Hairline cracks

There has been a lot of virtual ink spilled ever since the recent TGC conference on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. I still stand by my desire to take these conversations out of e-space and bring them face-to-face. I affirm that there is a single human race that fell in Adam and has been redeemed through the work of Christ. I affirm that He is the source of our unity and that He fully paid for the sins that divide. While I agree that race is a social construct, God has providentially created us with roots in different countries and cultures. This a wonderful thing for which we should thank Him. Thus the church is not the Borg. Unity is not colorblind nor ethnic blind. Neither is it gender blind.

Yet I'm still discouraged by what I've seen on social media. The visceral response to events like MLK50 and David Platt's talk at T4G seems to indicate that there is something unstable below the surface. Amy Mantravadi describes it as a "fault line that runs through the heart of reformed evangelicalism in the United States," and I agree with her. The issue of race¹ hits a nerve. Why? I am not going to presume for you and neither should you do so for me. But this question needs to be answered, and sweeping it under the rug won't work. Neither will it take a single discussion to get everyone on the same page. It may take multiple iterations. It may take a lifetime. Even so, is it possible to hold fast to Christ and love one another even though we disagree?

I'm just as guilty as the next person of being swept away by the emotional strife. Even if my local church is free from those problems, there may be people in the congregation who have been affected and even harmed. There are hundreds of years of baggage that have accumulated until today. To one degree or another we have been touched, and there are hairline cracks running from the fault line into our lives. Maybe you are one of the blessed ones who have come out unscathed, but I have them.

The fault line may not be healed until Jesus comes, but perhaps we can do something about those tiny cracks that have the potential to weaken our relationships and cause distrust within the body of Christ. Will you listen to me and others like me if we share those hurts and fears? My intent isn't blame. My intent is to avail myself of what the body of Christ should offer to one another - helping to bear the burden and strengthening those who are weak and cast down. Will you set aside the lens of your personal experience and learn from me as I do likewise? I don't want the hairline cracks in my life to widen, and I don't want my neglect to cause the same to happen to you.

In one sense, no one has an out. We are called to love one another by the One who loved us first and who enables us to do this by the Holy Spirit. We are called to lay down our lives for the brethren because Christ laid His life down for us. God has given us this opportunity now. May we not let it pass us by.

1. I am going to use "race" rather than "the social construct formulated to deny common imago dei humanity with historical and present detrimental effects" because it is too long.