On Sunday night I gave a talk, "Four Reasons Why I'm Thankful for Ethnic Diversity." It got a little tense at times, but I think most of the folks eagerly received it. What were the four reasons?
- Because it shows there can be unity in the midst of diversity.
- Because it shows the beautiful creativity of God.
- Because it can cause us to grow in our capacity to love others.
- Because it gives God more glory than otherwise.
3 comments:
Jim, great question.
I prayed for ethnic diversity in my pastoral prayer on Sunday. I prayed that God would take away all racism and make us look more like the Kingdom.
We've got to keep this before our people regularly.
Jim,
We didn't put much focus on racism this past Sunday because we did so just a couple of weeks ago in a sermon on the image of God. In that message we stressed the point that what we do unto others we do unto God (since all people are created in His image). We made a point to emphasize the implications of this for racial relations.
You and Justin are exactly right - we should keep this before our people regularly - not just once a year. This is one area in which I think we have to get very specific and practical. Simply saying that it is sinful to be racist doesn't help much, since almost nobody believes himself or herself to be racist. We have to find ways to expose this in our lives before we can deal with it Biblically.
I make it a regular topic around our church since we are in the location we are in. I have stressed the importance of Revelation 5:9 several times. However, I also do spend ample time on it during this part of the year. So I did stress this Sunday (I preached on the image of God and covered abortions and ethnic diversity this past Sunday). However, Justin N. is absolutely correct. Most people do not think they are racist so it is helpful to demonstrate practical ways to help our people know what we mean.
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