reconciliation of peoples

 ​​Bigotry, Racism, Sexism: Reconciliation between Creeds, Colors, Sexes and Genders.

As my teachers noted, the Churches have faced and begun to address three implications of the Gospel embodied in Christ and preached by Paul at his best in the letter to Galatians. Just to note: the Galatians were themselves objects of prejudice as they were Celts not Jews - therefore the argument about having to be circumcised to be a good Christian - and so they were troubled by a potential second-class status in the Church.

But this reveals the larger problem: they versus us. “He can’t be a man ‘cause he doesn’t smoke the same cigarettes that I do.” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in “The Dignity of Difference”, and many other teachers have reminded us that really there is no “them and us” : there is only us. Bigotry, anti-Semitism, anti-Islamic, anti- you name it, is an expression of anxiety and not of faith. 

Identity if it is in Christ is not threatened by the identity of others. It is not threatened by the status or class of others. If we love Christ the most - and that is what it means to love others (even ourselves) less - then all loves fall into right relationship. 

Racism - black/white, but also indigenous/immigrant, and many other distinctions - is another challenge to the Church, in itself and in its role in larger society. Martin Luther King, Jr., called eleven o’clock Sunday morning the most segregated hour in America. We are still working on this, so that we break bread together, so all of us do indeed share in one loaf, one cup. 

And offer our voices in praise: our diverse voices in praise. For we are all one in the Spirit but we are not the same: and that is a blessing. Each of us and each community offers different gifts, in praise to God, as we offer different prayers and practices. 

Sexism, and now increasingly an undertaking to make progress in understanding gender identity, is a continuing area of growth for churches.

And this is far from the end of the list. Different abilities, incarcerated versus free, political polarization, … the challenges continue.

But we hold this to be true: In Christ all are one, there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; we are all one in the same Spirit. And blessed by our diversity.

And reconciliation of peoples begins with the hard work of the Gospel, the freedom that costs no less than everything, as - reconciled in Christ - we choose to follow Christ in building the beloved community, the kingdom of God.