Two Books to Ponder
On the recommendation of Bishop Weaver to the Cabinet, I have been re-reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. There is tremendous insight and wisdom, much of which is apropos to our current circumstances, though the book was first translated into English in 1954. My edition is only 122 pages long, but it is worth reading slowly because of the depth of its content.
A recent book called One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race and Love (Moody, 2018) is offered as a final manifesto by long-time racial justice advocate John Perkins. The summary sentence for the book is this: “There is no institution on earth more equipped or more capable of bringing transformation to the cause of reconciliation than the Church.” I wish that the language were gender inclusive, but if you can get around that issue, there is much experience, encouragement, and inspiration for church leaders. Perkins pleads for us to embrace the call that seems to be growing even more urgent to be an agent for healing racial injustices, and that the Church above all cannot neglect this call and still be true to the Lordship of Jesus.