Racial Divide

When I was a little boy, I learned to sing, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow black and white, they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of tthe world."  The Bible clearly taught that.  The church of my youth clearly believe that.  Nonetheless, as a child of the 50s, I was raised in a truly black and white divide.

At that time, not only were the school segregated, so were churches.  In some of the white churches that allowed people of color to attend, they would have a seperate entrance and a loft where blacks sit while the whites sat on the main floor.  This practice reflected the civil separation seen in back-of-the-bus seating and separate washroom and drinking fountains.  Yes, Jesus loved the little children but the church and the country wanted each in their own place.

Why is that?  Why, even in the church, has it been taking so long to break down the dividing wall of hostility?  Because, we live in a fallen world where sin divides.  "In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one" (Gal 3:28), becasue Jesus "...destroyed the dividing wall of hostility" (Eph 2:14).  But in our sinful self, we keep the wall erected.  We do that because, while we admire Jesus and are great fans, we are not such great followers.

I'm not saying this is true of everyone.  Some Christians are truly color blind.  Too many, however, are blind in many ways but color is not one of them.  If we truly saw what Jesus saw, we would embrace every color and culture as children of our Father, therefore, brothers and sisters with us.  When we truly follow Jesus, our path takes us directly to individuals and nations of all stripes.  Followers of Jesus go down the same color-blind, culture neutral path as our Lord.

And if the Racial Divide is ever to completely erased, it will be becasue the Church is filled with followers, not fans.  We can't depend on the government to unite us - there are too many in politics who, like Al Sharpton, have a vested interest in keeping the divide alive.  The Church, one Christian at a time, reaching out to one individual at a time, can, and has been, closing the Racial Divide.

Each of us needs to be about the kingdom business of  "Going into all the world and preaching the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15), "doing good to all people" (Gal 6:10).  The Racial Divide starts with you and me.  It also ends with us.  Or, it continues because of us - because we act in divisive ways or fail to speak out against the divisiveness.  Jus' Say'n.