[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to the collective table where we.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Celebrate the intersections of Jesus, justice and joy. This podcast is brought to you by Oceanside Sanctuary Church. Each week we bring our listeners a recording of our weekly Sunday teaching at Oceanside Sanctuary, which ties scripture into the larger conversations happening in our community, congregation, and even the podcast. So we're glad you're here and thanks for listening.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: I'm from Dallas, born and raised. I grew up in the south, and so I was Baptist, grew up Baptist. And, you know, my church experience was very, you know, bit of that fire and brimstone. And in church five, six days of the week, you know, we had a very different type of church service where we. There was an 8 o'clock service and then there was Bible school at like 9:30. It took you to 11:00 and that was the afternoon that was the main service. But then depending on how the spirit moves you, you might be in there, you know, a good two hours or a good two and a half, 2:45, you never know.
And then depending on the Sunday, you may have a 3:00, 3:30 service to come back for. And then we did communion on first Sundays, which means you had to come back at 6:00 because they did communion and baptism on the same day. And so it was fellowship and everything. So it was. It was. It was some long days. I had some long days. Like, I feel like I did like a quota with God, you know, I feel I got. I put my hours in, you know, so navigating that. And then on Tuesday, you know, there was potentially btu, and then Wednesday was youth development. And then depending on if I was on the usher board or had to do the choir, that was a whole nother thing. And then there was drill team, you know, in Texas and some other places, and black churches. Like, we have different soldiers for Christ in a different type of way. It was like we was marching for Christ and saying books of the Bible and everything. So it was a lot of hours, just saying a lot of hours, you know, getting to know God in that context.
And as I grew older, it was an experience where you look around the world and you see how the world is hurting, right? And I didn't feel like the space and the capacity that the church showed up at times really reflected that. And then when I became a social worker, I was dealing with some of the most marginalized and challenged people who needed God the most, if you will. And so for me, it was more about how we showing up as people, how we lean into this work and even in the context of me being here today, in terms of, you know, how racism impacts how we get along and how we connect, that is very much a challenging dynamic as well. So for me, it was more about how am I living out this way. And we think about celebrating Dr. King and what he represented.
And so I can appreciate the shift that is happening, I think, when we think about the fact that at one point, Dr. King was one of the most wanted men in America. Right. You know, he was literally assassinated. And today we celebrate his legacy. And so what I hope that we also do is take with that in terms of how we show up and how we connect and what we're willing to do. But a lot of that takes us willing to lean into this space in a very different way. And it's not easy. I can tell you that right there in the dynamic around us. Everybody has work to do. Black folk, white folk, all that good stuff. So everybody has a part of this space, especially being in America, because America on some different type stuff. I'm not sure if y'all know, you know, you better say it.
So what, what I want to do today is kind of start off. I do workshops of this nature in a lot of different settings and whatnot. So I know this is church and everything, but I really just kind of wanted to have us, invite us to just take on this space. It's like collective learning experience.
I am an expert in me, and I'm pretty sure better than me. You're an expert in you. And when we bring that collective knowledge together, then we can all learn and develop together as well. So I say that they say ain't got all the answers. Okay. Matter of fact, I'm probably going to leave here with more questions than answers, just as you. And that's okay because if we're willing to put in the work, we can find those answers.
So. Okay, where am I? Okay, okay, okay. There you go. Keep it even.
So today we're going to explore some concepts, we're gonna walk through some things, gonna learn, some even have moments for you to actually talk to each other a little bit. And I'm encourage you to, like, throw out some answers. If not, if you're open to that.
And next you can go to the next slide.
So the first thing I always try to do when in these spaces is get us to think about how we wanna show up. Right.
You know, be respectful, practice active listening, engage with an open mind, commit to the growth and the reflection. Is that anything else that we could benefit from in Terms of how we show up today.
Humility. Okay, love that. What else?
What's that? Action. Okay, you better speak. Get to it. Okay, what else?
Anything else?
Sitting with some discomfort?
Anybody go to the gym? Anybody work out?
Okay. Okay, we got one over here. We got one over here. Just know when you lifting them weights, it ain't. It ain't easy, right? You know, it's some discomfort, but on the other side of it, you get to some beautiful things. You know, I've been in the gym, y'all. You can't tell it.
Anything else. What else?
Okay. Owning responsibility. What was that last word? Owning the responsibility to change. Yes. Okay, let me go ahead and let me get comfortable. Cause y'all up here speaking today. All right. I also want to add, have fun. Like, that's just me. Don't get me wrong. I think in the black experience, there's always two forms of a story, right? It could be a tragedy. If anybody's ever seen the movie Life with Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, that is a tragedy of a story. Two men get their lives tossed away, sent to prison for life. But it is the most funny experience.
I won't put that on nobody to have that, to try to find the funny in that. But when you get an opportunity to reflect and to find the fun in it. So, yes, this may not feel fun in the process, but guarantee I'm a laugh when we start thinking about some of these experiences later. So on that note, and we just going to be open, you can go to the next work. And so to set expectations, I'm not a preacher by any means and whatnot. And then this work, everybody has a different journey in terms of what this work looks like, right?
We are not going to move to the mountaintop today. Okay? Some of you might be like, oh, you know what? I know what I need to do now. Others may be like, okay, I didn't want to look at this before, but let me at least open the door to my heart to explore this. Others might be like, you know what? I know I need to go do some things. There's a conversation that I need to have that I've been scared to have. So it could look a lot of different ways. So choose what is there for you and be willing to go on the journey. All right, next slide.
All right, so agreements, the icebreaker. We'll talk about some terms. The essence of this is really thinking about the work that you all are going to be doing in terms of the anti racist initiative, right? And then the whole thing is really Based up into accessing the history, getting into your head, and then moving out of your head and into your heart, then we may or may not do the conversation, and then we'll wrap it up.
So real quick, now you can go to the next one.
We want to start here.
So the two pieces that I did target on your back, chilling in the garden, if you don't mind, Maybe. Yeah. Anything that stood out to you, anything that resonated or maybe you questioned or anything like that. Anybody willing to just share emotion of sadness? Yes. Yes. Gotcha. Anything in particular, like what opened up the sadness. Okay.
To hearing that expression. Okay, so sadness. What else? Put. Okay, putting yourself in the other situation. Yes, ma'am.
Okay, Right. So I'm hearing sadness, fear. I'm hearing empathy. Right. And yes.
Yes.
Right. Thank you. Yeah, that's. I have a child. She's 18. She's in college now, and I tell you, I'm just a proud dad. And thank you. You gonna clap that up? Cause we out here.
But the dynamic of raising a child, and many of you who have children know, like, it gives life a whole nother meaning, and it gets a whole nother level of you when you're really tapped in and open to that space and how it transforms us. So thinking about all these experiences and doing that with a child. And a lot of times we hear about certain conversations, right. We hear. Right. In schools or trying to ban certain books, things of that nature. And we talk about our kids ready to have certain conversations.
Well, in my community, we have to talk about how to protect yourself from the police or maybe from the community that you live in because of poverty, which has institutional, you know, residual effects in terms of even getting there. So in kids, you know, think about, let's take this journey, right?
Yeah. Most of y'all look young. I don't want to do the age thing, but let's just go back. So, you know, if you think about your grandparents, right. In terms of what their experience was and their. Your great grandparents, your great great grandparents, the expectation of how we showed up is look very different, right. In terms of we're supposed to do the responsibilities that you have, right. It looks very, very different. So when we think about what we are actually able to handle, and a lot of times, I think as parents, we can maybe try to protect versus prepare, right? And there's some modes that we lean into the preparedness, other modes we protect. And when we protect and don't prepare, then there are often circumstances and consequences for that as well. So what Else, what else stood out? Yes.
Oh, wow. Thank you.
I might just have to take these down and see what y'all spy in the world.
But she mentioned in terms of that, you know, we may be carrying that Judas energy and how the proximity. Right. Judas was great. Proximity to Christ, but still, you know, so deceitful. And it's with his intention.
I'll take one more. Anybody else? Yes.
Right, Right. I love that one. Because I want us to think about, if we take that analogy to this work, what does it mean to yield in terms of this work?
Well, historically, I think, and this is the challenge that we see happening, I think, in dynamics where we feel like if we become more open to certain dynamics, then we lose a piece of ourselves or we lose who you are. We may lose maybe physical attainment. I'm going to lose a job, I'm going to lose some money. I'm going to lose property and all this or safety or whatnot.
Versus when we open ourselves up to that empathy and thinking about what have others already lost. Right. And do we actually have to lose or do we gain another way to build those same dynamics? You can go to the next slide.
So today we're going to explore.
There's this book by a gentleman by the name of Resma Minikin. He's a trauma healer. He has this concept in his book called clean pain and dirty pain. Clean pain refers to the discomfort and the growth that comes from confronting and resolving injustices or trauma within ourselves. Whereas dirty pain involves avoidance and pain perpetuation of that harm. And that's where the awareness comes in so strong. Because if you're not aware of what you're doing, you don't even know the harm that you're causing. And there is a thing of intent versus impact. So you may think you're doing great, but if you're not aware of the ways that you're causing harm, it may not be as impactful in a way that you want.
There's also white supremacy denotes the systemic privilege of white people over others. And racism involves prejudice, discrimination and antagonism based on race and secondary trauma, bias and microaggressions.
Secondary trauma is the emotional impact of hearing about others. Trauma bias reflects implicit or explicit attitudes. And microaggressions are subtle, often unintentional, discriminatory actions. Next slide.
I get into that those few terms because when I think about how we show up, the energy of this work is challenging us to look into our own clean pain to actually deal with these issues, challenges as we see them. Because the dynamic that we haven't talked about historically is that we've all been traumatized by racism.
And a lot of times we just see it as, you know, the black folks or people of color have been traumatized. But, no, we've all been traumatized. One of those dynamics says, history is not the past, it is present. We carry our history with us. We are our history. Next slide. And so with that, in Resmo Meneken's book, you can go to the next slide. He talks about the Middle Ages, and he talks about the dynamics. Anybody ever look at Game of Thrones?
Right. Okay. I knew there was gonna be some fans in here. I see it on your face.
They were kind of brutal. I know some people that still feel some type of way about the Red Dinner. Is that what it's called? Yeah, they feel that was brutal, but this was a way of life. And I'm not sure about y'all. When I look at that show, I don't see no black people.
Right. But think about this is the way that people were living. And think about the torture and all those things that happen.
And if we are looking at the studies about how trauma is passed down, you didn't have to experience it to have the implications of what that trauma does to us inside our genes.
So when we think about it from that point, and then we would think about. There's a movie called Roots, and one of the scenes, one of the enslaved Africans, Kuta Kinte, is being beat. Now, when he's being beat, if you look at that, there's the overseer who's beating him, but then there's other enslaved folks. And then there's also the wife, and you know who they're on there looking. And it's. You know, there are no kids. But just imagine in these circumstances, there are kids. There's a community of folks, white folks in particular, that are looking at this too. Right?
And the. What I appreciate about you bringing up the sadness is recognizing what's happening in our bodies when those things are happening. Right. Are we really attuned? And so when we think about how folks are traumatized, we go into that scenario.
How are different folks being traumatized in that experience?
You have the overseer beating this enslaved person, African. And then you have people standing by watching the wife, maybe a kid.
Has anybody ever seen anybody? When we think about George Floyd and the police brutality, we just saw that on the screen, and it was hard to look at.
Right?
And now we think about walking out the street and walking out the door. And you see a police car get behind you, they're not even looking for you. But based on what it represents, what goes on in the body with the energy and the anxiety. We talk about anxiety so much. And so thinking about those things in terms of how we've been traumatized as a collective, and so that's one of the concepts that I appreciated from that, because I think if we all think about how we've collectively been traumatized through racism and white supremacy, we can understand our lens of how we can navigate it in a different way. Right?
And I do want to acknowledge, like, I'm using black and white in very simplified terms, but the dynamic even with that is I was in a workshop one time, and a gentleman, I called him a Caucasianite because he didn't want to be labeled as a white person because of all the dynamics. And back to one of the lines, I say, well, welcome to the party.
Others don't want to be labeled and engaged the same way, but that's the reality of our experience.
Let's keep going.
So when we think about this dynamic of race, and even me speaking to that one of the race is a social construct. And let me tell you how we can just prove this real easy is if we were to go across the world, I can guarantee you there's somebody within a different cultural context, right, that has. That probably has the same hue of skin that represents a total different culture, right? We've seen Latinos that look black, white, etc. So if you just really do that across the world, you can see those dynamics. But the other piece is thinking about it being a social construct and how it leads and lends itself to how we navigate as a society, right? The rules that we make, the policies that we make, how we look at fear in the context of certain communities, et cetera, concepts such as redlining. I think you all have mentioned that, like, all those things get bestowed into the different policies, right?
On the Chillin in the Garden piece, my good. My stage ace, Brisa Loren, she has a line talking about marijuana and how it has been legalized, right?
But there's still so many people of color in particular, who are still locked up.
And then who are the main people making money from that? What do they look like? What is their experience? And so we have to be willing to challenge and look at these different dynamics and look at the systems and how we play into the systems. No, you're good. And how we play into the systems and developing the awareness of how we see ourselves in the world around Us, like, ultimately this is going to be about awareness. And not to say you need to be perfect to be impactful. Right. But you need to be open to seeing what are the ways in which I lean into, you know, prejudice or discrimination.
And it's not always in a negative way. Sometimes it may look more positive and whatnot. So thinking about that aspect, you know you're getting old when your eyes just don't hit like it used to. Because I was like, I cannot read that quote.
Let me see. Got it on my phone. Got it on my phone. Yeah, I was trying to make it bigger, but it didn't work out. There is no such thing as race done scientifically, anthropologically, racism and social construct. And it has benefits. Money can be made off of it. And people who don't like themselves can feel better because of it. It can describe certain kinds of behavior that are wrong or misleading. So the question that I have for this one, not that we'll get a chance to go too far, but the question is, when did you realize that you were white or black?
Think about that.
When did you realize that you were white?
Five years ago. Okay, I ain't gonna ask you your age. I'm just. No, I know you're grown.
Okay, okay, you, girl, you better. You better work that so 41, before you realize you're white.
Oh, thank you.
That dynamic, I asked a good friend of mine the same question and it was like, nah, there's never none. I had to think about, Right? And when you are part of the dominant culture, that it is something that you probably don't have to think about because all the stories are going to represent you, et cetera, et cetera. But I guarantee if you ask most black folks or people from other cultures, then they're going to tell you at a much younger age when they realized they were different. Right.
And so even being able to look at that and hearing that response lets us know the importance of being able to have shared experiences. And I know when it comes to, like, diversity, equity, inclusion, folks are just like, we're just talking about what's different and all this stuff.
But the other dynamic is we're not talking. If we never talk about anything, then we're not making the connections of where we meet in the middle either. Right? So that's a part of this experience as well. So go to the next slide.
So as we think about this, you know, and it's really shifting, shaping how we think, how we navigate our experiences. Because when you've had a certain experience, that validates your experience. And it's not until you come into a space where you get challenged or you come into a new dynamic where you have to really reflect and see what's the way that I was thinking is, is that actually true? Especially when we have social media and everything around us that reinforces a particular perspective of racism, white supremacy. Next slide, please.
So which makes this dynamic of being able to move from our head, because we can probably make things logical in so many ways when we do it, but this work takes us going from out of our head and into our hearts. One does not have to operate great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.
And I think when we look at some of the dynamics of court decisions in recent history and so many other things around us, we can see how that lack of empathy and connection to each other really emphasizes some of the challenges. Next.
So collective liberation. If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.
As a social worker, I've dealt with a lot of dynamics where people come into the field and they're just like, I just want to help. I just want to help them and save this community or save these people. And they don't need you to save them because they have skills and strengths within and of themselves. Right? And then that saving, that savior complex puts them at a distance, and there's that disconnect versus there are going to be some ways that you can save that require you actually speaking in places when they're not there.
And if the only save is me when I'm with you or in proximity, then you're not truly happing as much as you might think you are. So just know that this space looks like speaking up and providing voice when others are not in a space to say anything or that they won't be listened to. The piece on chilling in the garden is such a dynamic in terms of the line where I'm like, my ideals are never really taken unless it comes from somebody else. Right. Many of you, probably depending on how your family dynamics is, maybe your older brother or your sister, they the ones that get listened to. And so you can say the same thing, then they be like, wow, that's a great idea. It was like, I just said you that 20 minutes ago. I've been saying it for five years, and y'all didn't want to listen to it.
So that's a dynamic as well. Right? So I think the other piece, as you move them from head to heart and thinking about, what does it look like to show up in this space and not to save people. How can we work in dealing with these dynamics together? Right? And there's work that sometimes is going to be white folks having conversations with white folks. It's going to be women having conversations with women. Men have a conversation with men. All of that needs to take place.
The work begins by accepting the truth that racism hurts us all. And collective effort is essential for change. And empathy is the foundation for understanding and addressing the ways racism divides and harms community.
We have to be able to see each other, and we can move to the next slide.
And one of the ways that I've navigated this is through a friendship. My buddy Mike, he was actually going to be here today, but he ended up having surgery, so he didn't get a chance to make it. But I met Mike probably around, I think it's about 15 years ago. Our daughters were in kindergarten together and, you know, the whole play date thing. So we would meet up, you know, daughters would play. And he was. We had. It was interesting. He was a white guy from the Bay Area. He was a few years older than me, married. He had two daughters.
I just have one. But he didn't. He's essentially an atheist. He doesn't believe in God.
He has one of the biggest hearts for people that I of anybody of any faith that I've ever met. And that alone just made me think around, how do we show up? Right? He would literally give you the shirt off his back. I probably wouldn't want to wear it because he ain't the stylish guy, but he would give it to you if he could. And so it made me thinking. And we used to do a podcast called Black and White Questions. A black guy, white guy, talking about things that would be seen as kind of, like, ignorant, or why would you ask them? But it's a real place. Like, we can all ask some very, for lack of a better word, dumb questions at times because we don't have any true recognition or awareness around it. And it's just a real genuine question that if you come from the culture, you understand it, but if you don't, no, it's valid.
So with him, and he's somebody that really like to go against the grain. And I really battled with if I wanted him to come or not, because he wants to be a comedian, and he can be very, like, raunchy, for lack of better words. So even when I got him to do a recording for this. And he still managed to cuss. I'm like, bruh, like, I. I can't use this. You talking like that. But I say that to say our friendship has allowed us to really dive into some real questions. And I remember one question that we had at one time, which was, which is the better form of racism? Right? And I say, better in terms of which would you prefer to deal with overt racism or covert racism?
And his sentiment was covert. Like, you don't. And I'm like, that's no. As somebody who. And this is where dynamics just looking at our experiences really honed in. I was like, nah, I rather know exactly what I'm dealing with. I'd rather know that I can't go to this place or that if I step over here, if I didn't get that job is because of this, versus if not, then I'm internalizing.
Am I smart enough? Am I. Can I actually do this my worth? And all these things get challenged. Right?
And that's not a normal conversation to have.
And even amongst friends, I think the dynamic that I've also experienced as a trainer is we get into some of these conversations. You realize that some couples and some really close folks haven't had these type of conversations, but lives have been molded based off these experiences. And so it even challenges us to think, how close are we actually to the people we say we love if we're not willing to hear about their trauma, if we're not willing to hear about their experiences or learn how their lived experience is different from ours so that we can show. Understand how to show up in those spaces.
Next question, next slide.
I think the main thing I kind of want to leave us with is when I asked Mike around how to show up in this space in terms of, as a white person thinking about social justice, what does it mean to show up in this space? And he said probably the main thing that he's learned over the years would be to lean into the discomfort. Those moments where he felt nervous or anxious about how to show up, pushing through that, pushing through that, recognizing that some folks don't have the privilege to be able to say, oh, I don't want to deal with that. And they have to. So for him realizing, and then more often than not, when he did step into that space and move beyond that, he got something out of that experience that helped him along his journey. Next one.
So on that note, I hope today there was something said heard that at least got us to think about what it means to show up, to do this work, it's gonna look different from everybody. And even just having a few minutes to have these conversations. Right.
This in a slightly different vein, I think one of the things that impacted me most, even with dealing with the LGBT community, was I had an uncle that was trans. Like, we didn't have the language for it back then, but I remember him.
Her.
You know, she died in prison because, you know, all the things that she went through.
But I think what hit me most is I always wonder, what would it have been like if she would have had a safe place, Right. To at least express. Right.
And that's something for everybody. Right.
And so when I think about what does it mean for us to step into this work, step into this place, it means opening ourselves up to maybe something different from our experience, knowing that our way isn't the only way, and being willing to go beyond the discomfort.
And that's going to look like everybody doing something to show up in a way that might be uncomfortable, and that's okay. If anything, the discomfort might let you know that you're moving in a right direction.
So on that note, I want to say thank you all for having me. I hope something was heard and received. And.
[00:32:21] Speaker B: Thank you, Kendrick.
What I want to do as we just wrap it up is I'm reflecting on some of the things that you shared that are, I think, very helpful concepts. And it occurs to me that this is very much a kind of like Anti Racism 101 introduction. Right. Kendrick introduced us to some framework that can help people who are interested and willing to do some work around this. So clean trauma, or, excuse me, clean pain. Dirty pain was a distinction I hadn't heard before. That's very helpful as you're trying to become aware of what you're feeling in your body.
I'm wondering what other concepts you heard today that might be helpful to you, if anybody's willing to share. Carolyn.
Yeah, I agree. Carolyn talks a little bit here about the concept that oppressors are traumatized as well as the oppressed. I think this is a very liberating concept and very helpful as well. Anybody else? Something that sticks with you, Bob.
That's very good. So you don't have to intend to do harm in order to do harm. Yes. Yes.
Yeah, that's good.
It might be worth considering when we are faced with trauma, individually or collectively, or faced with our complicity in trauma, or maybe struggling with our own sense of moral injury because we've been complicit with trauma, that attempting alternative to acknowledging that trauma and wrestling with that pain, that attempting alternative is to just grab for power and control.
And I think that impulse to just sort of grab for power and control explains to some extent the rise of fascism that we're seeing globally, but also right here in the United States.
And the gospel really is the opposite of that.
Anybody else before we just close with a short passage in a prayer?
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you, Natasha. Maybe one symptom of that desire to sort of push everything back to a place of COVID racism is that you're going to hear in the days and the weeks and the months and even the years ahead a very strong call for unity and healing from the people who are doing the harm.
And that's a very. That's a power move.
Right.
And I just want to encourage you that if you see a message that we should all be coming together, healing and unity without acknowledging the harm and contending with the consequences and making things right, that if you feel resistance to that, that's good.
You shouldn't feel guilty about resisting unity and healing with people who are doing harm.
That doesn't mean that there isn't a place for redemption and forgiveness and healing. But we have to.
We have to deal with the harm in order to get to the. To healing and forgiveness. And on that note, I just want to end with this, if it's okay, just end with this passage.
Maybe one of my favorite expressions of the gospel from Jesus is also the most uncomfortable or one of the most uncomfortable. Jesus just has an amazing habit of being terribly annoying, in my opinion, all the time.
And so in Luke chapter six, you hear Jesus's familiar words, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. This is the language of the Beatitudes, which we hear in Matthew chapter five as well. But in Luke six, he says it differently, says, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you'll be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. And in this statement, these statements, is the powerful notion that when the power of God comes, that those who have been poor or hungry or grieved will be satisfied. They'll be filled, they'll be rescued. And that's the gospel that we all like to talk about. It's the one that makes us feel good, and it's terribly important. But Luke does us the amazing favor of giving us the bad news, too.
When Jesus turns around and says, but woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
I think we're often just not willing to contend with the reality that the good news is good news for particular folks and therefore is bad news for others.
It's bad news for those who have stolen from the poor. It's bad news for those who have oppressed the marginalized. But, and I think this is an important point that Kendrick brought to us today, the bigger picture tells us that both the rich and the poor are oppressed by the system that creates rich and poor.
And so genuine liberation is liberation for both.
It's not just the poor who need to be liberated from poverty. It's the rich who need to be liberated from wealth.
It's not just those who are black or brown who need to be liberated from racism. It's those who are white, which white is also a social construct that perpetuates unequal power. White folk need to be liberated from whiteness and white supremacy.
But that's deeply uncomfortable.
And so my prayer today is that we would lean into the discomfort of that whatever shade your skin color happens to be. Amen. Would you pray with me? And then. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. All right. God, we thank you so much for today. We thank you for Kendrick and Brittany and the expression of the gospel that they have gifted us with today.
We thank you for this space and this time that we have to come together to devote ourselves to the good but hard work of being disassembled and reassembled in a way of deconstructing our harmful concepts and ways of being, and instead submit to being reconstructed in a way that reflects your good news, your justice in the world. We pray that this would just be the beginning of that work and that you would give us the grace and the perseverance to press forward.
We pray God, that you would bless Brittany and Kendrick for their time with us today, that they would be renewed in the work that you've called them to. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. All right, thank you again, Kendrick and Brittany. Thank you very much.
And on that note, I want to remind you that our new anti racism group, Living Undivided starts in February. You have an opportunity to sign up for it. Hopefully you received a flyer and hopefully you will go downstairs and have a few pancakes and say hello to each other. May the peace of God be with you.
God bless you guys.
[00:40:21] Speaker A: Thank you for joining us for this Sunday teaching no matter when or where you're tuning in.
[00:40:27] Speaker B: To learn more about our community or to support the work we do, Visit
[email protected] We hope to see you again and same.
