Learning How to Pedal: Balancing “Doing” and “Being” in the Work of Racial Justice
It’s not just about what you do, it’s how you do it.
by Megan Lietz, Director, Race & Christian Community Initiative (RCCI)
This is the final article of a three-part series on critical lessons RCCI is learning in its first five years of ministry. RCCI focuses on providing biblically based education to white evangelicals to nurture racial healing and justice.
All my life, I have kept a fast pace. I find satisfaction in checking tasks off my list and getting things done.
While this has helped build the ministry of the Race & Christian Community Initiative at the Emmanuel Gospel Center, it is also one of our most significant liabilities.
When I go too fast or am too focused on “getting the job done,” I am more likely to do things that may look good on the surface but actually hinder racial healing and justice. Not only am I not fully present with people, but I’m also less aware of how I have been shaped by and may be perpetuating racism.
For example, with less time for reflection and intentionality, I will likely make decisions based on personal biases. I may center myself in cross-racial conversations. Or I may align with a narrative that has been used to perpetuate unjust power dynamics instead of the counter-cultural values of Christ.
It is for this reason that establishing a healthy rhythm of “doing” and “being” is critical for the work of racial healing and justice.
Rhythms of being and doing
Jesus balanced a busy ministry schedule with prayer, rest, and time away from the crowds. The time he spent away from the demands of ministry allowed him to receive from the Father and align with his will. It helped him model, usher in, and invite others into kingdom ways of being.
In a world where racism is in the air we breathe, spiritual practices help us reflect on what is influencing us and how we may be hindering racial harmony. They empower us to follow Jesus more freely and fully in a multiracial world.
We must balance doing and being to experience Christ’s liberating and healing power in our lives and communities.
“When I go too fast or am too focused on “getting the job done,” I am more likely to do things that may look good on the surface but actually hinder racial healing and justice. Not only am I not fully present with people, but I’m also less aware of how I have been shaped by and may be perpetuating racism.”
My colleague at the Emmanuel Gospel Center, Liza Cagua-Koo, talks about doing and being like two pedals on a bike. You need to use both to move the bike forward. If you only use one pedal, you will wobble and inevitably fall.
Balance external work with internal work.
Balance pushing with resting.
Balance giving generously with setting healthy boundaries.
Balance action with reflection.
Balance caring for others with caring for yourself.
Doing and being. Being and doing.
It is the rhythm we need to pedal forward.
This doesn’t mean we strike a perfect balance. It doesn’t mean there is a “right” amount. As a matter of fact, it’s not about achieving a rhythm or balance within itself.
Rather, it’s about responding to a dynamic reality in a way that enables one to be present to God, others and oneself. It’s about cultivating ways of being in consecrated time that helps us see, examine, do and be different as we go about our lives.
Who is like the LORD via Lightstock
The difference balance can make
During RCCI’s first five years of ministry, I’ve seen both the negative impact of imbalance and the life-giving, forward motion that appropriately prioritizing doing with being can have.
An over-emphasis on doing led me to take action that looked good on the surface and bore a measure of fruit. But it had elements that were problematic and counterproductive. Here are some examples:
At a regional conference, I co-led a workshop that focused on an intellectual understanding of crossing cultures. It didn’t consider the lived experiences, feelings, or concerns of people of color in the audience, many of whom cross cultures every day.
I invited the perspectives and leadership of people of color in the development of multiracial events. But I still maintained control and decision-making power as the initiator, convener, and host.
I had been asking a Black colleague to engage in ways that required a high level of trust and relationship. I hadn’t taken the time needed to nurture a meaningful and trusting relationship and was asking for trust I had not earned.
When we focus on doing over being, we can take one step forward and two steps back. But when we take a more balanced approach, we can contribute to healing and liberation.
When being and doing are better balanced, ministry bears healthier fruit. Here are some ways we've seen this at RCCI:
One project at an advanced stage of development was unintentionally centering white people. I was able to slow down and adjust it so that we could take steps to decenter whiteness and learn from the process.
I invited the perspectives of people of color on sensitive topics in a way that wasn’t extractive but created energy for ongoing participation.
I could be present in a conversation with a Black colleague in a way that was a mutual blessing and healing to my sister in Christ.
If you want to leave a legacy of healing and liberation, you need to pedal between doing and being. Pedaling creates the balance needed for the ride.
Practices that nurture balance between being and doing
I’m developing personal and professional practices that contribute to healthy ways of being. It has taken time to incorporate what I have, and it will take a lifetime to deeply integrate these practices into my life.
What I’ve been able to put in place has been made possible by my privilege, my role as a ministry director, the incredible people and organizations who have taught and supported me, and the grace of Jesus Christ.
“In a world where racism is in the air we breathe, spiritual practices help us reflect on what is influencing us and how we may be hindering racial harmony. They empower us to follow Jesus more freely and fully in a multiracial world.”
I recognize that not everyone is in a position to do these things but I encourage you to think about your next step.
Pearl via Lightstock
Monthly day of prayer and reflection for RCCI: I take one day a month to pray and reflect. To sit with God and consider with him how he may be speaking through his Spirit, my experiences, and feedback from others. During this time, I may reflect with Jesus on ministry and engage in prayerful strategic planning. I may practice self-examination or simply take extended time to connect with the Lord.
While reflecting for a day a month may not feel accessible to everyone, opportunities to reflect and connect with God can take many forms. Imagine what might work for you, whether it be a minute or day, and take time to reflect.
Reflection Questions
What are ways you connect to God?
How might the Lord be speaking to you through his Spirit, through your experiences, and through others?
What opportunities may you have for reflection?
How could you more consistently incorporate practices of connection and reflection into your life?
Adjust pace: Doing too much or going too fast can negatively impact our balance and being. I can easily find myself in this position. I have had to learn to slow down and discover what boundaries and practices I needed to maintain a healthier pace.
Making this shift took a lot of time and energy. It was prompted by the ongoing and loving feedback of people such as my husband, pastor, and supervisor. I was also motivated by the examples of mentors, compelling authors, and years of “wanting” to slow down that never quite seemed to manifest. Realities such as having a second child and a pandemic that turned our world upside down facilitated a four-year process, the fruit of which I’m sharing with you today.
One thing that helped me grow was setting guidelines for and boundaries around my commitments. For example, I set limits to how many evenings I’m out of the house a week and how many events I participate in on any given weekend. I also create a buffer in my day because the work always grows. Sometimes, I cross my own boundaries and, too often, my buffer gets squeezed out, but not without raising my mindfulness around my pace or a desire to do better next time.
“We must balance doing and being to experience Christ’s liberating and healing power in our lives and communities. ”
While guidelines and boundaries help, they can’t be applied well without real-time check-ins. For example, when I heat my lunch during the work day, I often take the two-and-a-half minutes while my food is in the microwave to check in with myself. I reflect on the day’s pace and how that may impact how I interact (or not) with others. Other factors, such as actively trying to avoid a conversation around the water cooler or desiring to skip out of daily staff prayer, are indicators that I need to adjust my pace.
More than anything, I’ve found it helpful to be willing to slow down based on feedback. This can be in a conversation, over the course of the day, or in the life of a project. Shifting to slow down, examine, and adjust is hard. But it’s a huge step in breaking out of our defaults and moving toward intentional, value-aligned action.
Reflection Questions
Where might you need to slow down?
What poses barriers to you doing so?
What tools, resources, or accountability structures could you utilize to maintain a healthier pace of life?
Chris Mainland via Lightstock
Take a Sabbath rest: Keeping the Sabbath can help us slow down and reflect. It can impart perspective on our lives in ways that can help us divest from the world and realign with Jesus.
For most of my life, I didn’t take a sabbath. I didn’t think I could afford the time. But as I stepped out in faith, I came to see I couldn’t afford not to. It was the very inclinations and ideologies, which told me I couldn’t possibly stop, that I actually needed to disconnect from.
Like adjusting my pace, developing a sabbath was a process shaped by the examples and wise words of fellow believers. Once God, by his grace, helped me break away from my idols of busyness and achievement, I started to gain some of the perspective and healthy distance that sabbaths create. God used our sabbath times to nurture my personal growth, spiritual vitality, and holistic wellness.
Now I'm grateful to be able to carve time out one morning a week to connect with God, care for myself, and read for my personal and professional development. I look forward to it each week. It has strengthened my faith walk and ability to lead in ministry.
“For most of my life, I didn’t take a sabbath. I didn’t think I could afford the time. But as I stepped out in faith, I came to see I couldn’t afford not to.”
With two young kids at home, aging parents, and a multitude of responsibilities, it can be hard to protect my sabbaths. But even if my mornings are interrupted, or don’t happen at all, they now represent a baseline I keep coming back to. They anchor me to the life-giver, the liberator, and the lover of my soul. I’m also learning how to carry sabbath mindsets and practices throughout my week, so I can take moments of rest wherever life leads me.
Reflection Questions
What do you feel you just can’t break away from?
How might this thing be functioning as an idol in your life?
What sabbath mindsets, practices, or rhythms could help you submit these idols to the Lord and put them back in their proper place?
Phil Lehman via Lightstock
Struggling forward
In this world, the pressure to over-emphasize doing will always be present. We must resist.
The more we focus on doing to the exclusion of being, the more we will go to our default: social conditioning shaped by racism instead of the heart of Christ. Biases unchecked, blindspots unseen, relationships damaged, power dynamics upheld, and narratives passed on that have functioned to uphold racism for generations.
Action taken: check. Results: mixed — at best.
Just because we showed up at the temple for prayer time doesn’t mean our ways of being with God or others are right (Luke 18:9-14). Just because we’re in the room with the Great Teacher doesn’t mean we’re sitting at his feet (Luke 10:38-42). It’s not holding a title or being at church every time the door is open that makes us more like Christ. Rather, it’s about positioning ourselves to receive from Jesus, being present to him and letting him work in and through our lives.
It can be hard to nurture healthy ways of being in a society that showcases accomplishment, has a narrow understanding of productivity and progress, and glorifies life in the fast lane.
Nurturing one’s way of being and becoming is challenging, time-consuming, and slow. It can be counter to what many of us have been taught to do, focus on, and value.
And yet, it is worth pursuing. Our health depends on it. The health of hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits depend on it. The health of relationships, organizations, social systems, and communities depend on it.
When we move toward a healthy balance, we move toward being more liberated, healed, and whole.
Take Action
Take a moment to just be.
Participate in breath prayer. Breath prayers are short prayers that are said repeatedly with the rhythms of one’s breath. When breathing in, pray, “I am a child of God,” and when breathing out, pray, “I am loved unconditionally.” Reflect on Matt. 11:28-30 in The Message version of the Bible.
White evangelicalism, like so much of society, is deeply influenced by a fast-paced culture and narrow view of productivity. Take a moment to learn from the following authors from outside of the evangelical tradition on Sabbath and rest.
Sabbath as Resistance by Walter Bruggemann offers a theological argument for sabbath rhythms from an academic perspective.
Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey offers a passionate and prophetic manifesto about the need for rest and how it can resist white supremacy.
Learn more about RCCI support and accountability groups that strive to help white evangelicals take action in ways that embody the lessons captured in this blog series. These will be revamped and relaunched in 2023.
