Matthew Croasmun interviews Pastor Josh Williams (Elm City Vineyard, New Haven, CT) about being a black pastor of a multi-ethnic church in New Haven. In this conversation, Williams provides a window into the incarnational theology that truly makes a difference in the world; he reflects on how increased attention to police involved violence against black life has impacted his life and vocation; he focuses on lament as the first step toward action and justice, but talks about joy and spiritual discipline in the act of protest, and finally, reflects on the fundamentally challenging question everyone is wrestling with right now: What does it mean to love our whole city?

Show Notes

• Josh Williams, Elm City Vineyard Church
• A pastor’s perspective on increased national attention to police-involved shootings since 2014.
• Leading community through following Jesus in the face of racial violence
• The difficulties of multi-ethnic community in these times.
• The assumption that police are good and trying to do right.
• An expectation that the nation is just.
• A practice of lament
• The “Night of Joy”
• Joy is critical because his existence as a black person in American is a protest.
• Bittersweet joy versus vibrant joy
• Joy helps us remember the truth of the fight.
• Living for the sake of the Black and Brown community in New Haven.
• Christian responsibility to the ethics of justice.
• Hopes for the work of understanding from the police.
• Hopes and demands.