U.S. Census Bureau, Quick Facts. July 1, 2019 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219
**“There are just four black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Here's how they are addressing the death of George Floyd” by Vanessa Yurkivich, CNN Business https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/business/black-ceos-george-floyd/index.html