This past summer has been a revelation in regard to race matters in America. In the first decade of the twenty first century our nation is still confronted with the bitterness of racial profiling, racial disparity, and blatant racism. This past summer we have been reminded of the state of race relations in our nation and while we celebrate our successes we are reminded just how far we still have to go. In two very public expressions we were unfortunately reminded of the state of race matters. One of the issues was the highly publicized handling of the dog betting charges against NFL quarterback Michael Vick. The matter of race in the case was not the issue of charges against Vick but the perspective that most people held about the charges. In my work environment people that felt the charges were unfounded and that prison term should have been out of question happen to be for the most part African American, people who perceived that he should have been banned from the NFL and put in jail were Euro Americans. When I listened to responses from the national media and especially those in Atlanta, Michael Vic supports were African Americans, Vic detractors Euro Americans. What the case showed on a limited but yet very public basis was the profile of race matters in America. That America in this day and time would still have difficulty in the perception of right and wrong simply based on the matter of race. A second very public matter that is defining race matters in America is the Jena 6 trials. In September 2006, as the school year kicked off, a black Jena High School student asked the vice principal if he and some friends could sit under an oak tree where the white students typically congregated. Told by the vice principal they could sit wherever they pleased, the student and his pals plopped down under the sprawling branches of a shade tree in the campus courtyard. The next day, students arrived at school to find three nooses hanging from those branches. "I seen them hanging. I’m thinking the KKK, you know, were hanging nooses. They want to hang somebody. Real nooses, the ones you see on TV, are the kind of nooses they were," Robert Bailey, 17, one of the Jena 6, told the syndicated radio show "Democracy Now!" The school’s principal recommended expulsion for those behind the nooses, according to the local newspaper in nearby Alexandria. Instead, The Town Talk reported, a school district committee overruled the recommendation and suspended three white students for three days for hanging the nooses, a gesture written off as a prank. "Toilet paper, that’s a prank, you know what I’m saying?" Bailey told the radio show. "Nooses hanging there -- nooses ain’t no prank." A series of scuffles ensued over the next three months as racial tension at the school became palpable. The district attorney was summoned to address the student body. Off-campus fights were reported. Bailey said he had a beer bottle broken over his head in one incident, a shotgun pulled on him in another. On November 30, someone torched the school’s main academic building. The arson remains unsolved, but many suspect it’s linked to the discord strangling Jena High. Four days after the arson, several students jumped a white classmate, Justin Barker, knocking him unconscious before stomping and kicking him. Parents of the Jena 6 say they heard Barker was hurling racial epithets. Barker’s parents say he did nothing to provoke the beating. Barker was taken to the hospital with injuries to both eyes and ears as well as cuts. His right eye had blood clots, said his mother, Kelli Barker. Justin Barker was treated and released that day. Bell, Bailey, Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and an unidentified juvenile -- all black teens -- were arrested and charged with attempted murder. The weapons used, according to the charges -- shoes. Their bails were set at between $70,000 and $138,000. On Tuesday, LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters reduced the charges against Jones and Shaw to second-degree aggravated battery, the same charge on which Bell was convicted. Only Bell remains in jail, on a $90,000 bond, and the judge has refused to lower it, citing Bell’s criminal record, which includes four juvenile offenses -- two simple battery charges among them. “freethejena6.org”
A third less publicized issue that is defining race matters is the issue of racial disparity. The racial disparities that exist within our educational system show unchanging deficiencies between African American Students and their counterparts in the Virginia Beach School System. No this want make national news, there will be no calls by the NAACP or other national agencies to protest, there will be no protest marches but the disparity is a reflection of race matters in America. Across the board a review and or analysis of the Stanford Achievement Test revels disparaging results. The numbers are consistent across all grades tested although we profile the 6th grade results. The percentages reflect that African Americans are in the lower 50 percentile in every measurable category of reading and mathematics. The numbers are consistent across the board showing a lower percentage rate by ethnicity than any other ethic group and the numbers are consistent over the 5 years in which the test are given. One can assess that the test are racially biased except that every other minority group Hispanic, Asian, Native Americans all had scores higher than that of African Americans. Regardless of reason for the difference in the scores the issue has not been addressed by the Beach school system and they have not adequately provided any explanation of the reason for the scores. Greater yet the racial disparity is not addressed by any Virginia Beach school program intended to help erase the disparity. The state of race matters in America is a political concern, a legislative concern an academic concern and it is a spiritual concern. While we are to challenge our politicians, legal advocates and educational systems we too must challenge ourselves. What is the challenge to the church in matters of black and white?
1. A Conscientious Decision: “I made myself…” vs 19 Paul in his self defense of the ministry develops the argument that the sacrifices he has made for ministry was because of the calling and the anointing that is on his life. He ultimately implies the reason he has made sacrifices for the ministry was a personal conscientious decision. He chose the life because God chose him. He made a choice to do what he did not because of an obligation to people, or causes but by the calling of God in and on his life. This is what I share with you that the church must make a conscientious decision to involve itself in the things that can change and shape the world in which we exist. Paul says it simply I made myself, I became what was needed. I made myself do what was needed, I made myself into something, I made myself walk in an uncomfortable place, I made myself be something that I might do what God has called me to do. I know to do what I always do nobody should complain or would complain. If we show up Sunday after Sunday and worship nobody could complain, nobody could say we weren’t doing our job. But if we choose to make ourselves into something that shapes the environment that we are a part would mean that we would become community that can only exist by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can choose to be silent on Jena 6, silent on the Va Beach School disparity and continue to worship every Sunday and nobody could say weren’t being church, but if we make ourselves into an agent that promotes change, that will go to any length to shape and change our environment God will be pleased.
2. By whatever means necessary “all things to all people” vs 22 Paul says that he went to whatever length necessary in order to bring as many people to salvation as possible. Paul says that the length that he would go in order to bring others to redemption was without limit and without boundary. In other words Paul said I would do whatever it took by any means necessary to present the gospel the largest number of people possible. I would do it in his words in order that “I might by all means save some.” What an interesting phrase that is used here, I might by all means save some. The most important work of work ministry was to bring others into the saving grace of Jesus Christ. This was the ultimate purpose of ministry; it is the single goal of the gospel to bring people to salvation. Becoming what ever was needed to bring people to a place of salvation is the purpose of the gospel. There is no greater purpose, no greater calling, no greater challenge than to save others by the work of ministry. Salvation is the work of redemption. Salvation then brings people into the fullness of what God has intended for them and where God desires for them to be. The work of salvation lends itself to the broken, to the disenfranchised, to the disengaged, to the lost. Any true work of the gospel will liberate and restore the lost. Jena 6 pleads for the liberating work of gospel ministry. The academic disparity in the school system pleads for the liberating work of the gospel and we are required by any means necessary to present the gospel in a manner that liberates.
3. Prepare for a Harvest “So That I may Share in its Blessing” vs 23 Paul concludes the reason that he is willing to make himself in something, the reason that he is will to take whatever means necessary is that he may share in the blessing of the gospel. The blessing of the gospel is the product that the gospel produces when it is operating in accordance with the will of God. You are going to reap a harvest when you lead someone else to the liberating power of Christ. You are going to share in the blessing when the work that you do bring others into relationship with Christ. The blessing is a three fold blessing. First the blessing is to the liberated, the ones that are redeemed as a result of their experience with Christ. Secondly the blessing is the liberator, God, the bible says “heaven rejoices when joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” What Paul shares with us is that the third tenant of the blessing is for the one who is the instrument for sharing the gospel. He goes so far in this text to say that we do this to share in its blessing. When you liberate others, you share in the liberation.
