A message from your pastors and Elders about the Church and race
Dear Church family,
Several events of the last few weeks have brought the question of racism to the forefront. This is an important conversation, and while we don’t wish to offer political interpretations of these events, we do feel like it is important to speak unequivocally about what the Bible has to say.
Jesus was born into a world rife with hate, into a people downtrodden and despised. He came from Judea, was a refugee in Egypt and grew up in Galilee. He walked dusty roads, knew hunger, pain, and grief. He preached the Gospel of the Kingdom — a Gospel of repentance and faith, and a Kingdom that welcomed despised Samaritans, people of ill repute, Jewish fisherman, Roman centurions, and Syro-Phoenician women. His own first public words about His ministry came from Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Luke 4:18-19 (NIV)
Jesus began His ministry calling out hypocrisy and was to the very end zealous for all nations to worship in a house of prayer. He was betrayed by His countryman and hung on a tree by an oppressive, occupying force, and He said “Father, forgive them.” He died without sin, to pay the just penalty for our iniquity, so that every single person, everywhere, for all time, who puts faith in Him could have life, and life to the fullest.
But there was a secret that He kept, something that had been hidden for ages past and only made known after Pentecost, a great mystery revealed, at last, on the pages of the New Testament Epistles. That wonderful secret is…. the Church. More specifically, that gathering of the redeemed where the walls are torn down, the barriers broken, the divide bridged and where finally — after millennia of sin-fueled misunderstanding, strife, hatred, war and murder — where finally many people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds are made one (Eph 2:14-3:10). In this new thing called the Body and Bride of Christ hate is gone, humility rampant, offenses forgiven, service mutual, and each one’s highest interest is for the good of everyone else. All are equally broken before the cross, all equally forgiven, all equally adopted as sons and daughters of the living King. All await a final day of worship with people “from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,… crying out in a loud voice:
Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
Revelation 7:9-10 (NIV)
This is not supposed to be a dream. This is supposed to be our living, breathing reality and our unshakable hope for the future.
Brothers and Sisters, racism is counter-Gospel and anti-Christ, and by its very definition, it is the antithesis of the Church. It has no place in the Body of Christ. We rejoice in the diversity of the family He has given us, and we should recoil in horror at every manifestation of racial bias, as we do with every other manifestation of sin and hate that stains our fallen world. We should not hide ourselves from this reality but rather know it, name it, and reject it. And we should counter it at every turn with its only cure – the Gospel.
Many are asking, “What can I do?” Here are some familiar, important steps along with a few things we’ve learned over these last weeks:
One of the things we’d like to encourage is to make our positive steps a conversation. Have you read a book that you felt was helpful and changed your perspective? Share the title. Are you organizing a group to go downtown and help clean up? Let the church family know. Let’s help each other make a difference in whatever ways we can.
Thank you for being the beautiful Body of Christ!