July 6, 2014
Acts 10:28-35
Col 3:11-16
The inclusion of all people within the worshiping community is a recurring theme in the New Testament. “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Col 3:11) Jesus goes to Samaria; Peter baptizes the gentile Cornelius; slaves and nobles attend the same churches; and so on. Today, we say, “Well, of course, everyone is welcome.” We may forget that inclusion was a huge issue in the early church, and they faced it, actively and purposively. All divisions disappear in the New Creation of being one body in Jesus.
That remains our vision here at Eighth Day: living, loving and serving Jesus as one body in a world that—like the Roman Empire—acts on the basis of division, inequality and violence.
This morning I want to reflect upon how we in this community have been talking with each other about racism. Some of us have participated in the Damascus Road anti-racism training program, exploring the nature of prejudice, racism, white privilege and so on that are so firmly embedded in our American culture … and within each of us individually. I’ve learned a lot. As most of you know, I worked for 25 years in the black community here in Washington, but in Damascus Road I listened for the first time to the profound pain and alienation that most African Americans feel just living in white America. It’s not just economically poor African Americans; it’s the experience of being black in a white culture. I learned to believe the stories that my African-American friends tell me about their experiences of racism instead of dismissing them as exaggerations. I’ve learned to identify myself as a “racist” but also as much more than a racist. For me perhaps the greatest lesson has been how to work together with African-American friends against racism without paternalism or guilt.