God and Dr. King, Forgive Me!

 

I do not know when my racial bias and bigotry began.   I do not think it was in my DNA or in my blood.   I believe it was learned through the people I was around.    I remember this black woman that cleaned our house and kept my brother and I when we were very young.   Despite the fact that we loved her, I learned to fear and distrust persons because of the color of their skin.

I can remember hearing adults in my family talking about the Woolworth lunch counter sit ins in early 1960 in Greensboro.    Even if the adults thought I was not listening, I was and learned their disapproval of the protests and the people who were making them.   I can remember discovering in the storage room at a neighbor’s house one day a wooden cross that confirmed my suspicion that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.  

Even though it has been over 50 years ago, I still remember the racial unrest in my hometown of Burlington in 1969.    Our high school, Williams High School, was at the heart of the unrest as Jordan Sellers High School was closed and black  students came to Williams.   There were walk outs at school and a city-wide  curfew.    A young black man only a few years younger than myself was killed.   Our high school became the first predominately white high school in the south to have a black football coach, Jerome Evans.

In the Fall, 1970, I began to follow Christ Jesus and became a Christian.    I discovered that God so loved me and that God so loved the world.   As the children’s song says,   “Jesus loves the little children… red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.”   And this God who loves me and loves children whatever is the color of their skin loves everyone.   And so, God began to work on me and change my heart including taking away that racial bias and bigotry.   Only by the grace of God go I. 

In these days, we observe the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.   It is a federal holiday.    A few months ago, I visited Memphis and the very place where Dr. King was killed by a bullet.   In many ways, people will observe Dr. King’s birthday.  I observe his birthday this year by saying,   “God, forgive me for my racial bias and bigotry and for my silence in the face of it. ”  I made a choice and I am sorry.   I repent of my sin.   God, have mercy on me a sinner!    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

PRAYER --   God of many names and many people, thank you for loving each and everyone of us.   Heal our hearts and this land of bias and division.   Forgive us for  the times we do not love one another;   through Christ our Lord.   Amen.