White Southern Baptist Racist Preacher
I have sat down to write many many
times since I last published a blog. Either my mind was scattered or my
calendar was. So, after I was interrupted by my schedule and my brain yesterday
I made a decision that the first thing I would do today was write. So I did.
And this is what came out…
Have
you ever profiled someone? I’m sure you have or you wouldn’t really be human. I
don’t mean that you’re a bad person but in a moment you may have looked at
someone and in your mind said, “I’ll bet she is ___________.”
We
are funny that way. Society tries to dictate to us what people are supposed to
say or become simply because of a characteristic. For example, wealthy people
are smart, poor people are dumb, white people are racist, black people are
lazy, church people are hypocrites, young people are rebellious, old people are
grumpy, pregnant teenagers are sluts, police officers are arrogant, preachers
only care about money, and, well you get the picture. And while you may find
examples to back up your hypothesis about each type/class of people I can give
you multiple examples of the same type/class of people that go completely
against what you may think.
And
chances are you don’t appreciate being profiled yourself. As a white person, I
get very irate when called a racist as I was a week or so ago. I must tell.
The
cliff notes version of the story is this. After visiting the church a couple of
Sundays this older white man wanted to speak with me. I said that would be
great (because I always enjoying educating people on our church since there are
so many rumors and lies told about us). After some small talk and him raving
about how much he loved the church he asked me a question.
“Are
you a Republican or Democrat?”
Uh
oh, this will not end well, I thought to myself. But I answered. “I usually
vote Republican, but I try to vote my beliefs and not a party.”
His
response, “So you are one of those white southern Baptist racist preachers,
huh?”
…….
Silence………more silence……I better count to 10 before I throw him out my office
window….1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …oh what tha crap, let’s just get this over with.
“Excuse
me!” I responded while trying to decide how I wanted to launch my attack. Fists?
He was old; I could punch him in the heart or kick out a knee. Battle of the
minds? I’m usually out gunned on this type… No, let’s see how this plays out.
I
resisted the urge to use every white man’s defense on be labeled a racist. “I
have black friends” which I always find absolutely hilarious. It’s even better
when they start naming them. I took a slightly different approach, which was
this. I cannot for the life of me remember verbatim what I said but this was
the jist of it…
“Every
person is entitled to their opinion even it its wrong. I don’t agree with most
people most of the time but I am secure enough in who I am not to argue over
every little thing. I am white. I am southern. I am not Baptist but I like a
lot of them (at this time I should have said, “I have Baptist friends.”). I am
not racist. I am a preacher. (At this moment he took a breath to speak and I
held up one finger and said…) Before you interrupt me I want you to know
something about me.
I
believe that I live in the greatest area of the greatest country in the world.
I believe that politics are an important part of our society but people put too
much emphasis on politics and not enough emphasis on faith, hope and love. To
politicians those are campaign slogans. To me, they are life. I am not ashamed
of being southern, or white, or a preacher. I will not apologize for either of
the three because I only got to choose one, the other two were chose for me. I
will explain who I am to you in these terms and then I have a project for you
to do (which I wanted to say was jump out my window so I don’t have to get up
and throw you out).
I believe that
faith is the most important element in my life. MY FAITH, which I do not force
on anyone, even though it would make everyone better, makes me who I am. I
serve a God and have a Savior which demands me to be a good person full of
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And my guide for living says you can’t use law to impose these things. They
have to be done through faith.
Hope
isn’t about politics; it’s about a better ideal. My hope isn’t about whether my
children will go to college or not but whether they become good people. No,
Godly people! Hope isn’t about the economy; it’s an ideal that the world would
be better with Christ involved. And contrary to many people who share my faith
they don’t share my idea that faith and hope and love can’t be mandated by the
government. Hope is about a family. A black family, a white family, a Latino
family, and every mixture of every family sitting down together and deciding
that Jesus gave us an example and we should follow it. Not what you see, sir,
but what you read and choose to believe. Hope is about the cross.
Sir,
I love people. I genuinely try to love everybody. Even my enemies, which as a
preacher there are some out there and you are close to becoming one. I don’t
see color or race or social status. I don’t judge based on what I see, or at
least I try not to, I try to go into every interaction with the idea that this
may be a great relationship someday. Love is not given or received in politics;
it is given and received in relationships. God is my standard and he loved me
so much that he would sacrifice even His own Son for me. Jordan doesn’t want me
to, but I want to love that much. I try to love to the very end. Politics suck.
They suck because there are very few real people in politics. The scoreboard is
skewed. The measuring stick is popularity. My measuring stick is my integrity.
And if someone misunderstands me, my popularity is affected. If someone gets to
know me, my integrity is showcased.
So
here is your project. Get to know me. Watch me. I dare you. Watch me; get to
know me, then judge me. Don’t judge me on what you see because then, sir, you
are the racist. I don’t mind being judged. As a matter of fact, I welcome it. I
want to be judged. But I want to be judged on who I am and not what I look
like. As does every person everywhere. I invite you to get to know me, come
back and talk all you want, but leave your politics somewhere else because if
you bring those into my church and my office again, I will probably eloquently
explain where you can put them and may even help you get them there.”
And
at that the elder gentleman looked stunned. But amazingly enough he stayed. He
apologized if he offended me. To which I said, “I don’t get offended. I don’t
let anyone have that much power over me.” He stayed and talked for several more
minutes before he got up to leave and thanked me for my time. I again stated that
I would love the opportunity to get to know him. He said that he thought he
might like that.
I don’t know if that was the start of a
relationship or good fodder for his campaign stops but I hope the former. I
hope he and you understand that what I said to him was not made out of
arrogance but extreme humility. I want to become so transparent that as Paul
did in the New Testament, I can do today and say, “Imitate me, as I imitate
Christ.”
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