Cultivating Belonging
In the book, After Whiteness, Dr. Willie James Jennings advocates for a new way to engage in relationships. While he mainly addresses higher education institutions, I think these truths apply to every institution, organization, and relationship. The book's main argument is that assertive white male-bodied supremacy has infiltrated every aspect of our society. Furthermore, whiteness concerns itself with mastery, possession, and control.
Before proceeding, I want us to sit with that statement momentarily. "Whiteness concerns itself with mastery, possession, and control." As I've sat with this reality, I've not only noticed how devastating white, male-bodied supremacy has been to people who don't look like me, but I've also realized how much it has perverted my own sense of identity and belonging. Whiteness has shaped me to not know my identity apart from my expertise and my proximity to power. And I know I'm not alone. How sad is it that many white folks need these things so that we feel like we belong? Thankfully, there is a better way. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
In a podcast where Dr. Jennings discussed the book, he said that professors overseeing PhD candidates often force students to put down their dreams and pick up the professor's dreams. The implicit bias is that the professor's way is the healthier, more intellectual, and more meaningful way to be. Dr. Jennings argues that the "professor's way" is one that is rooted in white self-sufficient masculinity.
Dr. Jennings writes, "White self-sufficient masculinity is not first a person or a people; it is a way of organizing life with ideas and forming a persona that distorts identity and strangles the possibilities of dense life together," (p. 9).
He continues, "White self-sufficient masculinity is the quintessential image of an educated person, and image deeply embedded in the collective psyche of Western education and theological education, flexible enough to capture and persuade any and all persons so formed to yield to it," (p. 32). While Dr. Jennings is focused primarily on Higher Education, I've seen the way this plays out in our churches, schools, and communities.
This reminds me of a painfully racist conversation I had with a pastor at a multiethnic, multilingual church. We were talking about how difficult it has been to navigate children's ministry as a multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual church. At first, I was vibing with this pastor. Yes, pastoring in an intentionally "multi" space is VERY difficult. But his next comment made me sick to my stomach. He slammed his fist on the table and declared, "There has to be a basic American standard for how we do things!" Often when people say American, they mean "white American." My friend's implicit bias was that the Latin American cultural influence was detrimental to the children's ministry at the church. In the words of my friend Corey Greaves, it's like we are telling people, "Jesus loves you, but he doesn't really like you."
Whiteness concerns itself with mastery, possession, and control. We don't just recognize differences and say, "That's interesting." We see differences and say, "Our way is a better way. You must become like me if we are going to progress as an organization/country/church/school/family." Can you see how harmful this has been and will continue to be?
Thankfully, Dr. Jennings offers us an alternative approach in After Whiteness. The answer is to actively, intentionally, and selflessly cultivate belonging.
"The cultivation of belonging should be the goal of all education - not just any kind of belonging, but a profoundly creaturely belonging that performs the returning of the creature to the creator, and a returning to an intimate and erotic energy that drives life together with God," (p. 11).
Have you ever felt extremely out of place, judged, shamed, abused, or neglected because of your appearance, culture, personality, theology, or music choice? It feels lonely, confusing, and disorienting.
Imagine being in a space where you are invited to bring your full self - your likes, dislikes, ideas, personality, passions, concerns, cultural identity, trauma, body type, ethnicity, orientation, fears, doubts, and more. How does your body feel just imagining being fully seen and radically accepted?
Both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament argue that cultivating belonging and radical hospitality is close to the heart of God. We were made in God’s image and God said, we are very good. You belong here!
However, people who want to follow the way of God are called to extend that same belonging and radical hospitality. And know, true belonging and hospitality is more than just letting people in your house (or your life). True belonging and hospitality actively and intentionally creates space where people feel loved, seen, and heard on their own terms.
When I began my journey of decentering whiteness and decolonizing my theology, I thought I was only doing it for the good of others. And don't get me wrong, that is reason enough! However, what I have learned is that, in cultivating belonging and committing myself to radical hospitality, I am being transformed.
I am learning more about who I am. I am being set free from the bondage of sin. Part of this is because cultivating belonging and hospitality requires us to listen, learn, confess, repent, and commit to living differently. The other part is that, somehow, our healing is intertwined. As I actively create healing space for others, I am being healed by my relationship with them.
When Jesus told us to love the Lord our God and love others as ourselves, it wasn't just because it would help people live orderly. It was because Jesus reminded us of who we were created to be, fully human, fully alive, and deeply connected to God, self, others.
I am convinced we cannot begin our healing journeys until we seek to decenter white self-sufficient masculinity and cultivate belonging and radical hospitality in the way of Jesus.
