S2 Episode #25- Daniel Hill
THE ONE WITH DANIEL HILL . . .
Pastor Daniel Hill, author of White Awake and White Lies
This week on the show, we are thrilled to bring you Daniel Hill, author of White Awake, and his newest book, White Lies: Nine Ways to Expose and Resist the Racial Systems That Divide Us. In this episode, Daniel draws powerful connections between dismantling White Supremacy and seeing the Kingdom of God.
Daniel Hill is a lifelong Chicagoan, a pastor at River City Community Church, and an author who writes a lot about resisting and confronting white supremacy from a faith lens.
W A T C H
R E A D
Daniel Hill grew up in Chicago-- which he describes as a ground zero for much of the racial unrest in the US (i.e. - the ways that cities were redesigned and remapped around race).
Jesus opens his ministry by saying, “Repent for the Kingdom is near,” and “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all else will follow.”
What does it mean to fully live + follow Jesus as we wait for his Kingdom to come?
When we look at society as a whole, and what stands in the way of the Kingdom coming-- it becomes apparent that the system of race is the most powerful opponent to the Kingdom of Jesus. When we view the system of race through the lens of Jesus, we see that it is completely opposed to the ways of Jesus.
In order to fully love Jesus, we must have the ideology of White Supremacy. It is a Rival Kingdom.
Dealing with racial issues in the US is not a checklist. The way that the ideology of White Supremacy is not defined by its most violent acts that come with, rather it believes that whiteness is supreme. White people in the US are conditioned to not analyze it or question it, so being confronted with it can feel very confusing and disorienting.
Daniel’s first book, White Awake, deals with what race is, the multitude of emotional reactions and defensive mechanisms that happen for white people, and how to keep moving forward into it when we want to walk away.
What are some practical steps for white Christians to take when they are tempted to walk away?
The story of Nicodemus in John 3 illustrates a roadmap for the racial awakening journey. When Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, Jesus says that no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. Nicodemus has spent his entire life trying to live “right” and now Jesus is turning that philosophy upside down. We need salvation, and we need to see the Kingdom. There’s a whole new Kingdom reality that we need to see.
When understanding the system of race, we need to become Nicodemus-like and say that there is a whole reality that I don’t understand, and I can only understand it through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. I must become like a baby again and crawl before I can walk.
We can’t fully know who we are in Christ until we know The Father. That relationship is the first step to understanding who we are. Once we begin to get an understanding of who God is and who we are in Him, we begin to view the ideologies of the world through His lens. The ideas of the devil will continually try to counter the truth of Christ.
The devil constantly tries to counter our God-given identity.
The devil uses White Supremacy to mess with identity on every level by telling People of Color that they are less than they really are and White people that they are supreme/more than God. Both sides are destructive lies of the Devil. The biggest work in race is knowing who we are in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit rebuking the parts of ourselves that White Supremacy says that we are so that we can walk in the truth of who we were created to be!
Dismantling White Supremacy is a prevalent part of identity! The first step is separating out the message of Christ vs. the message of White Supremacy.
Jesus is Truth. Freedom is found in truth and truth is found in Christ. Jesus calls the devil a liar-- the father of lies. The system of race only survives because it has so many lies that hold it up. Truth is our point of hope. Lies only bring death and more deceit.
We must stay connected to Christ and His truth.
“Wake up, O sleeper!”
L I S T E N
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This episode of The Collected Podcast was edited by Jacob Early.
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