Are you like me?
By “like me” I mean, white.
Are you like me?
By “like me” I mean, have always gone to a mostly white church?
Are you like me?
By “like me” I mean, I’m no longer ok with it.
What are we gonna do about the most segregated hour of the week?
jasongordon.org 
4 responses to “Diversity”
(Just stumbled upon your blog today – like what you’ve had to say in the few posts I’ve read…may yet comment on them but for now…)
I had to read this a couple times to really catch what you were saying….and then “woah”…
Segregation within the church is not something I have really thought much about…but it is something that, as I reflect on the church I attend now and the ones I have been part of in the past, is definitely there. However, I don’t know that it always takes the shape or form of racial segregation. In fact, I think that it often takes on far less obvious forms. Marrieds vs Singles. Upper class vs. Lower class. People with kids vs people without kids. The well dressed vs the, well, the fashion rejects. The hand-raisers vs the not. The young vs the old.
We separate out people into the groups we think they belong because to do otherwise may force us to step outside our comfortable little lives and be, well, uncomfortable. It may force us to go against the norm, the accepted. It just might force us to expand our worlds and see things very differently.
I don’t know what “we” are going to do about segregation in the church but I know the change has to start in me, in my heart. It has to start with me crossing the room and saying hello to someone I might not feel entirely comfortable approaching because they are different than me. And then to start encouraging my kids to do the same….
Thanks Jocelyn for throwing your voice into the realm of our little online community. I loved when you wrote, “It may force us to go against the norm, the accepted. It just might force us to expand our worlds and see things very differently.” I think that’s what “we” need to do here. You’re right on it!
Now to just put it into practice….that’s the hard part. It’s easy to see what we need to do but putting our feet to the pavement and actually walking in the direction we need to go is where the real effort lies….
And as I think on it more, it can’t just happen on Sunday morning. That is the final place it should be manifested….rather we should be living a lifestyle that is characterized by this, every day, every moment, every place.
And I am going to be quiet now because I am painfully aware that I fail miserably at this and if I am going to talk the talk I better be walking the walk…time to put my walking shoes and muzzle on!!
For sure…the theorizing part is the easy part. It’s the living part that finds us tripping over our feet!