Last December I had an opportunity to share with our Coracle community through this journal article an experience I had that opened the eyes of my understanding to the difference between Justice and Mercy. I learned that mercy was something that we could achieve on our own daily throughout encounters with others. Mercy says if someone is hungry buy them something to eat but Justice says, how can we make it so everyone can have equitable access to one of our basic needs in life… food.

This experience was so impactful that it filled my heart and overflowed into prayers to God to see how more people could have this experience as well. God’s response to these prayers was the Justice, Mercy and Humility Soundings Seminar series (find the recordings here). Throughout this series we talked about What Justice is, what Jesus says about it in the Bible, Authentic apologies and How the call to Justice shows up in our Homes, Community and places of work. We had an attunement session to see where God was calling us to take our next steps and had an opportunity to hear from two organizations who are doing the work of Kingdom Action in our communities ( RILA and RRG).

Seeing the whisper of God come into fruition had me in awe but not as much as the questions that arose from attendees like “ how can we get started”  came through the zoom chat! This is what it was all about! Shortly after the last Sounding Seminar with the Racial Reconciliation Group ended I received an email from one of the members, Gwendolyn Payton. She emailed me an invitation to consider joining her at  Christians Seeking Justice’s Jesus and Justice Conference coming up in October and I did!

On Oct 5, 2024 I traveled to Atlanta, GA for the conference! Before the sun rose on Friday morning we gathered at Bridge Pointe Church in Marietta, GA and headed down to Montgomery, Alabama for an all day pilgrimage.

We visited the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice where the over 4,400 Black people killed in racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 are remembered.

We went next to the Legacy Museum. The Legacy Museum was built on the site of a former cotton warehouse where enslaved people were forced to work and tells the story of slavery in America. Although it was a heart wrenching experience it was incredibly curated for us to “ through a comprehensive history of the destructive violence that shaped our nation, from the slave trade, to the era of Jim Crow and racial terror lynchings, to our current mass incarceration crisis”. I could write a feature on this experience alone! I implore you to make time to visit and take the time to experience each part of the museum.

Last but not least we visited the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. Alongside the Alabama river where many enslaved people were trafficked we walked through beautifully crafted sculptures representing not only the lives of the enslaved people but also the indigenous people of the land.

These three spaces not only served as a way to remember for some and tell to others the story of our past, but also a way to understand our now so that we can make real change for our future.

Saturday we returned to Bridge Pointe Church for the Conference! There were two phenomenal Keynote speakers  Dr. Jemar Tisby and Dr. David Gushee.

Dr. Tisby, Historian, Speaker and Author, started off stating that there is no separating Jesus and Justice. That “the more we pursue justice, we get more of Jesus”. The questions for Christians aren’t should we do justice, but how should we. He spoke on the reality that there are obstacles to pursuing justice and honed in on three in particular: Individualism, Isolation and Intimidation.

His newest book The Spirit of Justice is full of stories from the past and shares a legacy of hope! “When the struggle for racial justice is discouraging, history can give us hope. These true stories from the past will inspire you to keep up the fight.”

Dr. David Gushee, Ethicist, Pastor, Author and Advocate spoke to us from the topic “Unveiling and Ending White Supremacy Christianity”.

He began by quoting Eboni Marshall Turman “White Christianity in America was born in heresy.”  He presented several injustices and missed opportunities for White Christians to have repented over the past 400 years, unapologetically stating that white people have been blinded from seeing the obvious.

He shared that in his own life he had to learn by listening. He took the time to listen to the black voices of the past and now, read and/or hear from their experiences and recognize where he could first make a change within himself. He encouraged other people to take that first step as well.

If you are in the Coracle community I know that you have a heart for Kingdom Action but sometimes the causes that our hearts are drawn to may feel so big that just the mere thought of action seems overwhelming, out of reach or maybe to some… not their calling. In my life I have identified the aforementioned thoughts as lies intended to thwart the change that God has called us to be in the earth. We may not all be called to do the same part but we all have a part as the word tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. We were all created for a time such as this and I believe that we can work together as the body of Christ to do the work so that God’s kingdom can come, as his will be done, on earth as in heaven.

If you are interested in seeing the full speeches from the conference you can find them here.