Sermon Detail

How do those images make you feel?
For me it’s part horror (how could that be my country) and part surreal flashback (I was born the year Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery Alabama…the spark that ignited the Civil Rights Movement.
Sadly, the issues that gave rise to the Civil Rights movement, racism and discrimination, are not simply that stuff of the History Channel … they are present day realities…
Yes, much was accomplished in eliminating systems of injustice and segregation: Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 … but they did little to stop the under the surface discrimination and racism lurking in the hearts of Americans.
When it comes to race it’s like there is a dark sinister cloud always hovering around us…like an oppression that loiters in and through the psyche of America.
Some cases in point:
· In September, Nina Davuluri was crowned the new Miss America…the first woman of Indiana descent to win the award. And instantly Social Media exploded with outrage calling her “terrorist” and making racist jokes about her ethnicity. (by the way do you know that in 1948 had to be “of good health and the white race”)

· Then there are the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin and Jonathan Ferrell (young African American man shot in NC this year)

o the facts are disputed (tragic accidents, misunderstandings, etc,. but the uproar following both indicates that there is a violent tension of race floating in and around us.
…and both stories remind us of an very uncomfortable truth:
· According to a range of surveys and implicit association tests—white Americans are more afraid of black men than any other group in the country.
I don’t think the comments of John Hope Franklin, winner of the presidential medal of freedom, are hyperbole “every time people take a breath it’s in terms of color” John Hope Franklin
Sadly Racism is alive and well in America. Racism is just one offspring of the broken place of Hatred
Hatred: one of the 6 Broken Places of the world due to the sinfulness of humanity. Hatred which spawns war, genocide, racism, segregation and discrimination.
Now here’s one huge irony in the whole matter: The civil rights movement did much to end segregation with one glaring exception - the church.
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. once said "It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning." Dr. Martin Luther King
It’s true - nine out of ten congregations in the U.S. are segregated - a single racial group accounts for more than 80 percent of their membership.
How did this happen?
· The roots of this segregated worship like most issue of race of course are found in hundreds of years of slavery in America.
· On one hand white Christians (esp. in the south) used horrible interpretations of the Bible to justify slavery but at the same time tried to evangelize their slaves.
“The very same white men who bought black bodies, beat black bodies, and forced themselves upon black bodies also saw to it that the good news of Jesus Christ was preached to black souls. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove Free to Be Bound”


· It was in the context of this horrible time that the black church was born first as an illegal underground church - meeting at night in the woods to avoid detection. There, most unable to read, expressed their faith and theology in song.
· After emancipation and the Civil War the Black church came out of the woods but because of the separate but equal – or Jim Crow laws – the social structure of the day set up two distinct churches. Black and White.
· Segregated churches are the ongoing byproduct of slavery – same cross, same savior – different church.
What I find tragic and ironic is that the people of God (Black and White) who preach the good news of the Kingdom…a message of love, hospitality, equality, and reconciliation under the cross of Jesus …display to the world an image that says very loudly SEGREGATION.
The fact of our existence as separate flies in the face of all Kingdom rhetoric and Biblical truths that speak of a new day of harmony and reconciliation.
One more reason why the unbelieving world doesn’t take us seriously.
So, here is reality:
Ø the broken place of hatred is right here – racism lives … the beast still rules our hearts.
Ø whether we like it or not the segregated church Black and White does little to say otherwise. Perhaps our segregation even contributes to the problem.
so… In light of the reality of racism and segregation among us the time has come for this church to take a stand…

What is a Rev 21 church and why do we want to be one of those?
Revelation 21:1

First some comments on how to interpret this crazy book of the Bible.
Ø some see it as purely history past (and yes, there are some elements that have already been fulfilled)
Ø some see it as purely future (and yes, there are parts of it that await fulfillment)
Ø but for the most part this Revelation was given to us to show us what is (the battle between good and evil) and it pictures an ideal of what should be.
¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:1-4
This is a very imaginative description of the coming of Kingdom of God … and in short is the answer to Jesus’ prayer … and how he taught us to pray:
“…your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus Matthew 6:10
Here’s what should be:
o Vs. 3 - God very present
o Vs. 4 - the old order of things (6 Broken Places) passing away
o Vs. 4 – human beings being healed
This is what get’s God going when he wakes in the morning – this is the culmination of his dreams…what he has waited for ever since the debacle of Genesis 3.
Let’s read further…
²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Revelation 21:22-27 Go on… ¹ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1-2
Again…this is everything that Jesus prayed for…God’s Kingdom to come on earth as it is on heaven.
· Vs. 23 - his presence so rich and real that there is no need for light
…and then there is the picture of the nations (ethnos – race, tribes)
Ø Vs. 24 - the nations of the world coming together under the reign of Jesus
Ø Vs. 24 - uniqueness of each people group (splendor) on display – identity intact, diversity honored but complete integration around the cross of Christ
Ø and in 22: 2 - the nations themselves or perhaps the brokenness btw the nations healed
Reminder: this is NOT something to look forward to at some point in the future…not something we pine for and wait for its appearing…this is the reality of Jesus prayer…”your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10
This is doable as Jesus makes clear "Is it not written: "'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? Mark 11:17
…and as Paul highlights years later: In the body of Christ “there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” Colossians 3:11
This is what God desires. …it is his dream – “the Beloved Community” Martin Luther King
And it is our responsibility since the church is Plan A in living out the mission of God:

Grace Church must be a living breathing worshipping illustration of the inclusive gospel and the Kingdom of God!
I agree with Efrem Smith “As long as the church does not look like the place where we will live eternally, we should be uncomfortable” Efrem Smith the Post-Black Post-White Church

How do we become a Rev 21 church?
1. We have to deal with the racism within our own hearts
There are two facets to racism: internal attitudes and external systems

John Piper highlights the internal: “Racism is an explicit or implicit belief or practice that qualitatively distinguishes or values one race over other races” John Piper, Bloodlines

Efrem Smith the external: “Racism is prejudice plus power used to discriminate or oppress a group of people solely because of their race” Efrem Smith

Next week we’ll deal with the external systemic nature of racism but today let’s deal with our internal racist attitudes and beliefs

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 1 John 2:9
If you harbor racists attitudes or beliefs you must confront them, confess them and repent.
For those of you who scoff…perhaps resent me implying you are racist. May I encourage you to explore yourself more carefully.
Look at it clearly – face it and its ugliness.
· go to the play To Kill a Mockingbird
· Go see 42, the Butler or 12 Years a Slave
· and may I recommend something for you to read – Letter from a Birmingham Jail – written in 1963 from MLK to white pastors
My Dear Fellow Clergymen,
While confined here in the Birmingham City Jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities “unwise and untimely.” Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas … But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.
You may well ask, “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your 20 million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking in agonizing pathos: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” men and “colored”; when your first name becomes “n_____” and your middle name becomes “boy” and when your wife and mother are never given the respected title of “Mrs.” when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tip-toe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.
We must let our hearts be broken by this. And let God’s search light of truth penetrate the deepest parts of our souls…and reveal what is there.
And, Once we have adequately grasped the nature of it within us…we must confess it and repent.
· We must repent individually and we must confess corporately - both what is happening in our own hearts and what our people have perpetuated in the past.
· There may be some of you that recoil at this blanket confession…it’s in the past, I didn’t do it!
But let me remind your
"O LORD, God of heaven, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your people. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. Nehemiah 1:5-7
Pray
Own it – feel it – confess it – repent of it - this is the first step as a church. Next week we will pick up from here and look at further steps we must take…and why?

Church – can we do this?
With God’s help a Revelation 21 church – the Beloved Community- is within our reach. And when it happens it will say to a skeptical world that Jesus prayer is being answered – that God’s kingdom has come on earth as it is in heaven!