Racism is not a known side effect of Ambien

Sanofi is not the cause of our plentiful plague of racism. I am not qualified to speak of its causes or cures, but prejudice in all forms exists in my life and if it can't all be removed, I should like it reduced.

25 years ago Fred Kerby and I would stop at a tiny Pentacostal church on our way to work for morning prayer. Just outside the building was the Fredericksburg Va slave auction block on the corner of William and Charles. That pointed reminder often spurred intercession for racial reconciliation. Before they went to Japan my missionary friends, Dan and Karen Ellrick, would often join us for prayer, and sometimes for meals.

At one of these meals, they shared they had been to an organizational meeting for a church startup at Picker's Supply's performance stage, Street Cry. The church was to be intentionally racially balanced. There would be co-pastors at New City Fellowship, Bob Becker, (caucasian), and Lance Lewis, (African American). We joined.

It was a real startup effort, converting a building in a predominantly black part of town into a church. Finding God's talented servants for the many positions that are needed to help a church launch. Kathy and I have been part of other church startups since then, (Calvary Chapel North Shore, Calvary Chapel Lihue), and there is a wonderful energy.

There were rich people, poor people, dark people, light people, young, old, and we were all willing to confront our differences, at least from 10:30 - 12:00 on Sunday morning. And then came politics. William Jefferson Clinton was already the 42nd president of the United States and he was running for his second term. Many white Christians, (moral majority), felt he had to be stopped at all costs, Many black Christians, at least at New City Fellowship, appreciated the efforts on social justice issues. It was stressful enough that we had special meetings just to talk.

One of the vocal families at the special meetings were the Murdochs, (Doc Murdoch is now a ruling elder), it wasn't just what they said, it was the intensity and sincerity that made me realize I had been fed a different information stream, a different world view. I still get chicken skin when I remember Ms. Murdoch quietly saying, "there are more issues to each campaign than just abortion".

I am sure someone left the church over this divisive time in American politics, but there was no church split. Looking back, I think they had something "terribly right" at New City. One of their core scriptures was 2 Corinthians 5, 18 - 20, (the ministry of reconciliation):

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

In my next post in this series, I would like to talk about pride.