Dismantling Racism in the Pews: Why the Church Must Lead the Way

It is certainly true that in the past decade there has been an increase of using God’s name for an uprising of violence, and using the platform for selfish gain and ambition. The death of innocent people of color have tainted and painted a picture that people are selfish and want nothing to do with the church because all they see is the church as a place where abuses of power, and where sinners go to live. Dr.Martin Luther King Jr on the day He was killed had a sermon entitled “Why Americans Might Go to Hell.” King was the embodiment of what we are still striving to see, we want to see a church healed, and a country that follows God.

King was fighting for it back in the Civil Rights Era and I would argue that we are still fighting for that inequality today. We see people that fight and amidst the fighting it seems as if we have almost lost ground. There are a variety of jabs of racism in the Bible such as gentile and Jew, Jesus being Jewish being mocked because of his social position. Howard Thurman writes “Hatred is destructive to hated and hater alike. Love your enemy, that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven” (25 Jesus and the Disinherited). The church has not been the perfect safe haven for those to love each other and to love the Father. 

The church I was saved at in Virginia was a multi-ethnic, and multi-site church. When I first got saved that's all I ever thought church was. We were a diverse body of believers that did different styles of music in order to make it easy, and simple to follow Jesus. I was very lucky to be in this space to learn, and grow through this space. As I visited, and learned about different churches I learned that New Life (My church) wasn’t the same church that everyone experienced. There were churches that had been hurt so much that their own congregations were one race, one style of worship and I think that this goes against what John tells us to do “from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9). The church is for all tribes, people, languages, and nations. Essay McCulley gives us a solution of what we can do with all of this built up rage, and hurt that we have seen. McCulley say’s “If the church is going to be on the side of peace in the United States, then there has to be an honest accounting of what this country has done and continues to do Black and Brown people. Moderation or the middle ground is not always the locus of righteousness. Housing discrimination has to be named… [McCulley names other racism problems] The call to be peacemakers is the call for the church to enter the messy world of politics and point towards a better way of being human” (68-69). 

At the epicenter of the church are humans that have made terrible mistakes and have never fought for the inclusion of people everywhere. The church has hurt people of color, and the best thing we can do is to ask for forgiveness, and begin to seek to understand. If we are going to be peacemakers then we need to call for peace in churches, and to have an understanding of what it means to be of a different skin color, and how we can help to heal and reconcile our differences. This also calls for people to change polity, to build affordable housing and to bring a place where people are called to be a part of all the things God is doing. The call is that we can move and bring forth one virtuosic, and concordly community that is committed to loving each other, and the world. I wanna end this blog post today with a quote from my friend David Docusen. David has spent the past few years focusing on how we can work together and create a Spirit of Neighborliness to people around the country. David writes in his book entitled Neighborliness “Our current church culture needs an awakening. We need to clearly understand that all believers have been called to fulfill the greatest commandment of loving God and neighbors… The greatest aim of the church is not to grow the local church. Jesus said that our job was to learn how to cast aside distractions and love him with every part of our heart, mind, soul and strength”(137). What a challenge to church culture that we honestly, and obediently need to yield to. We need to be loving neighbors in our churches, and focus on Jesus everyday. We must increase our awareness in our churches, foster multicultural communities, and engage in social justice.  So today I urgently challenge you to evaluate your heart posture, and turn to God for how God can heal the nation through being a good neighbor.

Footnotes

1.) Audra D. S. Burch, John Eligon and Michael Wines. The Words of Martin Luther King Jr. Reverberate in a Tumultuous Time. New York Times Jan. 18, 2021. This article explores an idea of pursuing the beloved community that King envisioned that we would pool our resources together and to have a community together.

2.)  David Docusen. Neighborliness: Love like Jesus, Cross Dividing Lines, Transform your community. Thomas Nelson Publishers 2022. David’s book is one that calls us to dig deep into what the DNA and headache of America has encased. David does a great job and is one that we should embody just like MLK did on a journey of self and working together.

Works Cited

Burch Audra D. S, John Eligon and Michael Wines. The Words of Martin Luther King Jr. Reverberate in a Tumultuous Time. New York Times Jan. 18, 2021

Docusen, David. Neighborliness: Love like Jesus, Cross Dividing Lines, Transform your community. Thomas Nelson Publishers 2022

McCaulley, Esau. Reading While Black African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope. Intervarsity Press 2020

Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations 1976.