It’s way above my pay grade to understand why the Creator made race in the first place. I’m quite confident it was not to create conflict, stress, and general confusion. We seem quite capable of all those maladies without race considerations.
How about if everyone was simply the same--tan? What would it be like with just the Tan Man or Woman? There are examples albeit not perfect ones. Just ask anyone who served in the military. You don’t care about the race of the person who has your back – just that they are there and doing their job. But perhaps a more perfect example is children. I recently spoke to a Caucasian woman who had adopted an African American child who at 4 years old had come home very confused, wanting to know why someone had told her that her mother could not be white. “Why not?” she innocently asked.
“There is something more meaningful than race. Something more central and true to each identity. It is the Creator. He has created each person in His image and that truth should drastically change the way we see one another.”
In the first example, someone learns that race is meaningless and in the second case someone has not yet learned that it is supposedly meaningful – striking in their juxtaposition.
Genesis describes that God created man in His own image. In letters of Paul, he says at the end of 1 Corinthians 13 that: “For now we see in a mirror darkly, but then we shall see face to face”.
When we look at the man or woman in the mirror (Michael Jackson where are you?) we see ourselves but we also see an image of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Maybe we don’t have to imagine too hard what it might be like if there were only Tan ones. God’s world doesn’t have enough time for the frivolity. Let’s look in the mirror and remember who we are.
Loving Creator, you have made us each with love and care, declaring us good. Remind our hearts of who we truly are. Give us glimpses of You in each person we encounter and teach us to we treat one another with the same value that You see in us.
Special thanks to guest blogger, Ken Daly for today’s post. Ken is a long time member of Saint Luke & has served in a variety of roles in the congregation including Council.