Christian who is black or…
I look from the calendar and notice Martin Luther king day is approaching. I smile at the off-day before it even reaches me. A little guilt Creeps in a moment later as I realize that that is not the point of the holiday. I’ll most likely continue my tradition of visiting the Freedom Center and bring as many people with me as I can. I always have a good experience, it seems every year I learn something new. I’m inspired with the history and intrigued by what similarities of the same atrocities that still continue until this day. Of course I’m inspired by the man the day recognizes, MLK was and is a inspiration to so many, and to make it even better a Christian. Which brings on guilt trip number 2, why does that matter to me?
I’m black and a Christian and I sometimes wonder if I allow the former dictate the values of the later. No one is just one thing, ethnicity or otherwise, however I know that being identified with Christ is the highest honor. Nothing can compare with knowing that the God of all there is knows your name and even better loves you more than you can imagine. Over the years I’ve grown more appreciative of that relationship and make efforts to show the image of my creator more clearly in how I live. However in recent years I’ve felt the need (and forgive me for saying it this way) be more outwardly black. Yep that did not sound right in my head and less when on paper.
So contents of where I’m coming from, I attend a church that is predominantly white and have been doing so for my entire life (church brat). The ministry has existed for nearly 50 years, and until a year ago has resided in the Inner City. So race wise the church was almost split in half, leaning towards black in numbers. But as I said a year or so ago we moved further south ( from Cincinnati Ohio to Northern Kentucky); a decision not everyone was pleased with. As a result most of the black members did not make the move, my family being one of the few that did. The change in demographic became painfully obvious.
1 is the loneliest number
Needless to say this generated some awkwardness, and there seemed to be some fear that what little minority persisted would disappear in time (at least in my opinion). New members or some from our neighboring church further south highlighted the ratio. I want to point out that I’m not insinuating disrespect on there part. I consider church members family members, many whom I’m closer than actual blood relatives. That said I did feel a pressure to be representative of my race. Often I would volunteer for work and functions the church would have, and more than likely I was the only black. I recall a group of us on lunch break as we set up a large tent to have revival in. Somehow the conversation turned to music and one of the members said “I don’t really like rap music” pause around the table until finally “What you think of that?” Why are you asking me? I replied. well you can’t talk about rap music and not ask the only black guy here”. There are plenty of situations where I’m still “the black guy”, for the most part it doesn’t bother me, this is fam just with a lighter pigment than mine. However this is now the platform that I seemed to have inherited, if a situation presents where someone wonders what do black people think about this or that I’m “that guy”.
I know full well that I cannot represent all the different mindsets that inhabited the black community and should just be honest. I do feel the need to express not only my own experiences but also closest to me, you may have gone through worse situations than me because of the color of their skin. Add political influences, topics such as police brutality, white privilege, welfare or the national anthem protest (both of them) and you notice the gaps in our fellowship. Race isn’t everything and according to some means nothing, at times I’m in that group as well. It seems anytime racial injustice comes up or any racial issue at all Galatians 3:28 is the automatic go to. Yet I can’t completely divorce the relevance of the gospel versus the racial issue even if it is only an issue because we’ve allowed it to be. Which is an admission in itself, is the fact that I’m a Christian who is black carrying more weight than it ever should have? In any case the fault begins with us and can only end with Christ. Racial conflict are a certainty, and the road ahead can seem pretty bleak but what is even more certain is God’s ultimate triumph, and with that victory his image being at the forefront of how we identify one another.
