This article was recommended by Nora. Thanks, Nora!
Monday, September 21, 2020
Diversity in the Church - Advanced Ministry Lectureship Series: Christina Cleveland
This video is recommended by Be the Bridge. Arlette shared the link a few weeks ago. Thank you!
From the YouTube summary:
"The Advanced Ministry Lectureship series are talks given by guest lecturers of the Doctor of Ministry & Master's in Applied Theology programs for local area ministry leaders. Dr. Cleveland discusses the value of diversity and how it can be pursued. Dr. Cleveland is passionate about overcoming cultural divisions in groups. She is associate professor of reconciliation studies at Bethel University."
Friday, August 21, 2020
Racism Resources - Podcasts
From Arlette:
Bert & I just started listening to this podcast. Really thought provoking.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/
The website for the above podcast says: "From Serial and The New York Times: “Nice White Parents” looks at the 60-year relationship between white parents and the public school down the block."
From Beth:
I also listen to integrated schools podcast. (Aimed at
white privileged parents). There's a local chapter for integrated schools
as well.
Racism Resources - Books for all ages, Movies, Articles for parents
Tesha passed along the following list:
Speaking of resources, here is a book list to talk about racism with kids. It's compiled by a white woman:
Here's a book list of books with diverse characters from the same woman, Read Aloud Revival's Sarah Mackenzie:
St. Paul Public Library has put together some great book lists, as well:
Graphic Novels about race:
Black Lives Matter: 25 books for teens
Picture Books To Celebrate Blackness
Junteenth Resources for the Whole Family
100 Best Black Movies
Books about Hope and Resilience
Talking with Children and Teens about Racism
Teen Books on Racism
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Racism Resources - Reconstruction Era & Forgiveness
Arlette sent the following links related to our Be the Bridge discussions over the past few weeks:
PBS series about the Reconstruction Era: https://www.pbs.org/video/
Forgiving Her Son's Killer: 'Not An Easy Thing': https://www.npr.org/2011/05/20/136463363/forgiving-her-sons-killer-not-an-easy-thing
Keep learning!
Monday, August 10, 2020
Racism Resources
As Morning Blend has been reading through Be the Bridge this summer, we've been compiling a list of additional things to read and learn.
Pat Clark wanted to share this article about racism in Minneapolis housing: https://www.minnpost.com/
Beth sent us all this review of the book Jesus and John Wayne:
Hey all my historian prof friend wrote a review of Kirsten DuMez's Jesus and John Wayne:I finished Kristin DuMez' _Jesus and John Wayne_. It's accessible to a general audience and I *highly* recommend it as a way to understand evangelicals' multi-decade love affair with John Wayne characters--portraits of domineering and pugnacious manhood, coupled with demure femininity. I wrote a short review below.The book is both a history of this love affair with "complementarianism" (the idea that men and women should be different and complementary, and men should be in charge), and a history of how evangelicals have actualized these prescriptive gender roles through foreign policy and narratives about foreign policy. I've honestly read a very large fraction of the books published on the topic of the Religious Right, and the role of gender in empire-building. But, this book is original in a lot of key ways. It does so much vital work to illustrate how the War in Iraq actualized the rhetoric of pugnacious manhood that had been stirring among evangelical men for decades. She shows how this prescriptive literature of manhood and womanhood had consequences: it really hurt a lot of innocent people, especially Muslims in the period after 9/11. DuMez painfully illustrates, as she puts it in the subtitle, "How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation." From the start, she defines evangelicals by the cultural products (books, decor, leisure, etc) that they consume. In the end, she reminds us that evangelicals have been deeply entrapped by cultural prescriptions that are not at all indigeous to the Christian faith.The book left me really upset at the ways evangelicals have contributed toward the suffering of Muslim Americans, and a whole lot of innocent people, especially Muslims, abroad. This wasn't new to me, of course. But, I never quite contemplated how evangelical gender complementarianism could provide the springboard for such real expressions of violence (not only, but especially through the American military). DuMez argues that Ronald Reagan and George W Bush were fore-runners to Trump in their "Big and Strong!" foreign policy initiatives and ability to get evangelicals to vote as a block. Trump, she argues, carries on this tradition of rebelling against both gender equality/sameness and the historic foreign policy initiatives that emphasize the "feminine" virtues of peace, alliances, and diplomacy.
Tesha sent the following links:
Here are the resources from the United Methodist Church site - they have quite a bit on racism right now, with a conversation guide and tips for talking with kids. There is also the Town Hall video link from July 1 that included a bunch of great leaders.Here’s the direct link to the town hall:
Also - Here is the link to Denise Pike's stuff on Mapping Prejudice. She put together an art/history display for the Hennepin History Museum at one point, called Owning Up. It may be at Sabathani now.Here's her own site:The Mapping Prejudice site:
Arlette sent this out:
Here is an interview that Kerri Miller did yesterday on MPR with Kristin Kobes Du Mez, the author of "Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation."https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2020/07/28/the-impact- of-white-evangelicals-on-us- politics
If I missed anything that you all would like to share, feel free to share in the comments or send me an email. I'll make another post as we add more things.
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Be the Bridge
This summer, Morning Blend is reading through Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison. Morrison founded the organization Be the Bridge in 2016, with a mission to promote racial reconciliation and unity in America, and especially in the church. She is also a Certified Trainer in Cultural Intelligence and Unconscious Bias.
Be the Bridge's website is packed with resources, and is an excellent place for those who are getting started on a journey toward racial reconciliation or those who have been on that journey for a while: https://bethebridge.com/. Through the organization's Facebook page, our group also found a quick 5-day study by Latasha Morrison, which our group completed before our Be the Bridge books arrived. That study can be found here: https://my.bible.com/reading-plans/16910-the-bridge-a-5-day-youversion-by-latasha-morrison
From the website about the book, Be the Bridge:
This power-packed guide helps readers deepen their understanding of historical factors and present realities, equipping them to participate in the ongoing dialogue and to serve as catalysts for righteousness, justice, healing, transformation, and reconciliation.
Monday, November 18, 2019
Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent
This Advent season, we are reading Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent by Enuma Okoro. We have heard from Enuma Okoro in the Animate: Practices series in 2016. You can read our post about her here: Enuma Okoro. Since then, Okoro was recognized on the 100 most inspiring women in Nigeria list in 2018, and this fall she is the Literary Guest-In-Residence at The BACASItaly Center for Culture, Arts and Science in Vallo di Diano, southern Italy. See her full bio, as well as links to articles she has written & her TED Talk on her website here: https://www.enumaokoro.com/enuma.
According to the book description at The Upper Room Bookstore:
According to the book description at The Upper Room Bookstore:
Usually when we think of the Advent story, Mary, Joseph, and the angel Gabriel come to mind. Okoro approaches Advent a little differently, inviting us to sit for a while with Zechariah and Elizabeth and the story of how they came to bear their only son, John.We'll be reading through this book together November 20th - December 18th. That means we'll be a little ahead of Advent, which officially begins December 1st this year, and we'll finish a week before Christmas. This gives all of us a little extra space to prepare our houses, families, hearts, minds, or whatever else needs to be prepared to really meet Advent this year. Looking forward to the journey!
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Monday, October 28, 2019
"Do not resist the one who is evil." Matthew 5:39
One of the puzzling statements from our reading this week comes from Matthew 5:39, "Do not resist the one who is evil." (ESV) This is translated variously:
"...do not resist an evil person." (NIV)
"...you must not oppose those who want to hurt you" (CEB)
Arlette shared the following link with some thoughts from a Hebrew scholar, David N. Bivin, on what Jesus might have meant by those infamous words: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2699/. Bivin suggests, based on similar proverbs from the Old Testament, that:
The explanations of how the actions describes in the Matthew passage could be viewed as non-violent resistance (as opposed to non-resistance) can be found in Walter Wink's work: Jesus' Third Way.
"...do not resist an evil person." (NIV)
"...you must not oppose those who want to hurt you" (CEB)
Arlette shared the following link with some thoughts from a Hebrew scholar, David N. Bivin, on what Jesus might have meant by those infamous words: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2699/. Bivin suggests, based on similar proverbs from the Old Testament, that:
In idiomatic English, Matthew 5:39a might read simply, “Don’t try to get even with evildoers.”Bivin continues,
Our response to evil does have to be resistance—it is morally wrong to tolerate evil. However, we also must continue to show love for the evildoer.
It should be noted that loving and praying for one’s enemies in no way precludes defending oneself when one’s life is in danger.Brigitte brought us additional perspective on the various specific examples used in the passage (turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, etc...) as acts of peaceful protest or non-violent resistance. This seems very much in keeping with Bivin's perspective. The passage may be about how to respond to evil without either ignoring it or exacting revenge.
The explanations of how the actions describes in the Matthew passage could be viewed as non-violent resistance (as opposed to non-resistance) can be found in Walter Wink's work: Jesus' Third Way.
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