On Thursday Dale Cooper came down from Calvin to pay me a visit. Needless to say it was an awesome day. On Saturday I had lunch with Micah Hoeksema (for those of you who don’t know Micah, he is a friend of mine who is also going to be a senior at Calvin next year). Micah is in ATL for the summer organizing week long mission trips for youth groups. Saturday night I met up with the John Parks clan for dinner and exploring downtown. It was good to see some old friends during the past week. I can’t help but think of Philippians 1:3-5.
John Hardie on the left, Dale Cooper on the right.
The John Parks crew.
Between my time with Micah and with my family, I stumbled upon the Martin Luther King Historic Site near downtown ATL. Now growing up in southwest Ohio I never really considered racial issues to be a big deal. It wasn’t until arriving at Calvin that I encountered people who took racism as a serious issue. Over time I have grown to see that it is still a much bigger problem than we tend to think it is. However, I had never really thought about it until recently. Since Grace North is a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) congregation, I have been learning more about the denomination. The PCA has history of racial segregation and other racial issues. One church in the PCA actually started a seminary because they did not want any blacks to attend the seminary. By God’s grace there has been much healing in the PCA, but the history of racism is still a weight that the denomination carries.
As old members of Ebenezer Baptist Church could probably tell you, racial hate and animosity is a divide that is only healed through the gospel. One of the many reasons that Jesus came to die is so that there would be healing among the races. In Acts 2 we hear that “the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God draws near.” The covenant of God is for all people. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” The mission of God is for all people. In Ephesians 4:14-16 Paul asserts that Jesus “has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” So the promise is for all peoples and the mission is for all peoples, but God desires more than that. He desires unity. Ephesians 4:14-16 uses the same type of language that is used to describe marriage (two people becoming one). Racism is a gospel issue and that is why all churches must push for the unity of the body of Christ.
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