So, my wife and I have a home in the middle of downtown Detroit. It’s kind of funny. Detroit has a pretty serious stigma. Some of what gets said is earned and some isn’t. I mean, you don’t get to be the murder capital of the U.S. AGAIN without some serious effort. On the other hand, the city is doing some amazing things to move into the 21st century. If you haven’t been downtown lately you should definitely check it out. The new Riverfront is beautiful. The real estate development is highly encouraging. The cross cultural participation is great to see. And, above all, as long as you stay where things are happening, it is really quite safe (contrary to urban legend, the weak are NOT killed and eaten in Detroit anymore!).
The bad news is that there is one ever-present pall that shrouds the city and its suburbs. It is the specter of racism. The tension is sometimes quite palpable when you move throughout various regions of the Metro area. Segregation is a way of life. No single group retains the guilt. It is seriously spread around. One of the saddest commentaries on the mental oblivion that saturates the Church is its participation in this corrupt culture. Christians throw around the racially charged barbs and perpetuate the separation as much or more than everyone else. The churches themselves rarely have multi-ethnic congregations. The notion of social outreach is impeded because of cross cultural fear. Grudges that were formed decades ago are protected and nursed like some kind of bequeathal for future generations. And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Except Jesus.
What do we mean when we speak of this thing called the “gospel”? It’s kind of sickeningly amusing that we are so quick to argue over the meaning of the word “justification” (the NPP) while entirely ignoring the heart of the matter. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” These are the words of Galatians 3:28. I submit that they are not hard to understand. I fail to see ambiguity or cultural relativism. Am I missing something?
The problem is pretty apparent. It is the reason that the gospel is necessary to begin with. There is a sickness. We, like the people depicted in “I am Legend”, are infected with a fast acting virus. It’s called sin. It ravages our minds. It causes us to look to ourselves before looking to the needs of others. It convinces us that we can stand alone in the world… our own saviors, our own providers. Above all, it amplifies our fears. It traps us in despair and self-loathing. At the same time, it cannot be blamed for our transgressions; our stupidity. We bear our own responsibility. We actually CHOOSE to wallow in it like pigs in slop. We roll around, luxuriating in its stink. When we smell like a trash heap, we CHOOSE to parade around in puffed up arrogance. All the while, our grasp upon reality slips. Our vision gets darker and darker. We descend into blindness. We are all of us guilty. Nobody has immunity… there is no Robert Neville, no colony of survivors. African, Native American, Caucasian, Asian; welcome to our common lot. Welcome to humanity.
Enter the cure. Enter the light in the darkness. When you take the leap of faith it’s like a miracle surgery that restores your completely devastated sight. The bandages come off and YOU CAN SEE!!! At least that’s the rumor. That’s what the ad’s say. Sadly, real life doesn’t look anything like the commercials. “I’m not a Christian, but I play one on TV”. The surgery is over. The bandages are off. But like scared little kids we squeeze our eyes shut ever tighter. Why don’t we take refuge from our fears? Why don’t we realize that Christ’s mission wasn’t to give us Heaven or eternal life? Those things happen, surely. But they are byproducts. We have a calling. We are supposed to live out the Kingdom here, now. How is it possible that we miss the fact that the gospel transcends culture? How do we ignore the explosive truth that Christ’s redemption literally destroys the walls that divide us? How can we desire a segmented half-life instead of the feast of joy that comes with true cross cultural community? Above all, why do we still reek of the trash heap?
I am including myself in these indictments. I am a disgusting hypocrite. But, I want out. I want to actually live this thing we call salvation. Racism is a clear rallying point. There are myriad like issues within the church. We need to take real, decisive steps. We need to live in the cleansing waterfall that is Christ’s righteousness. The stink and filth and perversion must give way to purity. This isn’t a call to legalism. It’s a call to reconciliation. Remember this… we are one people under sin. We can be one people under righteousness, so help us God. All we have to do is open our eyes…
December 19, 2007 at 8:34 pm
I find this topic disturbing for numerous reasons. First, I agree with the nature of Denny’s claim. The church is very black and white (if you will). I think most people honestly feel like they want reconcilation, but no one wants to begin that process. I know I have. However, I have not been well received. I have taken classes on these exact issues taught by people of different races – they also don’t want to hear it. However, I am slowly learning there is a difference between the academic nature of this issue and the practical nature. I know in academics and specifically, African-Americans, Feminists, Latino’s, and Mexican-Americans believe that white men (as I am) are not a part of the conversation. They care nothing of OUR input. I believe this has continued the problem much longer than necessary.
The practical problem is different. There are many groups, which are beginning to form all over the nation ( I know of one here in Omaha) and they meet together to talk about racisim in their communities. Our group in particular are in the stage of trying to understand practical applications for the “theoretical” conversations.
With all of that said my position may be controversial. Church is clearly “black and white”. I do not mind this. And I do not think it promotes racism. In this conversation what is oftentimes overlooked is culture. Oftentimes different races means different cultures. I am not against worshiping with believers of other races. But, I will not actively seek out going to a church of different races because I believe very specific things about how Church should be. Our different cultures worship differently. We believe (sometimes) different things about God. Church, I believe, will always be “black and white” for reasons related to culture not race (though that has not always been the case and there will always be outlyers). Therfore, for Christians I believe the issue of racism needs to be addressed in the public square and not the pulpit. Unless of course it is from the pulpit that encouragement for engagement takes place.
I think as a practical matter for the Church: white people should stop building churches in suburbs and blacks should move out of the city. I do not see resolution (ever) for this issue until this happens. I think this is the answer (at least step toward) not trying to mix our churches.
With all of that said, I am not sure if my statements are even helpful or they may just serve to anger people. If such is the case I will refrain from participating in this conversation. I just get tired of all of the black white stuff. Everyone complains about everything. White people are afraid to talk to blacks (on this particular issue) and many blacks do not care to engage whites. This runs both ways (I agree with Bill Cosby on this issue).
December 21, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I agree that this “sickness” is alive and well in our country and churches. To what decree does depend on what location of the country you are living. For example, these post have come from Downtown Detroit, Omaha, Nebraska, and now Lawton, Oklahoma (which is near the Texas boarder). All of which have differing decrees and issues of this problem.
I do see how culture can play a role in how churches become somewhat segregated naturally, but it leaves me with a question. Shouldn’t the church represent the make-up of the community in which it is located? If we don’t want race to be an issue, then let’s not make it one. I have had people come to me and tell me our church is too white and that we need to start reaching out to the black community. Even though that statement was made to be helping the problem, isn’t it too a racist statement?
If our churches want to see the walls of race torn down, shouldn’t the first step be to love and care for the community that the church is in regardless of race? As I walk around my neighborhood I ask the question is this what our church looks like? If not, then we can’t possibly be acting as salt and light to the community in which we have been planted. Maybe I’m wrong, but I believe if people’s spiritual, emotional, and physical needs are being met, race and color become a non-issue. It seems that the question is not how do we become more multi-ethnic, but how do we become more like Christ to our community.
December 24, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Well this is an interesting discussion. I’ll star with a little background information.
I grew up in St Johns Michigan where probably only about 20 of the 8,000 or so people are not white. I don’t think I even SAW a non-white person until 2nd grade, and I saw the second non-white person probably in junior high. I started to learn about other cultures when I started going to CMU and my roommate was from Atlanta and black. Looking back, it was rather comical because we couldn’t even understand each other about half of the time in that first month. Fortunately, two of our roommates were from the Lansing area, so they could translate.
All through college I had decided that the best option is to simply live a “color blind” life. Sure, I should still respect differences in culture, but the color of someone’s skin doesn’t decide their culture. Or does it?
I, like Denny, was troubled in particular by the segregation in churches, and I thought this would be a good way to end that.I thought that if everyone would simply become “color blind” like me, racism would miraculously disappear. After all, in heaven there will be people from every ethne worshiping God.
Then I took the Perspectives course. Through that course, I realized that the local church probably shouldn’t be cross-cultural. The local church is a place for us to come together and worship God in a way that is consistent with our culture. This is why I’m ok with church splits over worship preferences that do not result in animosity (it happened in Mount Pleasant).
I agree that one of the reasons racism is a problem is because we talk about it so much. We spend so much time recognizing the differences between us and the person on the other side of the tracks or the highway (even if our purpose for looking is to see how we can better relate) that we sometimes fail to see our similarities. Sure, we have differences, but maybe we should just ignore them a little more?
February 10, 2008 at 1:40 am
I am intrigued by the lines of reasoning that I see in the comments posted here. Several issues seem to take form, at least from my perspective.
1. We are having the “discussion” from a single vantage point. Ie. regardless of our particular locations, we are all white males living in typically white environments.
2. While I agree that the local church should represent the basic demographics of the community from which it draws its congregants, there is a larger issue at question. Specifically, when an aspect of our human interactions is a result of the fall, does the local church have a mandate to actively stand against such paradigms? Even further, does the local church have a mandate to actively seek reform in these areas?
3. If such mandates exist, what are the practical ramifications for our churches, whether in the suburbs or elsewhere?
February 12, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Here’s another response from yet another white male…
This problem that we are discussing extends beyond racial issues (as has been alluded to in some comments and in the original post). It touches all areas of the unity of the church and our love for one another. The church has a hard time reaching out to one another (for example how often do churches work together; and if they do we think its a BIG deal). In the town I live in there are seven or eight churches that I can think of off hand (i live in BG, a small college town) and not very often do they come together. The issues aren’t even racial here, we are all pretty much culturally the same, and yet we can’t even figure out that we are all united in Christ! So when we talk about a racially and culturally divided church, the obvious difficulty in this issue is compounded.
In response to Denny’s questions: I think that the church does have a mandate to work in concert with God to display the kingdom of God by restoring creation as it was before the fall. That means we are to display love and unity with ALL Christians, regardless of race or any other issue. The Church is supposed to be God’s representation on earth, a first step would be to love the church down the street, whether culturally different or not. I am not sure that if we cannot be united with our brothers and sisters of the same culture, that we would be able to be united with brothers and sisters of a different culture.
That being said, I think the issue is one of unity and love, not necessarily racially diverse congregations. I don’t mind that various cultures and sub-cultures exist and that they have their own churches where they conduct worship and teaching differently (we allow for the same exact thing in missions overseas), but I do mind that because of the difference in cultural issues we will not work together, or worse, look down upon one another for those differences.
Just my two cents…
February 21, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I am still thinking along a slightly different line. My major question has more to do with the idea of confronting the world “where it hurts”. It seems to me that those areas within our society that are a direct result of the fall may be the exact points of ingress that the Church needs to concentrate upon.
I find that Christ’s discussion with Peter (“You are Cephas. Upon this rock I will build my kingdom and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”) compels me to ask some questions. First, is the Church supposed to exist passively within the cultural paradigm surrounding it? Are we supposed to huddle, as it were, in a defensive posture…waiting with baited breath to be rescued from the malaise and muck of our sin-saturated existence? Or, are we supposed to challenge those thought processes that stem from the fact that our Creator’s paradise is bent and twisted by sin? Do we go on the offensive and try to bring the power of redemption to bear directly upon the unhealthy, diseased portions of our minds, both collectively and as individuals?
The answers to my questions seem to determine the direction we need to take in many areas including racial or cultural divides. Thoughts?