Looking back...

Little houses side by side...row houses.  Acres and acres of white cotton with dots of black at plant height.  Loving  mammies...seemingly faithful, dependable and cherished...from a child's point of view. 

Fast forward to children playing together, white and black, my child and possibly yours.  Feelings of maturity, honestly, kindness, understanding and fairness permeate my efforts at raising my child.  Then comes the swimming pool.  And the request to swim with my child.  The head reels, the throat restricts, the bumbling excuse escapes my lips and even as I hear the sounds aloud, I am filled with self-loathing and shame.   

Fast forward 30 years.  I am secretly stunned at the cowardice staining the whiteness of this cloak I wear, this shield of Christianity that keeps me from allowing any prejudice to taint my treatment of others.

My self-ascribed notion of fairness fared poorly in the face of reality, primarily because although it was built on Biblical instruction, it was warped by man's interpretation of how and when to apply. 

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female,

 for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (Gal. 3:28 ESV)

Racism is learned behaviour, revealing a prideful spirit that dares to judge God of errant creation, of giving lie to scripture.  Debated and thrashed and thought to be buried in our history, careful observation reveals it to be the silent conviction ready to color our thoughts and receptors to lending a hand. 

How can we honestly support world missions and not be open to local racial and ethnic groups?   To love one another means looking past physical and mental  attributes and loving a soul created by our Lord.  It was not God's command that we go into the world and change all culture into one, but to teach each and every one the Word of God.   

I can say that now.  I could have said it then.  But when faced directly, I bowed out.  While not possible to re-do that day, I am deeply remorseful that I turned that child away because I was afraid of what people might say...of how my own child might be perceived.   

Having just finished reading "The Help", one sentence stands out:  "These is white rules.  I don't know which ones you following and which ones you ain't." 

I don't want to follow rules...I just want to follow my heart...as long as it is the heart of Christ.  If I do, only love will follow and there will be no room for prejudice.