In the very near future my family will start doing something that I had never thought about doing. It’s an idea that my bride came up with and I think it’s absolutely brilliant. If you don’t know yet, my bride is the most brilliantest person I’ve ever known. Just recently, I wrote this about her:
My wife is one of the most brilliant and God following people I know. Her ability to live by faith in the face of difficult things leaves me speechless.
This idea of hers was sparked while being at our denomination’s General Assembly. It was one of the first things that we talked about when she got home from serving there.
Her idea? Our family will start attending a traditionally black church in our city. As soon as she said that this was something that she had been thinking about I knew it was the right thing to do. Her thoughts had to do with our kids and helping to make sure that they are connected to the whole body of Christ.
As I have been thinking and praying about this, ever moreso over the last couple days due to the church burnings, I am realizing what a fundamentally necessary thing this is.
I’m a pastor. I’m a white pastor. I serve in a predominantly white denomination. My mentors have been white. The leadership of our denomination is white. On Sunday evenings, much to my sadness, everyone who gathers for worship is white.
Black folks in our country have been asked over and over again to take steps toward the “majority culture.” They have been asked to “assimilate.” I am realizing that if I am serious about the kind of biblical reconciliation that I see in the writings of the Bible, then I have to move, I have to take steps away from the majority culture, I need to be the one who is uncomfortable.
I need to sit under the preaching and submit to the leadership of a black pastor. I need to!
My family needs to see this from me. My son and daughter need to see me lead our family this way. It’s not enough to simply hug it out at a pastoral leadership meeting. It’s not enough to say, “I went to Promise Keepers back in the day.” It’s not enough to write or talk. We need to act.
Our family has a unique opportunity to enter in to another church because of when our congregation meets.
God through Jesus reconciled the world to himself. Jesus couldn’t do the work he needed while sitting at the right of the Father. Neither can I hope to make a dent in the issues of race that are bubbling to the surface of our community sitting behind a keyboard or surrouded by white folks.
So many people bemoan the segregation of Sunday mornings. Instead of whining about it, we think it’s time, that we start changing it.
She has a great idea. We’re going to run with it.
The post Sunday Morning… appeared first on The Journal by Daniel M. Rose. It was written by Daniel M. Rose.
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