To further our Lenten theme, Love At The Center, we invite you on a journey toward racial justice. Each week we will provide readings, videos, and prayers to help you explore your feelings, understandings and knowledge about your role in moving toward racial justice in our church community and beyond. Please choose which resources you feel are most helpful to you. Each devotional begins with "Words to Ponder" and ends with a prayer. We hope each weekly reflection provides a depth of rich resources for you to choose from.
Today’s Words to Ponder:
“I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless backpack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.”
-Dr. Peggy McIntosh
What is white privilege? To further understand Dr. McIntosh’s words, please read her piece, Unpacking the Invisible Backpack.
There are many types of privilege that we should be aware of in our quest to understand our place in our community.
These privileges include:
🚻 White privilege:
In many countries, white privilege benefits white people at the expense of people of color. Lacking white privilege can include being directly typecast or treated differently. While the existence of white privilege is ever-present and noticeable to those who don’t possess it, white people may not notice their advantages.
🛐 Religious privilege:
Religious privilege includes being able to find a place of worship near you and feeling a sense of connection between your religious celebrations and wider society. For example, automatically having a day off from work for your religious holidays is a religious privilege.
🚹 Gender privilege:
Gender privilege usually refers to male privilege, a set of privileges distributed to men on the basis of their gender.
In many cases, men are centered and catered for in career progression, pay and can be treated more respectfully in everyday conversations.
👫 Heterosexual privilege:
Straight privilege describes the advantages favorably granted to someone because of their heterosexual orientation.
Possessing this privilege means never having to worry about ‘coming out’, feeling unsafe when holding hands with your significant other in public or censoring yourself around different groups that find your orientation uncomfortable or wrong. Straight privilege also means seeing your romantic and family aspirations represented in films, music, everyday conversations and even Valentine’s Day cards.
💰 Socio-economic privilege:
Socio-economic privilege is a complex concept because it looks very different for everyone. While to some people socio-economic privilege means being able to afford luxury goods, to others it means being able to afford college, to others it means being able to afford having a roof over your head and a place to sleep at night. Having socio-economic privilege doesn’t necessarily mean "being rich" -- but it does mean having enough resources to be able to take on the opportunities that life has given you, such as unpaid internships or an after-school tutoring job — little privileges that can give you a head start in the job market etc.
And now, with all of this information, how do you live up to your privilege? Dr. Petriglieri shares his insight into that idea in his article found in the Harvard Business Review.
Our Daily Prayer:
God, let your light and truth be our guides amid our disagreements, privileges, and oppressions. Let your grace and forgiveness be the lens with which we look toward one another and ourselves. We lift up this prayer to you. Amen.
