"Shrink the Divide"

The breech has long been grievous,

Based on sin and hate,

That some are better people,

Skin color is the rate.

To value or to discount,

A person’s innate worth,

We somehow think we’re better,

Based on race at birth.

So much hurt and sorrow,

Nightmare, heartbreak, pain,

We ought to all be better,

And not go on the same.

But who will stop the cycle,

Who will heal the wound,

Who’ll do the intervention,

And make it happen soon.

I don’t have all the answers,

But I know that it’s true,

That God will be the reason,

And show us what to do.

Perhaps not complicated,

Forgive like He forgave,

Cast out all resentment,

And from racism save.

I’m white from Alabama,

I’m male, God made me so,

Raised in segregation,

And taught by old Jim Crow.

But Jesus interrupted,

The generations long,

Curse of racial hatred,

And showed me that it’s wrong.

Now truly love each other,

And work to reconcile,

All to one another,

And gain our Father’s smile.

Say no to all the violence,

Shrink that old divide,

Filled with God’s own Spirit,

His grace so deep and wide.

“.,,He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us…” (Eph. 2:14, NLT)

In Ephesians chapter two, Paul talks about the great Good News of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. He explains that we cannot earn salvation, but that it is a free gift from God. It can only received by faith, and when we do, a life of good works issues forth from our living faith. We are God’s masterpiece, he says, created anew in Christ Jesus to do good things He planned long ago. So far, so good. But then the conversation turns to something more controversial. The same grace that bridges over the gap between us and God, tears down walls of hostility with others. All of a sudden the grace challenges our personal prejudices about people, racial and otherwise. Jesus, Paul writes, tears down the wall of hostility between races and people so that we become one in Him. This is truly a universal vision of brotherly love, made possible by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross. It enables us to fulfill the first and greatest commandment, love God, and the second which is inseparable from the first, love one another. Let’s get on with it.

Lord, help us love one another, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Bruce Greene, brucegreeneart.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Bruce, and God bless you.