– Mark Murphy, Harbor District Antiracism Ministry
I was asked to write this month’s article for the Harbor District newsletter from our District Antiracism Team, the Lectionary epistle text was from Galatians 5, where Apostle Paul says in Verses 1 & 13: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. You my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love!” We have this charge from nearly 2,000 years ago, but we find ourselves asking “What time is it today?”
As I write we are approaching the July 4th holiday weekend where we celebrate our nation’s independence and freedom. We enjoy our many freedoms today because of the sacrifice of “all who gave some and some who gave all”, of those in the Revolutionary War nearly 250 years ago, but we find ourselves still asking “What time is it today?” We continue to struggle to live out the reality in our Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
IT IS TIME TODAY TO DISMANTLE RACISM
Dr. Tony Evans in the introduction to his excellent and enlightening book, “Oneness Embraced”, he writes: “Our racial divide is a disease…if the church can ever get this issue of oneness right, then we can help America to finally become the ‘one nation under God’ that we declare ourselves to be. When we get it right in the church house is when we can then spread it to the White House, and beyond.”
Let us join in the pledge of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“I have decided to stick with love.
Hate is too great a burden to bear.”