Early Wakeup

I have found myself learning about the church and myself as this convention continues. I testified at my first hearing about expressing regret for slavery, and it was an amazing experience. I would not have stood up to talk were it not for the time when the Archbishop of York came forward to speak.

As he came forward, he came with several people. In my mind's eye, I looked beyond him to see who was the Archbishop. I had expected him to be an old white man. I had always pictured that position to be held that way. I was a bit shocked at how wrong I was, and how inadvertantly I had succumbed to a level of predjudice. It was painful to realize I had predjudice at all. I saw myself as a "new age sensitive guy" someone who didn't fall to the sins of racism. Boy was I wrong.

As I got my breath back at the growing I needed to do, I began to listen closely to the words of the Archbishop. He was and is a very gifted man. He told of a story that goes something like this.

When I am happy, I am black
When I am sick, I am black
When I am sad, I am black
When I go out in the sun, I am Black
When I am jaundiced, I am Black

When you are happy, you are white
When you are sick, you are green
When you are sad, you are blue
When you are out in the sun, your are tan
When you are jaundiced, you are yellow

And you have the audacity to call me colored.

I have a bit of growning to do in how I respond to and view my brothers and sisters in Christ. What do I bring with me that forms my view of my fellow Christians? I am excited by the reality that I am not where I want to be, and challenged by the world I am looking at with new eyes.

Grant