christians and race pt.1

over the past few days, i've had a few conversations about christianity and race.  i think it's an interesting topic.  the conversation has inspired me, and at times exposed where we as people have healing that needs to take place.

i'll just start by saying this:  i believe that god loves ALL people...all colors, all races, all ethinic groups, etc.  i believe that jesus died to open the way for ALL people to be reconciled to god.  with that being said, i believe that god is glorified through all the cultural distinctives that are expressed through the various groups of people throughout the world.  africans worship differently from chinese...and that's fine.  the direction of the worship is more important that source.

i have a scholarly approach to my opinion as well.  this semester i had to write an exegetical paper on colossians 2:11-22.  to sum up a long story, the author of this book (yeah, a majority of scholars don't think it was paul #sorry) believed that christ's death took away the division that separated jews and gentiles.  These two distinct people groups, that were separated by the requirements of the law, were now (in Christ), merged together to create a new people group.  this new "race" so to speak all have a common father...GOD...who is also the Emperor of the Universe.  in the context of their unity they experience fellowship with their father.

i have trouble accepting a christian theology that excludes others, especially since most of the people that have that train of thought would be of the excluded group before christ (gentiles).  i'm all for maintaining and celebrating ethnicity, but not to the exclusion of others.  jesus paid the price for EVERY one to sit at the table.  i am very much an african american male....the ancestor of slaves and abused native americans...and my people consistently suffer today because of racial and systematic injustice.  i believe that god can and will deal with these situations, and i will be a part of it. 

i won't allow human error in the area of race to dictate my worship.  i won't turn my race into an idol to compensate for the fact that others hated it and still seek to oppress it.  my simple and childlike (and perhaps childish, but i'll let you decide) idea is this:  god is the father of lights...and light includes all the colors that we argue over so much.  so why worship one color when god is the sum of them all? 

i think i'll blog about this over the course of the week.  there are some more points i want to hit.