Our adult education group at Third Church recently read Be the Bridge: Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation by Latasha Morrison. Of all of the books we have read around anti-racism or racial justice issues, this book was the one that our group seemed to respond to best. It could be that we were prepped by the other books we had read for better dialogue but I really think it had more to do with the framing of racial reconciliation in terms of lamentation, confession, forgiveness, and restoration. Morrison uses what I call “churchy” language in the book which provided a level of comfort and understanding as well as a frame work for our discussion. Particularly helpful, was her discussion about moving from guilt to lament. Guilt and shame can cause us to freeze and not do anything but lament makes way for restoration. Her personal and biblical examples of restoring healthy relationships as the work of the gospel (chapter 9) was my favorite part fo the book. The discussion questions at the end of each chapter were helpful for our group. The litanies and prayers Morrison wrote and collected in this book wonderful. I would love to use them in a worship setting.
Be the Bridge is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to equip the church to have a distinctive and transformative response to racism and racial division.
Period Pastor Pad 