Find the common thread:

1) American myth of meritocracy

2) blight of legalism in the American church

3) the fact that "no laws were broken" will satisfy too many people even when someone dies unjustly at the hands of law enforcement.

ISTM that a significant reason conversations about race get stalled in the church is b/c too many people have been discipled in law instead of gospel.

Don't misunderstand me: the plight of black Americans & those in the minority is *absolutely* where the conversation must focus. We must not talk in such broad strokes so as to minimize specific suffering.

But at root, racism is a form of legalism. And in US history, it was encoded into the *actual* legal system, becoming a self-fulfilling feature of the American vision of meritocracy & self-creation.

Meanwhile, American church is rife w/ the same basic heresy of self-creation & self-redemption, albeit in many forms:

performative Christianity
prosperity gospel
works salvation

And this is why racism is so hard to root out of our churches & hearts. We love our legalism. B/c while legalism permits us to look down on others, the real high comes from feeling that *we* are actually just fine, that *we* are righteous, that *we* have earned our place.

My annectdotal observation is that those most inclined to engage Qs of race are those most firmly rooted in the Gospel. They may engage the conversation imperfectly & have a lot to learn. But they are people who understand that their own lives & eternity rest completely on grace.

Conversely, those least likely to entertain the conversation & most resistent to any form of introspection are those already assured of their own right-ness.

(If these last two tweets sting, ask yourself why. If they don't, also ask yourself why. We must do the work of rooting out meritocracy & legalism in our own hearts first.)

The point is this: Conversations about race will get no where if we don't let go of our love of legalism & meritocray. Insofar as race has been used to confirm the merit of some & the inferiority of others, those who benefit from the category have no reason to Q it.

If you want to subvert the status quo, you must truly subvert it. You must undermine the ground on which racial superiority itself is built.

So yes, by all means, please do preach the Gospel. But please, preach the true Gospel.

Do not preach your false gospels of merit & prosperity. Do not preach your false gospels of artificial peace. Do not preach a false gospel that somehow make you & yours the only righteous ones on earth.

Instead, preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ on whose grace all of us depend. Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ who loves impartially & who died for *your* sins. Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ who rose again & comes in power & glory to set His world right.

And it is on this Gospel that we all depend. It is this Gospel that will guide us through the most difficult conversations, both humbling us where we need to be humbled & preserving us when we would despair. It is only this Gospel that will reconcile us to each other & to Him.