Ministries:
Adult | Teens | Children

Pastor's Pen's:
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Sermon Series:
Following Jesus
Earthly Cross
His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2005

Grace Church of Burlington November 6, 2005 “You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out he hates all the same people you do.”    Anne Lamott             This past week an American heroine died: Rosa Parks. Most of us know the story. One December evening, an African-American woman left work and boarded a bus for home. She was tired; her feet ached. But this was Montgomery, Alabama and it was 1955. As the bus became crowded, Rosa Parks was ordered to give up her seat to a white man just because she was black...and contrary to the law and social custom, Rosa Parks refused to move.             Fifty years ago in Montgomery, Alabama blacks were required to pay their fare to the driver, then get off of the bus, and reboard through the back door. Sometimes the bus would drive off before the paid-up customers made it to the back entrance. If the white section was full and another white customer entered, blacks were required to give up their seats and move farther to the back. A black person was not even allowed to sit across the aisle from whites. These humiliations were compounded by the fact that two-thirds of the bus riders in Montgomery were black.             Praise the Lord!! We’ve come a long way since 1955. But while prejudiced actions are increasingly rare, prejudiced attitudes are alive and well...even in the Church.             Recently, I had a friend call me, concerned because his white daughter was dating an African-American. I simply asked him, “Is this young man a believer?” “Yes.” “Does he love the Lord?” “Yes.” So I told my friend, “Then, I would rejoice!!”             Racial prejudice is a sin. We are all – red, and yellow, black and white – made in the image of God. Personally, I am very thankful that our church is becoming more and more diversified. And Lord willing, we will become even more diversified in the future as minority populations continue to increase in our community. I’ve never understood the irrational reasoning of some believers who were very willing to send and support missionaries going to minister among ethnic people groups but did not want individuals from those same ethnic groups in their church.             Sadly, though, the Church of Jesus Christ, for the most part in America, is still very segregated. Please mark it down. All people groups are welcome at Grace Church. We will also confront and condemn racial prejudice.             But racial prejudice is not the only type of bigotry. While the Church has made  great strides as  far as dealing with ethnic bigotry,  our  greater struggle is with economic bigotry. The American evangelical church today is very much upper middle class. At Grace we need to be very careful that no one ever feels frustrated or slighted because of their financial situation. We who have more need to be sensitive and seek to minister to those who have less. Some years ago we had an individual who would anonymously pay a teen’s way to a youth activity if it meant that a young person could not go because of financial limitations.  One of the greatest joys that Jane and I have had over the years has been being able to assist those who were less fortunate.             We must also not be guilty of gender bias. While God has made men and women distinctly different, neither is inferior or superior to the other. It is an affront to God when there is any spirit of demeaning because of one’s gender.  While we believe that God has established male and female roles, that does not infer in any way that one gender is more intelligent or more worthy of respect  than another. As Paul wrote in Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (6:28).             We must also not be guilty of age bias. Churches today tend to swing to extremes. They are either insensitive to the needs or desires of young people or they are insensitive to the needs and desires of the older generation. That’s one of the reasons at Grace that we are committed to a blended worship style. You’ll notice that in our music we will draw from both older, traditional hymns and popular, contemporary music. We are willing to make the stretch from rock to Bach to minister cross-generationally.             God is truly color blind. There is no bias at the Cross. He loves all sinners equally. Let’s make sure that we have His mind and heart, and have truly surrendered cultural bias and prejudice to Him.