Prejudice in the Churches

I belong to a small church and on Sunday evening. for the sixth year in a row (on a rotating basis), we worshipped with our neighboring black congregation. It was a most inspirational evening, and so uplifting. There was great music, prayer, reading of the Scripture, laughter, and good food. And our minister delivered a powerful message, which I wish everyone could have heard. (Last year their minister delivered the message in our church.)

There were so many, many good people there, and it had nothing to do with race. We were just God-fearing, God-loving people, all trying to make the world a better place. Prejudice is taught and if all of us would remember the following, our church, our community, and our world would be a much better and safer place:

• God made us all in HIS image. The same brush that colored our neighbors black, colored us white.
• Heaven has no back door.
• “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me,” should be more than lyrics to a song usually sung during the Holidays. It should be a commitment. Just like prejudice and hate begins in the heart, so does peace.
• And with every serviceman or woman whose life is lost in Iraq, the blood that flows is not black or white: it is red.
• So let’s make this holiest of seasons a time of self-reflection and commitment to the Bible’s teachings that we are to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and that we should learn to love our neighbors as ourselves.