Genesis 16:13 So she named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are El-roi.”
Every day, we become more and more aware of national and local discussions about race and the biases we hold. Some prejudices we are aware of, and others lie beneath our consciousness. These biases are a kind of impaired sight. We are not typically consciously judging people based on how they look, but our subconscious vision and our judgment is fallible.
In our Genesis lesson, Hagar calls God El-roi, which means “God who sees” or “God of seeing.” If we follow the God of seeing and we follow Jesus (who instructs us to love others, even the enemy and the stranger), then we are compelled to do all we can to correct our vision.
I often imagine religion, at its best, as a corrective lens. Our liturgies and prayers and communities are tools to help us know and love each other better, to bring us closer to one another where we can see more clearly.
Read it here.
For further consideration:
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/01/22/ferguson-pilgrims-study-systemic-racism-injustice-and-reconciliation/
https://sojo.net/articles/stand-your-ground-shows-racist-culture-continuing-kill
http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/religion/article/66552-baltimore-theologian-s-book-on-violence-to-publish-in-wake-of-riots.html
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