THE CHRISTIAN AND RACIAL RECONCILIATION Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer Autumn Ridge Church January 13-14, 2018

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Dina Underwood
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1 1 THE CHRISTIAN AND RACIAL RECONCILIATION Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer Autumn Ridge Church January 13-14, 2018 Scripture: Daniel 9:4-19 On this Martin Luther King weekend I want to speak on THE CHRISTIAN AND RACIAL RECONCILIATION. It is a much needed subject. In the 42 years I have been in the United States I have never seen race relations at such a low ebb. I am not the only one making this observation. Many respected commentators have lamented the tragic state of affairs. To back up this perception there are the events at Charlottesville, the Black Lives Matter movement, NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem, the issue of flying the Confederate flag, and the question of what to do with Civil War monuments. Racism is one of the great moral issues of our day and it is not enough for us to shake our head and say there is nothing I can do, for God has called his church to be a transforming influence in the world. The New Testament tells us that God has entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18) This is a time for the people of God to step forward and make a difference. We are to be a power for good in our world. Now if we are going to talk about racism we ought to understand what it is. The Oxford American Dictionary defines racism as: Belief in the superiority of a particular race Antagonism between people of different races And the theory that human abilities are determined by race Racism is present when we show prejudice toward a particular race. It could be toward Black people, or Native Americans, it could be anti-semitic comments, insulting and demeaning words to Koreans, Chinese or Indians. We need to acknowledge that it is wrong and the reason it is wrong is that it is abhorrent to God. There are few of us who do not have the seeds of racism planted in a dark corner of our heart. Racism is part of our sinful human nature and it is one of Satan s most deadly weapons to divide us. We are incapable of rooting out racism ourselves. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to break the chains of this evil. So what can we do as the people of God to change the atmosphere towards race in our country? I suggest these are three courses of action we can take.

2 2 First, we must CONFESS OUR SIN. We must be ruthlessly honest with ourselves and expose the dark recesses of our souls to the light of God s truth. Now I m not just talking about white people here for all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I used to be the pastor of a church with an Anglo congregation, a Hispanic congregation, a Philipino congregation and a Korean congregation. There was plenty of prejudice to go around. While all of us can confess the sin of racism, some of us may want to go further. What I am going to say now is my own faith story. It is not necessarily yours nor is it the official position of our church, although the Elders are aware of what I am going to say. But perhaps my own journey in this matter of confession may be helpful to you. If you think I am nuts, you wouldn t be the first one. I have been aware for some time that denominations like the Southern Baptists and the Presbyterian Church of America have made public apologies for their role in slavery. To be honest I thought they were daft. None of them were alive in the days of slavery so how could they apologize for something they hadn t personally done. As far as I was concerned I had nothing to apologize for. I grew up in England where we didn t have slavery. My family didn t come from the ruling class. My Scottish grandfather was a servant to the Duke of Roxburgh. I didn t arrive in America until 1976 so no one could blame me for slavery. I heard the discussions about removing Confederate statues. I dismissed this as trying to rewrite history. I knew that the Robert E. Lee Memorial Church changed their name to Grace Church because they didn t want to be associated with a slave owner. I wondered how far do we take this? Are we going to change the name of Washington DC because it is named after a slave owner called George Washington and the DC stands for District of Columbia named after Columbus who came to oppress Native Americans. Frankly, if you had asked me a year or two ago what I thought about these issues I would have said it was absurd. But several things began to change my mind. The first was the teaching of scripture. Earlier we read from Daniel chapter nine where Daniel confessed to sins that happened in another location and another generation, yet he considered it important to include himself in the confession of those corporate sins praying, We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you." (Daniel 9:8) Daniel is not alone in modeling the importance of corporate confession for national sins of the past. We find Nehemiah doing the same thing saying, I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you.

3 3 We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses." (Nehemiah 1:6-7) Now Nehemiah was not personally present for the sins of idolatry and oppression that he confessed, but there needed to be a public acknowledgement of those wrongs. For it is important to name the hurt that led to the current situation and repent of it even if we didn t commit the offense. This idea that corporate sin transcends time and generation is not limited to the Old Testament. Jesus told the Pharisees, This generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world." (Luke 11:50) When Peter was preaching on the Day of Pentecost he told the crowd, This Jesus, whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36) Now virtually none of the crowd had been present at the crucifixion but there is a sense in which they and us are held responsible. So this got me thinking. I grew up in England and a lot of the prosperity of that nation came from the work of slaves in the West Indies and the American South. By virtue of living in the country I was the beneficiary of some of that prosperity. In America I am the beneficiary of white privilege. So in a very real sense it is appropriate for me to repent of the awful sin of slavery and its aftermath because we are not just talking about ancient history. Let me explain what I mean. More than 4000 African Americans were lynched between 1877 and the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the early 1950s. Lynching was a brutal public tactic for maintaining white supremacy. It was frequently used with the tacit blessing of the governing authorities. Let s not think it was just down in the deep South. For there is a memorial in Duluth, Minnesota honoring three black members of a traveling circus who were lynched there in 1920, less than 100 years ago. This is part of my national heritage and yours. Yet we want to close our eyes to these things. It only took ten years to erect a memorial to the victims of September 11 th, but to this day there is no national monument to slavery. There is no national repentance. When a group of us were in Germany recently we saw small memorials placed in the pavement in front of homes of Jewish people who were seized by the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s. They were all over the place. Modern Germany has faced up to its past. We must do the same.

4 4 But there is another level to my confession. I am a Christian minister and much of the Christian church has an appalling record when it comes to slavery and civil rights. While we rightly celebrate Christian abolitionists like William Wilberforce, slavery in America was upheld not only by individual Christian slave holders and plantation owners, but also by churches, denominations and theologians. Some churches vigorously defended the practice of slavery. In 1864, for example, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America declared that the long-continued agitation of our adversaries have wrought within us a deeper conviction of the divine appointment of domestic servitude It is the particular mission of the Southern Church to conserve the institution of slavery and to make it a blessing, both to master and slave. When I read that as a pastor I am desperately ashamed. Then as I began to talk to African American friends I began to see things through their eyes. Let s take the matter of Confederate statues. Some years ago I was in Calcutta and I visited the Victoria Museum there. Wandering around I noticed some steps that went down to the basement. There was a sign saying No Entrance which of course made me want to investigate. When I went down I discovered it was filled with statues of British military heroes and political statesmen. Britain ruled India for 200 years and once India got its independence in 1947 the Indians did not like seeing statues of their oppressors all over the place. So someone said Let s put them in a museum. And that s exactly what they did. When I saw them they had been sitting in that dark basement for 60 years while someone tried to think of what to do with them. The point is you have statues to honor people you admire and want to emulate, not folk who are responsible for oppressing your ancestors and in some cases even killing them. Similarly, when your ancestors were owned or maybe lynched it is hard to look at some statues with a dispassionate eye. So if we care for our Black brothers and sisters why would we want to put them through that with statues of their oppressors? I have never been terribly offended by the Confederate flag. For me it was just a historical symbol. But the comment of a black friend made me see it differently. He said imagine taking a Nazi flag into a Jewish home and explaining that you didn t mean anything by it. It was simply an historical symbol. That would be absurd. The Nazis annihilated six million Jews. So a Nazi flag is not just an historical symbol to Jews. It is a statement of oppression.

5 5 So if we care for one another and want to create an atmosphere of mutual respect why would we fly a flag that can only cause hurt to some of our fellow citizens. So I want to apologize for the sin of slavery which to this day leaves a deep scar on our national life. Just think for nearly every black person you meet their ancestors were snatched from Africa, which they would never see again. They were brought to America in appalling conditions on slave ships in which many died. They were separated from their families. They were sold at an auction. Most were abominably treated. They worked desperately hard for no pay. Many of the women were sexually abused. I cannot imagine what that would do to my psyche if that was my heritage. I for one am desperately sorry. Now you may not want to go all the way with me on my journey of confession. But I think all of us can start by confessing our sins of discrimination and racial prejudice so we can start to heal this colossal national wound. Scripture teaches that repentance is not meant for harm but as a tool for turning from sin and walking a different path. In repenting we acknowledge the fractures that sin has created, both in our souls and in our social systems, and we commit to doing the work of repair. Second, if we want to be agents of reconciliation we need to CONSIDER WHAT GOD SAYS. For racial harmony is not just a nice idea. It is a divine command. As Christians we need to be familiar with the teaching of the Bible. In your RidgeLines you have a copy of the Resolution on Racial Harmony that your Elders have written. It is very well done. It summarizes the teaching of scripture. It is an important document. I would encourage you to read it through and maybe even put it up on your refrigerator or kitchen notice board. Let me pull out a few of the paragraphs. It begins: We believe that all people are created in the image of God, and bear the indelible mark of their Creator. This likeness was not lost in the Fall and confers intrinsic worth and compels love and respect for everyone. (Genesis 1:26, 9:6; Galatians 6:10; James 3:9) This statement explains why racism is a sin. Because racism contradicts the teaching of scripture. We must aim to see every other human being as a person bearing the indelible mark of their Creator. Let us understand that racial justice is not just a black thing. We are all called to participate. 60 people formed the NAACP, most of them white.

6 6 In Martin Luther King s famous I Have a Dream speech, it is estimated that a quarter of the crowd were white. Racial justice is a Christian thing and that s why all of us should be concerned. The fourth paragraph of the Resolution states: We believe that as part of the body of Christ, we benefit from being nourished, enriched and edified by other cultural expressions. We believe that this racial and cultural variety are part of God s design in redemption to display his glory, to build up the Church, and contribute to our corporate understanding of God s character leading to deeper worship. (Psalm 96:3-4, Matthew 8:10-11, Acts 17:26, Romans 11:36, James 2:2-5, Revelations 7:9-10) Now this is not saying that every cultural practice is good. There are some practices that are wrong like female circumcision. But it is saying that every culture contributes to the goodness of creation and that no one culture is superior to another. We also believe that expression of this cultural diversity will be found around the throne in heaven. So culture is not just for this world but the next as well. The sixth paragraph makes this important declaration: We believe that the church is called by God to be a leader in racial reconciliation, demonstrating through the love of Christians one for another the essence of true unity in Christ and something of the mystery of Imago Dei. We desire to be a church that reflects the power of the gospel in breaking down all barriers of race and culture by rejecting explicit or implicit belief or practice that prejudicially values one race over other races. (John 13:34-35, Galatians 3:28, 1 John 4:7-9) Did you get that? The church must lead in racial reconciliation. Martin Luther King practiced that. That is why many of the meetings during the struggle for Civil Rights were held in churches. Many of the leaders like Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy, were ordained ministers. They were motivated by the gospel. The good news is that through the cross we can be free from the power of sin that alienates us from one another. Through the cross God brings us into his new family. Through the cross God forms a holy nation in which all peoples and cultures are found. Through the cross the dividing wall of hostility which separates us from God and one another is broken. We need to soak in our Victory Verse for this week and make sure it is part of our world view for it declares There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

7 7 In Christ racial, economic and gender barriers are removed. The third thing we must do to improve the state of racial relationships in our country is to COMMIT TO RECONCILIATION. Good intentions aren t enough. We must draw up an action plan that lasts longer than one day a year when we remember a great American Civil Rights leader. So here are some suggestions. We can repudiate the statements of white supremacists. For there is only one who is supreme. He is Jesus, and he calls us to love one another. We abhor anti- Semitism recognizing that Jesus was a Jew. We can seek to model reconciliation in our families and among our colleagues. We can cry foul when someone disparages another race or nationality. For we worship a God who welcomes the alien and the stranger, and whose Son had brown skin. We do this because Jesus cared deeply for the people around him. Jesus said Samaritans Lives Matter. Children s Lives Matter. Gentile Lives Matter. Jewish Lives Matter. Women s Lives Matter. Lepers Lives Matter. And if Jesus were here today he would say Black Lives Matter. White Lives Matter. Haitian Lives Matter. African Lives Matter. And yes, Norwegian lives matter too. So let s commit to reconciliation. We can diversify our social network. If the people on our speed dial all look like us it is time for a rethink. How many people have we had in our home in the last year who were a different race, class or background from us. If we are aware that we have offended someone of another race we can write a letter of apology or call them. We can be empathetic to others when their race is attacked. So if a Black church is targeted we tell our Black friends how very sorry we are about this. If we are listening to the news and we hear a story about a person of another race that reinforces our stereotypes. We find ourselves saying What can you expect?. Let us stop at that moment and remember that is not how Jesus thinks of that person. Let s recognize that we are having an ungodly thought. Let s confess it and ask the Holy Spirit to help us to do better. For me the most helpful thing has been to sit down with people with different skin colors and to hear their stories. I have asked for their perspective on things like the Black Lives Matter movement, the Ferguson riot, and taking the knee during the national anthem.

8 8 Before preaching this sermon I met with some of our Elders and told them what I was going to say and asked for their advice as people of color. This has been incredibly helpful and eye opening to me. Now reconciliation does not come at an easy price. It requires us to lay down our lives for our friends. It means we leave our self-centeredness and enlarge our circle of understanding so that we can appreciate another person s history and experience. Reconciliation compels us to expose our hidden agendas so we can walk in the light and have fellowship with one another. Let us remember that light is the presence of all colors, while darkness is the absence of color. The presence of light will dissipate darkness. I want to close by asking you to do two things. As you came into church you were given a sticker saying I Stand for Racial Reconciliation. If you haven t already put this on I would invite you to do so now. I would also urge you to wear this sticker tomorrow, which is the Martin Luther King holiday. It is possible people might ask you about it. Be ready to tell them why you are wearing it. Here s a good answer: Because I believe everybody is made in God s image. Then, I would like to invite you to join me in a prayer of confession. You will find this prayer on your insert. The words will also appear on the screen. Now I don t want to put words into your mouth. A year or two ago I could not have said every part of this Prayer of Confession. That may be your situation also today. If that s the case, just read it silently. But if you feel this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, I invite you to say it out loud with me as an act of public confession. So, speaking to the God who made us, let us solemnly declare: As a church, we have heard God speaking to us through his Word and the promptings of his Spirit, have listened to one another, and have heard the pain of our sisters and brothers who are hurting as victims of racism. We recognize and repent of our past and present, personal and corporate sin of racism. We confess that we have often failed to live out the Gospel s imperative to love our neighbor. Like Nehemiah, who recognized his responsibility to confess the sins of his people in seeking forgiveness from our holy God, we confess our and our ancestors racial sins, both sins of commission and omission, both conscious and unconscious biases which prevent unity and harmony in the Church.

9 9 We recognize and confess that we have often failed to lovingly confront the sin of racism in the Church, failing to rebuke our brothers and sisters racial sins and personal bigotry, and often failed to do good, seek justice and correct oppression. We repent of the hurt we have caused, the divisions we have created, our reluctance to face the sin of the past, our unwillingness to listen to the pain of our sisters and brothers affected by racism, and our silence in the face of racism and injustice today. We commit ourselves, in a true spirit of repentance, to share widely in our church and beyond, our new understanding of the evil and pain of racial injustice, and empowered by the Spirit to strive for racial reconciliation for the glory of God, the health of His church, and the furtherance of the Gospel.

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