How We See Race Reveals Who We Are

George Floyd was needlessly choked to death, a tragedy that has drawn thousands to the streets in protests around the world. Clara Kan, a member of our own faith community, was recently the object of racial taunts here in Metro Vancouver.

These incidents are reminders of the pervasive, terribly painful and horribly destructive effects of racism, which isn’t limited to one person, country or ethnic group.

Before the Apostle Paul met Jesus, he believed that what mattered above all else were his race and cultural heritage. But after his encounter with Jesus, he became a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 3:2-7) and he began to see people through a different lens. When a person has truly been changed by an encounter with Jesus, he or she no longer views others through the old hierarchies of Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female – for we have all been made one in Christ (Galatians 3:28).

In this divided world, we are called not only to name injustice but to become active agents of reconciliation. This will happen as we see the image of God in every human being, listen to and love the other, and come together as people of every nation, tribe and language to worship the living God (Revelation 7:9).

Here’s a brief prayer crafted by my mentor Leighton Ford for this time.

Oh, dear Jesus,
please breathe your breath
on us again,
for all those suffocating
in sin,
or sorrow, and
in sickness
or servitude,
or slavery.

Breathe out your pentecostal fire
on all flesh
burn out our hatreds,
our silences,
our forgettings,
before we all burn,
before we all die.

Breathe on us, breath of God.