Religion & Spirituality
Josh shares from his heart about our personal and collective calls to live out the ministry of reconciliation. This requires repentance, humility, listening, learning, and being comfortable with the uncomfortable. Conversations about racism and justice are not easy, but we have to be willing to step into God's heart for unity and reconciliation. We see Jesus in John 4 meeting a woman at a well despite the 800 years of racism between her people and the Jews. Jesus offers us a way to step into those uncomfortable spaces as well for the sake of the Kingdom. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Ephesians 6:12; Revelation 7:9; John 4:1-42. Josh shared several quotes today as well: 1) J.R.R. Tolkien: "It does no good to leave a live dragon out of your calculation if it lives in your area." 2) Charles Baudelaire (as quoted by Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects): "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people that he did not exist." 3) From the book, Black and White: "It's important to think carefully about this. What are these principalities, powers, and world rulers? What's their agenda? How do they operate? To what extent are they involved in human affairs, and more specifically to what degree are they involved in racism? If we discover they are involved in racism, what exactly are we supposed to do about it? If we don't think they are involved, then we will do nothing about them."