It is easy not to talk about race at Grace Church--or the Episcopal Campus Ministry at Syracuse University for that matter. It is easy not to talk about it because both communities are amazingly diverse in race and class and we take the ease with which we get along for granted. At the same time, we readily acknowledge that we live in a bubble of harmony--the rest of the world is not like this--and it should be.
So we're going to talk about it. And we're going to help others to talk about it. The "it" is the prejudice and bias that we all carry while living into God's call to us to be agents of reconciliation. As the old saying goes, we all have issues. And we all have issues with bias, prejudice and racism. But if we talk about it, peel back the layers and go deeper with it, then we might be transformed and in turn transform the world.
The bishops of the Episcopal Church have been talking about this too. They wrote a pretty radical pastoral letter to the church about it. Check it out here. Read, post a comment, and let the conversation begin.
Yes, you're right, we do all have issues. I've recently had to tackle some of mine head on, and oh man, does our Lord ever have grace for the task! He has led me so gently and yet so irresistably through stage after stage looking at my own unspoken, even unthought, issues with the whole gay/lesbian deal, that I'd avoided and fudged and sidestepped for years. OK, he said, so what _would_ Jesus do?
I was fortunate to have such a close and honest and brilliant and brave (and black) best friend at school who talked me relentlessly through all my own issues and cultural preconceptions, so that I never had to bother any more. Roy, if you ever read this, thanks, man!
Yet, I'd allowed an analogous GLBT prejudice to grind away unquestioned for so long. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!
Bless you for being prepared to bring "it" into the light - I hope more people will join the conversation.
Posted by: Mike | April 18, 2006 at 12:28 PM