This was an nice added anti racist read. As the world is finally starting to deal with racism and our own personal bias, it is good to read and get many perspectives. I found many points to reflect upon and learn while reading this book; I think that this is another important work in the collection of antiracist works we now have access to.

I have mixed feelings on this volume. How I review this really depends on if I take this as a book on justice or a devotional. As a book on justice, I appreciate it. It caught my attention quickly and made me eager to unpack the collection of readings. As a call to lament, a tool for education and reflection, and a drive to action, it is well done indeed – bringing attention to various facets of the conversation including HBCUs, reparations, mass incarceration, and modern slavery in addition to the historical wrongs.

But I don’t think it does well as a devotional. It certainly has a call to love our neighbors – acknowledging the pain and injustice and travesty of systemic racism in our world and our nation – and the format is quite similar to a devotional in that there’s a short reading, a few verses of Scripture, some thoughts, and a call to action or final thought-provoking questions - but there is little focus on Christ. Speculative interpretation is used at times – and then conclusions are drawn from that. And sometimes the speculative interpretation is not at all consistent with the passage in context; thus the point may be well made, but the attempts at Biblical connection are simply unfounded, which leaves me loathe to recommend it as a Christian book. (That is not true of all cases. Some points are well-formed and right on.) I appreciate the format and the call to go beyond sympathy into reflection and action. I would commend this to you as a series of daily readings with religious tones, not a devotional book.

I received an electronic copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While many are familiar with giving up something for Lent, this season can also be an opportunity to take on a practices for spiritual growth. After witnessing the brutal slaughter of George Floyd and the lack of accountability following the murder of Breonna Taylor, many in the Christian faith community have been motivated to educate themselves about systemic racism and their moral obligation to social and economic justice. Lent of Liberation by Cheri L. Mills is a concise, thought provoking guide to exploring the issues of systemic oppression for American Descendants of Slavery (referred to throughout the book by the acronym ADOS).

Lent of Liberation is a six-week study to confront the ugly reality of the racist history of America. The book consists of 40 days of devotionals that roughly follow the chronology of the ADOS experience, from the beginnings of enslavement through to present day experience. This study has the participant confront some very uncomfortable truths about the insidious history of systemic oppression towards ADOS. Each day, the author presents snapshots of horrific accounts of life for those enslaved in America juxtaposed next to a Scriptural reference followed by a synthesis and questions for reflection. Mills also goes further to develop the learning experience by incorporating Facts About Black Oppression throughout the book.

Mills suggests that much of the western Christian community has been complacent or indifferent with regard confronting the evil of systemic racial oppression. Lent of Liberation encourages participants to reflect on the realities facing ADOS and how each person can work towards meaningful reconciliation. This study is very different in that it does not soften the hard truth about the experience of ADOS. At times, the historical accounts may be unsettling to participants. Mills presents the lived experiences of named human beings who were subjected to the horrors of chattel slavery in America and allows the reader to respond. Toward the end of the study, Mills challenges the participants to consider their role in restoration and reconciliation.

Lent of Liberation will challenge those who profess the Christian faith to reconsider what it means to be allies of justice. This book is a perfect guide for small group study to explore these critical questions. As a bonus, readers have access to free online resources. These companion products include a small groups facilitation guide, marketing resources, and sermon prompts.

Summary: A lenten devotional based on the testimony of people that escaped slavery. 

There has been a slow recovery of the practice of Lent in parts of the Protestant world that has not traditionally celebrated the liturgical year over the past couple of decades. I want to commend three devotionals that I have used, although I have not read all of any of them yet. Each of them is a 40-day devotional.

Lent is a season of reflection and preparation for Easter. Traditionally, it is a period that includes fasting, repentance, prayer, and penance. Each of these devotionals is focused on knowing the history of the US, particularly the history of Black oppression, slavery, and the cultural embrace of racial hierarchy, which posits that those with lighter colors of skin are inherently superior to those with darker colors of skin. The purpose of these is not guilt, but awareness of. history for the purpose of repair and reconciliation. Without a shared historical story, there cannot be a shared future story. Each of these has slightly different focuses.

The newest is the Lent of Liberation, which was released a couple of weeks ago. The Lent of Liberation has a basic format of a quotation from slave narrative, usually about 3/4 of a page, a related biblical quotation, and then about 1-2 pages of reflection on the biblical passage and the historical reality of slavery and oppression. The focus of Lent of Liberation is to draw attention to the African Decendents of Slavery (ADOS) and the continued impact of slavery on the present world as well as the ways that Christianity is oriented toward reconciliation and the Imago Dei (image of God) within all people and how historic Christianity has not practiced that fully. The author Cheri Mills is a church administrator, founder of the 1 Voice Prayer Movement, and prayer director at Simmons College of Kentucky, an HBCU.

Last year I read most of Were You There?: Lenten Reflections on the Spirituals. Luke Powery is the chaplain of Duke Divinity School and has several similar books of devotionals based on African American church experience. Each devotional revolves around a spiritual, although many of them are less well known. I frequently, although not every time, was able to look up on youtube or other places to get audio or video performance of the spiritual which did help to place the spiritual in context. Some of the devotionals were more about the content, some were more about a memory of the spiritual in the life of Rev Dr. Powery.

The third devotional is the Repentance Project. The Repentance Project was created three or four years ago, "to encourage racial healing by communicating the systemic legacies of slavery, building relationships, and creating opportunities—through formation, repentance, and repair—for a just future." There are two Lenten devotionals that are offered through the Repentance Project, An American Lament and An American Lent. These are written by a variety of people, from a mix of racial, ethnic and denominational backgrounds. But with an explicit focus on lamenting the history of racism and oppression in the US and trying to raise awareness for the long term hope of change and reconciliation in the church.

I am posting this a week in advance of the start of Lent to give you time to order one of these and to make a plan for lent.

Lent of Liberation: Confronting the Legacy of American Slavery by Cheri Mills Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition

Were You There?: Lenten Reflections on the Spirituals by Luke Powery Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition

this was one of the best books I have ever read regarding spirituality/religion. as christians, we have a responsibility to fight for the most marginalized, and this book makes that clear. some things I loved: how it was centered around freeing ourselves from toxic white evangelical theology, how it specifically called out white women's violence, how it explained europe's complicity with slavery, how it allows you to reflect on antiracism in your own life, how it explains reparations as a debt owed. I will definitely be rereading this lent and recommending (although I don't think my followers on my instagram are christian). thank you to cheri l mills for the work she put into this, which cannot have been easy. white christians have so much work to do and this book is a great tool leading us to do it.

This 40 day Devotional goes beyond the institution of slavery with the intimate memories of runaway slaves. These documented accounts of their escape from freedom are linked to biblical text, scriptures, and uplifting songs. The stories that appear within the devotional are heart wrenching but, they present Black America’s past and present injustices and exclusion.

The author dives into the time of the “Black Holocaust. The “Black Holocaust” are misfortunes of enslavement, Black codes, share cropping, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, police brutality, redlining and mass incarceration. A very profound quote stated, “that because Blacks were targeted for special mistreatment, then Blacks should be targeted for special treatment.” In oppression slavery brought profit to America with 3.2 million slaves bringing in approximately $1.2 billion in market value. The author asks the reader, “can there be justice without reparations?” My answer to that is an absolute no because there is a debt owed for an economy being built on our backs.

These devotionals speaks tremendously about despair and finding hope. Slaves experienced great despair because of their masters and their mistresses idolatrous , sadistic, unruly and cruel systems and practices; with a mustard seed of faith and undying hope they ran to their freedom even though at times it meant leaving their families behind. It is unimaginable to understand this faith, hope and consistent belief that there is a God that slaves possessed because of the poorly-painted image of Christ that they were consistently being shown. Many were Methodist, Evangelicals and other denominations but governed their lives upon ownership of slaves, brutality and cruel and unusual punishment. This was not authentic Christianity.

I thoroughly enjoyed this daily devotional of the intimate stories of multiple slaves’ journey to their freedom. Although a daily reminder of Black America’s constant struggle and injustices encountered, the author gave the reader confidence in the idea that times will get better for us. I feel the questions after each devotional serves as a complex observation of the true state of the country we live in and a dialogue with one’s self about who they are and who they can be. For me the personal stories from real experiences and the facts of black oppression served as an educational read, but the author’s true audience was White people. The need for change was exposed. I recommend this forty day devotional to all readers, no matter the race.