Day 27 - First Steps: Repay

"What this generation is reacting to, what it is saying, is they realize that you, the white people, the white Americans, have always attempted to murder them. Not merely by burning them or castrating them or hanging them from trees, but murdering them in the mind, in the heart. … They are refusing this entire frame of reference and they are saying to the Republic: This is your bill, this is your bloody bill written in my blood, and you are going to have to pay it."
James Baldwin, Rap on Race, 1971


Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.'
Luke 19:8-9

If I have stolen something, Lord, open my eyes that I might see the way to pay it back. Look for concrete steps that you can take, like Zacchaeus, to pay back what you or your people have stolen from others. 
Visit https://policy.m4bl.org/reparations/ to learn more about reparations efforts supported by the Movement for Black Lives.  


God, I thought you said there was freedom in Christ. Do I really have to pay back what I stole? What if my ancestors owned slaves – how could I ever repay that debt four times as much, like Zacchaeus? Give me the courage to face the plunder of my past and my present. Free me from the empty promises of starting “tomorrow.”

Give me a heart for repaying what I owe, like Zacchaeus. Let salvation comes to my house, by your Spirit, that I might find true freedom in Christ – freedom to share, freedom to give, and freedom to repay what my people stole, four times over. Amen.

Adam Hollowell