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God allows each of us to bear different results of sin in our world. Many of us have deep wounds from the way people of other races have treated us. Knowing how difficult racial reconciliation is, and how very painful racial wounds are (for ourselves or for others) often makes us reluctant to talk about racism and the need for reconciliation.

Maybe you have already tried. Or maybe you think this is an endemic American problem, and not an issue that you need to tackle if you’re called overseas. It sometimes feels impossible to deal with such an old sin in our culture. But it isn’t impossible! The good news is that Jesus died to heal us from racial sin as well as all other sin.

In Ephesians 2:11-16 (NRSV), Paul writes to the Gentiles:

So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by those who are called ‘the circumcision’—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands—remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death the hostility through it.

Deep roots of hatred and fear

At this time, there was a racial and cultural division between the Gentiles who believed in Jesus and the Jews who believed in Jesus. The Gentiles were being called “uncircumcised”—probably a hurtful name, certainly disrespectful of their spiritual search for God. At the same time, many Gentiles were ignorant of the long history of promises God had made to Israel and the Jewish people. And the Jews were trying to share the law they received from God. It was a really difficult situation, with deep roots of hatred and fear between peoples, mistrust which seemed justified...in the human sense.

Do you ever feel that you’re in a similar situation? Or worse, that Christians of different races aren’t even talking together, trying to work it out? Do you feel you’re a stranger from people of other races?

One new humanity

What does Paul say about the situation? Clearly, Jesus came to reconcile us to God, but why else did he come? He came to “abolish the law... that he might create in himself one new humanity... thus making peace.” One humanity. In other words, the death of Jesus was to reconcile us to God (we know this), and also to one another. Jesus also asks in scripture, how can you say you love me when you don’t love your brother? We need to ask ourselves, who is our sister if not the person who believes in the same God, whatever our racial differences?

In Ephesians 2:19-22 (NRSV), Paul says:

So [Jesus] came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off [Gentiles] and peace to those who were near [Jews]; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Called into relationship

A central part of what Jesus’ death accomplished is the work of building us into one body, which is a spiritual dwelling place for God. As we engage in cross-cultural missions, we are not only to call people into relationship with Jesus as their Savior, but we are to bring them into a reconciled body of believers who reflect the reconciliation they experience with God. Reconciliation to each other is a powerful witness to the rest of the world of the redemptive work of Jesus in our lives.

Where do we start?

• Pray... ask God to remind you daily of what you and your people have experienced, showing you what racial hurts you need to forgive. Ask God to remind you what you or your people have done to contribute to racial hurts, and for what you need to be forgiven.
• Confess your sins, to God, and if appropriate, to another Christian.
• Develop a meaningful friendship with a person of a different ethnic group.
• Study what scripture teaches about racial reconciliation. An excellent study guide to start with is Multi-Ethnicity: Six Studies for Individuals Or Groups, by Isaac Canales, InterVarsity Press. Or listen to the Urbana seminar tape: Racial Reconciliation’s Roots in Scripture, by Neil Rendall.
• Visit a church from a different ethnic background than your own... Sunday morning is a very segregated time in North America. If you don’t know any, ask people you know from that culture or look in the phone book to find the churches in your own city.
• Get involved in a multi-ethnic mission project, either in a city in North America or overseas.
• Learn more about the history of an ethnic group different from your own.
• Read books about ethnic and racial reconciliation. Spencer Perkins & Chris Rice’s More Than Equals (which was an Urbana 96 Book Of The Day) is available from InterVarsity Press.
• Seek out other teaching about racial reconciliation. Listen to the Urbana seminar tapes: Role of the Oppressed in Racial Reconciliation by Brenda Salter-McNeil or Racial Reconciliation & White Responsibility by Neil Rendall.
• Share what you have learned with others in your own ethnic group.

The books mentioned above can probably be found at your local Christian bookstore. Or you can order from InterVarsity Press: 1-800-843-9487 or www.ivpress.com

To order Urbana seminar tapes, contact 2100 Productions: 1-800-828-2100 or www.ivcf.org/store

 

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