Banes S. Lal
As in high schools and businesses, cliques are quite common in churches. In this specific narrative, cliques form a particular textual account as valid representation towards distinct races by using scripture to advance their opinion as fact. Their comments are not only wrong but biblically incorrect. Cliques in churches stifle spiritual growth. Lack of transparent discussion by church leaders on issues facing individuals or confronting the daily struggles of life can be constricting to the soul. Unfortunately, a large number of people have consistently remained silent. However, I've been encouraged by a small group who are brokenhearted, calling for change. We have to call out people for their actions and hold them accountable because none of us can claim to walk on water.
It was racism that spawned those atrocious acts during the Holocaust where millions of Jews were slaughtered. It was racism that allowed the Ku Klux Klan to make life absolutely hell for Blacks through their constant lynchings. It was racism that gave origin to Apartheid, where people in the land of their birth couldn't vote because of the colour of their skin.
The Bible holds a categorically different position on racism. The fact that each person is created in the image and likeness of God. It doesn't depend on status, gender, race, or culture. It doesn't imply whether you are beautiful or not so beautiful, whether you are rich or poor, educated or uneducated. Racism opposes God. It is contrary to the principles of the Christian faith.
Therefore, to treat one person as if they were less than this is not just evil, which it undoubtedly is, it is not only painful, as it usually must be for the victim, but it is blasphemous and sacrilegious. For it is indeed like spitting in the face of God.
If we Christians believe the word of God is alive, piercing like a sword through the darkness, spreading a message of life to the hopeless and the vulnerable. If we say we're no better, then the leper, the lame, crying out that we were once as outcasts—our hearts than should be led by mercy with open hearts and open doors. Uncover your eyes to the world at the end of your pointy fingers. Who are we to judge? The sword was never ours to swing. If we say the word is alive - let us be the catalyst for change!
The story of Jesus and the woman at the well shows an example of how Christians can begin speaking on the issue of race. We forget that Jesus, came as a marginalized, oppressed Jew. Not a blond, blue-eyed, fair-skinned man as portrayed in paintings. The story in John chapter four shows us that it's not just that he went. It's how he went to Samaria. Jesus travels to Samaria, and he sits down at by the well. He sees a disgraced, outcast woman; Samaritans were a mixed ethnicity and religion—they were not Jews and despised by the religious leaders. Yet Jesus asked her for a drink.
If Jesus was more than willing to do this, why can't my White brothers and sisters come and sit converse with individuals of colour and ask for a drink? I believe that would make a significant groundbreaking attempt to navigate the issue of privilege and race and bring about a solution.
This position of humility puts you in an area of receiving, not just giving. In this story, Jesus begins with the receiving attitude saying, "may I have a drink?" If we are willing to drink — the grief, personal stories, and adjust our perspective, we, including myself, need a more humble posture of receiving and learning. These are the first steps in a much longer process of understanding, grieving and mending the wounds.
Are we willing to hear terms like 'White supremacy' and 'White privilege' and there impact and addition to the actions behind those words — the impact they have on people of colour today — without getting exasperated, without appearing defensive, without stepping away from the table. We need to be better listeners, with a sense of humility, a sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment, a contrite heart, that's what our world needs to hear today. Racism and oppression win when hatred and bitterness take root in our hearts.
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