First United Church Fasts from “Whiteness” for 40 Days
“This Lent we build our worship life around the voices of Black people, indigenous people, and people of color.“
The First United Church of Oak Park in Oak Park, IL 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.”
Churchgoers are encouraged to view these whiteness-free worship services on the First United Church YouTube channel.
Turning Point USA captured firsthand footage of the “Fasting from Whiteness” sign, criticizing First United Church for creating “disunity” and moving “back to segregation times.”
First United Church is also “fasting from whiteness” through its Lenten reflections. In an announcement published on March 29, 2022, titled Kindless and Privilege, First United Church states that “We honor our fast from whiteness this Lent by prioritizing the voice of Bruce Reyes-Chow through a chapter of his book, In Defense of Kindness.”
The excerpt from Bruce Reyes-Chow states that those who are opposed to violent protests are speaking from a place of privilege, and should therefore refrain from trying to stop them. Trying to stop such actions, according to Reyes-Chow, is an unjustified exercise of “‘civilizing’ those who do not fit into our understanding of normative behavior.”
For many of us, being uncomfortable about public protests or what we perceive as aggressive expressions of frustration simply identifies our privilege and our ability to shield ourselves from the struggles that others are facing. May our call to civil discourse be more about listening to the genuine struggles of our human sisters, brothers, siblings, neighbors, and strangers than about protecting our own spaces of security. Most people do not engage in public protest or in expressing anger that may put risk on their life, work, or status. So when groups of people are pushed to their boiling point, the least helpful thing to do is to silence them.
— Bruce Reyes-Chow, In Defense of Kindness
We tried calling First United Church for a reaction to all of this, but leadership from First United Church was not available for comment.
