How diverse are you?

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:42:16 GMT

I decided to come and blog over here about my thoughts on some things, since I made my other blog a family update site, and would rather not share some of my opinions with my family. I might, but I might not. It seemed like a good idea to have a separate place for such things.

Today, I was listening to some sermons by Dr. Steve Breedlove, one of the best pastors I've had the privilege to hear speak. He is currently the pastor of All Saints Anglican Church in Durham, NC. The sermon I heard was called Spiritual Spindletop. (It was a little weird - not one of the best I've heard from him, just in case you decide to go listen.)

One things from the sermon struck me. A group from his church started a fellowship group with another church in Durham. The first church has a predominantly white population; the second is predominantly black. The goal of the group is to intentionally forge relationships in the body of Christ that would otherwise likely not exist. Dr. Breedlove mentioned that their church is very traditional, and the other church is Pentecostal - potentially about as different as you can get within Christian churches.

The pastor from the other church said that if you want to know if you are racist, look at your photo album - the pictures will tell you. I suppose this means that if you only have pictures of people from one ethnic group, you are most likely racist.

I am not sure how I feel about that. Now, if you look in my scrapbook, especially from college, you will see people of all different sorts. Where I am now, though, not so much. Mostly the pictures are of family. That means they mostly look like me. I don't think that makes me racist.

I cannot say that I go out and look for people of other nationalities to be my friends so that I can maintain a properly diverse group of acquaintances. I don't get out much so I don't meet many people. I don't think I avoid friendships with people who are different than I am, though.

Last year, when we were in a homeschool co-op, the group of women I met there was amazing. They were a rainbow of beautiful people and I loved them all! Although we were not able to be a part of the co-op this year, I still talk to some of them and hope to go back. I did not avoid certain folks because they might have had a different skin tone. I felt so blessed to be a part of a group of people who loved each other as sisters in Christ with no regard to external factors. I was more concerned about being judged about my weight than my skin color - my own personal insecurity - and was pleasantly surprised to find that it did not happen.

I have to be honest here - I do harbor some prejudices. I struggle with feelings of fear and distrust toward certain nationalities after the terrorist attacks that occurred in the US in 2001. I know the feelings are unfounded, though, and God and I are working through them. He has supplied the grace for me to overcome those feelings when I meet people of those nationalities. It's interesting, isn't it, how easy it is to make assumptions about a particular group of people when they are a faceless blob - but when I'm talking to an individual, see them smile, learn a bit about them perhaps, the differences and fears melt away and I find myself making a new friend.

We recently heard from a gentleman in our church about his experiences as a black man, from childhood until now. I was appalled by what I heard. It seemed so outrageous to me that in the Navy, as the only black man on his ship, not one other sailor would go ashore with him, so he had to stay on board. When he was seriously injured, he heard someone say that they should just leave him to bleed to death. Because he was left for so long he required a blood transfusion, and as a result of that he has Hepatitis C. He went to a church in a neighborhood where he lived, and was ignored by the person handing out bulletins, when standing right in front of him; ignored by the ushers when he went in to find a seat; and when he did seat himself in the front row, someone came up to him and told him he could not sit there. Bless him, he didn't move, and that person eventually gave up. I cannot imagine that taking place in my church! I don't think it does. But, I don't think it was all that long ago that this happened and it could happen again, I am sure. He talked about the different terms that have been coined for people of color - blacks, African-Americans, etc. and joked that he doesn't know what it will be next year. I sat and wondered about that - what should one call them? I don't want to use "politically correct" terminology because I am not a politician making a speech, hoping not to offend anyone. After puzzling about it for a while, the Holy Spirit reminded me that we should not need special terminology for groups of people - we were all made in the image of God, and that is sufficient.

I am not sure that I have a point here. And, I might be more "racist" than I think. Maybe that's why I felt defensive when I heard the statement about my photo albums. I think God must be working on me about something of which I'm not quite aware, and I felt the need to get the words down to help me process my thoughts. I'd love to hear yours.

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How diverse are you?