Every thing about us matters in one way or another. Our height, skin color, nationality, ethnicity, language, gender, skills, and yes even age have a distinct and unique purpose. What exactly that purpose is, of course, is an entire lesson in and of itself. While some things in our lives happen due to our sin nature and the consequence of disobeying God, there are a few things that often get overlooked in spiritual circles. People are in search of their identity now more than ever before.
Questions like: who am I, where do I belong in this world, and what is my calling/purpose, are plaguing our generation like never before. When it comes to deliverance, love, and faith, we talk about such things as alcoholism, addiction, sex, drugs, etc. but the issue of race often stays surface level. It is both a delicate and complex topic with an endless amount of angles from which to be approached.
In our world it has become perfectly normal to have completely “homogenous” (or at least what seems to be… from the outside) inner circles. Our cell phone, Facebook and Twitter contacts are generally filled with people that look and talk just like us. If we are a young African American male then on many occasions the contacts in our cell phone are other young African Americans with similar tastes. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not pointing my finger out of spite or anger, I simply want to point something out.
Also, before I get into the meat of this post I do want to point out and state that I do believe due to an amazing evolution of sorts that many of the races across the world including black and white are much more dynamic, intricate, and complex than the mere black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Latino etc… bubble that gets checked off on a medical or job application.
That being said…
If everyone in our inner circle looks just like us…that may be a problem. You may ask why this even matters. Well, if we are to be a people of change, a people of purpose and destiny, then there are three types of people we should have in our lives. These three people are peers, protégés, and patriarchs/matriarchs. If our patriarchs peers and protégés all look the same, talk the same and sound the same, how can we honestly say we are completely balanced? Now I am not talking about whether or not they are of like precious faith. Those of us that live in such a country as America, where there is a great abundance of different cultures can not settle with keeping our inner circle limited to people that look just like us. Think about it, even in rural areas of America you can find a Mexican or Chinese restaurant. If you are not Chinese or Mexican and the people in that particular eating establishment are aren’t they still deserving of the gifts you have in your heart. It is amazing how we can drive past so many buildings of hurting people and never minister to them because they don’t look like us. Sometimes we just don’t think about it. Other times we may minister to them but be afraid to invite them to our church because they will be an extreme minority there. That does not make it right.
What about those job buddies we have. Many of us work in an environment full of racial diversity but why is it many of them do not find their way on our facebook “friends list”? Our culture teaches us that this is ok. We have become perfectly comfortable with consistently organizing events that are racially homogenous when there are many who if given the chance would bless us the same.
(Stay tuned til next week when part 2 of this topic will be discussed. In the mean time, share your thoughts, questions, and concerns in the comment section below)
William Johnson is the founding member of Heartbeat For Worship, a celebration of the diversity, expressed through unifying power of music from around the world, all aimed at our one true Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
