Free to Be Bound: Church Beyond the Color Line

"We are one body in Christ." We talk about it all the time, but it doesn't change the fact that Sunday morning may very well be the most segregated hour of the week in the US. What does race reconciliation look like in the church? Sadly, many times churches may share one worship service together a year, possibly followed by a meal, and this is lifted up as reconciliation. Jonathan has walked a different road. This book is not a "how to" for churches seeking to make race reconciliation a priority. It is not biblical exposition as much as it is memoir. It is the story of a young man who grew up in an all white church in rural NC and the journey that took him to establish a hospitality house in the heart of one of the poorest neighborhoods in Druham, NC. It is the story of how this young man learned to stand in solidarity with the African-American community and became the associate pastor of a historically African-American church. In the end, it is the story of how Jonathan, in his words, "became black" so that he could begin to truly hear the message of Jesus Christ. Having grown up in a family of musicians, Jonathan is right at home organizing his book around the spirituals that have fed the theology of the African-American church. It is wonderfully written and difficult to put down. This is first-rate narrative theology as we begin to hear the voice of God in the story of Jonathan's life and will challenge all of us to let go of the categories that we so often use to divide and begin adopting the unifying language of "slaves to Christ". As a personal friend of Jonathan, I can say that he doesn't just write about this topic, he truly lives it day in and day out. Truly, he is a voice of hope that the Church ignores at its own peril.

Need to whisper to ourselves this system stinks and public life was not meant to be this way. . . . If we continue saying it, the ideas behind the words will come alive and grow wings. -- Father Joe's daily journal. Wilson-Hartgrove's narrative is another important voice in the wakeup calls that are going out to the world, and esp. organized religion, as people begin to open their eyes to the reality around us. Part of the revolution of change it's required reading for the new curriculum of social justice. The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! In fact, I read it in one sitting. Wilson-Hartgrove's message resonates with me powerfully. I must admit that midway through I became a little worried that he was preparing to say the Church's new identity in Messiah is "black", but he more than adequately addresses this idea as the story progresses. Which is another thing I like about the book. It addresses significant theological issues as part of a narrative - the narrative of our story as recorded in Scripture and of his particular life. I was cheering over statements like, "forsaking one's people to become part of God's people is an experience so radical that it tests the limits of human language." I took the primary message of the book to be that in Messiah, we are to be a new people, a people with an identity beyond that of race or culture. To go a step further than Wilson-Hartgrove does (at least in this book) we are to have a new culture - that of the people of God. I pastor a mixed congregation so I've seen firsthand that the "Black church" has also suffered from the ways in which it has failed to take on the character and culture of God's people. A good follow-on to this book would be an extended reflection on the Torah as God's cultural guide-book for His people? I'm convinced that if we would simply implement the instruction given there that many of the societal ills we battle would be addressed. It's a society of sowers rather than laborers, yet provision is made for those who are unable to be competent managers of their inheritance, etc. Our congregation is struggling to figure out how to implement the instruction of Torah as our model for the culture that God's new people are to take on. We often run into theological conflict from those who want to challenge whether or not they are obligated to forsake pork, or observe the Sabbath, etc. Personally, I think anyone determined to defend their right to live as their neighbor is still asking the wrong questions. I'm happy to discuss the opportunity of living out God's culture-guide, but have essentially no interest in debating whether it's an obligation or not. The model of the Exodus is clear: God called His people out and fashioned them into a new society, one that challenged by its very existence the cultural norms of surrounding nations. Unfortunately, Israel was less than successful in implementing God's culture, but I believe we have a new opportunity since Pentecost to do this more successfully, now that the Spirit Himself is writing God's laws on our hearts. I suspect it is in this way that we will make Israel after the flesh jealous. My black friends often talk to me about how the consumption of pork is physically killing the black people. Imagine if they embraced as part of their new identity in Messiah the necessity of abandoning pork. Imagine if whites embraced as part of their new identity the necessity of abandoning the "American dream", and the practice of relieving debt every 7 year