11am on Sunday: The Most Segregated Hour of the Week.

You could taste the anger in the air. Black and white and every color in between filled the streets. Signs say things like, “Are legal consequences for murder too much to ask?” or, “More scared of a racist world then a pandemic.” By the building over there, there’s so clearly rioting.

But across the street there’s something different going on. A gathering, but unlike the one we see filling the streets. In a grass field there’s shouting, but it’s not rooted in anger, only the consequence of love. People are praying and harmoniously gathering their voices for something bigger than themselves.

A black woman walks by, catching a glimpse of this gathering. She stops and listens. Then making eye contact with a man seemingly a part of conducting worship she asked, “What are you doing?”

He replied, “We’re worshipping.”

She took a deep breath and the tears that fell from her cheeks reeked of pain. Then she yelled, “Where have you been??? I am the mother of three black children and where is the church now??”

In Gainesville, we have had the beautiful opportunity to hear from leaders of the OneRace movement. I encourage you a whole lot to look into their organization and how they are fighting for people of color and leading change with the gospel. This is a real life story they told us from one of their worship gatherings in the midst of a protest for black lives matter. And it hurts to hear because that’s a valid question.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation. This is tragic. Nobody of honesty can overlook this.”

We cannot deny this. See, the reality is that 87 percent of our history in America is stooped in racial oppression and trauma, so we cannot expect everything to just be okay now. The past is always playing out in the present. This year alone, our nation walked through an awakening and recognition of racism. We saw the anger, we heard about the riots, we felt the frustration, we watched the videos. But i’m sitting here writing this because anti-racism and standing up for our brothers and sisters of color is not a trend. It’s not something we bring to light for a few months, then sweep under the rug again. It’s a lifestyle of fighting for the oppressed because in our nation those of color can’t escape discrimination.

This isn’t just the “right thing to do” either. This is God’s heart.

Ephesians 2:14-22, ^“For He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens^, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

READ THAT AGAIN!!!!!!! Our Father in Heaven waits to be invited to abolish walls and barriers and anything that separates us from becoming one new creation under Christ. In fact, His plan all along is for, “A great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9.

So if you don’t like the idea of racial reconciliation in our nation, then you won’t like heaven too much.  

If reconciliation is God’s heart, where the heck is the church in this issue?? Why aren’t we the ones leading this change?? No wonder generation Z is walking away so fast from the church with only 4 percent of us carrying a biblical worldview. Why would anybody want to be a part of something so divided? On the same street there is a “black” church and a “white” church; a Southern Baptist church that wants nothing to do with the non-denominational one; buildings that represent political parties and views more than the gospel; people who say they believe in the same God but they speak behind each other’s backs gossiping about how the other one, “Does it the wrong way.” We are segregated, divided, hurting, and often still carrying racist ways from our past. We carry very little credibility and authenticity. Let’s not miss the fact that society is quite literally moving on without the church in the fight for anti-racism.

Don’t get me wrong, my point here is not to bash the church. We have many strengths in so many areas of life and I’ve seen the body of Christ on the move in our nation in huge ways. But, in the area of race and segregation, we overall have departed from our original purpose. And to make a change, we need to recognize where we fail. Racism is not a political issue; racism is a human rights issue. Any gospel that does not preach and act on reconciliation for every nation, tribe, tongue, people, and language is an incomplete gospel. And I refuse to stand for a gospel that is no longer from my God.

So let’s do this together. There is never a moment we have here on earth without the hope of the Lord changing the hearts of His people. With open hands let us be a part of developing a church that is completely centered on being the heart of God. The church is made of people, it’s not a building. We need to be bold enough to call each other up in love, to recognize our own stereotypes and racism, and stand for those being oppressed. Tt’s no longer good enough to not be racist, we need to be people who are anti-racist.

So here’s a list of things that I believe can draw us all closer to the Lord’s heart!!! Together!!! Me and you! Because I need the Lord to be working on my heart all the same.

1. Read the book of Acts with a racial reconciliation perspective (there’s SO much goodness in there when you read it with that lense). Other great scriptures to understand God’s heart behind racial reconciliation are 2 Corinthians 5, Colossians 1:19-20, Genesis 11, and Acts 2.
2. Educate yourself! Learn the black history of the city you live in. Understand more of america’s history on racial divides (Bacon’s rebellion, red lining, white flight, ect.). But remember that you cannot educate yourself out of something (actually a very white, American perspective)!!! I promise you don’t know it all!!! Most importantly we need the holy spirit to change our hearts, so invite Him into your education.  
3. Learn the difference between race and ethnicity.
4. Study Galatians 2.11-20 && ask the Lord for boldness like Paul’s. Never stand for an incomplete gospel!!! But to do that we need to understand what the complete gospel looks like.
5. Use your privilege and leverage it for those less privileged. Recognize your whiteness but don’t live in it. You don’t need to feel shame for the color or privilege you have; the Lord didn’t give you those things on accident.
6. Recognize the racism in your own heart. Even if you don’t define yourself as a racist, society has created in all of us biases and stereotypes (some we don’t even realize we are carrying). Humble yourself with open hands and ask the Lord to reveal them! Repent and let the Holy Spirit change you! The Lord delights in a heart posture like this. Romans 2:4, “Or do you contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.”
7. Read read read! Include books by authors of color.
8. MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!!!! Find your identity in God alone!!! Know God!!! Love God!!! YOU CANNOT DO BOTH OF THOSE AND HATE PEOPLE!!! Our flesh alone is guaranteed to fall short of the love God requires of us. But good news!! If you find yourself falling short of love, go back to the source!!!