Christianity’s central image and defining metaphor is the cross. The story of Jesus’ passion is embedded in the minds and hearts of his followers. This sequence of events includes betrayal, being hauled away by law enforcement, false accusation, a rigged trial, brutal beating, scornful mockery, torture and ultimately death. This story is central to our understanding of the incarnation. God came to be with us, among us, in the middle of our deepest pain. God knows this experience. And in some way that soars above simple propositional explanations, this defines the character of God. A God who has redefined strength and glory as other-centered co-suffering love.And so, it is strange that white Christianity has largely missed the connections between this central story of our faith, and the traumatic experience of Blacks in America defined by lynching and the control-by-terror that still exists to this day, where it seems common that police can brutalize and even kill black people with no consequence or accountability. This is the central thrust of Dr. James Cone’s landmark book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree.This book is important for several reasons. First, White Christians, like myself, have a lot to learn about the power and meaning of the cross from Black people. It seems a near miracle that enslaved people and their descendants took hold of the religion of the people who enslaved them, and reclaimed it as a power source for dignity, agency, and freedom. Jesus told us, in Matthew 25, that we would find him when we served those our society considers least. One implication of that is that those same marginalized and oppressed people have a viewpoint on faith that is crucial for us.Second, if there is any hope of racial reconciliation in American society, it comes from an honest naming of the truth. Trauma cannot heal through denial or ignorance. Reconciliation cannot come when we ignore or justify past and present violations. As uncomfortable as it may be to face our lynching past, if we truly want healing, we must. If we are unwilling to face these stories, then it’s not really reconciliation we want, but only comfort.This is a difficult book. At least it was for me. But truth is often difficult, and healing happens on the other side of the discomfort. But this is not just a difficult book; it is also a hopeful and encouraging one. Cone shows how through the Blues and Gospel Music and later art, Black Americans have offered a gracious hand out toward healing, if we are willing to listen and understand. He points to how a cruciform Christianity can lead us to not only healing, but true unity.Matthew 25 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”Hebrews 13:3 “Remember those who are in prison, as though you were there in prison with them, those who are being tortured as though you yourselves were being tortured.”Galatians 6:2 ”Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”