CityView Magazine

Engaging Christian Spirituality cIs Jesus M y friend is white. I mean kind of pasty at times. He’s got red hair, fair skin, and he’s from Ohio. He’s pretty white. I had the pleasure of recently performing his wedding. His bride is from Kenya. Not white. She has beautiful brown skin and dark black hair. The six-hour reception was full of dancing … and I mean dancing. The bride’s family is direct from Kenya, and they brought their cultural traditions with them. It was a throwdown the likes of which is more often seen in Nairobi than the Ohio border. There was a mix of smooth-dancing Kenyans and well-meaning Ohioans on the floor – the latter not as smooth, but joyous all the same. It was an awesome time. So, here is the issue that we are dealing with. I had a reader write and ask me whether someone could be both a Christian and a racist. He’d been receiving disparaging emails particularly focused on the race of our president and wanted to know my thoughts on the matter. Let me make it simple. You cannot be a racist if you are a Christian. We believe that we are all created in God’s image. It makes no difference if you are black, white, red, yellow or green, you are no better or worse than anyone else in the eyes of God. There is no place for shallow or bigoted ideas if we as Christians are supposed to see the world through God’s eyes. olorblind? Now, this is not just in regard to whites persecuting blacks. This applies to blacks looking with contempt at whites, Italians shunning Jews, American society shunning Arabs, any time when someone’s worth is judged by the color of their skin. There is no place for this attitude in the world and especially in the heart of the Christian. If you think this way, repent, grow up, turn your brain back on and start to live as God has called you to. Jesus himself was probably not black, was definitely not white, and probably looked more like Sayid on the television show “Lost” than the Pantene-haired white hippie figure on your Christian book store coffee mug. It gets harder to be a racist when your God was incarnate in a race that is different than yours. As Christians, we do not find our identity in our race. We are not first white, black or American Indian; we are first children of God adopted by the blood of Christ. It is OK to value our history and culture, but our race is not what defines us, rather it is the work of Christ. Because of this we should work within our culture to transform and redeem. There are definitely things that are not right in what is stereotypically black culture (Chris Rock agrees with me here) just as much as there are things wrong with what is more often associated with whites (have you seen the Blue Collar Comedy Tour?). As Christians, we are to bring everything under the healing power of Christ, standing against injustice and standing up for truth. Opposing certain aspects of culture is not opposing a particular race but living for something that is even greater than race. Christians believe that all of human history has a trajectory. We believe that those of us who know Christ will be together at what the Bible describes as a wedding supper with people of every tongue, tribe and nation. There will not be much room for racist views there. My bet is that on the dance floor of heaven there will be pasty dudes from Ohio, high cheek-boned black women from Kenya and everyone in between. And in the center will be God, pleased that he has made us all. Maybe we should adopt his attitude and bring a little more of heaven to this broken world that we live in. Greater Fayetteville would be a wonderful place to start.CV The Rev. Dan Alger is pastor of The Church of the Apostles and can be reached at ecs@tcota.org. CityViewNC.com | 15

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