Reparations Introduction w/ Dr Susanna Childress - Part III No. 70

My wife, Susanna Childress, helps me respond to the introduction of Reparations. The idea is to let each chapter breathe a bit, to find ways to open ourselves to God in the reading and in the discussion. Susanna is especially able to help us think about how immersing ourselves in the writings of people of color can help us grow into people who will want to attend to the work of reparations.

She is an Assistant Professor of creative writing at Hope College here in Holland, MI., and is author of two books of poetry, the 2006, Brittingham Prize in Poetry winning, Jagged With Love, as well as Entering the House of Awe. In 2015 her poem, “Careful, I Just Won A Prize at the Fair” was included in The Best of American Poetry.

Dr Susanna Childress, Hope College, Holland, MI

Reparations Introduction w/ Dr Jesse N Curtis - Part II No. 69

Dr Jesse N Curtis, Valparaiso University

Josh and Dr Jesse Curtis touch on some of the big ideas in the introduction to Reparations, but mainly they admire the careful yet bold while also pastoral tone of the book we’ve chosen for our summer read and discussion. Jesse Curts begins his contribution by sharing from his own journey, how he learned from his early mistakes and learned the goodness of experiencing God in and through his steep learning curve on racial injustice.

To go directly to the conversation with Jesse Curtis, skip to 18:40.

If we want to experience the depths of God's love, we need to find ways to be involved with the things of God. Responding to racism and participating in the necessary repentance and repair of racism is of course seemingly heavy, yet it is a profound opportunity for transformation and hope! We understand the light of Gospel to the extent that we've seen the darkness.

White Supremacy is that darkness.

We invite you to participate in the life of God deeply this summer for yourself and for the healing of our country.The wonderful simplicity of the Gospel is that Jesus came to set the captives free. Isaiah 61 has been described as Jesus' mission statement: "to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners."

We are not pitying black people in America by acknowledging that they are, in the vocabulary of Howard Thurman, the "disinherited." In fact, it would be dishonest, undignifying, and un-loving to pretend that they have not been abused and that they are not still being abused in ways that are more broad and deep than the police brutality gets our attention in the news. The insight of Reparations, our text for this summer is that,

"White supremacy’s most enduring effect, indeed its very essence, is theft. We believe White supremacy to be a multigenerational campaign of cultural theft, in which the identities, agency, and prosperity of African Americans are systematically stolen and given to others. As we will show, we believe that while this theft took many forms, its most significant and enduring forms are the theft of truth, the theft of power, and the theft of wealth."

Here is a link for more information about this summer series, “White People Talking to White People About Racism”.

Please visit Jesse’s website: The Myth of Colorblind Christians

We are asking participants to buy the book from a black owned bookstore. In West Michigan, consider the store, We Are Lit! For a list of more black owned stores visit Literary Hub.

Our call to worship prayer for this summer from Howard Thurman:

Lord, Lord, Open Unto Me

Open unto me, light for my darkness

Open unto me, courage for my fear

Open unto me, hope for my despair

Open unto me, peace for my turmoil

Open unto me, joy for my sorrow

Open unto me, strength for my weakness

Open unto me, wisdom for my confusion

Open unto me, forgiveness for my sins

Open unto me, tenderness for my toughness

Open unto me, love for my hates

Open unto me, Thy Self for myself


Lord, Lord, open unto me!

Reparations Orientation With Rev Dr Denise Kingdom Grier - Part I No. 68

The Rev. Dr. Denise Kingdom Grier offers a bold, honest, and frank discernment of the racism in America and the white church. Her courageous testimony provides the necessary and essential orientation as we invite white people to talk with white people about racism this summer 2021 in our reading of Reparations: A Christian Call For Repentance and Repair by Duke Kwon and Gregory Thompson.

Josh offers some orientation to Denise’s orientation by walking through the details about how this summer series will work, and then he offers some context about why the Invitation is handling this book and the vocabulary of reparations. Finally, Josh offers a few meditative readings from Ephesians 3 to allow you time to take this very difficult conversation into contemplative practice.

To go directly to the conversation with Denise, skip to 23:20.

We are asking participants to buy the book from a black owned bookstore. In West Michigan, consider the store, We Are Lit! For a list of more black owned stores visit Literary Hub.

The March 4, 2021, “#LeaveLoud” episode of the Pass the Mic podcast mentioned can be found HERE.