You’ve either said it or you have heard it – “Sunday is the most segregated day of the week.” And in the 21st century in the wake of all the civil unrest and racial injustices, there is an all-out push to change that reality. Racial tensions are explosive. “God knows we all need to come closer together. We do not need any more social distance,” says the Rev. Kenneth B. Wright, former pastor of First Baptist Church-Gainsboro in Roanoke.
In order to build bridges, the church must break barriers. “It can happen, but it takes everybody. It can’t be just a few voices, here and there,” says the Rev. Nelson Harris, pastor of Heights Community Church in Roanoke, and a former Roanoke City mayor and council member. “It has to be ongoing work. The church has a role to play to see that all of this happens.”
For years racial disparities and injustices have been the plight of African Americans in the United States. Racism once was a subject that was debatable – or not acknowledged. However, the world has opened its eyes. Demonstrators of all colors, ethnicities and cultures are still marching for justice in the worldwide Black Lives Matter Movement. The movement has crossed city, county and state lines. Marchers along with makeshift memorials, have spanned the globe, recognizing black men and women killed while in police custody, or murdered by white men who thought they had the authority to do so. Thousands of protestors have come together in other countries including Spain, Japan, France and New Zealand to stand or kneel in solidarity with Americans combatting racism.
“We’re so emotionally charged right now. We’re just singularly focused and we are focused on our differences, causing them to divide us instead of celebrating those differences and allowing them to springboard into becoming a culture that could do and be so much more than we are right now,” shares the Rev. Tom McCracken, who pastors CommUNITY Church in Salem.
Over the past few months, many peaceful protests erupted into raging riots as acts of unkindness and brutality toward African American men and women made local, national and international headlines. Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old black man was gunned down by a white man and his son in Glynn County, GA. Arbery was jogging when he was killed earlier this year. Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black emergency medical technician, was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police officers in March. Taylor was in bed in her apartment sleeping, fighting the coronavirus (COVID – 19) when the shooting occurred. And the image of George Floyd, the man under the knee of a Minneapolis Police officer, calling for his deceased mother as his ability to breathe was cut off, is indelibly etched in our minds. For eight minutes and 46 seconds, the officer applied pressure to Floyd’s neck, seemingly unbothered by the incident with his hands in his pocket. The world watched. The former pastor of Roanoke’s Sweet Union Baptist Church, The Rev. E.T. Burton watched, too. “Racial tensions have always been there, but there is no question that the murder of, and I do mean the term murder because I do think that George Floyd was murdered, was a kind of pivotal point in terms of turning things around. A lot of things have happened,” says Burton.
Even as church attendance has declined over the years, and as churches deal with worshipping during coronavirus pandemic, some clergy believe it is their role to answer the clarion call for racial reconciliation. “Sitting down and discussing racial problems does some good, but in addition to those activities together, (white and black congregations) need to get to know each other. Getting to know each other would do a lot more good than people simply sitting together and talking about it,” says Burton. “We need to do more than talking. We need to do things together, like working on things together, going on missions together – trying to better our neighborhood and all of that, rather than doing all the talking. No question about it, the voice of the church should be heard outside of the four walls. The people of the church should be heard inside and outside of the church to help bring about social change. That is the Christian attitude,” adds Burton.
McCracken shares that sentiment. “We have become so proficient in shouting out what we are against instead of living out who we are for. God created us all in his image, his likeness, our skin, our hair, our eye color, our height, our sex. For me, if we have a problem with all of that, our issue is not with man, it’s with God. And to have an issue with God is one that’s impossible to win. So, it’s attacking His creation just like Satan has done in the past. Racism is satanic. Anytime you lift, elevate, pay attention to – special attention to one race over another that’s sin,” says McCracken.
And the word of God guides us to turn from our sinful ways:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
(II Chronicles 7:14 NIV)
Wright believes it is going to take truth. “We need to emphasize lifting up the truth of the word of God. That is what has kept us going. That’s what has saved us from being destroyed as a race. We need to also help the oppressor, the church of the oppressor and help them understand there is a serious need. You use the term reconciliation; I use the theological term of repentance.”
Confederate monuments and statues are steadily coming down. Streets, cemeteries and schools are being renamed. Laws, policies and procedures are being changed. These pastors are hopeful and prayerful, it is real transformation. “Change our monuments, change a school, cemetery names and I get the reason and I’m supportive, but for me,” says McCracken, “trying to change the heart of man by changing the things around them does no better than spraying perfume on a pig. Real lasting change only comes from having a relationship with God and I think that is exactly what we need to get back to.”
Wright says “It’s definitely a step in the right direction. We need to keep the momentum going. And what we got to be prepared for is the back lash because it’s going to be horrific. But we’ve got to keep our eyes on what Jesus said – My yoke is easy. My burden is light. And so that’s what’s going to carry us through. Because it is going to get worse, prophetically it’s going to get worse and these are the end times.”
“I would love to see us get to the place where we (American society) truly get to the place where all people are valued, all people are respected, all people are treated with equity and with dignity. If we can get there as a culture, then we are living out that theological premise that all are created in the image of God. That’s personally and passionately what I would like to see happen,” shares Harris.
Genesis 1:26 declares that God created man in His image.
If America sees people – all people – as these pastors see all people, or even more so how God sees all people, then perhaps systemic racism, racial injustices and segregated Sundays will be a thing of the past – and will be a part of America’s history. ′
Tags: Black Lives Matter, Faith, Race
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