Introductory Note:
Today we welcome guest writer Joshua Banner to share an open letter in which he describes his growing conviction to stand against racism and “the industrial prison system,” how spiritual transformation is key, and how his recent conversation with Chris Hall has challenged him not to lose hope in the Church to combat these social crises.
There is a link to the podcast at the end of the letter.
Renovaré Team
Is it fair to connect social injustices like racism and our industrial prison system to our own personal belief in Jesus’ ability to transform our lives?
I am beginning to believe it is fair to do just this. Our collective, national sicknesses are deeply connected to my own sense of who God is for me today. If I come to believe that the Holy Spirit can transform my own life, then I will develop hope for my neighbors, even my enemies and hardened criminals.
In this latest discussion, Christopher Hall and I wrestle with these things. Chris is the newest president of Renovaré, I trust, because he is careful and loving with the church. As you listen to this episode, you’ll hear my consternation with the failings of the church to believe transformation is possible. As I read more and more about racism and the incarceration system, as I complete my third year volunteering in local prison, I see the weaknesses of an American Church that continues to criminalize and scapegoat people of color, especially black men. Chris challenges me to be more hopeful in the church. He argues that the church might respond to this crisis if they only could be informed about the crisis. This is a delicate subject to bring up Chris says, yet it is gaining traction even among evangelicals.
How do we challenge American Christians to risk, to look and see beyond the confines of their own communities to see the struggles of their not too distant neighbors?
Author and activist Michelle Alexander describes the blindness of those who enable institutional, systemic racism. She says:
Martin Luther King Jr. in his speeches would often remind his audiences that, you know, most folks who support Jim Crow aren’t evil bad people, they’re just deeply misguided. They’re blind, spiritually blind to the harms of the policies that they support. And I think the same thing can be said today, many people of good will are blind to the harms of mass incarceration and the devastation the war on drugs has caused.
In this conversation Chris Hall challenges us to practice the spiritual discipline of moving our bodies and our minds out of our comfort zones into new “learning spaces” that we might be transformed into the character of Jesus.
I invite you to participate in this conversation, Episode #16, A Conversation with Christopher Hall!
Peace of Christ to you,
Josh
