Not For Polite Conversation (Part 3): Racism

So let me begin with an obvious statement.

I am a white man.

And I say that because as a white man, probably one of the more foolish things that I could do at this exact moment in history is stand in front of a group of people and have my comments recorded about gender and then about race on successive weekends.

And yet that is exactly what we are doing.

And here's why I say that, because in talking about these topics, I realize, especially in a short amount of time, that I cannot talk about the full breadth of all that is engaged in these topics, and that some of you, whatever I say, will say, Well, you didn't talk about this, or you didn't say enough about this, or why didn't you deal with this?

And I realize fully that in this auditorium this morning and in Butler and the strip district, some of you will be unhappy with me if I don't say something and stump for reparations, and some of you will be upset if I say that there's anything to the idea or notion of white privilege.

And yet I believe so strongly that if the church doesn't engage in some of these conversations, if we cede them to everybody else in the world and we avoid them, that then the church gives up its chance to have any voice on some of the important conversations of our day.

Now, in talking about race, let me just give you a little bit of data just to set the conversation.

In our country, according to the Pew Research and the most recent census, about 62% of people are white.

And in our country, about 12 to 13% are black, and then there are uh a good percentage of people, about 19% that are Hispanic, and then fewer percentages that are in different ethnic minorities.

But in the year 2055, so a little over uh or a little under 40 years from now, what we will have is we will have 48% of America being white.

In other words, we are living in an era of changing demographics.

African American population will remain just about the same percentage of the overall population.

The growth will be in the Hispanic population, in the Asian population, and in some of the other ethnic diverse groups, ethnically diverse groups in our country.

So here's what we're going to do today.

I'm going to start by taking us to John 4, which has been our anchor passage in this series, and I'm going to talk just about a principle.

And if you're new here, uh often we'll be a lot more in the Bible than we will be today, because what I'm going to do today is not so much teach this passage and interact with it as much as draw one principle out of it, and then talk about how this principle applies.

And so this will be more of a conversation around some of the implications of a principle than something that is a detailed explanation of John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

But here's what we see in John 4.

And that is Jesus interacts with this woman at the well, this Sumerian woman.

And it's difficult for us, all these years removed from Jesus' culture, to fully understand the significance of what Jesus did.

Because we read it and we say, well, the Jews, the Samaritans, what is that about?

And although we can understand that the text says explicitly that Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans, it's hard for us to understand the generational animosity that existed between those two groups of people.

Because what had happened was the nation had been divided, and so some of the people had intermarried in part because they had been taken off by war and captivity or different things.

And when they intermarried, they became the Samaritans.

And so the Jews, who had never intermarried, didn't like the Samaritans because they saw them as not being true Jews.

And in fact, uh Samaria was kind of to the north of where Jesus was traveling from.

And usually when a Jewish person would travel to the other side, to Galilee, they would go out and around Samaria to avoid even dealing with Samaria.

But what Jesus does here is he goes right through the heart of Samaria.

He goes right in and he talks to the Samaritan woman.

And in this exchange, what Jesus does, in a sense, is he lays down a principle, and that is he demonstrates that his followers should never be people who let racial prejudice who let racism keep them from interacting with people.

Now, what is racism?

Racism is prejudice or discrimination or antagonism based on the belief that your own race is superior to another.

And so here's what we're going to do today, very simply.

I'm going to talk about the reality of racism.

I'm going to talk about the reason for racism, and then hopefully a remedy for racism.

And so let's talk about the reality first.

Now, in Jesus' day, I hope I just demonstrated that, but in our day, there is still a clear racial tension in our nation.

Certainly we don't have to look back that far to understand that slavery was part of our nation's history, that redlining, the Jim Crow laws all have existed and all have contributed to it, and certainly the recent events show that there are still racial tensions in our world.

But there's something that sometimes is hard to understand about this if you are somebody who has lived in predominantly white areas your entire life.

And I say this because I grew up in northern Wisconsin in a predominantly white community where there were very few people who were not white.

And then I moved to suburban Chicago, went to school there, and was still in an area that was predominantly white.

And then when Faith and I got married, we moved into the city, and I worked at this little church, and I we lived in a church-owned house that was about a block away.

And you could walk from the church to the house that we were living in, and you could hear six different languages being spoken.

In other words, this was a melting pot of culture.

And all of a sudden, we began to understand race in a way that we could hear about, understand, but but didn't understand.

But here's what was true in Chicago, at least, at that time.

And that was there were still streets where largely African-American people would live on one section or across one kind of defined area that wasn't officially defined, and all the other races would live somewhere else.

And all of a sudden, we began to just live in an area where the racial realities were part of our world every day, and I began in a new way to understand that not everybody sees and experiences the world the same way.

Now, biblically, what we know is this, and that is in the very beginning of the Bible, we talked about this last week, God in creating people, Genesis 1.27 says that he created humanity, he created everybody in his image.

And I know there will be some people who will look at the Bible and say, well, here's where race came from, and here's where it's about, but but we still have to affirm that God is the originator, the creator, the one who has made everybody, and that he has made people beautiful.

Whatever their ethnicity, whatever their backgrounds, that God is the creator and the image of God resides in all people.

And then at the end of the Bible, we see this Revelation chapter 7, verses 9 and 10.

Revelation 7:9

This is when John was receiving a vision about how things would be.

Listen to this.

After this, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands, and they cried out in a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

And what you see here is a picture, a picture that God gives to John, and he says, Here is how I will have it one day.

And that is people of every nation, every tribe, every tongue.

They will gather and they will worship me and they will be one.

And so that is the tension we live in, especially if you're a person of faith, of saying God is the creator and giver of all life, and and we're returning to a place where there will be oneness in worship, and yet we live in a world that can often be fractured.

So now let's talk about the reason for racism.

Well, the simple reason is sin.

Racism is sinful, and sinful people do sinful things, but but below just simply saying it's sin, the reason that sin exists in the area of race is because people want to feel superior to other people.

And so what ends up happening is we end up starting with a generalization that kind of we say this is how people are, it moves to a stereotype, and then after our stereotype, we move into some kind of prejudice because it makes us feel good about ourselves.

Let me give you one that doesn't really have a lot of racial charge to it, but I think you'll probably relate to this.

Have you ever heard or made a disparaging comment about West Virginia?

You know where I'm going with this, right?

Because here's what happens: people in Pittsburgh think that we're really sophisticated compared to people from West Virginia.

And so what will happen sometimes is people will say, wow, those people from West Virginia.

Well, what are you doing?

You're making a stereotype because you're saying, saying uh that there are a few people from West Virginia who maybe aren't as educated or sophisticated as Pittsburgh people, which, by the way, people from New York, Philadelphia, and other cities would think it's really funny that people in Pittsburgh think they're sophisticated.

Because we would be the butt of some of their jokes.

And and what what you do then is you say, well, well, those people from West Virginia, they're like that, but we're sophisticated.

What is it?

It's superiority, it's a prejudice, it's a mindset that says, says our way is better than other people's way.

The way we live is better than the way other people live.

And that is really at the heart of this.

In fact, in this passage, you see just a hint of this with this woman, verse 20.

She says, our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.

Do you know what she's doing?

She's saying, we think our way's better, you think your way is better, but but our way is really better.

Our culture is superior to your culture.

Our modes of worship are superior to your modes of worship.

The way that we live is better than the way you live.

And anytime that there's generalizations and stereotypes, it leads to a prejudice which opens the door to racism.

I was driving the other day in my car, and there was a talk show on one of the late local radio talk shows, and they were talking about race.

And because I knew I was talking about this, I paused and listened to it for a few minutes.

And a lady called up, and it was obvious through her comments that she was black.

And as she began to talk, she began to say, Well, white people do this, white people do this, and all white people are this.

And you know what I heard in that moment?

I heard generalization, stereotype, that went from somebody who was black to somebody who was white.

Now I realize that that some of you will say, whoa, whoa, whoa, and this is why I said I know that that like it's foolish to talk about this as a white man, because some people will say, How dare you say that?

And I'll come back to that in just a few moments.

But my point is this, and that is prejudice can run in all kinds of directions.

Because what it is, is it's saying my way is superior and and I'm superior to another group of people.

But there's another reason that racism still exists.

And some of this is just a lack of awareness.

And what I mean when I say this is that is that sometimes people aren't aware of the generalizations or the superiority, but but sometimes we're not aware of the structures or the systems that can contribute to it.

And this again is where I know just in talking about this, some of you will recoil.

But there is a there is a a notion that has been written about, talked about a lot in recent years called white privilege.

And when I first heard the idea of white privilege, just to be honest with you, my first reaction was, I don't know, you don't know what I came through, you don't know what another white person came through.

This seems like another generalization.

But as I've listened and talked with people, people who have not grown up in the majority culture, what I've begun to understand is that there might be something that is worth really hearing if you are in the majority culture around this, because it isn't just don't generalize, don't don't do something, but but there is some inherent privilege that those who are white may have in this world, that those who are not white may not, at least in the world in the United States.

And so with that, to explain it maybe, this is a way to do it.

Let me show you a video that that will point to this, and then we'll come back and talk about what it means and how to process it.

Take a look.

Hey, line up! Line up, everybody line up, we're about to race.

Everybody line up.

Shoulder to shoulder, take off your backpacks, basketball, line up, we're about to race.

Hey, we are we are racing for a hundred dollar bill.

The winner of this race will take this.

Before I say go, I'm gonna make a couple statements.

If those statements apply to you, I want you to take two steps forward.

If those statements don't apply to you, I want you to stay right where you're at.

Take two steps forward if both of your parents are still married.

Take two steps forward if you grew up with a father figure in the home.

Take two steps forward if you had access to a private education.

Take two steps forward if you had access to a free tutor growing up.

Take two steps forward if you never had to worry about your cell phone being shut off.

Take two steps forward if you never had to help mom or dad with the bills.

Take two steps forward if it wasn't because of your athletic ability, you don't have to pay for college.

Take two steps forward if you never wondered where your next meal was gonna come from.

I want you guys up here in the front just to turn around and look.

Every statement I've made has nothing to do with anything any of you have done.

Has nothing to do with decisions you've made.

Everything I've said has nothing to do with what you've done.

We all know these people over here have a better opportunity to win this hundred dollars.

Does that mean these people back here can't race?

No, we would be forced to not realize we've been given more opportunity.

We don't want to recognize that we've been given a head start.

But the reality is we have.

Now, there's no excuse.

They still gotta run their race, you still gotta run your race.

But whoever wins this hundred dollars, I think it'd be extremely foolish of you not to utilize that and learn more about somebody else's story.

Now, let me talk about the remedy.

And I know that you'll have a lot of different reactions to that.

And I also know that saying remedy is a bit presumptuous.

I don't presume that I have the remedy to this issue, but what I mean is how do we take a step forward that is positive?

And here's what I just simply would like to do.

I'd like to explore reactions that people in the majority culture typically have to this idea that maybe there's some privilege that has gone with just being part of the majority.

Some, what you'll do is you'll say, maybe, but but people get what they deserve, and if and if there's positional advantage, there's positional advantage, so be it.

Some would say, Well, I'm gonna argue the point.

I'm gonna say, you know what, I'm not sure that that's true.

It certainly isn't true universally, and you'll you'll maybe talk about your own situation or situations of others, and you'll say, I I I can't go there with this.

Some of you will respond with the idea of guilt.

What you'll do is you'll say, Oh my goodness, I've been part of a group that has gained an advantage that that's been unfair.

There's a man named Shelby Steele who's an African-American fellow at Stanford University, and he's written a few books on this issue.

And to be fair, most black authors distance themselves from Shelby Steele.

And so he's he's making kind of a counterpoint to the overall dialogue in our country.

But he writes extensively about guilt and white America and why he believes it's not good for black America.

And what he says basically is in our culture today, what has happened is the ultimate kind of trump card is to say that any way you want to illegitimize somebody is to say that they're racist or that the organization that they're part of is racist, and then people will spend all of their time trying to disassociate themselves with any kind of racism.

And what that does, in his estimation, is it creates a culture in which we don't have honest dialogue, because what he would say is that people who are white are afraid to have honest conversations.

This is when I told you about the the talk show host and the the lady who called up not challenging the racist statement that was made, or at least the racial prejudice, that's what I'm referring to.

And and John Fuller, who was in the video that we just saw, uh who is on our board here and part of this church for a long time, John uh said, one of the hardest things is for us to have real conversation because we just simply go to these places of polarization.

And then another reaction that we can have is to say, well, I'm going to be a person who campaigns for change.

I'm going to be an instrument of social justice.

And then what happens sometimes is we take a principle and we say, well, here's a principle, and then we we make some implications to those principles, and then we say, if you don't live like I live to other people in the majority culture, then you are not as righteous as I am, and we become self-righteous.

Let me take it out of this arena for a second.

Sometimes it's helpful kind of again to think about something in a different vein.

And this is nowhere near the weight, but but I think this actually helps us get this.

In the Bible, we're told that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6.

So people read that rightly and say, that means I should take care of my body.

I should give my body everything that it needs to thrive.

Absolutely true.

Now, what some people will do is the implication of that, a couple steps removed, is they'll say, you should only eat organic food.

You should only eat kale for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

You should never go in the sun.

You should, and and and the list gets really long.

And as soon as we start to say, say, say more than what the Bible says, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, but I'm going to insist on all of the implications that I've come to, which by the way, I don't eat kale for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I never eat kale, but um but but but what we're doing is we are now saying the implication is, and then we can get self-righteous to other people about it.

We do this on a lot of issues.

And as a result, what we do is we still feed into the superiority.

Or here's another option, we can just simply be pragmatic about it.

We can simply say, you know what, I don't think that I have prejudicial or racial attitudes.

I'm going to do my best not to have prejudicial or racial attitudes, and and that's really all I can do because it's such a big problem.

And those are kind of the reactions that people in the majority culture tend to have.

But let me just say that I think the ultimate best reaction is much bigger than that.

And that is it's to understand and apply the gospel of Jesus Christ not only to our own hearts, but but into our broader culture.

And here's why I say that superiority feeds on the notion that I am good, I am better than other people.

And what does the gospel do?

It does the exact opposite.

It says, you are a person who is sinful, who deserves eternal punishment.

And then it says, and that humbles us out of our pride.

And then it says, but yet you are so loved that Jesus Christ came to this earth and died in your place.

And when that becomes what we understand, what we see, what we celebrate, what happens is we don't have room for superiority.

But as soon as we take a step away from the gospel, what happens is we start to think, you know what, my way is better than other people's way.

And it may not go to racial prejudice, it may go to the people who aren't as sensitive to race as we are, or who don't eat kale like we eat kale, or who don't care for the poor the way we care for the poor, or who don't understand the things we understand.

It's only when we come to say at the foot of the cross, God's love is for everybody, and there's nothing that I have that's superior in any way, that I will be part of the solution.

Now let me just say a couple other things, especially for those in the majority culture.

If you use the race analogy, there are probably a few things that are helpful.

One is what I'm just going to say is empathy.

It's the ability to say, I want to know people, know their stories, and know a little bit of what it's like.

One of the reasons we did the video, and there's a whole conversation there that you can click and watch online, from some people in our church who attend this church, who live in this environment, is to hear their stories.

One of the things Colleen Olke said, who was who was uh one of the ladies there, in the video, she said this, she said, sometimes people will tell me I don't see you as black.

And she said, that's actually offensive to me.

Because I am black.

And I want you to understand what that means for me.

John Fuller, who again was was the man sitting in the middle, uh, he said something in that video that I thought was absolutely fascinating that I didn't know.

He said, I was at, physically at the speech that Martin Luther King Jr.

gave when he said, I have a dream.

How cool is that that somebody I'm in relationship with has lived in this country as a black man in the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, and was at that historic moment and can offer me, offer you, if you get to know him, perspectives around something as substantial as race.

But sometimes in the rush of life, I'm just up in whatever privilege I have, maybe it's only a couple steps, maybe it's a lot, saying I just gotta keep running my race.

But sometimes being able to understand where people are is a big instrument of healing.

Beyond that, I I would say it's important to help people when we have the opportunity.

People of any race, to be able to say, I'm going to help somebody if I've had a privilege to gain in the race.

And sometimes it isn't just helping people, it's saying if I have an opportunity, maybe I can change the rules to the race.

At least in some arena, because part of saying I want to be an instrument of change isn't just saying I'm going to not make insensitive comments, but it's saying, how can I bring about positive change in the world and then to be willing to speak about this issue, to to challenge places where things aren't as they should be.

So what does this mean for us as a church?

Well, it means a couple of things.

It might be a little different in Butler County, a little different in the strip, but certainly in in Wexford, there's a sense in which we reflect the community in which we're situated, meaning the majority around here looks a lot like who comes here.

But one of the things I've said on this issue, and I think this would be true in the strip district in Butler County as well, whatever the percentages are, we don't want to just reflect our community, we want to lead our community on this issue.

Meaning we want to give people a taste of what Revelation chapter 7, verse 9 says.

Revelation 7:9

People of every language, every tongue, every tribe worshiping together, pointing the way to God.

And that's what we hope to see happen.

Not just to reflect, but to lead.

And for that to happen, it requires people to say, we will get to know and build every bridge that's possible.

And again, just speaking for Wexford, and I know this from watching my kids in the school that they attend, the place where we're underrepresented to our local community is probably Asian and Indian individuals.

And what that means, again, and maybe there's sociological reasons for that, but what it means is to say, what would it look like for us to look just like the community that we're situated in, and then not just to look like it, but to lead it.

And to say, we believe that that would bring glory and honor to our God.

Because then we would be a place that points to what the kingdom ultimately is like.

Now, I'd like to do something here just to kind of help us think about this a little more.

I'd like to invite David Bowens to come and just sit and talk with me here for a moment.

David, uh, would you come and join us wherever you're from?

Here he is.

Um David has been part of our staff here since 2013, uh, leading worship uh here in Wexford a couple times a month, leading worship in our strip district location a couple times a month.

And David, um, tell us a little bit about what your experience has been uh not being part of the majority culture and how that's that that's impacted your perception of just your trajectory in in life.

Um well, there are two uh, I guess, actual experiences that uh I'll share.

Um one was uh since moving out into the uh Wexford area, um I noticed something a little different than when I lived a little more in the city.

Uh when I was in the city, it was a little bit more diverse, and I'm sure people had responses to seeing me in different spaces, but um uh it wasn't as obvious to me in the city, and I could kind of just keep moving without thinking about it.

But um I can remember uh sometime going into Target and and not even the people who were working there, but some some of the patrons you could tell were a little uneasy with my presence at times, and and I would normally combat that with just a big smile and a hello, just so they can realize that I wasn't uh a dangerous element to them.

Um but there was uh uh an experience that me and Mike had was a bit further out in the country.

Uh we were on our way back from a funeral, and um uh we stopped to get something to eat.

Um, and just based on where we were, I said to him, Um, hey, before we go in here, I just want you to know uh it's very likely that the people in here will respond to me differently.

And um he he was kind of he didn't really think about it, he didn't think he's like, I don't think he really thought it would actually happen, and I really hoped it wouldn't.

I I I was hoping I was wrong about that.

Um, but I just wanted to warn him just in case.

Um and we walked in, and I mean, immediately as soon as we walked in, I mean, the response to the people, the looks that they gave, it was it was like, why are you here?

Again, it wasn't the people who worked in the place, the people who worked there were really kind, but it was it was the patrons.

They just did not, it was obvious to me that they did not really want me in that space with them, and uh so much so that I actually attempted to say hi to somebody as I was walking down an aisle, and um, they just kind of looked away as if to not desire to engage me or uh acknowledge my presence at all.

So um those the unfortunate thing is I have become callused to those experiences, but because Mike was with me um when we left out and we were eating in the car, he was kind of so taken aback by by the obvious tension that was there, um, solely because of of the color of my skin, I would assume, because I was the only black person who had walked into there.

And um, yeah, uh, we were eating in the car, and um even so uh as people were leaving, they would look into the car with with uh almost a hateful glare, and um uh it really shocked Mike.

I I had clearly knew what I was walking into, but um uh Mike was just really taken aback by it, and we had a great conversation as a result.

Yeah.

Uh let me uh just follow up with this uh question because I'm guessing a few people might might think this.

Um you're not small, so is that are you sure that it's that that it's black and not size?

Uh I'm pretty sure when when you engage somebody to say hello, you know, and they I don't I don't and I'm smiling and being kind.

I mean my size I don't think uh had a whole lot to play in it that at that point, you know.

So and I've certainly heard from enough people who who aren't your size that that there is there are definite moments when you realize that you are in a place that that that there's tension.

And I know a lot of times white people will end up in African American areas and feel some tension as well.

Definitely in in much the same way.

So so it shows though though that these tensions still exist.

What would you say to somebody who's in the majority culture?

What's important for people to understand?

Um I would definitely echo what Dr.

King said when he says uh judge a person by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.

It's so easy to see people in a negative light because of how the media just consistently projects that negative light uh, unfortunately, on minorities or people of color.

Um I would say take the time to get to know people and learn who they are as a person and not how either sometimes uh we've been affected by more than the media, it's by people around us, by our family, even, who share either negative experience or negative perceptions of a group of people that they may not really know, um, and to totally group a bunch of people under one title because either media or family or someone else has said it, and you have not had a specific experience with a person does a uh a serious disservice to um your community, period, in terms of uh the people you engage.

Um and I realize that um if uh also I I would say to the majority culture too, have compassion for the experiences of those in the minority culture.

Uh it's it's so easy to not want to hear it because it's not something that maybe you have experienced, but just like your experiences are very real, so are the experiences of the minority culture.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was um when we were taping the the video conversation, Rick Iglesias, who serves on our staff here as one of our pastors, talked about as a child uh having immigrated from Cuba, going to school and being beat up by kids and told that that he wasn't wanted in the culture uh and that he should go back to Cuba.

And and again, it's it's hard to even wrap your head around that exact experience if you haven't had that.

What would you say, David, to people who are in the minority culture that's important on this issue?

Uh what do they uh what would be most beneficial as far as bringing about positive ends?

Um Well, for me as a follower of Christ who is an African-American man, um love is the most important thing that I can use.

Um I know that I am extended grace and mercy by God for the sin in my life.

And I realize, as you have said clearly in the message, that the root of racism is sin.

Um and that because racism is sin, they need that same grace.

They need that people who have that feeling towards other people need that same love, they need that same mercy that we need for our sin.

Um, Dr.

King says um darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.

Love cannot drive out, sorry, hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

And I've realized that when we we can't fight a hate with hate, we can't fight violence with violence, we have to shine the light of love and mercy uh into the lives of people.

And um I can remember a friend of mine who said to me, Um, and I actually shared with him first, that uh I I can love them from a distance, I can pray for them from afar.

Um, but he said to me, how can you want somebody or a desire change out of somebody and not choose to engage them with a different perspective, with that love, engage them with that grace, with that mercy, and um and have a relationship with them and walk with them through that process.

Um and that challenged me immediately, and I realized that God was calling me to more than just an ideal and mindset, but action that requires being open to having relationship with people who are different than me and who may even view me as less than solely because of the color of my skin.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

Well, let's pray together.

Father, um, this is a topic that I know breaks your heart.

And I know that the future that you call us to be a part of is to be a part of the throng of every nation, every tongue, every tribe that worships you.

Lord, help us to be people at Orchard Hill who bring about a taste of that here and now.

And we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Would you uh stand and receive the benediction?

Again, from Revelation chapter 7.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

We hear this, and the call is for us to say we want to be a part of the great multitude that no one can count from every nation, every people, every language standing before the throne and crying out together in a loud voice Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

May God bless us as we go and seek to live that in this world.

Have a great week.