Embracing True Unity: The Church's Call to Oneness

We, the church, have allowed these battles to divide people of faith even more deeply than before. We cannot afford this. Our nation cannot afford this. Our sons and daughters, whether black, white, or any other color, cannot afford this. We can no longer afford to sit idly by, representing the body of Christ as a mere wreck of its divine design. The solutions to the issues we face today are found only by applying a biblical and divine standard as answers to the questions before us. [00:00:54]

The church should be a model, especially at a time like this, to reveal to the world what true oneness, equality, and freedom can produce. Hell advances on the church's doorstep with fervent speed, and as long as we remain divided, it will continue to do so. We can resist hell's advances and take back our nation for Christ if we're willing to come together by first filling in our own gaps, gaps in our understanding, our knowledge of our unique histories, and our relationships. [00:01:20]

Our songs ring mournfully flat when the bells on our churches remain cracked. Even so, we continue to belt out our songs with tremendous passion at times, perhaps in hopes that the singing of them, if loud enough, we can somehow cover the silence between us. We sing emotion-filled lyrics designed to draw us together by reminding us that we are all blood red until we are blue in the face, but the truth is that when the song is over, we go our separate ways. [00:02:37]

We go our separate ways because we have discovered that it takes more than a hug and a friendly hello to bridge the gap. While some of us have, many of us have not taken the necessary effort to get to know each other on a level of authentic exchange. Without a basis of shared knowledge, purpose, and mutual respect, we cannot come together for any meaningful impact. [00:02:53]

Authentic oneness comes as an outgrowth of shared lives, not simply through a cross-cultural experience here and there. The author's words originally caught my attention as I stumbled across my own name, but then I saw that the point he was making summarized a common theme in American Christian culture today. [00:03:31]

Much of what has gone on under the designation of racial reconciliation and oneness in Christianity is nothing more than tolerance. To be certain, we've come a long way from the slavery, Jim Crow laws of segregation, and other overt expressions of racial hatred, but tolerating each other does not mean we have reconciled. The two are not the same, as demonstrated by the fact that we remain racially separated most of the time, only coming together for a scheduled event. [00:04:41]

The proof that we still have a long way to go in the church today is that a collective cross-cultural presence is not having a restoring effect in our society. We are more concerned about achieving the American dream than we are about letting the rule of God remake segregated churches and denominations. In so doing, we have limited the degree to which the healing balm of God's grace flows freely from us into our communities and ultimately throughout our land. [00:05:26]

If what we call racial reconciliation is not transforming individuals, families, churches, and communities, then it is merely sociology with a little Jesus sprinkled on top. [00:05:57]