Racism – Kingdom Series

Many Christians could take a lesson from the way Jesus dealt with the marginalized in society. Jesus was the ultimate bridge-builder, breaking through into the hearts of people. In the first part of my Kingdom series, I address kingdom thinking on systemic racism and oppression.

Transcription

I grew up in Apartheid South Africa for the first half of my life, which meant that because of my skin colour, I lived in an area that was demarcated for people of colour. It meant that schooling sucked for me; I was one of 50 in my class in primary school. It meant that, just solely on the basis of my skin colour, I couldn’t get to do the stuff that most people would consider ‘normal’. It was systemic, in that the government thought out ways to suppress a whole people-group, and to impact the psychology and the family make-up. Every aspect of what makes a society a functioning society was broken down and repackaged through the lens of racism. So, racism is a big deal.

However, I’m so glad that Jesus is so kind. I’m so glad that Jesus models what it’s like reach out to people beyond his race. The way he deals with women, race, the poor, the broken, is unlike anything that was seen in His day, in terms of the Jewish people. He is the ultimate bridge builder, and breaks through some of the relational tensions simply because He values love. And the way He demonstrates that is by breaking through into the hearts of people.

But the reality is that the Kingdom of God looks like every nation- every tribe, every tongue- in their culture, demonstrating love and worship before God. I believe cultures represent the multifaceted nature of God, because God is more glorified in diversity than He is in uniformity. Our sonship is not to be confused with uniformity. God wants us to be unique in our culture, in our identity, in our skin colour, so that we reflect who He is.

However, our culture, our skin colour, is not the ultimate expression of our identity. Our identity is primarily expressed through being sons of God. It’s not a Jewish identity; I don’t need to become Jewish to do that. Neither is it a particularly American culture, or an English culture. It is that I am a son of God, and being a son of God means that my identity is wrapped around the incredible kindness and grace in Jesus. And it’s really important that we understand that is the first principle of how we deal with racism. The ‘race’ thing becomes a lot easier.

In other words, I start to think through a Kingdom lens. The bible tells me I need to be liberal with all things. Because my people, as it were, were systemically oppressed, I want to make sure that how I share the stuff that I have now, in terms of privilege, breaks some of the systems that have been built around racism and suppressing people, so that I help provide an opportunity for people to become all that they need to be. It means that my wallet and my heart are impacted. How I love is impacted. How I release education, and how I release sharing resources- all of that is impacted to help break the back of systemic racism.

Ultimately, though, I want to be driven by love. Not a liberal agenda, not a freedom agenda. I want to be driven by love. In our country, there were a band of people called the Freedom Fighters who fought for our freedom. And so often, as is demonstrated throughout history, the people who fight for freedom then become oppressors in the next generation. I believe that it’s because there hasn’t been a transition, where we begin to move from being freedom fighters to freedom fathers and mothers. I want to be one of those who create opportunities for people of all colours to be all that they can be. If that means having hard conversations, then I want to do that.

But I do not want to fight for freedom in a way that divorces love. Because, ultimately, love covers a multitude of sins. And the Kingdom of God, when it comes to justice, it looks like freedom for everyone. It looks like those who are oppressing suddenly become who God’s called them to be, so they oppress no longer. And it looks like those who have been victims of oppression suddenly become free and powerful, and they’re no longer victims. The ground at the foot of the cross is equal for both the oppressor and the victim. And we need to find ways that bridge, through love and through kindness, and the way that we deal with one another, and through open-hearted conversations.

Ultimately, the issue of racism is a heart issue, and until the human heart is changed, philosophy and political persuasion is not going to change that. Because you cannot legislate heart change. It has to be a work of the Spirit. And so, for me as a person of colour, I’ve learnt to forgive white oppressors who kept my family suppressed for a long time. I’ve learnt to build relationships with people that transcends simply the basis of my culture or colour, and connect on the basis of a Kingdom reality, where love is the currency of the Kingdom. And I want that to drive everything that I do in terms of dealing with the very deep and complex issues of racism.

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