Approximately 12 million people were transported from the coast of West Africa to the America’s over the course of the Atlantic slave trade. On the eve of the Civil War there was just shy of 4 million people enslaved in the United States. By current estimates there are around 27 million slaves in the world today. Some 80% of people alive today “survive” on less than $10 per day. 1 million people die every year from malaria. About 80% of them are children in Africa. 1.1 billion people have no access to clean water. 6 million children die of starvation every year. That’s about 17,000 per day. About one every 12 seconds. Since the start of this paragraph, three children have died.

There is a lot of suffering in the world…

I am privileged to live in one of the richest countries in the world. I am a white, male, American. I have had more opportunities by nature of my birth than most people on the planet earn over their entire life. I did nothing to deserve this. I have also spent 27 years of my life living in a political and economic system benefiting from the oppression of millions, maybe even billions, of people around the planet. From poor immigrant day laborers here in the US to sweat shop workers in SE Asia to children mining ore in Africa. I have done relatively little to stop this or change this system.

For that I am sorry…

I know something else. It’s not my fault, and I have been forgiven. It is important to make clear that I’m not off the hook. If I continue not to act, I move from committing a sin of passive omission to a sin of active commission. What I mean to say is that I can go out into the world without feeling guilt about the past. If I am acting out of guilt, trying to perform a penance and repay generations of wrong doing I will die before I repay even my own debts. Just as our deeds cannot get us into heaven, nor can they repay the sins of our fathers (figurative or literal). I am not bound to a life of penance that simply reverses the role of slave and master. God has called us to a life of service. To a life of seeking to restore relationships and build life. Again, if I am seeking to repay my guilt my work will never be complete. I cannot redeem myself, only God can do that and Jesus DID do it on the cross.

So what does this mean…

Because I am not acting out of guilt I am free to love. My service is an act of worship. I’m not trying to make up for things that I can never undo. It also means that I recognize the broken system that I have come from and will choose to stand against it as often as I have the chance. I will live a life that is set apart and different from the standards and norms of the world. I recognize some people I come into contact with will want me to apologize, and as much as I can I will. My hope is that whatever injustice happened or is still happening can be brought to a close and we can move on. I believe firmly that God has called us to restore relationships and build the kingdom, and this takes more than apologies.

Filed under: life by Jonathan