Bearing Racial Burdens

I wrote an article for Holy Culture on bearing racial burdens.  In this article I argue that it's the deep, non-transferable, non-purchasable things that are most significant - the things that are deeply woven into the fabric of our culture.  These things offer opportunity both to love and to hate.  And it is at this level that we must commit ourselves to bearing one another's burdens.

It is the gospel alone that commands us to painfully take upon ourselves the very thing that should cause us to run away.  When people from different cultures lock arms this way, people notice.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

There are traits, experiences, cultural idiosyncrasies, tragedies, histories, and influences that are so deeply woven into our “racial fabric” that they are nontransferable. They are things that are a part of my whiteness, and things that are a special part your blackness. You cannot buy them in a store. You cannot download them on iTunes.

In a very real way, it is these things that truly matter. They are the deep things – the things that help us to love one another better; and, unfortunately that provide opportunities for us to hate one another. When they are embraced, we feel deeply loved. When they are rejected, we feel deeply hated. These particular idiosyncrasies carry weight, more weight than the jewelry we may wear, or the music we listen to, or the language we employ. After all, even if I were to dress and talk like a black man, there would be something (other than my skin) quite “un-black” about me. I would not BE black. And that’s okay...

It is our Christian duty to “bear” the burdens of others, while it is our cultural climate to despise them, or, simply act as if they don’t exist. In other words, if I choose not to bear the burden of my black brother, I will either despise him or I will superficially befriend him. Both are prejudiced. Both are hateful. We must bear one another’s burdens if we are to advance the Kingdom of God together in love...

You can read the rest of the article here.