Beyond White Awake: Further Racial Justice Resources

You’ve finished reading White Awake, and you want to learn more about race in America. Below is a list of resources, divided by topic, to help you on your inward journey and prepare you for the outward journey of working towards racial justice. This isn’t a checklist, though! Pick the resources that you think will best help you go deeper and learn more in your journey into justice.

Racism in the Church

• The Color of Compromise, by Jemar Tisby: this is book (and video series available through Amazon Prime) details the way the church in America has been complicit with racism throughout its history.

• Faith & Prejudice, “Race and the Church” (video; watch through 38:09): this provides a good overview of the way pastors and leaders of color have been excluded in the not-so-distant past.

Understanding Whiteness

• Be the Bridge, by Latasha Morrison: this book, the accompanying curriculum for groups, and the podcast, helps orient Christians towards justice and restoration.

• The History of White People, by Nell Irvin Painter: a deep dive into the construction of “whiteness” from early modern Europe to the present.

Mass Incarceration

• Thirteenth (Netflix documentary): a wrenching history of how the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution allowed a loophole for slavery to continue.

• Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice That Restores, by Dominique DuBois Gilliard: this book looks at the church’s involvement with mass incarceration and offers ways that the church can participate in the reformation of our justice system.

• Two articles that offer statistics about racism and policing, from NBC News and the Washington Post.

Race and Education

• CodeSwitch (NPR podcast): “Audie and the Not-So-Magic School Bus” (audio): this short podcast episode looks at school segregation and busing through Audie Cornish’s experience in a busing program in Boston in the late 1980s.

• Nice White Parents podcast series: a 5-part podcast that examines the power of white parents in America’s school systems.

Race and Housing

• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein: this book examines the history of redlining, the practice of segregating neighborhoods.

• This article on a recent case of redlining.

Hearing Minority Voices: Memoir and Fiction

• I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Austin Channing Brown (memoir)

• An American Marriage, Tayari Jones (novel) — this book does contain strong language

• The Means that Makes Us Stranger, Christine Kindberg (young adult novel)

Theology

• Reading While Black, Esau McCaulley

The Chuangs' Love Story - When Esther Met Tony

Recently Pastor Esther and her husband, Tony, shared about their dating and marriage with the students at College of the Ozarks. Here are some outtakes:

Tony: I was actually pursuing singleness. I had no intention of getting married. In fact, I was willing to be a martyr for Christ. It’s not that I wanted to die, it’s just that I was willing if it comes to it.

Esther: That’s why I often tell people I saved his life.

Tony: I figured, Jesus was single, most scholars think Paul was too. Look how much they accomplished! I point to Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Esther: My story is a bit different. I was always interested in dating and marriage. Since I went to music school for my undergrad and masters, the majority of the students were girls. People even joked and called my school a nunnery. I often had this anxiety in me that I might not be able to meet my significant other.

When I was 20 years old, I started praying for my future spouse. For seven years I prayed that God will give him wisdom, God will give him strength if he is going through hardships, that he will be passionate for God, he will be pure, and that he will love me very much.

Meanwhile I started dating and went through breakups and would be even more heartbroken and lonely afterwards. One night as I was crying out to God feeling lonely, God spoke to me with the Scripture verse of Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always,’ and with Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” and I could sense God speaking to me, “I love you so much, I care about you so much, isn’t my love for you enough?” And I remember saying, “Yes, your love is more than enough for me!”

How They Met

Esther: When I was 27 years old, I had just finished Seminary and was wondering and praying about what I should do next with my life. I was teaching music part-time in the undergrad program of Moody Bible Institute, so I was in the school cafeteria when I saw a new Moody Seminary student walk in. From far away, he looked cute.

Tony: The key words being “from far away.”

Esther: He was sitting with one of my Seminary friends and I approached him.

Tony: I noticed that she was circling around me like a shark.

Esther: I joined the table and asked, “Hi, what’s your name?”

Tony: I said, “Tony.” I then ignored her because we were in a serious meeting.

Esther: Which I was not happy about! But after the meeting, we started talking, and I shared my story and the ministry I do. I shared about my passion to be God’s instrument to the nations. I actually had a Powerpoint presentation ready to show my students, so I opened up my laptop and showed pictures of me leading musical worship in different countries. I showed pictures of my time in Uganda, and how the kids there were worshiping God with their hands raised, tears flowing, and crying out to God. That moment, Tony started tearing up.

Tony: I cried because I was so moved by these pictures of high schoolers crying because that wanted God so much. I was imagining a day when the gospel would inspire the same response from everyone in the world.

Esther: I was surprised that a guy that I just met would cry in front of me, and then was taken back by his passion for God. (Honestly, it got a bit awkward.) We talked for a few hours that day. And then we kept on talking to each other for the next 10 days. After 10 days, I was starting to think, “Hey what is going on? Does he like me or does he just like to talk to girls?” I was thinking I should have boundaries with this guy as we were talking and praying together a lot one on one, whether by texting, Facebook messaging, or talking in person, and I didn’t want my heart to be led on. Good thing is on that 10th day, Tony approached me, and we had the “DTR”—defining-the-relationship talk.

Tony: I walked her back to her apartment. It was a moonlit night with the stars romantically lighting up the sky. I held open the gate as we walked into the beautiful courtyard filled with trees and flowers. I looked deep into her eyes and confessed my eternal love for her. I told her that I thought she was a fascinating woman and that I find myself attracted to her. I explained I didn’t want her to have to guess and to know that I am not doing this with anyone else. I said that marriage is the end goal of whatever romantic relationship we may start developing.

Esther: Well… what I remember from that night was Tony saying, “I find you interesting.” It was awkward.

Tony: So it was a bit more romantic in my mind, but whatever. There was a moon! There was grass and a gate. I said words…

And it obviously worked out!

Meet The Miller Family!

This week we have the joy of sharing another “new Attendee” within Savior’s community. If you haven’t already met The Miller family, join me in getting to know them! 

Who is in your family (children, pets, etc.)?  
• Parents: Matthew and Becky
• Five kids: Katherine (14), Joshua (12), Estel (9), Providence (7), and Iunia (5) (pronounced Yoo-nee-uh, it's the Latin spelling of the female apostle Junia in Romans 16)
• Pets: Two Bengal cat brothers, Bugaboo and Bungalow

Where do you live? Where are you originally from?
We have lived in Wheaton for two and a half months. We moved here from Maastricht, Netherlands, where we lived for the past eight years. Becky was serving on the pastoral staff at an international church, and Matthew was a managing partner at an analytics consultancy. Our two youngest kids were born at home in Maastricht. Before that, we lived in Rhode Island, where Matthew grew up. Becky grew up all over the globe as a military kid. 

Are you related to anyone at Savior?
Matthew is Fr. Kevin Miller’s nephew! Mtr. Karen has been Becky's pastoral leadership coach for the past three years. Getting to live near them was one of the reasons we moved to Wheaton.

How long have you been coming to Church of the Savior?
Becky visited the church while staying with the Millers during her annual week-long intensive courses at Northern Seminary for the past few years. We've been attending the Zoom services as a family since we moved here (and we popped in a few times to the Facebook broadcast while still living in the Netherlands).

In your time at Savior so far, what have you enjoyed most? 
This is a big tradition transition for our family—we've never been part of a liturgical church before. During the first service we participated in on Zoom, one of our kids asked, "Why does church have a script?"

We have really enjoyed the sermons and the variety of preachers who have shared messages. This is something unique about Savior that we would love to see more churches emulate. We also love the focus on social justice, gender equity, and anti-racism. It's important to us that our kids grow up seeing women in church leadership to set an example for them.

What are some fun and entertaining ways your children have participated in the church services?
They mostly use the living room furniture as a jungle gym while we're trying to participate in the service. Their favorite parts of the service are any times that Pastor Esther’s daughter is on the screen and when other members include their pets.

What do you do when your family is not at church? (Job, hobbies, etc.)
Matthew works for Salesforce as a product manager and is adjusting to working from home after spending the last 12+ years traveling extensively for work. He loves coffee and cycling and awful puns, and he wishes he had more time to play guitar and write songs. 

Becky just finished her master's in New Testament and is working on a book on Jesus's emotions. She enjoys reading, cooking, interior design, and discussing Biblical interpretation.

All the kids love reading and are thrilled with the Wheaton Library because it's full of English books! (Our library in the Netherlands had only a small selection of English books, though the kids are also fluent in Dutch.) We love riding our bikes and brought 16 bicycles in our shipping container. We have made it our family mission to visit every playground in the Wheaton area. The kids can't wait to go back to in-person school and make friends. They have had so much fun at the church picnics and bonfire.

What has been a surprising gift to your family during this time of COVID? And what don’t you want to return to “normal”?
Matthew getting to be home instead of traveling constantly is a nice change. This is the first time our family has been able to create consistent rhythms and routines.

Better public health measures like masks, frequent sanitation, and regular handwashing have made a big difference to us. We used to get sick all the time with the kids bringing home germs from school (one child horrified us by explaining the game of "Lick Tag" they played), but now we haven't had colds or stomach bugs in seven months. We hope to carry better public hygiene habits forward with us.

Worship Seminar

Have you been wanting to know more about worship? We are excited to present a short, 4-part video seminar on worship, taught by Pastor Esther.

Part 1: What is Worship

Part 2: What is True Worship and What is False Worship?

Part 3: Why do we do what do we do in our worship service?

Part 4: Are All Worship Songs Good for the Church to Sing?

Christ Our Peace - Church Plant Update

Deacon Sandy Richter shares with us what the last 9 months have looked like, as she and Ian have followed the Lord’s calling on their life.

When a small group of us began meeting in January 2020 to dream and pray about a new church in Oak Park, we had no idea what the next few months would hold. We gathered around the idea that God was at work in Oak Park and seemed to be stirring our hearts to join him. Looking back 9 months later, so much has shifted and changed, but that conviction has remained.

Here’s how we have seen God at work over these past few months...

Building Our Team

We now have 11 adults and 8 children as part of our core team. After meeting a couple of times in person before the lockdown, we decided to move ahead with meeting weekly via Zoom. What at first seemed an unfortunate necessity showed itself to be an unexpected gift. Our schedules were all clearer, our hearts more open to God and one another; and it was a relief to work together on something constructive in the midst of so much uncertainty and loss. 

Clarifying Our Vision

Over the summer, individuals on our team faced various personal hardships and together we grieved over the loss of Amaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other black image bearers. Through this collective grief, God knit our team together and further crystallized the desire for our church to embody the values of: Spirit-led hospitality, vulnerability, truth telling, and a commitment to racial justice. 

Out of this came our new name--Christ Our Peace Anglican Church. Christ’s Peace is what creates hospitality; frees us to tell the truth about ourselves, God and our world; and opens the way to eternal peace through reconciling us to God and one another. 

The Call to Racial Justice

A few things are clear to us:

1. The Church, and in particular the white church, has often served to perpetuate rather than overcome racism within our country. One result of this is that the American Church is largely segregated.

2. Oak Park is a multiethnic, multiracial village and our desire is that our church would reflect this diversity.

We believe we are called in this season to examine ourselves, to repent of our racial malformation and be led by the Spirit to new internal and external expressions of his love and justice in Oak Park.

What we don’t know is where God is taking us. In the next few months, as our all-white core team works through books like White Awake and curriculum like Be the Bridge 101, we are also praying for a black pastor to join our staff and persons of color to join our team. If this is going to be a multiethnic church, it is imperative that this early work of vision and gathering be done in a multiethnic culture of mutuality and togetherness.

At the same time, we’ve heard many stories of how multiethnic churches have been a source of further wounding rather than healing for persons of color, and we strongly believe in the power of minority churches to create safe places for kingdom work, healing and restoration. How our dreams and convictions fit into all of this, we still aren’t sure. We are holding these questions before God and waiting to see where he will lead.

Christ Our Peace and Our Hope

Early on in our time together, a wise mentor called to share with our team a word he had received when in prayer for us. You may think, he said, that this is a strange time to build a church, with so much uncertainty and so many limitations, but the reality is, this is the perfect time. You will join Moses, Esther, Elisha, Mary, Peter and so many others who heard God’s call but had no idea how he would lead them. You will see from the beginning that this is truly a work of God. 

That really is our only hope: It is Christ who builds his Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:18)