For Lent, a Chicago Church is 'Fasting From Whiteness'

Do you observe Lent? If so, what are you giving up?

Per its sign on the lawn as reported by Turning Point USA, a church in Chicago’s come up with quite the carnal component to eliminate this Easter.

In observance of the 40 days in which Jesus fasted, the First United Church of Oak Park is “Fasting from Whiteness.”

On the house of worship’s website, a “Statement on Lent 2022 Theme” is offered.

“Our Lenten theme,” it notes, “has spurred considerable discussion, with some people questioning the message.”

Understand their intent:

In practice with the Lenten spiritual discipline of fasting, our intent was to lay aside our usual frames of reference and open ourselves to hearing the Gospel message through the voices of Black People, Indigenous People, and People of Color.

Including all people but white ones will accomplish diversity:

Our worship services in Lent have been diverse and beautiful. We pray that God oils the hinges of our hearts’ doors that they might swing open gently to receive the good news of Christ’s resurrection, which we all await at the culmination of Lent.

From TPA:

[The church] has pledged to intentionally avoid musical scores and liturgical contributions in its worship services that are “written or composed by white people” for the 40 days of Lent.

Announcing on its website, with an accompanying sign posted on its front lawn, the First United Church of Oak Park is “Fasting from Whiteness” by including worship music that “will be drawn from the African American spirituals tradition, from South African freedom songs, from Native American traditions, and many, many more.”

The situation brings to mind a recent lecture given at Pittsburgh’s Catholic Carlow University, during which the speaker called on Christians to “crucify their whiteness.”

For the past few years, we’ve been informed of the corruption that is This Present Caucasian Quality:

Political Science: Academics Attack the ‘Whiteness in Introductory Physics’

A Whistleblower Shares a Racial Justice Lesson From Coca-Cola: ‘Try to Be Less White’

Report: BYU Professor Orders Students to Snap Photos of On-Campus ‘Whiteness’

With so many millions of white Americans, I can only imagine a successful sweep coming courtesy of drastic, dastardly means.

Evidently, I’m not alone:

Mental Health Journal’s Article on ‘Parasitic Whiteness’ Laments There’s ‘Not Yet a Permanent Cure’

UC Berkeley Professor Told Students Abolishing Whiteness Means Wiping out White People

When the country’s Christian churches start bulls-eyeing the pale pandemic, it’s official: Whiteness and wickedness are one and the same.

Where oppression’s concerned, First United takes a solid stance. According to a screenshot provided by Turning Point, a March 29th “evotional” (electronic devotional?) ministers thusly:

For this evotional, we honor our fast from whiteness this Lent by prioritizing the voice of [Pastor and Head of Staff Bruce Reyes-Chow] through a chapter of his book, In Defense of Kindness…

Pastor Bruce shares a lesson he learned while observing a privileged person’s selfishness amid a traffic jam caused by Black Lives Matter protestors.

How we express kindness depends on our own social context, experiences, culture, and privilege. Likewise, it is not kind to tell someone who is expressing righteous and disruptive indignation to be “civil” or “appropriate.” … When acts of kindness and calls for civility are fueled by social, economic, and racial privilege, these acts are often more about doing just enough to keep the status quo and not about transformative change for those who are experiencing struggle.

“This call for civility,” he asserts, “is dangerous.”

The existence of any protections for and the civil rights of people of color, women, workers, LGBTQIA+ people, and countless others were all the result of people taking to the streets to protest injustice and unfair practices that needed to be named. … Expressions of kindness in times of social changed and public protest should focus on those who are seeking justice and liberation and not on the ones whose privileged worlds are being disrupted by the leveling of a social playing field or a correction in disparities of access, power, or authority.

So say no to privilege. And also to whiteness.