Dear Trekker,
About a year ago I was visiting one of my sons and his family who live in Tampa. My daughter-in-law, a wonderful, godly woman works for Habitat for Humanity as their Volunteer Coordinator. She pulls together all the volunteer laborers and prospective home owners who build “their” houses. A new home was being established and dedicated the Saturday after our arrival. My daughter–in-law spoke, “Dad, I need your help. We are having a huge ceremony and I have no local pastor. Will you fill in?” Naturally I said, “Of course, sweetheart.”
Well… what an experience! I can’t think of anything more exhilarating or rewarding to me personally in recent years. There were at least 100 people in attendance, virtually 80-90% of whom were persons of color – Hispanic, a few Asians and predominately African-American. White people were in the minority. For sure, an extended family celebrating the establishment of a home in which all had contributed in some fashion. I was winging it, but not without lots of prayer. I knew I had to be “Jesus with skin on” that day. But I also knew the color of one’s skin couldn’t have been more irrelevant. I had a blast… one of the neatest experiences in recent memory.
As I recall, I did the following. Knowing God wanted to bring us all together, I welcomed everybody and highlighted that flesh and spirit were coming together as one. I requested everyone form a huge circle on the front yard into the street and hold hands. I spoke about the symbolism of “holding hands in an unbroken circle.” I said, looking about, “Remember, this is a sacred moment and place where God knows and sees only the human race for whom he died… together in Christ, building and achieving friendships that will last forever.” Then I prayed that all might see themselves as a loved child of God and that our spiritual home might be in Him. I acknowledged we were pleasing Him when we work together for the common good. We gave thanks for the hearts and minds and hands that together had built the home. We spoke of the difference between a house and a home and prayed for the family, new citizens from Jamaica, an uncle, a nephew and a sister —a family! God showed up in a huge way. All were inspired. It was beautiful. I was humbled as two or three ladies wanted me to do their dedication in the coming months. I could only smile and offer, “I’d like to so much, but I live in Colorado.”
We are all one in Christ, “neither Jew or Gentile, slave nor free, male or female,” white or black and we are all then of Abraham’s seed. Paul is most exacting and eloquent in his writing to the brothers and sisters in Galatia.
Sadly, lack of love, unfamiliarity, class envy and wrong thinking have fueled racism around the world for centuries. Why do we let such a scourge of prejudice and apathy control our thinking about our fellow man? Why are we so suspicious, distrustful and unkind to persons of a race different than ours? Are we not all racists to some degree as a result of sin? Who would say they are not? Not I Lord, not I!
Some hasty research on Google (onehumanrace.com) reveals some intriguing facts. Unfortunately and directly related to Darwinian thinking, we think of people groups too often only in terms of race. Darwinianism seems to give people an excuse for racist attitudes. He himself was unquestionably racist in his thinking. The sub-title of On the Origin of Species was “The Preservation of the ‘Favored Race’ in the Struggle of Life.”
Scientists today generally agree that there is one race of humans. Race, as so often used, is a social construct and has no biological reality. Should we not then abandon the word race, as it is, or should be, meaningless? Here again we appeal to Scripture. In Acts 17:26, human beings are spoken of as “one blood.” (I love the U.S. Army, the lead cultural institution to eliminate segregation after WWII. We military people bleed only one color, “purple,” for each other and our country. (Purple in military jargon is a reference to oneness, our identity.)
Science has further found that if one were to take any two people from anywhere in the world, the basic genetic difference would be about 0.2% variation. So called racial characteristics (color, eye or nose shape, hair, etc.) account for only 6% of the 0.2% variation. We all have the same color; some simply have more or less “melanin” which produces different shades of light or dark skin. (Trekker, only lepers are white.) According to most anthropologists, Adam and Eve were medium to light brown. DNA also suggests our ancestry is linked to a single mother.
Let me be emphatic… racism is morally, scripturally and practically a horrible carbuncle on life. No unity, no teamwork, no cultural advancement flows from racism. Quite the opposite! Oh how some politicians love to pit race against race. Wrong! Intolerable! Our national unity, e pluribus unum, is being destroyed from within by foolish men.
There is no greater scourge upon the visited planet than racism. How do we then break the chains of racism? Simple, personal relationships! Two of my favorite buddies these days are Lew and Dan. Awesome men of God! They are fellow soldiers, black brothers in Christ. We sing side-by-side in the choir at Peterson AFB chapel. We love to sing together and man do we sing! We sing praises to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Nothing divides us. Our chapel is amazing. We are brothers (and sisters). I imagine people of so-called color make up more than half of our congregation. Yet, we are of “one blood,” as Paul tells the Athenians. And we are saved by “one blood,” the blood of Christ alone.
Together we can construct a much better world in which to live. We can love, join hands, build houses, establish schools, erect hospitals, build churches of worship, etc. Yes, we can live faithful, peaceful and happy lives… but only in Christ.
Trekker, I challenge you today to make “good friends” with persons who have a different color of skin than yours, nevertheless, sinners too, like you and me. Share Christ too, for I believe in Christ we can defeat racism in America.
Walking shoulder to shoulder with my many brothers and sisters, all of whom are of color, even you,
Jim Meredith
