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I love words. Words are gifts and God-full and made for beauty.
But how is it that words can be so ugly?
How is it that mouths that sing words of praise and speak words of loving God can, in the next breath, be making racial jokes?
What in the world am I supposed to DO with that?
I sit, open-mouthed, heart filling with fumes and toxic smoke, and everything in me wants to get up and call to task, or storm out in a showy and conspicuous exit . . . or unhear what I've heard.
Have we made so little progress in my lifetime? Have we moved so little from where we started? In some ways I'm afraid we're further out than where began. It distresses me that racism is such a common theme that runs through secular places like schools (honestly in Christian schools too)--my children could tell you stories! It infuriates me when people cry "RACISM" where there is none! But racist talk breaks my heart when it comes from the mouths of people who are in positions of Christian leadership--I don't get it!
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Two days later after calling the leader in question to express my concern:
Calmer now, and thankful that prayer is perfect preparation for hard conversations.
I'm glad I cared enough to make the call. I'm glad I didn't just give in to thinking that what I thought wouldn't make a difference anyway. It may or it may not, only time will tell, but I know it was right to stand against racism and to advocate for the well-being of the people who might have been hurt or offended by some admittedly irresponsible words. I am now willing to believe there was no malevolent intent behind the joking, and I am willing to forgive and carry on, hoping for the best.
My family, where skin color matters not at all!
Race is only as important as we make it. If we see people as the Image-bearers of the Creator of the universe, their skin-color matters not at all. We can recognize and celebrate our differences, there may even be places and times where we can joke with each other about our differences, but we must always be respectful of and sensitive to the feelings of each person in the room. That is not a call for political correctness or dishonesty, just a call to be kind and gracious, and above all, loving.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,(B) there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28 ESV
We, fractured creatures that we are, can find so many ways to create divisions amongst ourselves, but in Christ, they all fall away into His goodness, His restoration, His hope, His unfathomable love! He is the only one who will ever bring true unity!
How do you respond when you witness racism?
Do you ever see evidence of racism in your own heart?
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