Can't We All Just Get Along? Racial Concord in the Church

As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., I can't help but to feel a sense of pride in my city.  San Antonio usually has one of the largest MLK marches in the United States each year; an amazing accomplishment considering the city is only about 7 to 9 percent African American.  I didn't go to the march because I was working (like every year), but I have heard that once again it was a great success.  But along with this sense of pride in my city comes a desire to deal with the real issues that God's children must deal with as it pertains to race.  When you think about race relations in this country, you must understand that we still have a long way to go.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the modern church.

It's been said that Sunday is the most segregated day of the week.  All the black people go to the black church.  All the white people go to the white church.  Other races mix in where they can.  I want to stop right here and apologize for the tone that this post is about to take.  But this is truly how I feel.  There are certain problems that I have with certain racial groups.  Because the majority of my experiences have been with black people and white people, I will deal primarily with each of these groups.   Here are the problems that I see in each race and why these problems must be dealt with in order for God's Church to grow.

1.  Black people need to come to terms with history and ourselves.
Yes it's true that black people have gone through many horrible things in the past.  We have had to deal with slavery, Jim Crow laws, false accusations, unfair criminal prosecution, and every other horrible thing you can possibly think of.  I have been called the N-word, had a gun pulled on me by the police because I "fit the description of the suspect",been described as the angry black man, and many other negative things over my thirty five years of life.  But I also realize that God says that we should forgive those who trespass against us as we continually ask for forgiveness.  I also realize that no one owes me a thing in life and I should stop waiting for someone to give me a handout in order to make up for all the wrong things that have been done to my people.

2.  White people need to understand that healing takes time.
Martin Luther King was killed in 1968 (forty-one years ago).  The Montgomery bus boycott that King started as a result of Jim Crow laws was started in 1955 (fifty-four years ago).  I have members of my church who were born in the twenties and thirties; and they have vivid memories of the pain and suffering of those times.  They have relayed these stories to their children and grandchildren and built up a wall of distrust.  Many of those people are now in their seventies and eighties and are just beginning to accept the fact that they need to love all people... not just black people.  White people need to understand that this wall of distrust in the black community will not come down overnight.  They have to patiently chip away at it.

3.  Both races need to calm down, stop being so sensitive, and tell each other how they feel.  Then listen without being judgmental. 
Nothing to add here.

So how does the the church fit into the race question?  Well, I have a dream (couldn't resist).  And my dream concerns the church of the future.  The church of the future is not a white church, a black church, a hispanic church, or an asian church.  It is God's church.  The church of the future needs to provide a worship service that unifies all races; not a worship service that validates one group at the expense of the other.  In the church of the future, the worship experience will encourage, edify, and uplift all the people.  And what about the preacher?  The preacher should make sure that the sermon is colorblind.  That means it should challenge all people on a spiritual level, not on a social, racial, or economic level.  The only people that should be uncomfortable at the end of service should be the unsaved and the non-believers.  When all is said and done, we should focus on the only race that is truly important in this world.  The Christian race.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike



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