March 19 2018
March 19 2018

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OK, after some time to reflect and pray about yesterday's events, it's time to speak up and speak out. Yesterday morning, racism reared its ugly head in our community and confronted our church and my family like a slap in the face. As people walked through our church's small parking lot to go and worship the Lord, it was discovered that someone had written a vile racial slur (which I will not publish here) in the snowbank along the edge of our parking lot. We do not know if this was written by some ignorant person who just randomly picked that spot to express their racism, or if the person knows that my wife and I have two African-American sons and directed the comment at our family and/or church. Either way, this was very unsettling and brought great distress to the members of our congregation. Indeed, to see something like this should distress ALL of us, and not just because of the special way it affected my family.

Yes, it was "just" two words written in the snow, and it was easily erased so that we wouldn't have to see this hatred anymore. But the reality is that the sin in men's hearts, which causes these kinds of racist beliefs, prejudices, and actions, is NOT easily erased. Racism is present in our community, and it is present in some of our hearts, and we need the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of God's Holy Spirit to confront, cleanse, and change hearts, minds, and attitudes.

Despite what some say, and have even told me directly, racism is NOT simply a "social" issue. It is not a "liberal" issue or a "Democrat" issue. It is a Gospel issue, and it is something that we as Christians cannot tolerate, sweep under the rug, or say it's "not our problem". The love of Christ will not allow us treat our minority neighbors in such a way, or to stand by in silence when we see others treating them with lack of love and respect. God Himself shows no partiality (Acts 10:34-35), and forbids us to show partiality and discrimination towards others, specifically calling this a sin (James 2:1&9). God calls us to love ALL of our neighbors without discrimination (Luke 10:29-37), and attitudes of racial superiority are unbiblical and cannot be held by followers of Jesus Christ.

So let there be no ambiguity on where we stand: Racism is a sin and an affront to the Gospel, and it must be rooted out. Please join us in praying for the ignorant person(s) who anonymously committed this racist act, and pray that God would work by His Spirit to change hearts and minds to wipe out these kinds of attitudes in our community. May we be demonstrate the love and grace of Christ as we interact with our neighbors, showing our community where true hope and healing comes from.


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