{"id":47851,"date":"2025-02-26T08:45:57","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/?p=47851"},"modified":"2025-03-12T08:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T12:43:10","slug":"un-estudioso-del-soul-food-y-abogado-en-recuperacion-se-une-al-debate-teologico-mas-destacado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/resources\/news\/a-soul-food-scholar-and-recovering-lawyer-joins-the-leading-theologically-discussion\/","title":{"rendered":"Un erudito de la comida del alma y abogado en recuperaci\u00f3n se une al debate \"Liderar teol\u00f3gicamente"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continuing a series on reconciliation, the \u201cLeading Theologically\u201d podcast hosted by the\u00a0Rev. Bill Davis<\/a> of the Presbyterian Foundation features\u00a0Adrian Miller<\/a>, a\u00a0soul food scholar<\/a> and two-time winner of the James Beard Award who\u2019s served for more than a decade as executive director of the\u00a0Colorado Council of Churches<\/a>. Listen to their 29-minute conversation\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Miller refers to himself as a \u201crecovering lawyer\u201d who served in the Clinton White House in the\u00a0One America Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Adrian Miller<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI knew there needed to be racial reconciliation work in the church, and I knew it wasn\u2019t going to be easy,\u201d he said of his work with Colorado churches. \u201cI just didn\u2019t think it would be this hard. I thought having a shared faith tradition would create enough common ground to start having these conversations, but man, it is just really tough. There are people who have a worldview they\u2019ve settled into and they do not want it disturbed purposefully or even accidentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early on in his work with churches in the Mile High State, Miller came up with idea of holding an interracial church potluck. Sit down with someone you don\u2019t know, he urged the 200 or so people who showed up, and \u201cjust talk, and after that, maybe find a way your respective churches can start to get into dialogue and build relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of the event, Black pastors told him they were skeptical. \u201cThey said, \u2018Adrian, these white churches don\u2019t want to do this work,\u2019\u201d Miller said. \u201c\u2018They just want us to come on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and preach a sermon so they can pat themselves on the back and feel good about themselves.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller told those pastors he thought the public\u2019s outrage over the killings of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Gardner and Sandra Bland had \u201ccreated a space maybe to talk about what\u2019s going on.\u201d A half-dozen Black congregations and a like number of white congregations showed up for the potluck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI checked with one of the [white] pastors about a month later,\u201d Miller said. \u201cShe said, \u2018We\u2019ve been doing some things with the Black church, but my congregants are asking me, Why are we still doing things with this Black church?\u2019 which fed directly into what the Black pastors were saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard right now. I\u2019m seeing how the body of Christ is broken by race and other things,\u201d Miller told Davis. \u201cThe work of repair and restoration is really tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller cited \u201ca lot of fatigue in people of color, being in a position where they have to educate and be guides \u2014 so much so that I have met several who have said, \u2018I\u2019m through. I just don\u2019t want to do this anymore,\u2019 which I understand, but it\u2019s heartbreaking because I just don\u2019t see how this work can happen unless you have people from a marginalized perspective involved in these conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why, but God has given me the grace and the patience to be in conversations and hear wicked stuff from white people and stay in that space. I consider this a form of ministry, so I\u2019m still going to do this work,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how much longer, but I have the energy right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust take that first step,\u201d he said he advises people of faith. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t always have to be that person of color taking the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other challenge, he said, is \u201cyou\u2019ve got cynicism and anger from people of color, and on the other side you\u2019ve got fear of not wanting to be in a space where you\u2019re the bad person, or you\u2019ll say something that makes people really upset and unravel any progress that\u2019s been made. We\u2019ve got those two things that are clashing and really harming the ability to do this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Rev. Bill Davis<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Davis asked the man known as \u201cthe soul food scholar\u201d how the practice of sharing meals together can help cultivate a spirit of reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key ingredient is the food has to be good. Nobody wants to get around a table of nasty stuff,\u201d Miller replied. \u201cI think the key here is first setting the table. \u2026 Just get to the table people who are willing, and then build out from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re sitting down at a table, you can\u2019t help but recognize the humanity of the people at that table. I that\u2019s why during the civil rights movement, those dining spaces were being integrated,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI tell people cooking is an act of love. When somebody makes something to nourish you, they\u2019re saying in a way they care about your survival. They\u2019re saying they love you. Even if the food is straight nasty, the act of cooking is still meaningful, because somebody\u2019s at least trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only eating together, but intentionally cooking the food of the marginalized group to build relationships, then pairing together people of differing perspectives as art of that journey,\u201d he said. It\u2019s a plan Miller hasn\u2019t \u201cfleshed out yet, but it\u2019s coming soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through such apps as\u00a0Timeleft<\/a>, where people sign up to have dinner with strangers, \u201cI am seeing a lot of creativity and innovation in terms of getting us together,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI think people are recognizing the isolation, that things right now are wrong in our society and there are enough people of goodwill out there, but for whatever reason they\u2019re not showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the challenge for all of us of goodwill who want to build s shared multiracial society is to create those avenues to connect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decades ago, Miller worked in the Clinton White House on the\u00a0One America Initiative<\/a>, which published a list of\u00a010 things every American should do to promote racial reconciliation<\/a>. Davis asked Miller about three of the 10:<\/p>\n