A black pastor writes to the white church about its complicity in oppression

It was difficult to pin down exactly what I’d read when I first closed Lenny Duncan’s book. It is both a letter, written in the style of the biblical epistles that have obviously shaped the author’s heart and mind, and a testimony. Like every good letter, and like the letters of scripture, it’s full of hope and fury, love and lament. It proclaims deep truths to readers who, like someone caught in a bear trap, don’t know at first what they’ve gotten themselves into. It tricks you into turning the page by coaxing you even as it calls you out on your fear and ignorance.

This is exactly what the book needs to do, because it isn’t an easy read. Duncan takes no time in getting to the crux of his argument: “Dear Church, we are cowards.” We are too cowardly to name and resist the deep lies and pernicious evils that run rampant in our pews, our politics, and our pulpits. “We must meet our communities where they are, but the God of Jesus of Nazareth has never shied away from the proclamation of truth.”

And what is the deep truth that Duncan teases out in these pages? That we are so afraid of death that we usher it in while remaining quiet about the evil that is killing us. We welcome it and wage it, having decided, subconsciously in many corners, that we’d rather die than live in a world where powers are shaken in meaningful ways.