The Myth of a Christian Religion Part 6

Several years ago, I had just ended the closing prayer for our church services when a middle-aged woman approached me. She was wearing a tattered, stained, dirty dress that hung like a loose tent over her morbidly obese body. Her hair was greasy and stringy. She reeked of cigarettes, was missing a front tooth, and her breath was so foul I had to discreetly lean back as she spoke to me. Her grammar was poor and her thought patterns-insofar as I could understand them-were simple. For several minutes she incoherently rambled on about a number of things, seemingly oblivious to the line of people behind her who also wanted to speak with me. My several attempts to help her get to her point, if she had one, fell on deaf ears.

At some point I recognized a person in the line that had formed behind this woman to be the well-known president of a very important and influential ministry. I wanted to meet this man badly, especially since I had an idea about how my church could partner with his ministry. But this lady just kept going on and on! I tried to draw her attention to the fact that there was a line of people waiting behind her, but this seemed not to concern her in the least. I eventually interrupted the woman and told her I had to move on to talk to others, but she simply ignored me and kept talking.

The line began to thin out as people grew tired of waiting, and my own impatience started to turn to anger. I was just about to decide to simply ignore this lady and begin talking to the ministry president who was at this point next in line when, for whatever reason, I suddenly recalled Jesus' teaching that the way we treat "the least of these" is the way we treat him him. This was immediately followed by a still small voice that whispered, "This lady is my precious daughter and radiant bride. Treat her like the Queen she is."

I instantly realized I'd bought into the cultural lie that people who look, smell, and talk like this lady are less important than people like the president of an influential ministry.

I privately repented of my cla.s.s judgment and gave the woman my full attention while praying blessings over her in my mind. Whether my blessing prayers helped or whether this lady just ran out of things to talk about, she suddenly got to her point. She wanted money for gas to get home from church.

When I finally managed to speak with the ministry president, far from being fl.u.s.tered from having to wait so long, he was impressed I gave this lady so much time and attention. I explained to him that what looked like virtuous behavior was actually the result of a divine chastis.e.m.e.nt. When the few folks who remained had been spoken to, I took the Queen and her two kids to a gas station and then out to eat at a local restaurant.

Why did I instinctively judge this woman as being less important than the ministry president? It was because I put her in a different cla.s.s than the president. I literally cla.s.s cla.s.s-ified her. In doing this, I failed to carry out my central Kingdom duty of manifesting the truth that this woman has unsurpa.s.sable worth, for she was worth Jesus' dying for. In my cla.s.s-ification, this daughter of the King wasn't even worth the same as the ministry president. The truth of who she was got suppressed in my cla.s.s judgment.

Of course, we who live in American claim to believe that "all people are created equal." America is supposedly "the land of equal opportunity." So we often pretend we don't cla.s.s-ify people. In fact, we have a long tradition of looking down on societies in which people are born into fixed cla.s.ses, with some destined from birth to reign as royalty and others to be their servants. But our judgment is somewhat hypocritical, for the fact is that we who live in America have our own cla.s.s system. We're just less honest about it. Our judgments are so embedded in our usual way of looking at the world that we tend to not even notice them.

WHICH LADY DO YOU NOTICE?.

Several years ago the ABC news show 20/20 20/20 reported on a sociological study of how perceived beauty affects the ways in which women are treated. The researchers placed two women in a crowded train station at the bottom of a long staircase with a large suitcase. Taking turns, each woman was to act like they were struggling to pull the suitcase up the stairs. The goal was to see how frequently people-especially men-offered to help each woman. The first woman was by customary Western social standards pretty and s.e.xy while the second was average-looking and somewhat overweight. reported on a sociological study of how perceived beauty affects the ways in which women are treated. The researchers placed two women in a crowded train station at the bottom of a long staircase with a large suitcase. Taking turns, each woman was to act like they were struggling to pull the suitcase up the stairs. The goal was to see how frequently people-especially men-offered to help each woman. The first woman was by customary Western social standards pretty and s.e.xy while the second was average-looking and somewhat overweight.

It took the pretty woman only a couple of seconds before a man offered to help her. It took the average-looking woman several minutes. It was painful to watch. The test was repeated many times, always with the same results. On top of this, the researchers measured the amount of eye contact and verbal exchanges made between the women and their helpers. Not surprisingly, the attention given to the average-looking overweight woman was a small fraction of the attention given to the pretty, s.e.xy woman-and not just by men.

What was even more amazing, however, was that all the helpers of the pretty woman were interviewed as soon as they completed their task and, without exception, each one claimed their decision to help had nothing to do with how this woman looked. They also interviewed a number of people who walked past the average- looking woman struggling to get the suitcase up the stairs, and, without exception, the people claimed they simply didn't notice her.

We tend to be unaware of the ways we instinctively cla.s.s-ify people.

HOW HE LIVED AND HOW HE DIED.

While it's undeniable that we're socially conditioned to cla.s.s-ify people, this doesn't mean we're fated fated to do so. There is another, more beautiful, way of living and relating to people. It's the way of Jesus. to do so. There is another, more beautiful, way of living and relating to people. It's the way of Jesus.

Jesus manifested the beauty of what it looks like when G.o.d reigns in one's life by revolting against all of society's cla.s.s judgments. He didn't do this by playing politics or by trying to get Caesar to make society fairer. He rather revolted against cla.s.sism and warred against the Powers that fuel it by how he lived and by how he died.

In first-century Jewish culture, disabled people were often seen as being cursed by G.o.d and were therefore often treated as misfits and outcasts. Most had to survive by begging on the street. People with skin diseases were considered unclean and untouchable. Condemned criminals and impoverished people were generally looked down upon as sc.u.mbags. Certain kinds of sinners were deemed to const.i.tute an untouchable cla.s.s. Women were on the whole considered second-cla.s.s citizens and were generally viewed as property owned by men.

Jesus revolted against this cla.s.sism by touching lepers, healing the sick, treating beggars as equals, treating women with respect, identifying with the poor, and befriending those judged as the worst sinners. In fact, Jesus taught his followers that how they treat these sorts of people is how they treat him (Matthew 25:35 36, 42 43). In he end, Jesus ascribed unsurpa.s.sable worth to each and every one of these marginalized people by giving his life for them.

In living and dying this way, Jesus revolted against every social judgment that oppresses people and revolted against the Powers that fuel this oppression. We who have committed ourselves to following Jesus are commissioned and empowered to do the same.

PROCLAIMING THE YEAR OF JUBILEE.

To appreciate how central abolis.h.i.+ng cla.s.s distinctions was to the ministry of Jesus, we need only examine the sermon that launched his ministry. In Luke 4, we find Jesus visiting his hometown synagogue. At one point Jesus stood up and read from Isaiah 61.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Jesus then shocked his fellow towns people by announcing, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Most scholars agree this pa.s.sage refers to the "year of Jubilee" in the Old Testament. Every fifty years all debts were to be cancelled, all land lost through indebtedness was to be restored, and all slaves and prisoners were to be set free. It was, in short, a year in which all inequalities, and thus all cla.s.s distinctions, were to be abolished.

This was obviously good news to lower cla.s.s folks-the poor, the enslaved, the lame, the imprisoned, and the oppressed-but bad news to upper cla.s.s folks who benefited from these social inequalities. It's not too surprising that we have no historical record of this divine command ever being obeyed in ancient Israel.

In this inaugural address, Jesus presented himself as the bringer of this "year of Jubilee." He clearly interpreted the "year" figuratively as referring to the new epoch he was inaugurating with his ministry. He announced that the revolution he came to unleash would be centered on erasing all debts and reversing all cla.s.s judgments. This is why Jesus taught his followers to not expect repayment when we lend to others, even our enemies. It's why he taught that we're to offer thieves who stole from us more than they took. We're to live in "the year of Jubilee" and, as ludicrous and impractical as it may appear, this is what it looks like.

In the Kingdom, all cla.s.s judgments are to be erased. We're to make no distinction between rich and poor, male or female, Jew or Gentile, free or slave, good citizen or criminal, able-bodied person or disabled person, holy or unholy. Our lives are to manifest the truth that where G.o.d reigns, all cla.s.s-ifications that a.s.sign people pre-established social values are rendered null and void. Where G.o.d reigns, people are to be defined solely by what G.o.d did for them by dying on Calvary, not by their social cla.s.s.

Luke goes on to tell us that the towns people were both amazed at Jesus' "gracious words" and understandably surprised that he applied this teaching to himself. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they wondered. But then they turned against him-to the point where they wanted him dead.

A closer look at the pa.s.sage reveals why this happened, and it tells us a great deal about the cla.s.sless Kingdom Jesus came to establish. Two points are worth mentioning.

AN EPOCH FREE OF JUDGMENT.

First, it's significant that Jesus stopped reading and put the scroll down right after he read "the year of the Lord's favor." Had he read the very next line in Isaiah, he would have added "and the day of vengeance of our G.o.d." This omission wouldn't have gone unnoticed by his first-century Jewish audience, and it undoubtedly contributed to their offense.

Most first-century Jews were looking for a Messiah who would reveal "the Lord's favor" toward them them but also bring vengeance on their but also bring vengeance on their enemies enemies. In fact, the vengeance they expected G.o.d to bring on their enemies was a central aspect of the favor they expected the Lord to show them. Their good news was centered on the bad news they antic.i.p.ated for their enemies. For them, therefore, the punch line of the Isaiah pa.s.sage was "the day of vengeance of our G.o.d." Jesus left this punch line out!

His refusal to apply this clause to describe his own ministry reveals that Jesus didn't view his coming or the movement he came to establish as having anything to do with divine judgment.

Whatever G.o.d will do at the end of the age, in this present Jubilee epoch G.o.d's favor is toward everyone everyone-even toward the enemies of those who consider themselves G.o.d's favored people. In this present "year of Jubilee," G.o.d's reign is marked by unconditional acceptance and favor, not rejection and vengeance. In this year of the Lord's favor, all social distinctions, including the fundamental distinction between friends and enemies, are to be abolished.

This isn't what people who are heavily invested in seeing themselves as exclusively favored by G.o.d and seeing their enemies judged want to hear.

THE INSIDE-OUTSIDE REVERSAL.

Second, Jesus went on to remind his audience of the story of Elijah feeding and healing the son of the pagan widow in Sidon as well as the remarkable story of Elijah healing the leprous military captain of the Syrian army-at a time when Israel and Syria were at war with each other.

Why did Jesus bring up these stories at this point? It's because both stories provide examples of G.o.d's prophets bypa.s.sing Israelites to minister to outsiders and "enemies." In telling these stories Jesus was suggesting that the Good News he's bringing would tend to bypa.s.s those who consider themselves insiders and would instead be brought to those whom these people considered outsiders and enemies. In other words, those who consider themselves exclusive insiders will tend to become outsiders, while those who have always been judged as outsiders will tend to become insiders.

The only people excluded from the blessedness of this all-inclusive epoch of divine favor are those who insist that their enemies must be excluded.

The theme of an inside-outside reversal brought about by the year of Jubilee runs throughout Jesus' ministry. As the Kingdom is manifested in the world, Jesus repeatedly taught, the first will be last and the last will be first. The exalted will be brought low, and the lowly will be exalted. The blessed will mourn, and those who mourn will be blessed. The outcasts will feast at the banquet, while the originally invited guests will become outcasts. The sinful tax collector who won't even lift his head to heaven will be justified while the righteous Pharisee who prays and fasts will not. The socially disdained prost.i.tutes and tax collectors will get into heaven before the socially respectable religious leaders. And many who thought they did great things for Jesus will find themselves cast out, while many who didn't know they were doing great things for Jesus will be brought in.

It's important for us to notice that these reversal-teachings are not primarily about what will happen at the end of the age when G.o.d judges all humans. Too often Christians have inoculated themselves from the radical implications of Jesus' teachings by making them about what G.o.d will do in the future instead of how we're to live in the present in the present. The truth is that Jesus' teachings and example are primarily about bringing G.o.d's will "on earth as it is in heaven" in the lives of his followers here and now here and now. We're now living in the year of Jubilee, so all cla.s.s distinctions are to be abolished in the community of G.o.d's people now now.

True, human society won't be completely free of its fallen ways of cla.s.s-ifying people until the end of the age when Christ returns and the Powers are fully defeated. But our job is to revolt against these oppressive categories now and to put on display ahead of time the beauty of G.o.d's coming Kingdom.

RELIGIOUS CLa.s.s AND THE CLa.s.sLESS TRIBE.

Let's begin to bring this home by asking: To what extent is the Western church today living out the year of Jubilee inaugurated by Jesus Christ? To what extent are we manifesting the truth that "in Christ" there is no longer any male or female, Jew or Gentile, free person or slave? To what extent is the Church an all-inclusive, cla.s.sless tribe of Kingdom people?

We should first celebrate the fact that there are an increasing number of beautiful Jubilee communities springing up in Western countries, including America. If you attend the Dream Center in Los Angeles, for example, you'll find a marvelous countercultural mix of people. You'll see people who would by normal social standards be seen as "upper cla.s.s" in community with people who by these same standards would be considered "lower cla.s.s." You'll find wealthy people fellows.h.i.+pping (and sharing) with poor people. You'll find a community in which people with disabilities are not only being accommodated but also embraced and set free in ministry. You'll find a ministry in which criminals are being visited in prison and then cared for and transformed once they're released. You'll find an environment where struggling prost.i.tutes, drug addicts, s.e.x addicts, and others are considered no different from struggling greedy people, gossipers, gluttons, and self-righteous religious people.

There are, thankfully, many such Jubilee-looking ministries springing up around the world.

At the same time, if we're honest, we have to admit that the Western church as a whole still has a long way to go. It's my impression, at least, that we Christians in America tend to cla.s.s-ify people at least as much as the broader American culture.

The majority of American churches are as segregated along socioeconomic lines as much as they are along racial lines. Relatively few churches make any effort to welcome, embrace, and equip for ministry people with disabilities. So too, comparatively few Western Christians treat their finances with the reckless abandon required by Jubilee living. We don't generally live as though all debts and obligations owed us have been erased.

Not only this, but in many churches the elderly and prisoners tend to be neglected, despite specific biblical commands to care for them. Many churches continue to restrict the role of women in ministry, as though it was G.o.d's timeless will that women remain within the patriarchal constraints of the first century. The majority of evangelical churches continue to rank people with certain types of sins as further from the Kingdom than people with "more acceptable sins" (like the good, all-American sins of greed, gluttony, and judgmentalism). And a good percentage of American Christians seem to hate their enemies, especially their national and religious enemies, at least as much as other Americans tend to hate them.

So, it's certainly no overstatement to say we have a long way to go. We need to hear, again and again, that in the revolution Jesus unleashed on the world, the insider-outsider way of cla.s.s-ifying people has been completely abolished. The Kingdom has a center-Jesus Christ-but no clearly defined parameters. With reckless abandon, therefore, we are to manifest G.o.d's unconditional love by ascribing unsurpa.s.sable worth to all people at all times in all conditions.

Whether they are by "normal" social standards upper cla.s.s or lower cla.s.s, intelligent or cognitively challenged, educated or uneducated, attractive or unattractive, decent or indecent, able-bodied or disabled, male or female, talented or untalented, famous or infamous, young or old-our primary job, following Jesus' example, is to manifest the truth that each and every one of these people has unsurpa.s.sable worth, as evidenced by the fact that Jesus died for them just as he died for us. And we manifest this truth by how we welcome and embrace them, just as they are.

As we do this, we will manifest the beauty of G.o.d's cla.s.sless Kingdom and revolt against the ugly oppression of all social cla.s.sifications and the Powers that fuel this oppression.

Viva la revolution!

CHAPTER 10.

THE REVOLT REVOLT.

AGAINST RACISM RACISM.

His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity...

thus making peace...

EPHESIANS 2:15.

Several years ago i was listening to a christian radio talk show that was discussing the issue of "racial profiling." It was in response to a recent study that determined that in Minnesota (the "liberal" North) black men were much more likely to be stopped in their cars by police than white men. The white host of the show expressed his opinion (citing no evidence) that the study was flawed and that racial profiling was "in fact" very rare. He then took calls from the audience.

The arrogance of the talk show host amused me. But the next half hour of call-ins left me dumbfounded.

One caller early on identified himself as black. He gave two examples from his own life of being pulled over and questioned by police for no legitimate reason. He also mentioned that a number of his black friends had similar experiences. Not surprisingly, while he said he believed most white police officers tried to be fair and that few were consciously racist, he nevertheless felt that racial profiling was a significant problem in the Minnesota police force.

All the remaining callers identified themselves as white, and without exception, each denied racial profiling was a problem. Some even expressed anger toward the black caller for suggesting otherwise. Several said they were sick and tired of nonwhite people "playing the race card."

Now suppose, for the sake of argument, that the study was accurate and that racial profiling is in fact a real problem in Minnesota. How would any of the white callers know about it? By definition, it wouldn't be happening to them. The only way white people could learn about racial profiling would be to learn about it from those who actually get profiled. Yet this was the very thing the white callers on the station were unwilling to do. Instead, because racial profiling never happened to them them, they insisted it doesn't happen to anyone anyone.

In this chapter we're going to see that racial reconciliation lies at the heart of what the Church is supposed to be about. It's arguably the aspect of the Kingdom the Church in America fails at the most. And one of the reasons why, we'll see, has to do with the sort of racial arrogance ill.u.s.trated on this radio program.

THIS IS AS CENTRAL AS IT GETS.

According to the Bible, G.o.d created only one race-the human race. The idea that there are different races of humans is a myth created by white Europeans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to justify oppressing and enslaving nonwhites. 1 1 G.o.d's goal has always been that the one human race would be united in a way that reflects the perfect loving union of the Trinity. Unfortunately, our sin caused us to be divided into different factions that are now identified as different races. But as we saw in chapter 7, throughout the Bible G.o.d spoke of a time when every tribe and every nation would be reunited under his loving Lords.h.i.+p. G.o.d's goal has always been that the one human race would be united in a way that reflects the perfect loving union of the Trinity. Unfortunately, our sin caused us to be divided into different factions that are now identified as different races. But as we saw in chapter 7, throughout the Bible G.o.d spoke of a time when every tribe and every nation would be reunited under his loving Lords.h.i.+p.

Jesus perfectly embodied G.o.d's heart for racial reconciliation. For example, most Jews of Jesus' day despised Samaritans as racially impure and as heretics. They avoided physical or social contact with them if at all possible. Yet Jesus went out of his way to have contact with them, even touching some who were lepers. Moreover, he consistently treated them with respect, even making them the heroes in some of his stories. 2 2 Similarly, most Jews of Jesus' day looked down on Gentiles and had a particular disdain for the Romans, the group who ruled Palestine. Yet Jesus treated them as equals. Most remarkably, Jesus was willing to interact with and serve Roman centurions. These were high-ranking officials in the oppressive Roman military and were thus despised by Jews. Jesus went so far as to praise the faith of a Roman centurion as being greater than the faith of any Jew (Matthew 8:5 11)!

This sort of behavior was absolutely scandalous and revolutionary. It reveals that where G.o.d reigns, the Powers that fuel racism will be confronted and racial walls will be torn down. Where G.o.d reigns, G.o.d's vision for a united human race will be in the process of being reconciled.

We see this even more profoundly in Jesus' death. The most fundamental ethnic divide in the ancient world, at least from a Jewish perspective, was the divide between Jews and Gentiles. But by his work on the cross, Paul says, Jesus destroyed the "dividing wall of hostility" between these two groups-and by extension, between all ethnic groups.

Not only has Jesus brought brought peace to all previously hostile groups; he himself peace to all previously hostile groups; he himself is is the peace between these groups. For through his death Jesus created "one new humanity." the peace between these groups. For through his death Jesus created "one new humanity."

He himself is our peace, who has made the two [Jew and Gentile] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.... His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to G.o.d through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14 16) He himself is our peace, who has made the two [Jew and Gentile] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.... His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to G.o.d through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14 16) This means that revolting against racism is not a nice addendum to the Gospel, as many contemporary white Christians seem to think. It's one of the reasons Jesus came and died on the cross. It's as central to the Gospel as anything could possibly be. We can no more refrain from proclaiming and demonstrating the reunification of humanity in Christ than we can refrain from preaching forgiveness of sin in Christ!

THE FAILURE OF THE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CHURCH.

But let's get honest. How many churches in America are as pa.s.sionate about proclaiming that Jesus died for racial reconciliation as they are about proclaiming that Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins? The answer, tragically, is relatively few.

What makes this even more tragic is that, as is often pointed out, Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America. Fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement, the Church remains the least least racially integrated inst.i.tution in the country. In other words, the broader secular culture generally does a better job of reflecting the coming Kingdom than we Christians do. racially integrated inst.i.tution in the country. In other words, the broader secular culture generally does a better job of reflecting the coming Kingdom than we Christians do.

Some try to minimize this travesty by claiming that it's just "natural" for people from different races and cultures to wors.h.i.+p with "their own people." In fact, some leading church-growth experts have taught what's called the "h.o.m.ogeneous church growth" principle. The most effective way of building a church, they say, is to aim at building it around a single h.o.m.ogenous people-group. They point out that it's generally harder to get people to join a church if it's racially and culturally diverse.

I don't doubt that this is true. But when did Jesus ever call us to be comfortable or encourage us to make nonbelievers comfortable in order to get them to accept the Gospel? And when did Jesus ever call us to be focused on growing large churches?

The answer is, never.

To the contrary, Jesus was perfectly willing to make people profoundly uncomfortable uncomfortable and to let people walk away when they understood the high cost of following him. His one and only concern was to be obedient to his Father's will, not to be efficient at acquiring a large following. And since we are called to imitate him in all things, this must be our one concern as well. and to let people walk away when they understood the high cost of following him. His one and only concern was to be obedient to his Father's will, not to be efficient at acquiring a large following. And since we are called to imitate him in all things, this must be our one concern as well.

We are called to manifest the "one new humanity" Jesus died to create-whether it makes people comfortable or not, and whether it increases or decreases the size of our congregations.

THE CHALLENGE OF RACIAL RECONCILIATION.

Getting people to relinquish their racist att.i.tudes is profoundly difficult-especially because most aren't even aware they have any. This isn't just a modern problem. It existed in the early church.

For example, despite Jesus' command to take the Gospel to all nations, we find his disciples in the book of Acts still hanging around Jerusalem in the nice Jewish environment in which they were most comfortable years after his ascension. It took an explicit vision from G.o.d and coaching by some pagans pagans for Peter to finally realize that "G.o.d does not show favoritism" and that G.o.d wanted to incorporate Gentiles into the "one new humanity" Jesus died to create (Acts 10). for Peter to finally realize that "G.o.d does not show favoritism" and that G.o.d wanted to incorporate Gentiles into the "one new humanity" Jesus died to create (Acts 10).

Not surprisingly, the first major conflict the early church had to work through centered on race relations (Acts 15). The issue concerned how Gentile and Jewish Christians could get along with each other. But even after this was worked out, racist att.i.tudes persisted. For example, Paul had to rebuke Peter for succ.u.mbing to the segregationist eating practices of some fellow Jews (Galatians 2:12 14).

Tearing down racial walls was difficult for early Christians and it's difficult today. Yet if our commitment to Christ is genuine, we have no choice but to pa.s.sionately embrace this challenge.

THE MAIN OBSTACLE.

(ACCORDING TO THIS AMERICAN WHITE GUY).

I now need to confront what is, I believe, the biggest obstacle to manifesting the "one new humanity" in America today. 3 3 In confronting this I have to acknowledge up front that I'm a white guy (of a Scottish-Irish-wee-bit-French variety). This colors my perspective on this (and every other) issue. Whenever we enter into discussions about race it's important to acknowledge the limitations of our own cultural perspective and life experience. When we fail to do this, we easily end up canonizing our limited perspective as the norm and thus dismissing differing perspectives as defective. And this, we'll now see, only serves to keep us divided from those whose perspectives differ from our own. In confronting this I have to acknowledge up front that I'm a white guy (of a Scottish-Irish-wee-bit-French variety). This colors my perspective on this (and every other) issue. Whenever we enter into discussions about race it's important to acknowledge the limitations of our own cultural perspective and life experience. When we fail to do this, we easily end up canonizing our limited perspective as the norm and thus dismissing differing perspectives as defective. And this, we'll now see, only serves to keep us divided from those whose perspectives differ from our own.

The most difficult challenge I've found as I've tried to lead a congregation that aspires to manifest the "one new humanity" of the Kingdom is that many white people honestly don't see racial reconciliation as that big of an issue. They seem to think it's a problem America has largely overcome.

Of course they know about racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan or the Aryan Nation, and they're naturally opposed to them. And once in a while they hear about the overtly racist behavior of a police officer or the stupid racist comments made by some radio talk show host, and they object to this. The trouble is, this is all that many white people think racism amounts to.

The truth is, racism in America is far more subtle and sinister than this. America was conquered by white Europeans, was structured by and for white Europeans, and it continues to privilege white Europeans. Racism has been woven into the very fabric of our culture from the start.

This racism was obvious when many of our white founding fathers proclaimed the "manifest destiny" doctrine, a.s.serting that it was G.o.d's will for them to conquer and rule nonwhite people. It was obvious when white Europeans acquired America's land by cheating and slaughtering its indigenous population while acc.u.mulating incredible wealth by the forced labor of millions of African slaves. It continued to be obvious even after the Civil War when whites imposed "Jim Crow" laws that blocked blacks and other nonwhites from acquiring significant power, privilege, and opportunities.

Despite the fact that we have a black president, this racism continues today, as most nonwhites will testify. It's just that it's no longer obvious to most whites. One of the ways the social system of America continues to privilege whites over others is that it insulates us from the ongoing effects of America's racist past.

And this is why many sincere white people fail to see why racial reconciliation is a big deal.

If the church in America is going to make progress in manifesting the "one new humanity" of the Kingdom, this obstacle has to be overcome.

THE HIERARCHY OF PRIVILEGE.

Sixteen years ago when I helped plant the church I now pastor, I naively thought that if I simply taught that reconciliation is central to the Gospel our church would quickly become a diverse, multiethnic congregation. I was baffled when our church remained 98 percent white five years into the ministry.