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BUILDINg BELOVED COMMUNITY BRIDGES TO THE FUTURE REv. C. ANTHONY HUNT, D.MIN., PH.D.

BUILDINg BELOVED COMMUNITY BRIDGES TO THE FUTURE REv. C. ANTHONY HUNT, D.MIN., PH.D. Across Divides Contemporary Dimensions of Difference. Ephesians 2:14-18.

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BUILDINg BELOVED COMMUNITY BRIDGES TO THE FUTURE REv. C. ANTHONY HUNT, D.MIN., PH.D.

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  1. BUILDINg BELOVED COMMUNITY BRIDGES TO THE FUTUREREv. C. ANTHONY HUNT, D.MIN., PH.D.

  2. Across DividesContemporary Dimensions of Difference

  3. Ephesians 2:14-18 • 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

  4. Bridges-dividesand A Tale of “Two Cities”

  5. Washington, DCThe Anacostia River

  6. Baltimore

  7. A Tale of “Two Cities”

  8. SANDTOWN

  9. DEVELOPING THE CAPACITY TO - Pray with Our Feet and Become Exegetes of Context and Culture

  10. For Reflection • What have been some of your encounters with difference? • How have these been gifts to you? • How have they challenged you?

  11. DIFFERENCE AT HOME • Whites are the slowest growing segment of the U.S. population at .5%. Projections indicate that there will be a White minority in the U.S. by 2044. • There are at least 3.3 million Muslims in the U.S., and that number is likely to double by 2050. (Pew Research Center). • There are at least 55.3 million Hispanics in the U.S. (17.4% of the population), with a projected 120 million Hispanics in the U.S. by 2060. • Asians make up 5.8% of the U.S. population, and make up 36% of immigrants, overtaking Hispanics. China is the fastest growing immigrant group in the U.S., passing Mexico. • The 2nd fastest growing racial group in the U.S. is those claiming 2 or more races. This group has grown to at least 6.6 million people; 3.1% of the population. • 41% of the world’s migrants live in the West. (Christianity Today) (sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Pew Research Data, Christianity Today)

  12. The result is that about 5 percent of religious congregations in the U.S. can fairly be considered multicultural/multiracial, with the majority of Christians engaging in what sociologists call homophily, or the desire to congregate with “birds of the same feather,” with their congregations reflecting ethno-racial particularism. (Emerson and Smith, “Divided by Faith”)

  13. “If the church does not make itself relevant, it will not survive because its importance is not based simply upon tradition and history; but it is based upon its response to current crises.” (Bishop ReverdyRansom, AME Church)

  14. “In the last two decades five mainline denominations had a net loss of over 5.2 million members, while the population of the country rose by over 47 million. The figures are even worse when one looks at people of color and people in poverty.” (Lovett Weems)

  15. EXCLUSION... • ELIMINATION • EXEMPTION • EXILE • EXPULSION • EXCEPTION • EXPURGATION • REJECTION • REMOVAL • OMISSION • OSTRACISM • SEGREGATION • APARTHEID • BANISHMENT • DELETION • DISCRIMINATION • ELIMINATION • EXCOMMUNICA-TION

  16. INCLUSIONTHE DISCIPLINE OF EXTENDING OUR BOUNDARY TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION ANOTHER’S NEEDS, INTERESTS, EXPERIENCE, AND PERSPECTIVE, WHICH WILL LEAD TO CLEARER UNDERSTANDING OF OURSELVES AND OTHERS, FULLER DESCRIPTION OF THE ISSUE AT HAND, AND POSSIBLY A NEWLY NEGOTIATED BOUNDARY OF THE COMMUNITY TO WHICH WE BELONG.(Eric Law, Inclusion)

  17. Iceberg analogy of Culture

  18. IMPLICIT BIASHow are we dealing with our implicit biases?

  19. TWO PRINCIPLES OF CULTURAL MUTUALITY

  20. A PRINCIPLE OF CULTURAL MUTUALITY “INTERDEPENDENCE IS A HIGHER VALUE THAN INDEPENDENCE”(Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)

  21. AN AFRICAN PROVERB“ONE FINGER CANNOT PICK UP A GRAIN.”

  22. A PRINCIPLE OF CULTURAL MUTUALITY“I AM BECAUSE WE ARE, WE ARE therfore I AM.”(John Mbiti)

  23. A PRINCIPLE OF CULTURAL MUTUALITY“UBUNTU” (ZULA)- THE ESSENCE OF OUR BEING- THE QUALITY OF BEING HUMAN- A PERSON IS A PERSON THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE

  24. UBUNTU –“runs through the veins of Africans… the quality of being human for Africans is embodied in the oft-repeated proverb, “A person is a person through other people.”(Lente-Louise Louw, “Valuing diversity”)

  25. “You might have much of the world’s riches, and might have a portion of authority, but if you have no Ubuntu, you do not amount to much.” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

  26. Louw goes on to state: While this African proverb reveals a world view – a metaphysics – that we owe our self-hood to others, that we are first and foremost social beings, that if you will, “no man is an island,” or as the African might state, “One finger cannot pick up a grain” – Ubuntu is at the same time, a deeply personal philosophy that calls us to mirror our humanity for each other. (Louw)

  27. For Reflection • Given the dimensions of change among us, which do you see as the most challenging? • How is this so? • How might we overcome such challenges?

  28. BUILDING BELOVED COMMUNITYBRIDGES TO THE FUTURE

  29. Isaiah 11:1-6 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,    the Spirit of counsel and of might,    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,    or decide by what he hears with his ears;4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.5 Righteousness will be his belt    and faithfulness the sash around his waist. 6 The wolf will live with the lamb,    the leopard will lie down with the goat,the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together;    and a little child will lead them.

  30. IMAGINATION I understand imagination is no doubt a complex epistemological process, to be the capacity to entertain images of meaning and reality that are beyond the givens of observable experience. That is, imagination is the hosting of the “otherwise” …beyond the evident. Without that we have nothing to say. We must take risks and act daringly to push beyond what is known to that which is hoped for and trusted, but not yet in hand. (Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination)

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