Unity

When I was in seminary I took a class called Healing and Reconciliation with Rev. Dr. Ruth Duck.  One of the things we studied in that class was the Truth and Reconciliation work being done in South Africa. This past month in the wake of the insurrection at the US Capitol I have heard lots of calls for unity, but not seen any of the work needed to bring about actually unity and reconciliation.  What we learned in our class was that healing and reconciliation need truth, need stories of harm to be told, need to be shared. When unity is used as a call to silence, or to stop the conversation about harm done, then unity is actually disunity. It is a tool of oppression and silence. God calls us to do the hard work of unity, openly and faithfully.

As our faith community delves deeper into our own work around white dominant culture and racial identities we have to see the work of healing and reconciliation in the same ways. It may seem odd to our American mindset that healing can be a painful exercise. It can be difficult to name our own racist patterns and habits, and yet the only way for us to get to a new place is to clearly evaluate where we have been and what is now. 

We are people of faith are not called to an easy path, and yet on this journey of restorative justice, accountability, and truth we find something holy, a unity with God and one another that is richer and deeper than the placid status quo.

I hope you are filled with courage to tel the truth, to bare witness to justice, and to work for change.

-Eilidh