Do The Work Yourself

 Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” - Luke 19:8

Often the way churches use the word ‘reconciliation’ sounds like asking for more and more and more (forgiveness, patience, understanding) from the people who've been hurt.  The gospel shows a different picture of what real restitution and reparation looks like as mercy does its transforming work.

Zacchaeus did some hard work. He didn’t expect those who were run over by the Roman imperial machinery to do the work of reconciliation. He knew he was part of that machinery and that he had work to do. So he did it.

One way that we who have experienced privilege can do the work is to spend some time learning on our own about what it’s like not to have those resources. Rather than making our friends who have experienced a lack of privilege teach us, we can start educating ourselves first. It can be really exhausting for those who’ve been ‘run over’ to try to help us know what it’s like. So read some articles or books and listen to some podcasts. Below are a couple of suggestions.

Today, ask God today for ways to show you if there are areas in your life where you experience a lot of privilege (and be open to whatever areas those might be) - and then ask for the courage and the commitment to start laying the groundwork for the reconciliation that’s needed… and do the work.

*A simple introduction to three key areas of lack of privilege is the book Rescuing Jesus by Debora Jian Lee, which looks at what it means to be a person of color, a woman and queer in the evangelical church.

*”Anti-Racism with Andre Henry” on the Liturgist podcast gives remarkable insight into some of these issues around race and what reconciliation really looks like.