Four white ministers and four black ministers in Wilmington have been getting together at least once a month for 3 years. They say it was uncomfortable at first, but they were committed to racial reconciliation. It is something our pastor is very passionate about. They have described how over time they became friends. Just friends. No color attached to the friendships. Just friends. And they wanted that for their congregations.
Their first effort at involving the congregations was last year. They hosted a joint, 8 week Bible study. A huge room with round tables was provided. A person from each of the eight churches was to be represented at each table. The pastors took turns leading the group. The topic: the Lord's Prayer. Absolutely uplifting and enlightening. And lots of substance, which is what I liked. I don't like scratching the surface of a topic.
As a result of that effort a number of us have been getting together once a month to pray. We call our group "WilPray" for Wilmington will pray. Not my idea. I'm not that clever. But a great name, don't you think? A pretty touching thing, getting together with others just like you, but not just like you. And praying, as if we were already in heaven together. Imagine!
Tonight the second joint Bible study started. It will be four weeks. The Sunday night after the study concludes we will be worshiping together. A first, I would think. This year's topic is "The Church On Earth, As It Is In Heaven". The Bible reference was John 4: 1-9, Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman. Jesus, a Jew, daring to talk to someone from a different (and questionable) lifestyle; someone with a whole different perspective on religion and how to worship; and a woman, no less!
So the first question for discussion had to do with Martin Luther King Jr's statement that "Eleven o'clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America." The question itself, "Why is this statement still true, over 50 years later?" The last question suggested we dicuss creative outreaches and innovative approaches our churches can take to make church on earth look as it will be in heaven.
Heavy stuff. Excellent sharing of thoughts and ideas. My take away? Just what I have been thinking for quite a long time. We Christians (myself included, I am sure) are not careful enough about our psychological diet. There are so many hate-filled voices in our country. Many are idolized. They earn millions and millions of dollars a year. And we listen. These voices want us to be villianize anyone with a different perspective/opinion. These voices don't want us to reach out and have discussion. These voices encourage us to paint others with broad, totally un-Biblical brush strokes.
But not all Whites are evil. Not all Blacks are evil. Not all attorneys are "crooked" and evil. Not all Democrats are without morals. Not all of certain human organizations, like unions, are evil. The Bible says that "All" have sinned and come short of God's glory. Period. The word "All" does not qualify or modify a particular group. The "All", then, refers to all races, all peoples of any political persuasion, all vocational groups, and of course, necessarily, all institutions made up of humans. So these voices are anything but Christlike. And yet they are a staple in our psychological diet, if we are not very careful.
I want my words and the "meditations of my heart" to be acceptable to God Himself. I want my psychological diet to be rich in love towards others, discussion, in accepting others just where they are. I want the main staple in my psychological diet to be the actions, examples, and words of Jesus. Any words or actions that do not match His, I want to eliminate from my diet.
My additional take away? Watching our pshychological diet is not enough. We Christians need to focus on Jesus's second great command, to love one another as we love ourselves. I was thinking the other day that I sometimes wish I could write. I was imagining myself sitting with God, discussing how I had lived my life. I imagined Him asking me only a couple of key questions. One would be if I had loved others as I love myself.
But before I could answer He went on to ask the question more specifically. He asked me if I loved those who had been particularly unkind to me or my family. He asked me if I loved people who were nothing like me. He asked me if I loved those with whom I disagreed on a lot of things. He asked me if I loved people who were in a bad spot in life, even if through their own bad choices. He asked me if I loved others enough to live with less. He asked me if loved them enough to want exactly the same things for them that I wanted for myself, material and more importantly, non-material things. You get the picture. Someone who could write could give the actual dialog. S/he could make that really thought provoking and interesting. And s/he could write it in such a way so as to generate some soul searching.
If I could answer that, yes, I had tried to love everyone else as I loved myself, I would be able to also say that I had done my part to make church on earth look closer to what it will be like in heaven.
I want to take this lesson to heart. Rob, tonight's pastor/presenter, asked us to consider if we are willing to embrace the idea of our two races living and learning together, or will we only tolerate the idea? Embrace or tolerate. A great question. I want to remember my take aways. And I want to learn more. I want to embrace. Church on earth as it will be in heaven doesn't seem to describe us yet. But I would like to think we are willing to work towards it. Maybe we'll change our diet.
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