January-February 1999
Red and Yellow
Black and White
by Greg Albrecht
| When Curtis and I stand behind a pulpit wearing our dark brown and reddish light tan skins, and urge black, white, yellow and brown to reconcile, I believe that God is pleased. |
For the past three years I have joined forces with my friend, Pastor Curtis May, in a ministry of racial reconciliation. Curtis' skin is darker than mine -- some describe his skin as black. Most people say that my skin color is white, but even in the winter it is more of a reddish light tan.
Although we both may be a little confused about the exact color of our skin, Curtis and I are convicted about the need to minister racial reconciliation. The most moving occasion for me was last year in Montgomery, Alabama.
Montgomery Movement
You may remember that the civil rights movement swept across the United States in the decade between 1955 and 1965. Montgomery was in the middle of it all. On December 1, 1955, dark-skinned Rosa Parks stepped on a bus in Montgomery, sat in the front (reserved only for "whites") and refused to move. The famous Montgomery bus boycott followed.
When Rosa Parks refused to move, Martin Luther King, Jr. was the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist church. Dr. King and his church were inspired by Rosa Parks, and the church became a rallying point for non-violent protests. Dr. King's home was bombed on January 30, 1956.
In 1963, George C. Wallace was sworn into his first term as governor of Alabama and proclaimed from the steps of the Montgomery State Capitol, "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever." Two years later, on March 25, 1965 Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke from those same steps, addressing 25,000 marchers who walked from Selma to Montgomery.
Curtis and I didn't know each other as young men growing up in America. While Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were writing history in Montgomery, Curtis lived just a few miles outside of Montgomery. At the same time, I was growing up in Southern California. I remember a minister at my church saying that Dr. King was a troublemaker and that he should "leave well enough alone."
A generation ago, when the roll was called in Montgomery for Christians to stand together against racism, fair-skinned Christians didn't show up. Fair-skinned Christians of all denominations virtually boycotted Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham. It was a strange silence for followers of Jesus Christ who believe that God came in the flesh as an olive-skinned Jew to save us from our sin.
Forgiveness Heals
Last year, my friend Curtis May and I stood together in a pulpit in a Montgomery church in front of an integrated congregation. We were there because we are both convicted that God doesn't want us to "leave well enough alone."
European-Americans and African-Americans alike are guilty of racism. I have learned that racism springs from our sinful nature and that many will not repent of their nature and will not give up on what some define as an emotional commitment to ignorance. In fact, some of my Christian brothers and sisters now tell me I ought to "leave well enough alone" and stop stirring up problems by preaching racial reconciliation.
Racism lurks in the human heart as surely as all other sins. Racism is ugly, fueled by hatred, exclusivism and superiority. Racial reconciliation is as much a part of the ministry of the gospel as almost anything else we as Christians can do.
The body of Christ is one, and it is time that we acted like it.
As editor of The Plain Truth, Greg Albrecht supports racial reconciliation in conferences nationwide and in Canada. He provides a weekly ministry message and answers to questions at www.ptm.org.