 |
 |
|
Church, like nation, must embrace inclusiveness
New U.S. President-elect Barack Obama with college campus supporters prior to the election. Photo courtesy of George Mason University By the Rev. Pamela H. Ford for the General Commission on Religion and Race of the UMC We will never forget the televised images of Election Night, 2008! As we watched gatherings of peaceful crowds in all their beautiful diversity—from Times Square in New York City, to Grant Park in Chicago, to the Penn State University campus in my town—my thoughts were these: Yes! This IS America at last! These gatherings portrayed the America that we have dreamed of and worked for, for so very long! Yes! Persistent, faithful efforts make a difference! Civil rights marches, protest sit-ins, stand-ins and walk-outs, hard work, shed blood, significant legislation, and all the protests of the 1960s, and those before and since, have finally yielded wonderful fruit in Barack Obama’s election. The fulfillment of worthy hopes invariably requires hard work. The power of evil is always more tenacious than we imagine, and it can take years of praying to wear it down. Praise God for those who do not give up, despite their weariness! Yes! This President-elect reflects 21st century America at its inclusive best! Barack Obama is multi-cultural America: a dark-skinned man with a global heritage, reared by white grandparents, and a child of poverty with an Ivy League education! Yes! The millennial generation has been heard! As the parent of a millennial, I know these young adults to be passionate about doing a better job than their parents at addressing global poverty, caring for the environment, and seeking moral significance, not just material success in their lives. I rejoice that young people are energized now to make the difference that the world desperately needs. They are a political force to be reckoned with. I am grateful that my children have grown up in a generation to which diversity comes naturally. They do not question whether or not persons ought to be included based on skin-deep judgments. I grieve that we do not have a church that millennials care to inherit, with some few blessed exceptions. Yet they have not given up on God, and God will not abandon them. May God give us and our institutions the wisdom and grace to get out of their way! In the midst of the rejoicing, the struggle goes on. As a Christ-follower, I grieve that the church seems so far behind. Why are we the last to “get it?” The Christ whom we await in Advent and welcome at Christmas has already come and has already broken down every “dividing wall” of human hostility (Ephesians 2:13-15). Why will we not comprehend this? This moment in our American life calls for the church to speak, to name our racism loudly for the evil that it is, and to beat the deafening drum of inclusiveness. If the church and its leaders do not step forward NOW, we will have lost our lifetime’s greatest moment of transformational possibility!
|
