A Celebration
Art by coreybarksdale.com
My son is Mexican and Filipino. I am Aruban. We are both Americans but we have a rich cultural history and heritage that we are proud of. I'm excited to teach my son about his culture and history so he can be proud. He will be raised to adore his Mexican and Filipino heritage. I want him to grow up loving his appearance and being excited about how amazing his ancestry is.
When I begin conversations about my culture with people they light up and get excited to listen. People are intrigued and eager to celebrate my culture with me. They sit expectantly to hear stories of my youth on the island. They want to eat food that my people enjoy. They want to know about the music and dances of my community.
I have a burden of love on my heart, that I know my friends share, to see the richness of diversity in our churches and in our communities. Diversity begins with the celebration of people. It begins with a genuine interest in deep and meaningful relationships that come from the excitement of sharing stories and histories, histories that may be easy or hard. This is friendship. This is community.
The thing is, looking around my community I have to ask God the question, “Why are some people so separated from each other?” This question has been at the forefront of my prayers along with the question, “Father, is there anything that can bring us a shared life?”
He answered me with the word, “celebrate.”
Our precious Father has spoken to me in depth about this celebration. It is a celebration of people. It is the greatest celebration that can be had.
We each have a culture that is outrageously valuable and equally fascinating. We have to admit, however, that some cultures are under celebrated. I feel that there are opportunities for us to grow as a country in exposure to and enthusiasm for African-American culture. We should eagerly investigate the depth of Black cultural richness from literature, music, art, dance and so much more. We should listen expectantly from the edge of our seats. We should glow with excitement as we take in the goodness of such an interesting people.
I know that reflecting on our shared history as a nation can be heart breaking. And we all wish the issues of inequality were already resolved. Let us not forget, though, that some of our parents lived through mandated segregation. Some of us are only one generation into this journey of diversity. It is not surprising that it would require effort on our part to keep us moving towards familiarity.
I’ve noticed that some people seem more interested in the cultures of African immigrants than African-Americans, though they share the same root culture. Perhaps one of the reasons is a barrier between us and our African-American brothers and sisters built from a sense of shame over our shared history. We should not let shame, a tool of the enemy, be a barrier for us. We can't let guilt or insecurity cover God’s glory and mighty movements. We should not hide our faces or turn our heads. We should not avoid conversations about hardships. We can look back and see God’s glory and celebrate the victories, perseverance, and the tremendous contributions of African-Americans. God’s glory will not be erased. We can join to honor, revere, and retell all the Lord has done to deliver His people.
I think it is unfortunate that having prejudices has such a terrible stigma in our society. We find it so unacceptable for us to have prejudices that we emphatically deny having any. We claim with certainty that we see all people the same. We should instead approach prejudices like we do repentance; from a position of certainty that we have prejudices, and lack of knowledge, and continually working to overcome them and receive the riches of fellowship.
What if we also moved away from our attempts at “color blindness” and became even more radical. What if we saw each other’s color and got excited and intrigued over our differences. What if we didn’t act like we were the same but saw each other clearly for what we are, a gold mine of riveting unique experiences.
So let’s go ahead, grab a seat, and get on the edge of it.
Precious Father, please forgive all my past, current, and future failures. I know you will not leave me where I am.
Phil 1:6, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
This next thought is provocative but it provoked me to pray. I hope it does the same for you.
"It seems to me that many Americans today love Black people but are uncomfortable with or dislike Black culture. It is as if the word people has been replaced by the word culture as though people were not affected." - unknown
Psalm 86:11, “Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”
