Bible Study 7-6-13 When you go to the Kingdom of Heaven one of the things you will do is face what you are. One of the things I had to face was racism. It is the white elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. You see, when we talk about it we have to admit that it is there. When we do that we have to face, not only ourselves but, the hurt we have caused as well. Part if mine is what I was taught. I grew up hearing those words and names of hate all my life. When I was in the 2nd grade we lived in Norfolk, Va and I was a minority there. The first fight that I ever got into was with a boy that had dark skin. He was a head taller than me. I don’t even remember why we fought. When I joined the Army I saw preferential treatment and my resentment grew. I began to believe those words of hatred that I had heard. In police work I experienced “you only pulled me over because I’m black.” This was at night and the person had tinted windows. I couldn’t even tell how many people were in the car much less what color they were. We are taught in school how people fought against separate but equal and then I would see things on TV like the Miss USA pageant and the Black Miss USA pageant and I wondered why they would choose to separate themselves. I worked hard to prove that I wasn’t racist. Because I buried it so deep, it came out in different ways. Usually it was crude jokes. One day I told a joke, only it wasn’t funny. I didn’t see my friend Kendall Bailey standing next to me until after the joke. I saw the hurt on his face. Later that day I went up to him and took his hand and said, “Please, I value your opinion of me.” Because of conviction I couldn’t even ask him for forgiveness. He played it off as if it didn’t matter. We never spoke of it again. While in the Kingdom of Heaven I was led to some specific scripture. Israel’s children were jealous of their younger brother. Because of their jealousy they caused him to become a slave. Only when they overcame their jealousy and hatred was their family reunited and healed. I read that God blesses who he chooses and saw how blacks were dominating in sports, music, television, and movies. Our nation is going through the same thing. We enslaved our brothers and sisters out of hatred and jealousy. How will we heal this rift in our nation? First we have to admit to ourselves that it is there. We then must do what we can to undo the harm. We have to work with each other to ensure that it does not happen again. The most important thing we have to do is forgive. So, will you forgive us our hatred and fear? Will you forgive us the hurt we have caused? Will you help us heal?
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 03:20:52 +0000
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