Racial Reconciliation - Latasha Morrison

[Music] you I am Tasha Morrison I am the founder of be the bridge this story started when I was in the 11th grade I always ran for leadership and so when you ran for leadership you had to take a class and when we're going around giving ideas I said I want to do a black History Week celebration it looked like that was the stupidest idea ever like why would you celebrate Black History and I remember thinking I didn't have the words thin I didn't know how to articulate what I felt and I think that was a seed a spark to really want to know all of me and all of my story and all of the story of those that have gone before me I was on staff at a church and I was having a conversation with a lady she was older than me she started talking about her experiences through desegregation and some of the students that she encountered and some some of the fear that she had and I remember her saying and what Lincoln did to the South because people love their slaves and I remember thinking how could you put that in a sentence together and at that point there was just anger in me but then there was just sorrow also in me and then there was just pity the fact that she thought that and that she would say that to me an african-american the only thing I could muster to say at that time to her was when you love something you said it free they didn't have freedom there God give him freedom they did not have people do not give you dignity God gives you dignity and their dignity was stripped from them they didn't have choice that's not loving someone and so this romanticized view of our history has been a lie we don't truly know each other there's not going to be any restoration there's not gonna be any reconciliation and so I wanted to see what can I do how could I bring people together specifically in the church to have this conversation and really tell the story the true story of the african-american experience and then how do I stand that beyond being an african-american but tell the other stories of other marginalized groups I can't tell their stories but I can invite them to the table also to tell their stories today we have over 600 groups online community over 16,000 and lives are being changed people are being reconciled to one another and understanding the true history of America and truth is what makes us free what we need is a collective conviction as a country and that's what I want be the bridge to be for people a way for us to move forward with collective conviction towards racial reconciliation I am a leader I am a bridge builder well welcome to national community church all seven campuses this weekend we continue our series peacemakers it's a good thing I'm not preaching because of my voice I barely have it it is a joy this weekend to welcome Latasha Morrison she is the founder of be the bridge a non-profit committed to helping people become ministers and ambassadors of racial reconciliation author of the book by the same title and I love the subtitle pursuing God's heart for racial reconciliation in Revelation 7 we get a sneak peek into eternity it says a great multitude that no one could number from every nation every tribe every people every language was standing before the throne and then in Galatians 3 it says there is neither Jew nor Greek slave nor free male nor female here's the bottom line the church ought to be the most diverse place on the planet can I get an amen right there we can't just be colorblind we've got to be color brave and we've come a long ways as a church but we have a long ways to go listen this message it's gonna push the envelope and it might even push a few buttons here's what I've learned in my experience that's how and when and where I grow and so may God give us ears to hear in a heart to receive would you give a warm welcome this weekend to Latasha Morrison hey you guys doing today it's exciting to be here in DC just so you know I know when some of us we hear this taco race a lot of us kind of start clinching our fists and you know like what is she gonna say what is she gonna say well I'm just gonna let you know I'm gonna let you make you feel a little uncomfortable but I'm gonna do it in the spirit of love and so we are all brothers and sisters in here and we're gonna tackle this together we're not in this alone we are in this together and I think it's just interesting that just being here on Veterans weekend you know I am the daughter of a Army veteran 82nd airborne my father my grandfather was 82nd airborne he served in the Vietnam War and also the Korean War so I am from a town called Fayetteville North Carolina which is the home of Fort Bragg and so just to be here is great on this Veterans Day and so I'm reminded this a few days ago my team and myself we went to the african-american museum and I remember this was my second visit there and I remember my first time going into that that building and looking at the just a history that history I didn't know about my story and the story of my ancestors and so one of the things I was looking I was surprised to see the the names of the countries that had imported slaves and the names of the ships I had no idea they still knew the names of the ship but it was connected to economics so therefore records were kept and so you had the name of the ship you had the name of the country and then you had the number of slaves that were put on that ship and then the surviving and I just remember looking at that and looking at the they were showing in like a pathway of where it started where the ship started and if you were here and if you went into North Carolina or Jamestown or north or if you went into the Gulf like there's there were certain ports here in the United States and I remember tracing that path and looking at this is my story I can trace my history back to Benina and Togo and to Cameroon and I was like somebody survived that for me to be here today that was significant to me my life had purpose my life has purpose and this year 2019 marks the 400 year anniversary of the first twenty-something and odd that's what the documents say people who look like me that were brought into jamestown in 1619 and I find that significant even in tracing that story where it connected with me like when I come from like I come from survival I come from brilliance I come from Hope somebody prayed that I would be standing before you today being able to say the things that I'm saying now that's significant to me and I've heard my Angelo saying that I am the hope of the slave and I say that I am the hope of my ancestors and today I stand before you and boldness and strength and that of lament that this is a part of our history but it's not the end of our history and so if you can journey with me tonight and today that we're going to just now the gate and understand that there's hope there's hope and truth and truth transforms so let me just pray father we thank you for being with us Lord disrupt us tear down ideologies tear down belief systems that don't point to you do a work in our heart so that we can see you clear and then name was Jesus amen and one of the things when we talk about this history that we are all a part of and that was significant when I look through this history of slavery and I look through this history of segregation and racial terror in our country it's a part of the story it's a part of the story that we don't like to talk about but it's significant in the sense where it's a part of our story and it was legal you know and so helps me come to realize that the things that are just are not always legal and the things that are legal are not always just and I want to remind us of that today when we look through our history and the institution of lynching and segregation that the kingdom of God is not a part of the world system that we're set apart and what has happened is we've allowed culture to come into the kingdom of God and dictate how we see each other and so we have to really do some deconstructing and understand where we should stand in the midst of the chaos because God's kingdom is not divided racially God's kingdom is set apart and if we are to be ambassadors of that we have to understand that and I know that you guys are in a series of peacemaking and one of the things that we have to understand about peacemaking is that the foundation for peacemaking is that of truth and we have to be truth tellers in this we can't deny true if we don't have to to stay in the past but we understand it to move forward we have to recognize the past and how it shapes us today I always like to say that history keeps receipts it keeps an account and I think that's important this summer we took a group of be the bridge one of our goals is racial reconciliation that's so hard you know I've done work in human trafficking and now and racial reconciliation I'm like Lord why why can't I just talk about joy you know like give me something easy well I get all the hard stuff you know and so as we talk about reconciliation I wanted us to go to a country that is doing the process of reconciliation what it takes in and we got to talk to government officials we got to meet with people we had a opportunity to visit the reconciliation village there and in that process we noticed that the the process of reconciliation and Rwanda has been difficult it's been hard and if you understand anything about the genocide of Rwanda what happened was I'm doing the colonialism into Rwanda they were a nation about 93 percent Christian and during that period the Hutus and the Tutsis which were two different tribes where basically it's about divide and conquer and so they were divided and so Rwanda calls it the genocide of the tissie and so as they they about 800,000 people were murdered during this genocide they murdered each other but it was the Hutus that murdered the two c''s and so in this process in order to rebuild their country and to rebuild their government they had to go through a transition a period they the shift they couldn't do things the way they've always done it if they wanted a different result so they got rid of tribal recognitions and tribal names and they became Rwandan the other thing that they did is they created a new vision for reconciliation reconciliation is hard it doesn't feel good it's disruptive it's not easy a lot of times in our mind when we think about reconciliation we're thinking about now we have faith and forgiveness and then there's reconciliation but in the midst of reconciliation there has to be confession there has to be repentance there has to be a making a wrong right and so in their government they've set up systems to make the wrong right they even have new language on one word they use as uma Mootoo and this word means humanity goodness generosity kindness those who don't stand it complicity in the face of injustice for those who risk their lives to rescue or help those who are persecuted they don't want people to stand in silence while injustice is going on they want them to do the work of oomba Mootoo and that's important in the process of reconciliation you see peacemaking is active it is not passive he's saying this is the truth that really transforms us if we want transformation if we want reconciliation we have to begin with truth and in Scripture and fission six and 14 says stand therefore having fastened on the bell of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and we quote this a lot when we're talking about the armor of God but when we think about truth the belt of truth without the belt the armor falls off it holds it in place it's imperative for the full armor to put on that to put on the belt of truth not the belt of lies not the bill of denial the belt of shame but the belt of truth and in John 17:17 this is just really one of the foundation of scriptures of what we do and be the bridge and this is Jesus praying and Jesus says as he's about to go to the cross and this is like the night before sanctify them by the truth Your Word is truth and I don't know about you but if I was about to give my life on the cross I don't know if I'd be paying praying for other people I'll be praying for myself you know but Jesus is praying for this prior to death Christ had been made was the word incarnate the utterance of God to men into women we are to recognize God's will do this work and this sanctified them through the marvelous revelation of God and his love for us do men and women to him through this process of sanctification and it says he said set them apart make them more like you Father you see our belief systems and our world systems should be developed by the Word of God not by the world we mustn't conflicted - if we are to be shaped by the truth of God's Word or if we're going to be shaped by bad interpretation driven by self-centeredness this is where the Pharisees and the religious leaders ended up with bad interpretation with no heart or concern for the other you see truth unvarnished and unfiltered is essential to the work of Jesus of transformation freedom and reconciliation you see this is the truth that transforms us and in John 14:6 it says I am the way the truth and the what no one comes to the Father except through me you see Jesus embodies all truth biblical truth helps us understand why historical truth is imperative to the reconciliation process when it comes to historical truth we've often okay when a partial truth if we're not starting from the same common memory this creates a barrier and one of the things that I said in the video this memory of the period of slavery we're not starting from the common memory we don't know our history we don't know each other we don't see each other and if we're gonna reach our community we need to understand our community if we're gonna love our neighbor we need to love our neighbor and in that scripture they didn't give any prerequisites for loving the neighbor of someone that looks like you talks like you seems like you worship like you but you see we think the things that are just like that's our rights and the things that are different we other them and think that they're wrong and so we have to understand that there's great diversity in the kingdom of God you see these lies are that we've believed about our history and the narratives that have been created the stereotypes that have been created these lies are intended to mislead us generationally and misrepresent history you see this is the truth that transforms us you see the truth is I want you to listen to this and understand this the truth is ethnicity reflects a unique aspect of God's image and if we truly believe that we are image bearers we must see the image bearer not just in our neighbors not just in America but we have to understand that in Brazil they're being they've been created in the image of God in Afghanistan in Palestine in Israel in Iraq the global church has been created in the image of God but you see we've been sold a lie of indifference and sameness not one tribe or ethnicity can reflect the totality of God is it takes every tribe and every nation and every tongue to reflect who God is not one ethnicity expresses who God is you don't determine that but it's all of us the global church not just Western culture church but Eastern culture church there reflects the aspect of who God is you see God is at work in every culture and in every people group when we begin to think of ourselves as better than another group or culture we placed ourselves as gods and idols you see but only God is supreme and see that's why in the kingdom of God nationalism doesn't work in the kingdom of God we have to see each other as brothers and sisters image bearers I'm not better than you because I live in America so we have to approach it like that see God is the only one that is supreme in any supremacy outside of God's supremacy is simple and that's something that we have to repent of you see many Christians approach this conversation about race from variant truths the first truth we must understand that God didn't create race race is a social and political construct so people say well why you always got to get political if we're talking about race is gonna be political it doesn't have to be partisan but it is political because politics are about people you see it doesn't mean that we take a colorblind approach and I heard Pastor Mark say that we need to be color brave color Karen colorful we need to see each other because to say that you're colorblind that means you don't see me and I know you see me in all of this beautiful chocolate with this bright shirt unless you have a medical to condition right so we want to see each other we don't want to look past one another because when we look past that we're not seeing the systemic issues that that are impacting groups of people we need to see each other you say race was only created as the purpose of a certain power and maintaining hierarchy to pursue truth that leads us toward reconciliation we must identify and agree together on facts that God cannot heal what we conceal you see I want to break this down a little bit further many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people says that Zechariah and 2 verse 2 and 11 the word nations in this text comes from the Hebrew word go meaning foreigners people who are ethnically different from the Israelites and in acts 13 through 47 through 52 we see for the Lord has commanded a saying I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth and when the Gentiles heard this they begin rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord and as many were appointed to eternal life they believed and the word the Lord was spreading through the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the world and region you see the Greek word used here for Gentiles is ethnos also meaning foreign non-jewish people grew this is where we get the word ethnicity and ethnic Isaiah 49 and 6 he says Christians of different ethnicities we should share a common heritage and memory you see this is the truth that transforms us you see we are reminded of who we are and whose we are through our salvation history you see Christ's sacrifice on Calvary connects us as the family of God it connects us eternally to one another our Christian faith is embodied by various communal X you see we have a common prayer we have communion baptism we are reminded that all of our stories are rat and intertwined with God's story not only do we share foundational memories and practices in our faith but we share and understand personal ethnic histories to participate in the family of Christ alongside non-white people the majority cultural must acknowledge the perspectives of people of color and we must understand the truth of historical narratives we must partner through listening not telling people what to say and how to say it without the truth of racial justice which calls us to confession and repentance without it there will be continued dissonance in our relationships you see Jesus came to make beauty from ashes but first we must recognize and acknowledge the ashes we must see each other we must understand and educate and teach the generation about our shared past you see beginning with the common memory of the atrocities committed against people of color in this country if we are to be reconciled family we must begin with the full truth and recognize all the parts of the story all of the parts of this story you see some of you are sitting here you're seeing like what I understand but I wasn't a slaveholder and you weren't a slave and this has nothing to do with me that will happen a long time ago you see but in the body of Christ we're a collective group the Bible is collective we are connected to one another so we inherited a mess it's not our fault we didn't create it but it is all of our responsibility to be a part of a solution we all have a place in a part to play we can't be on the sidelines in this if we are to be the church a representation of the kingdom of God then we must become leaders in this work of racial reconciliation it should burden us it should break our hearts it should cause us to lose sleep to be in discord with our brothers and sisters to see the injustice that are happening to image bearers and if it's not breaking your heart I pray that you would lift your hands before the King of Kings and tell the Lord to break my heart allow me give me the eyes to see in the heart to care don't let me become apathetic we must lead with empathy in this you see racism is bad for the oppressed in the oppressor and I like this story and I mentioned this in the book about Ezra and when you think about Ezra and Nehemiah the counterpart when we when we read about Nehemiah Nehemiah was broken and concerned about a country a nation that he had never seen and he used his privilege his platform to bring about change and when we think about Ezra as soon as he heard about this he tore his garment and his cloak about the sins of his people he didn't commit it it wasn't his doing Nehemiah OH Nehemiah was born into the Exile so he wasn't responsible for what happened to Israel but his heart was broken even the more because he understood that his nation was supposed to point to God for the glory of God and so that's why our hearts should be broken you see this is the truth that transforms and then in this scripture in John eight and three it says and we will know the truth and the truth will set you what the truth of God is freeing changes us it liberates us it transforms us it moves us it redeems us it restores us and it can reconcile us and that's what we need to long for so why do we start with truth because Jesus shined a light on the undervalued the unseen we must shine a light on our painful history an effort for us to move forward we have to make sure that we are we don't conceal what God can heal and seeing some of the things that we have to acknowledge and repent about is our history and I'm just going to take us through a quick little walk through history and acknowledge the systemic policies that have demean some and uplifted others that has removed dignity from some see because we are connected and we have to approach this with deep sorrow in Valdosta Georgia there was a lady named Mary Turner and there's our country has a lynchin history and every time I look at a story I think about my grandmother my grandmother would have been seven years old when this happened and she was protesting that her husband was lynched because something happened in their community and so all the men of color all the black men were lynched and this lady was eight months pregnant and she was lynched and her baby was murdered this is history that we should know and understand that has shaped not just the South but our country but we hide it and we don't talk about it remember God can not heal what we conceal the slave trade was the prevention of slaves being imported to the US the Indian Removal Act this was instituted by President Andrew Jackson the Dred Scott case and some of these you can write down and look up the compromise of 1877 which removed the troops at the slather after the Civil War that removed the troops from the south and this is where you see the reign of racial terror and the KKK come come up and this is when the rights of that were restored to some of the black men were taken away in their roles the Thirteenth Amendment evolved into slavery by another name through mass incarceration the 14th minute amendment granted all citizenship in equal protection under the law Plessy vs. Ferguson and this was a Supreme Court case that upheld that it was okay to have separate and equal and you say where was the church and all of this was the church on the sidelines saying this is wrong this is not how we treat image bearers the church was not only complicit but the church helped create the infrastructure we had denominations that divided and some of you may say well there had to be some people that were saying this was wrong of course there are always outliers you could read it throughout history some of your parents your grandparents your ancestors may have been the outliers they were saying this was wrong but a lot of times that's the remnant and what I'm asking you today will you be a part of the remnant will you be a part of the remnant of reconcile is there's gonna lock arms together and cry out for justice and for mercy you see the work of reconciliation begins with truth is painful truth truth requires us to listen to unlearn damages stereotypes and lean into hard and difficult dialogue this may cause a lot of us to be fragile or angry but the this work calls us to listen to learn to lament to leverage into love it calls us to confection it calls us to repentance it calls us to forgiveness it calls us to justice it calls us to restoration and it calls us to make things right to repair that which is broken it beckons us into conversations and relationships with people who look different from us it's not about diversity but it's about the transforming work of reconciliation it requires a surrendered heart it requires humility it requires listening and lifting up the voices of the marginalize you see this is the truth that transforms and in Matthew 6 and 10 it says your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven but I don't know about you but I want a little bit of heaven on earth and I think some of us we we have this misconception that we think when we make it into eternity that we're going to stand before the throne like you see in revelation 7 and 9 and we're going to be in separate churches like we are now heaven is not going to look like our churches if we have a problem with someone else speaking another language now we will have a problem because guess what Jesus didn't even speak English and I have another secret he wasn't white so some of us are going to be really uncomfortable if we're if we're really believed this thing that we say that we do every day if we're if we're really walking in faith if we really have a relationship with the father some of us are going to be disappointed and uncomfortable in eternity with the father we got to get it right we have to get it right and you see the Lord loves us so much this grace and His mercy is being extended to us and he's begging us to be a part of his system and not the world system pray with me father we know this is tough this is hard it's so uncomfortable to talk about just our history just our past but father we are broken and we need you we need you to show us our missteps to transform our hearts so that we can be made more into the image of you and Jesus saying

Channel: National Community Church

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Length: 38min 7sec (2287 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 03 2019