Persistent influence

Reading an account of America’s journey from segregation, I have been intrigued by the courage and vision shown by a few in the face of the prejudice of the many! Though the Civil War brought about the end of legal slavery in 1863 with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, basic attitudes about race remained largely unchanged in the United States for the next one hundred years. A combination of factors converged following the Second World War that culminated in the erosion and end of ‘separate but equal’ laws. They were used to keep black Americans from education, achievement, and real power in society. In the 1950’s Chief Justice Earl Warren led the US Supreme Court through a series of decisions that gradually transformed the racial policies of the nation by tearing away the fictions that hid attitudes of racial superiority that kept “Jim Crow” laws in place.

Today, in my wife’s classroom of 20 first graders, the students look like an assembly of the United Nations! African Americans, those with Asian heritage, those descended from European ancestors, and children of Indian immigrants sit side by side, without animosity, without assumptions! Such is the result of persistent influence! This is not an exercise in forced diversity. It is genuine community.

The Scripture teaches disciples of Christ about God’s disregard for race or color as a qualifier for His favor and salvation. ALL stand equally before Him in Christ. "For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26-28, NLT)

Disciple, prejudice remains a part of the sinful nature! We must treat that sin like any other; name it, confess it, and be rid of it. Sadly, the Church has been a co-conspirator in oppression and prejudice too often down through history. History is replete with situations where this sin has been silently accepted by otherwise wonderful disciples of Jesus Christ. Their attitudes sometimes were rooted in ignorance, and even more tragically were sometimes supported by willful blindness.

Here’s a word from the Word for your meditation today. It’s a glorious vision for His Church. May our persistent influence be felt in all the earth.
"I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:1-6, NIV)