LIFE: Can Racism be Eradicated?

My church, Oasis Church of Nashville, has been led through an exciting sermon series called AT THE MOVIES.  Today's message was based on the movie "42."  It's the story of the baseball player, Jackie Robinson (who wore the number 42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers), and broke the color barrier in professional baseball.  The theme given was unity/disunity and was based around prejudices and racism.  So I've decided to write some on the subject.  If you're a Facebook Friend of mine, I wrote a post not long ago about equality in America, and some of these thoughts may be the same...but...anyway.  :-)

I've been around racism all my life.  Not because I came from racist parents, I didn't.  It was because of an environment and peer pressure.  I grew up predominantly in the south, in Georgia and Mississippi, where even in the 80's, tensions still would rare up from time to time.  I remember the KKK having rallies in Commerce, GA, the town where I went to high school, and the city having to cancel the Christmas parade because the Klan wanted to take part in it.  I remember saying things back then that I'm now ashamed of, as well as having things said about me.  But time, maturity, and Jesus changed me - not necessarily in that order.

In a post I made on Facebook recently, I said that I didn't really believe that true equality could exist in America today.  And it can't in our current mindset.  I could have gone on for some time about he whole issue, but I made a reference to my church, Oasis, and how it is a diverse church and how inside those walls, racism seems to fade away.  My point to the post on Facebook surrounded the "unknowns."  How, if presented with two unknowns from which to choose, most people will choose that which they are most like.  This could be true with race, culture, religion, sports teams, careers, whatever.  Familiarity brings a sense of safety to us.  It makes us feel welcome, at ease, and comfortable.  So by nature, diversity brings a certain amount of division.  It is within the definition of the word.

Yet, as Pastor Danny Chambers pointed out in scripture this morning, division isn't a good thing.  We've heard the famous words delivered by Abraham Lincoln in his speech to Congress,

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Now take a moment and read that scripture which Pastor Danny brought to our attention this morning, Galatians 3:28-29 (MSG).  Scripture says that we are "all equal."  So if we're equal, how can we also be DIVERSE?  Good question.  One that Paul, the author of Galatians, answers immediately following the declaration of our global equality.  He says,

"That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ."

Now some of you who may be reading this may not be of any faith whatsoever.  So the references to scripture may not be relevant to your current way of thinking.  While I believe that a belief in Jesus would TOTALLY revolutionize your life for the better, I will just say for now that belief in the truth of scripture or not, the answer to equality and racism and prejudice worldwide can be summed up in one word:  RELATIONSHIP.

In the movie, 42, Mr. Ricky (Harrison Ford) said something that has stuck with me.  Jackie Robinson was known to have a bad temper.  Mr. Ricky knew that he couldn't be throwing his temper around if he fight was going to be won.  Jackie asks him,

"So do you want somebody who doesn't have the guts to fight back?"

To which Mr. Ricky replied,

"NO!  I want someone who'll have the guts to NOT fight back!  The way that we'll win this fight is if we show them that you're a good gentleman and a great baseball player!" 

I didn't write it down at the time, that quote is a bit of a paraphrase, but most is really close to being correct.  Did Jackie have a right to be mad?  ABSOLUTELY!!!!  Anyone would've been that had to face that kind of crap!  But Mr. Ricky knew that if Jackie was going to win over a nation who was already against him, he had to present to them that which he had in common with them.  There would need to be a relationship built from the field, even though he would never shake the majority's hand.  He was going to have to leave what he knew to be his RIGHTS aside, only for a time, until trust could be built.

Can we do that, America?  Can we, no matter what race because ALL are guilty, can we not pursue our RIGHTS long enough to establish RELATIONSHIP?  Paul knew that he was speaking to a diverse crowd when he wrote Galatians, so he quickly pointed out that which was common among them, the relationship with Jesus Christ.  That relationship gave them a foundation on which to build.  If we're going to be equal, if racism is to die, if prejudice is to be replaced by peace, there must first be relationship.  YOU can be the first!!!  Find someone different than you and shake his/her hand.  Start the revolution!

I leave you with this final thought from scripture.  Just in case there is still a deep seeded root in your thoughts about others who may be different in some way than you.  Here is what the Bible says about that: Matthew 7:1-2 (GWT).  Later, everybody.