Well, we missed church this last Sunday. We were in Kerrville for Craig's mom's 75th birthday. We got home in time for Sunday night church, but we were too pooped to go. Yes, I do feel guilty - guiltier than I would have skipping out on my "home" church.
I'll make up for my guilt with an extra observation: I think I'm much more aware of my "white lens" thanks to this project. For example, on Monday I went to a symposium at Baylor. William Willimon, a fairly liberal Methodist Bishop from Alabama, was speaking on the subject of "Are Christians called to change the world?" I got into the session late due to another appointment. There were about 150-200 people in attendance. The first thing I caught myself doing was looking around to see if there were any African- American people there. It looked like there was a handful -- maybe 5-10, mostly students it looked like.
I don't want to mis-represent Mr. Willimon. Since I came in late, I missed part of his lecture, but in the part that I heard he seemed to be saying that Christians are not called to social action, more to acts of mercy. I don't know how I would have heard that even a few months ago, but Monday I found myself thinking, "I wonder what Dr. King would think about that?" And, "I wonder if I black preacher would have the same sentiment --- I wonder what the African American people here think about it."
It really reminded my of the part in Divided by Faith where Emerson talks about how white people tend to think the solution to racism and discrimination is individuals loving each other more, while black people tend to think it is more systemic. I wonder if feeling like mercy is enough is a form of white privilege.
