All the reading I’m doing on racism has forced me to come face to face with my own pride and sense of privilege that keeps me at a distance from people who are different than me. It’s been difficult because I’m learning that deep down in the cracks of my own soul, I have a sense of superiority, and I have prejudice, and I have fear that I would just like to keep covered up. I would just like to pretend it’s not there. I’m just being honest: it’s a struggle to be consistently loving toward people who are different than me. And I’ll bet if you were honest, you would have to acknowledge that you have similar issues that create a distance between you and some people that are different than you; because every single one of us possesses this kind of dark, depraved, instinctive nature to build walls between ourselves and other people. But Jesus died to tear down the dividing wall of hostility that separated the Jews and Gentiles, the great ethnic chasm of his day. We live in a society that is filled with dividing walls of hostility between black and white; Asian, Hispanic, rich and poor. And Jesus died to tear them down. If followers of Christ are not involved in tearing down the walls that alienate people, we’re making a joke of the cross. It’s not an option.

Matt VanCleave

Teaching Pastor

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