Opened Eyes

On Sunday my sister, Ariel Rainey, preached at PAG. It was a message that had been growing on her heart for sometime, and it was I'm sure a difficult message to preach. You can easily shake the dust from your feet when you preach in an environment where no one knows you, but to preach to people you've grown up with, or played in thier backyards... That must be altogether harder.

Her message was on racial ingorance (not to be confused with the common Baltimore word "ignert") and missions. Not around the world, but right here at home. Her challenge was that demographically Anne Arundel county is changing to include less white families and more minority families, and yet PAG has stayed the same. (almost 100% white) It was not Ariel's contention that there was an overt racism rampant in our body, but much more subtly there was an ignorance of the missionfield in other races for us as Christians.

She conceeded that it is only natural to group among those who are similar, but the gospel wasn't intended for only those similar to us rather to everyone. Her proof text was Acts 1:8 (the bedrock text of any A/G church) Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the world. The Samaritan part of the equation was probably a difficulty for the disciples. There were some similarities, like language, but most of the cultural uniqueness of the Jewish people had been long abandoned by the Samaritans and the Jews wanted nothing to do with them. In light of the imigration problem in our country and an underlying proof (look at the pews) that we're not reaching out to people of other ethinicity, there is a demonstrated ignorance of others.

I was challenged by this message. I'm not a racist. I love people of all colors and have friendships with many of different races, but in the comfort of my church I have developed a blind spot for other races. They're welcome, I just don't invite them.

This is the part that really showed up on my radar Sunday. Ariel related that as an american missionary in France she was all alone. There was no one who is a native English (American) speaker. And based on the discrimination she has felt and received in France, she asks the question, "If I was lost, would any of these french wittness to me?" The answer is NO. Anytime we ignore someone because they are different, any time we cassually dismiss someone, or racially prejudize someone we as Christians are essentially saying, "You can go to hell, because you're not worth the gospel." I've been inviting a neighbor of mine for house 2 house (a neighborhood outreach) and things keep coming up to keep him away, but Sunday I thought about a Latino family that lives about 6 houses away. I realized that I'm not sure that I've ever seen another car come and visit them. I have an awareness of everyone else receiving guests, but not this family. What if they feel as lonely as Ariel does in France. What if I ignore them like she is ignored in France. They had never even entered my mind as people with whom to share the gospel.

This is not a post about "white guilt" (with respect to Shelby Steele). It is about the challenge of the gospel. Are we aware of the needs of others for Christ?

I received an e-mail from a missionary friend who had found out about the church plant. She said that she was glad for it, but knew the area. She hoped that SRC would not be an ordinary church. Our target area has enough of those. She hoped that we would reach out to those that the ordinary church were ignoring. The ones that the ordinary church didn't really want. I immediately thought, "Yeah, like the kid with the blue hair, or the one with the spiked collar." You know who I was thinking of reaching in our area? Rich white kids. Ordinary.

I hope that I'll open my eyes to Samaria. Holy Spirit help me. (Isn't that what Acts 1:8 is about?)

--Ben