Our city was brave and met together – as representatives of many different local churches – and took on the topic of racial reconciliation last night. We began with worship including this song.
I believe in God the Father
I believe in Christ the Son
I believe in the Holy Spirit
Our God is three in One
I believe in the resurrection
That we will rise again
For I believe in the Name of Jesus
Pretty important anthem to begin the night, especially as we could probably all sit down and discuss nuances of theology together. I have too much fear of God to believe doctrine isn’t important and would never desire to neglect His Word. And the Word was preached.
I mean preached.
And, somehow, a humble comment in the Q&A panel hit me most squarely between the eyes: “We can learn a lot about this topic academically. But the way forward will be through relationship.”
Yes.
At some point we must set aside our different convictions – of which I have many – and listen to each other. I believe that was the spirit of the evening and I want to follow suit.
For the record, none of the speakers were saying we should ignore academia. In fact, it seems one way to educate yourself and your family is through books authored by those of a different background. I know many parents have great lists of books that have helped elevate in their homes those not of the powerful majority. Some ideas to start with for kids are here. And for adults here.
Please know I have not read or researched all these books, so this isn’t meant to be a sweeping recommendation for every bit of content. But it’s a great way to start in opening up new worlds and perspectives. The main idea of last night was that Heaven? It is gonna be filled with diversity. And one of our goals is not to force, but to welcome, that kind of difference in our churches now.
Open our hearts, LORD. We have much to learn from each other.