Missio Dei Wrigleyville Response to Racial Injustice
Missio Dei Wrigleyville Congregation,
We lament. We grieve. We are angry and disturbed and we say Black Lives Matter, here in our church, in our city, in our nation. Yet the sin of racism has a terrible grip.
We mourn the deaths, the murders, and suffering of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and many, many others. We lament that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) have to live with unjust experiences every single day.
God created every human in God’s image. But tragically, systemic racism has countered this true narrative with the rebuttal that only some are fit to have dominion and others are to be dominated based on the color of their skin. We confess with grief and anger that the church has played a horrible historic role in this injustice. And we – Missio Dei Wrigleyville – are not immune to this sin.
We confess and repent with grief that whiteness has brought privilege that allows the white people among us to benefit from injustice in our society. This is wrong. We denounce white privilege and all silencing of BIPOC. And we cry out to God to help reveal areas of blindness in those of us who are white so that we can join God in a better way forward. We long for a day when we all honor the immeasurable value of every human as ones made in God’s image and when the voices of the oppressed are lifted up. We will work for a world where the image of God in the bodies of BIPOC is no longer diminished by white people.
We, your Wrigleyville elders, commit to resisting racism with our words and with our lives and with our actions, joining God as He makes all things new. We commit to do better, to learn and to listen, and to actively speak up and act in the face of racism. We as church leadership take responsibility to learn, teach and lead the way of Jesus in place of the way of privilege –– and affirm that this weight does not and should not fall on the backs of our BIPOC brothers and sisters. It is not their job to repair the brokenness that others have forced upon them. We are a family of Jesus and we believe this means that any person can find belonging with us.
For today, we lament and cry out to God for healing and wisdom in finding our way forward with love for all people, reflecting the heart of God for justice and honor. On Sunday, please join our after-service Zoom call to lament and pray with our church family. We will process more actionable plans in the weeks to come.
With love, prayer, faith and commitment in deep healing to come, in Jesus’ name,
Your Wrigleyville Elders
Melissa, Jameson, Jason, Dave
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14