Becoming Brave by Brenda Salter McNeil

Author:Brenda Salter McNeil
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Living/Race;Christianity and justice;Race relations—Religious aspects—Christianity;Reconciliation—Religious aspects—Christianity;Church and minorities;REL012110;REL108000;SOC031000
ISBN: 9781493423996
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2020-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

eight

Healing the Disconnection

Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the orders for the murder of the Jews and told him that these had been read in Susa. He said, “Show this to Esther and explain what it means. Ask her to go to the king and beg him to have pity on her people, the Jews!” Hathach went back to Esther and told her what Mordecai had said.

Esther 4:8–9

IN 2002, some girlfriends and I took a cruise to the Caribbean to celebrate our birthdays. On the day we went to St. Maarten, we were on the French side of the island and decided to visit an outdoor market. At one of the stands, a man was selling fresh coconuts with a straw in each one so people could drink the water inside. I watched and observed that after the person finished drinking the coconut water, the man would chop the coconut in half with a machete so they could eat the coconut meat in the middle. Intrigued, I decided to give it a try. I drank the coconut water but didn’t really like it. Afterward, he cut my coconut in half, but when he opened it, the inside didn’t look like what I expected! It was filled with a gooey, gel-like substance, and I was hesitant to eat it.

A Black Caribbean woman whom I’d spoken to when I walked into the market was sitting nearby eating her lunch. Observing my struggle to eat the coconut, she came over to show me how to eat it. She scooped out a little gel and gave it to me, but I was apprehensive and barely tasted it. Then she grabbed a piece of the coconut shell that was used like a spoon, scooped out some more of the gel and put it in my mouth. As she did, she said with her strong Caribbean accent, “C’mon man, be Black! You’re not like those whites. Be Black!” She was basically asking me to identify with my people. She was saying, “You’re one of us. Don’t act like the White people who come here as tourists. Don’t be like them. You’re not a tourist. You’re one of us. You’re Black! It will hurt us if you act like White people and treat us the way they do. C’mon man, be Black!” So I ate every bit of the coconut gel as she scooped it out. In that moment, my Caribbean sister was calling me to heal the disconnection with my people through identification and proximity.

That’s exactly why Mordecai had come to stand outside the palace gates. He had come to help Esther identify with and care about the plight of her people. He had to help her bridge the distance between her and the people outside the comfort and protection of her world. When Mordecai sent Esther’s well-meaning gift of clothes back to his cousin in the palace, he included something else in the bundle of garments: the written decree, signed by the king, announcing the destruction and upcoming genocide of the Jews.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.